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Archive for June, 2015
UH: Mauna Kea summit road to remain closed
Posted by KITV: None Given on June 30th, 2015
KITV: The Mauna Kea summit road, beginning at the Halepohaku mid-level facilities, will remain closed to all but authorized personnel until further notice, according to the University of Hawai'i.
The UH Office of Mauna Kea Management is currently assessing damage to the road and stability of the slopes for potential rockfalls.
UH exercised its authority under the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan to close the road last week due to hazardous conditions. They included the presence of boulders...
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Queensland minister green groups forced radical shift Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Guardian: Joshua Robertson on June 30th, 2015
Guardian: Government moves to protect the Great Barrier Reef would not have occurred but for green groups “holding governments to account”, Queensland’s environment minister, Steven Miles, says.
The federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, has accused environment groups of exaggerating threats to the reef, citing Greenpeace for waging a “deceptive campaign” to have it declared “in danger” by the UN.
But Miles voiced his support for the role of green groups before his trip to Germany for a final UN decision...
How dramatic climate change Southern Sahara reduced largest freshwater lake desert dunes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 30th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Researchers from Royal Holloway, Birkbeck and Kings College, University of London used satellite images to map abandoned shore lines around Palaeolake Mega-Chad, and analysed sediments to calculate the age of these shore lines, producing a lake level history spanning the last 15,000 years.
At its peak around 6,000 years ago, Palaeolake Mega-Chad was the largest freshwater lake on Earth, with an area of 360,000 km2. Now today's Lake Chad is reduced to a fraction of that size, at only 355 km2. The...
Recent mercury pollution on the rise, but quick to change, study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
ScienceDaily: A Dartmouth-led study using a 600-year-old ice core shows that global mercury pollution increased dramatically during the 20th century, but that mercury concentrations in the atmosphere decreased faster than previously thought beginning in the late 1970s when emissions started to decline.
The findings suggest that present-day efforts to cut mercury emissions will reduce pollution more quickly than current models predict.
The study appears in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. ...
Big reserve expansion gives tigers a boost in India
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on June 29th, 2015
Mongabay: A hundred years ago, there were thirteen times as many tigers in the world as there are today, ranging from Turkey across the Eurasian continent to the eastern coast of Russia. The 13 countries that contain the world’s last tigers today - a mere, 2,500 mature individuals - are challenged with increasing protected tiger habitat to prevent crowding and inbreeding, while facing extreme funding and space constraints. One state in India, however, has found a cost-effective way to give tigers more room....
Rain Harvesting Could Provide Major Economic Benefits in India, Study Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Collecting precipitation in rain barrels could result in significant savings for many people in India, according to an analysis of precipitation data collected by a NASA satellite. Estimates showed that harvested rain could provide at least 20 percent of average indoor water demand, or entirely irrigate a household vegetable garden. The savings associated with a vegetable garden could be between 2,500 and 4,500 rupees per year (39 to 71 U.S. dollars) — an amount equivalent to half a year’s rent in...
United Kingdom: Demonstrators celebrate Lancashire fracking licence rejected
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Guardian: Anti-fracking protesters cheer outside County Hall in Preston as news emerges that an application to frack in the area has been rejected. On Monday Lancashire County Council turned down a planning request to allow fracking on a site near Little Plumpton, prompting campaigners to parade through Preston city centre in celebration.
Chinese turtle heist sends rare Philippine species brink of extinction
Posted by Mongabay: Glenn Scherer on June 29th, 2015
Mongabay: On Friday, June 19, Philippine authorities raided a warehouse on the island of Palawan and confiscated more than 4,000 live, illegally harvested rare turtles, only days before they were to be shipped to foreign food and pet markets.
"It appears that a businessman, a Chinese national in the Philippines, had stored them in a warehouse in large cement tanks, piled a dozen deep, awaiting export to China," Dr. Brian D. Horne told mongabay.com. Horne is the Wildlife Conservation Society's coordinator...
Washington wildfire engulfs 3,000 acres, homes burn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
Reuters: A wildfire racing through central Washington state "blew up" overnight, threatening homes and businesses as flames enveloped roughly 3,000 acres, nearly double the area burning only a day earlier, state officials said Monday. "It jumped last night, just blew up," said Janet Pearce, spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. "It is such a bad year." Emergency officials were deploying added teams of firefighters to the area, Pearce said. On Sunday, hundreds of people were...
Supreme Court Blocks Obama Administration Plan On Power Plant Emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 29th, 2015
National Public Radio: The Supreme court has ruled against an Obama administration effort to limit toxic mercury emissions from power plants, saying the costs of compliance with regulation should be taken into account.
In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with industry and 23 states that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency over the rules for oil- and coal-fired utilities, which the EPA estimated would cost $9.6 billion dollars annually. The states and industry groups said the cost estimate far outweighed the...