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Archive for March 15th, 2013
Cheap ‘nano-tablet’ purifies water for up to six months
Posted by SciDevNet: Munyaradzi Makoni on March 15th, 2013
SciDevNet: Researchers have developed a water purification tablet comprised of nanoparticles that can be used by developing world communities with no access to clean water.
The tablet, MadiDrop, invented by PureMadi -- a non-profit organisation of the University of Virginia, United States -- was presented at the organisation's one-year celebration event last week (8 March).
It consists of a small ceramic disk filled with silver or copper nanoparticles that is placed a water vessel, where it can repeatedly...
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Fracking: the monster we greens must embrace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
Guardian: Most environmentalists are in no doubt. The new technology of fracking to extract shale gas from the rocks beneath our homes is both a nasty neighbour and a sure recipe for climate Armageddon. Not only that, fracking was pioneered in the US, the gas-guzzling land of climate sceptics. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, uses high-pressure water to shatter shale rocks and release natural gas lurking within. The gas is then piped to the surface. Shale rocks are widespread. But fracking requires lots...
Climate change: Pakistan, Italy join hands to identify adaptive measures
Posted by Express Tribune: None Given on March 15th, 2013
Express Tribune: Pakistan’s only dedicated climate change research centre is going to partner with Italian experts to identify climate change adaptation measures.
The Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC), which recently became an autonomous body by act of parliament, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ev-K2-CNR, an Italian research organisation that has worked in Pakistan’s northern areas for many years.
The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad on Thursday....
U.N. bodies want to tackle drought to avert food crisis
Posted by Reuters: Emma Farge on March 15th, 2013
Reuters: U.N. agencies want to strengthen national drought policies after warnings that climate change would increase their frequency and severity.
Droughts cause more deaths and displacement than floods or earthquakes, making them the world's most destructive natural hazard, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, one of the groups taking part.
"We must boost national capacity to cope before droughts occur," Ann Tutwiler, FAO deputy director-general told the five-day talks on drought in...
More work needed on 2010 Michigan spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
United Press International: Pipeline company Enbridge has less than a week to respond to an order for more river dredging in Michigan to clean up oil from a 2010 spill, the EPA said.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued an administrative order requiring Enbridge to dredge the Kalamazoo River in southern Michigan.
"EPA has repeatedly documented the presence of recoverable submerged oil in the sections of the river identified in the order and has determined that submerged oil in these areas can be recovered by dredging,"...
Catastrophic loss of Cambodia’s tropical flooded grasslands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Around half of Cambodia's tropical flooded grasslands have been lost in just 10 years according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
The seasonally flooded grasslands around the Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, are of great importance for biodiversity and a refuge for 11 globally-threatened bird species. They are also a vital fishing, grazing, and traditional rice farming resource for around 1.1 million people.
Research published today in the journal Conservation...
A Tide of Death, but This Time Food Supply Is Safe
Posted by New York Times: David Barboza on March 15th, 2013
New York Times: Hard as it may be to believe, the recent discovery of thousands of pig carcasses floating in a river that supplies drinking water to Shanghai may represent an encouraging step forward in Chinese public health. In May, for example, the police in this hog-producing city arrested four people who had sold dead pigs to slaughterhouses. And in December, a Zhejiang Province court sentenced 17 people to prison sentences, one for life, for processing and selling meat from pigs that had died of various diseases....