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Archive for May, 2013
Fever hits thousands in parched US West farm region
Posted by Associated Press: Gosia Wozniacka on May 6th, 2013
Associated Press: California and federal public health officials say valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people around the nation, has been on the rise as warming climates and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it.
The fever has hit California's agricultural heartland particularly hard in recent years, with incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease — which is prevalent in arid regions of the United States, Mexico, Central and...
‘Suffering…without witnesses’: over a quarter of million people perished in Somali famine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 6th, 2013
Mongabay: A new report estimates that 258,000 people died in 2011 during a famine in Somalia, the worst of such events in 25 years and a number at least double the highest estimations during the crisis. Over half of the victims, around 133,000, were children five and under. The report, by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), argues that the international community reacted too late and too little to stem the mass starvation brought on by government instability, conflict, high food prices, and failed...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on ‘Suffering…without witnesses’: over a quarter of million people perished in Somali famineEmpty Nets on the Mekong
Posted by New York Times: Jeff Opperman on May 6th, 2013
New York Times: Jeff Opperman, a senior freshwater scientist with the Nature Conservancy, is taking a once-in-a-lifetime trip down the Mekong River in Southeast Asia with his wife and two children, ages 8 and 10. Previous posts can be found here.
In my last post, I described how our attempts at fishing in the Mekong River had produced meager results, which was somewhat puzzling because the Mekong produces the largest harvest of freshwater fish in the world, by far.
As a father, this was frustrating; catching...
Guadeloupe and Martinique threatened as pesticide contaminates food chain
Posted by Guardian: Martine Valo on May 6th, 2013
Guardian: On 15 April more than 100 fishermen demonstrated in the streets of Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, in the French West Indies. In January they barricaded the port until the government in Paris allocated EUR2m ($2.6m) in aid, which they are still waiting for. The contamination caused by chlordecone, a persistent organochlorine pesticide, means their spiny lobsters are no longer fit for human consumption. The people of neighbouring Guadeloupe are increasingly angry for the same reason....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Guadeloupe and Martinique threatened as pesticide contaminates food chainMills: EPA cuts estimate on leaks from gas operations
Posted by Times Record News: None Given on May 6th, 2013
Times Record News: The Environmental Protection Agency has dramatically lowered its estimate of amount of the potential heat-trapping gas leaks come from natural gas production. It is great news for natural gas producers, consumers, and the environment.
The EPA’s study on greenhouse emissions shows an average annual decrease of 41.6 million metric tons of methane emissions from 1990 through 2010, or more than 850 million metric tons overall or a 20 percent reduction from previous estimates. The agency converts the...
The Case of the Disappearing Oil: How Much Oil Was Released in 2010 Pipeline Spill?
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on May 6th, 2013
InsideClimate: A key piece of data related to the biggest tar sands oil spill in U.S. history has disappeared from the Environmental Protection Agency's website, adding to confusion about the size of the spill and possibly reducing the fine that the company responsible for the accident would be required to pay.
The July 2010 accident on an Enbridge Inc. pipeline dumped thousands of barrels of Canadian dilbit into the Kalamazoo River and surrounding wetlands. But almost three years and two federal investigations...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Case of the Disappearing Oil: How Much Oil Was Released in 2010 Pipeline Spill?Canadian Minister Takes Tar Sands Lobbying to Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 6th, 2013
Reuters: A European Union plan to label crude from the Alberta oil sands as dirty is unfair and could damage Canada's bid to find new export markets, the Canadian resources minister said at the start of a mission to lobby against the idea.
As part of a plan to cut greenhouse gases from transport fuel, the EU's executive commission has developed a Fuel Quality Directive that would single out oil from Alberta's tar sands as more polluting than conventional crude.
Canada, whose oil sands are the world's...
EU Pollution Push in Disarray as Crisis Focus Sharpens
Posted by Bloomberg: Ewa Krukowska and Alex Morales on May 6th, 2013
Bloomberg: Europe’s program to halt climate change is in disarray with lawmakers in the region expressing concern the drift is undermining the planet’s most significant effort to combat global warming.
Members of the European Parliament’s environment committee meet today for a second time to revive a plan the full assembly rejected that would have boosted the cost of greenhouse-gas emissions. The rebuff left the cost of pollution near a record low, leaving companies with less incentive to reduce emissions....
Climate change will increase extreme rainfall; drought, NASA says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 6th, 2013
GlobalPost: A new report by the US space agency NASA says that temperate regions will experience more drought while the tropics more extreme rains in the future.
Enlarge Indian commuters make their way during a downpour in Amritsar on July 27, 2009. NASA scientists claim in a new study that temperate regions will experience more drought while the tropics more extreme rains in the future due to climate change. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images) What do you think?
Climate change will increase extreme rainfall...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change will increase extreme rainfall; drought, NASA saysSurge in valley fever blamed on climate change
Posted by Associated Press: Gosia Wozniacka on May 5th, 2013
Associated Press: California and federal public health officials say that valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people across the nation, has been on the rise as a warming climate and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it. The fever has hit California's agricultural heartland particularly hard in recent years, with the incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease -- which is prevalent in arid regions of the United States, Mexico, Central...