RSS Feed
Archive for February 7th, 2013
World food prices stable in Jan after three months of falls: FAO
Posted by Reuters: Catherine Hornby on February 7th, 2013
Reuters: World food prices stabilized in January after falling in the previous three months, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday, but it warned that adverse crop weather could cause violent price spikes due to tight grains stocks.
Global food prices surged in mid-2012 following the worst U.S. drought in more than half a century and dry weather in other key grains exporters, raising fears of a food crisis similar to the one in 2008.
But prices eased in the last three months of 2012 due to...
Posted in 
The mystery of the disappearing Arctic ice
Posted by Financial Times: None Given on February 7th, 2013
Financial Times: Much of the world’s growing fascination with the Arctic centres on climate change and how it is opening up this vast icy wilderness. But figuring out the rate at which the Arctic is likely to thaw has proved to be extremely difficult. Scientists have known for decades that the Arctic was warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and that the area covered by sea ice that thaws each summer, then refreezes as winter sets in, has been steadily shrinking. But the rate of this melting has sometimes...
Ecuador: ‘Give Me The Money Or I’ll Shoot The Trees’
Posted by National Public Radio: David Kestenbaum on February 7th, 2013
National Public Radio: Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth. But there's a complication: The park sits on top of millions of barrels of oil.
This creates a dilemma.
Ecuador prides itself on being pro-environment. Its constitution gives nature special rights. But Ecuador is a relatively poor country that could desperately use the money from the oil.
In 2007, Ecuador's president proposed a way around the dilemma: Ecuador would promise to leave the forest untouched, if countries...
Mich. OKs Replacement of Second Section of Enbridge Pipeline That Ruptured in 2010
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on February 7th, 2013
InsideClimate: Michigan regulators agreed last week to allow Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. [3] to replace a 160-mile segment of an aging line that in 2010 spilled more than a million gallons of crude oil. The decision by the Michigan Public Service Commission [4] disappointed local landowners who had hoped for more scrutiny and oversight of the project. "I am concerned with the haste with which this project has proceeded," said Jeff Insko [5], an English professor at Michigan's Oakland University who...
Obama Picks REI Ceo Jewell To Head Interior
Posted by National Public Radio: Gabe Spitzer on February 7th, 2013
National Public Radio: President Obama is nominating the CEO of outdoor retailer REI to head the Interior Department. Sally Jewell is a former banking executive who's been with REI since 2005. Jewell is known for her emphasis on environmentalism.
This is What a Melting Glacier Sounds Like
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on February 7th, 2013
Climate Desk: If a glacier melts in the Arctic and there’s no one around, does it make a sound? Jonathan Perl thinks it does. The City College of New York musicologist was asked by climatologist Marco Tedesco to translate data records on Greenland’s melting ice into sound. The result is a series of “sonifications,” on display through next week at CCNY’s POLARSEEDS exhibit, that combine quantitative data with music to create an audio snapshot of climate change. Steady, long-term changes that are invisible to the...
China: Porpoise protection ‘insufficient’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2013
BBC: Protection for highly threatened Yangtze finless porpoises in China is "insufficient", researchers say.
The mammals have suffered a dramatic decline and are now threatened with extinction.
Researchers carried out a survey to the establish how the animals are distributed in the Yangtze river.
They found current protected sections of the Yangtze do not cover all the areas where most porpoises were found.
Details of the findings are published in the journal Animal Conservation.
Another...
Indian birds under threat from climate change: Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2013
Times of India: Climate change is threatening the survival of a number of Asian bird species, including those in India, a new study warns.
The research conducted by Durham University and BirdLife International says that many avian species from the region are likely to suffer from climate change.
The species will require not just enhanced protection of important and protected sites, but also better management of the wider countryside, the study says.
"In some extreme cases, birds may be required to be physically...
Ethiopia dam project is devastating the lives of remote indigenous groups
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2013
Guardian: Human rights abuses in Ethiopia's Lower Omo valley are said to be rampant, with tribal leaders imprisoned, dozens of people killed and troops cracking down on dissent ahead of the building of a massive dam, which is forcing the relocation of some of the most remote tribes in Africa.
The valley, a Unesco world heritage site renowned for its isolated cultures and ethnic groups, is home to 200,000 pastoralist farmers including the Kwegu, Bodi, Mutsi and Nyangatom tribes. These groups all depend on...