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Archive for June 4th, 2013
Palm oil expansion endangering rare frogs in Malaysia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
Mongabay: Expansion of the palm oil industry in Malaysia is destroying key habitat for endangered frogs, putting them at greater risk, finds a new study published in the journal Conservation Biology.
Over a two-year period, Aisyah Faruk of the Zoological Society of London and colleagues documented the impact of oil palm plantations on the peat swamp frog (Limnonectes malesianus), an amphibian that inhabits streams and swamps in lowland forest areas in Peninsular Malaysia. According to the researchers, the...
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China’s plastic-bag ban turns five years old
Posted by Grist: None Given on June 4th, 2013
Grist: What do you give a plastic-bag ban for its fifth birthday?
In the case of China, which over the weekend celebrated five years of restrictions on plastic shopping bags, officials are showering their ban with accolades and crediting it with keeping tens of billions of bags out of landfills and the environment.
The rules, which took effect on June 1, 2008, ban the manufacture or use of the thinnest types of plastic bags. They also prohibit supermarkets, department stores, and grocery stores from...
Climate change causing US wildfire season to last longer, Congress told
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
Guardian: America's wildfire season lasts two months longer than it did 40 years ago and burns up twice as much land as it did in those earlier days because of the hotter, drier conditions produced by climate change, the country's forest service chief told Congress on Tuesday.
But the forest service was forced to make sharp cuts to fire prevention programmes, and reduce the numbers of fire-fighters and engines because of budget pressures, Thomas Tidwell, the chief of the United States Forest Service, told...
Drought, climate change and forest practices elevate Utah wildfire risk
Posted by Salt Lake Tribune: Judy Fahys on June 4th, 2013
Salt Lake Tribune: So is the hazard created by modern forest management, said Michael Jenkins, associate professor in USU’s Quinney College of Natural Resources. Aggressive management has been "essentially eliminated," and dry forest undergrowth has built up, turning parts of Utah into tinderboxes, he said.
"Forests today are in a much different state than they were 200 years ago when fires were more common," Jenkins said. "We have suppressed fires for 100 years, which has allowed fuels to build up, trees to get...
The shale revolution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
Telegraph: The solution to Britain's energy problems could well be beneath our feet. On Monday, IGas, one of the leading shale gas explorers, revealed that there may be as much as 172 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the area that it has a licence to explore in the North West of England -- equivalent to more than 50 years of UK usage. Of course, we do not know for sure if this entire amount is either there or fully exploitable, but it is a hopeful sign none the less. Cuadrilla, another energy firm, estimates...
Pakistan’s dangerous negligence of climate change
Posted by Dawn: Suhail Yusuf on June 4th, 2013
Dawn: Pakistan is no stranger to being plagued by multiple crises. News headlines are usually dominated by issues like terrorism, extremism and power shortage but an even more alarming danger could affect the future of Pakistan if it is not tackled on a priority basis.
The dangerous threat we all know as climate change has been virtually left off the radar by our less than visionary leaders when it comes to issues of national priority.
Environmental degradation costs Rs 365 billion annually to Pakistan...
Monitor lizards vanishing to international trade in pets and skins
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
Mongabay: The world's monitor lizards remind us that the world was once ruled by reptiles: this genus (Varanus) includes the world's biggest lizards, such as the stunning Komodo dragon and many other island kings. A large number beautifully-colored and patterned, these lizards are known for their intelligence and their apex role in many island food chains. However, a new study finds that the world's monitors, especially those in Southeast Asia, are vanishing due to the international pet trade and for their...
The intensity of land use doubled in the 20th century
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The growth of green plants -- which can be measured in terms of "net primary production," or NPP for short -- provides the energetic foundation for all life on earth. The share of NPP appropriated by humans (HANPP) through agriculture and forestry, bioenergy production, and vegetation fires doubled over the course of the past century. Researchers at the Institute of Social Ecology at the AAU have shown that while land is used more efficiently, simultaneously, the intensity of land use has increased...
Germany sends troops to help flooded cities as death toll rises
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2013
Associated Press: Germany has dispatched thousands of soldiers to help cities and towns cope with flooding from the rain-soaked Danube and other southern rivers – reinforcements that came a day after the Bavarian city of Passau saw its worst flooding since 1501.
The death toll rose to at least 10, including seven in the neighbouring Czech Republic, where a man was found dead in the water in eastern Bohemia. Another nine people have been reported missing in the floods that have also swept through Austria and Switzerland....
A Menu for a Sustainable Food Future
Posted by EcoWatch: Craig Hanson and Tim Searchinger on June 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: How can the world feed more than 9 billion people by 2050 in a manner that advances economic development and reduces pressure on the environment? This is one of the paramount questions the world faces over the next four decades.
Answering it requires a “great balancing act” of three needs--all of which must be met simultaneously.
Balancing Three Needs
The world needs to close the gap between the amount of food available today and the amount required in 2050. According to new WRI analysis,...