RSS Feed
Archive for May, 2013
British trees to be placed in seed bank to protect against disease and pests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2013
Telegraph: The UK National Tree Seed Project will collect seeds from a priority list of 50 of the most vulnerable trees and shrubs, including ash, common box plants and English oak. Scientists leading the £100,000 project will conduct genetic testing on the plants to build up the first detailed picture of the different populations of trees that exist across Britain. Samples from each population will then be placed into protective storage facility at the Royal Botanic Garden's Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on British trees to be placed in seed bank to protect against disease and pestsMarshall Islands faces acute water shortage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2013
Associated Press: About 6,000 people who live on the remote Marshall Islands in the Pacific are facing an acute shortage of fresh water as a severe drought worsens.
A state of disaster was declared in the north. Australia announced it would provide AU$100,000 (£65,335) for emergency desalination units. The US has also donated several reverse-osmosis machines, which convert salt water into fresh water.
There is no end in sight to the drought, with fine weather forecast for at least the next 10 days. The drought...
They myth of energy independence
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2013
Time: Michael Levi is my favorite energy wonk -- and not just because we both had to endure waiting for hours in the cold outside the 2009 United Nations climate-change conference in Copenhagen. (Though he got in first.)
Levi, the senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations, is a smart, pragmatic observer of the energy wars -- and he's an excellent blogger. He knows how to cut through specious arguments on both sides of the energy-and-climate debate while keeping...
Amazon clearance for agriculture is ‘economic own goal’ for Brazil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2013
Guardian: Brazil is at risk of scoring an economic own goal if it continues clearing Amazon forest for herding and soya production, according to a new study that has potential implications for global food security.
In recent decades, the conversion of vast tracts of the Amazon into pastures and farm fields has boosted the national economy and played a major role in meeting rising world demand for beef and grain, particularly soyabeans – for which Brazil overtook the US this year as the number one supplier....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amazon clearance for agriculture is ‘economic own goal’ for BrazilIn parched Southwest, anxious wait for summer rains
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on May 10th, 2013
Climate Central: On the thirsty rangelands of Arizona and New Mexico, which have been mired in an on-again, off-again drought since 1999, ranchers and water managers are hoping for an unusually wet summer monsoon season that will help make up for this winter's lackluster snowpack. Reservoirs have been depleted to near-record lows, and the major rivers and tributaries are running at barely a trickle, making the summer rainfall season crucial to avert potentially severe water shortages, at least temporarily.
However,...
Big Ag Agrees to Conserve Cropland, But At What Cost?
Posted by National Public Radio: Allison Aubrey on May 9th, 2013
National Public Radio: Taxpayers help subsidize crop insurance premiums for farmers to the tune of about $9 billion dollars, a figure that's growing each year. These policies protect farmers from major losses, and help support their income even if there's no loss of crops.
And in return? Well, environmentalists argue that farmers who receive this financial support should be required to be good stewards of the land.
In fact, for years, conservation groups have fought to attach some strings to these subsidies to require...
Shale gas: green groups condemn methane flaring plans for wells
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on May 9th, 2013
Guardian: The two companies exploring for shale gas in the UK have confirmed that they intend to flare methane gas from their wells in a move that has been condemned by environmentalists. It is likely to be the most visible sign of the fracking revolution that many in business and government would like to bring to the UK.
Flaring excess gas is widely regarded as environmentally damaging, as burning the methane results in greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. In the US, where fracking...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shale gas: green groups condemn methane flaring plans for wellsUnited Kingdom: Fracking firm’s drilling plan unnerves West Sussex villagers
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Rankin on May 9th, 2013
Guardian: The only company to have fracked for shale gas in the UK, Cuadrilla, is to drill for oil in a West Sussex village from next month.
The energy firm has said the eight-week exploratory drill near Balcombe will not involve fracking, the process of blasting liquid into rock to free natural gas trapped inside, but nonetheless the planned 3,000ft well in the local woodland of Lower Stumble, near Ardingly reservoir, looks set to hit a wall of opposition in this Conservative heartland.
"It seems such...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Fracking firm’s drilling plan unnerves West Sussex villagersLoss of eastern hemlock will affect forest water use
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 9th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The loss of eastern hemlock from forests in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States could permanently change the area's hydrologic cycle, reports a new study by U.S. Forest Service scientists at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (Coweeta) located in Otto, North Carolina, published online in the journal Ecological Applications and available now in preprint format.
"The hemlock woolly adelgid, an exotic invasive insect, has caused widespread hemlock mortality," says Steven Brantley,...
United Kingdom: Fracking fears in the Home Counties
Posted by Telegraph: Claire Carter on May 9th, 2013
Telegraph: Cuadrilla Resources plans to drill an exploratory well in the village of Balcombe in West Sussex to find out if there is enough oil to drill, or if that fails, gas to extract by fracking. The company is the only one to have fracked for shale gas in the UK, prompting concerns.
However Cuadrilla told a meeting of Balcombe Parish Council it expects to find oil at the site, and the possibility of finding gas and therefore fracking was "unlikely" and it had no immediate plans to frack.
Rodney Saunders,...