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New Zealand stands by carbon trading plans
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 24th, 2010
Business Green: New Zealand will go ahead with its proposed carbon trading scheme despite Australia abandoning its plan to price carbon last month, prime minister John Key said this morning. There had been reports in the press that the Key administration might follow Australia's lead and abandon its emissions trading legislation in the face of public opposition. But speaking in an interview on Television New Zealand earlier today, Key said there was "no chance" that the scheme would be ...
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Man-made climate change blamed for ‘significant’ rise in ocean temperature
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 19th, 2010
Independent (UK): The world's oceans are warming up and the rise is both significant and real, according to one of the most comprehensive studies into marine temperature data gathered over the past two decades. Measuring the temperature of the oceans has not been easy, but the scientists behind the latest study believe there is now incontrovertible evidence to show that the top few hundred metres of the sea are warming -- and that this temperature rise is consistent with man-made climate ...
This is no forecast. Climate change is here and now
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 18th, 2010
Independent (UK): You can look at the warming of Lake Tanganyika as a geographical and scientific curiosity; but you're probably wiser to look at it with a considerable sense of foreboding. Africa may well be the region where global warming hits hardest in the coming century, a possibility clearly spelled out in the last report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2007. The "multiple stresses" include increased water shortages, severely compromised ...
Fire destroys rare snake collection
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 17th, 2010
Independent (UK): A fire in Brazil has destroyed what may have been the world's largest scientific collection of dead snakes, spiders and scorpions, which served as the main source for research on many species. Members of the Instituto Butantan said the nearly 100-year-old collection lost in the fire included almost 80,000 snakes and several thousand specimens of spiders and scorpions. The specimens were used to study evolution and how to avert extinctions, said institute director Otavio ...
Flood money: The water cycle
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 10th, 2010
Independent (UK): You've probably heard the dubious statistic that a glass of tap water in London has cycled through seven different people before ending up in your tumbler. But how much does water cycle naturally around the world? You might also remember those diagrams with lots of arrows in science lessons, showing water cycling between the seas, skies and rivers, but what is the relationship between the global water wheel and our environment? When it comes to the amount of water that trickles, drips ...
Third of all plants and animals face extinction
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 8th, 2010
Times (UK): ANIMAL and plant species are being killed off faster than ever before as human populations surge and people consume more, a United Nations report is expected to say this week. It will warn that the expansion of countries such as China, India and Brazil is adding hugely to the environmental threats already generated by developed western nations, and that a third of species could face extinction this century. The report is one of the starkest issued by the UN and the decision to ...
Marine paradise in peril as BP oil disaster threatens to become worst ever
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on May 6th, 2010
Times (UK): Fish are leaping, a dolphin is cruising behind the boat and six brown pelicans have just flown overhead in a perfect V-formation like a display team. When Captain Sam Elliott cuts the engine, the only sound is the water lapping against the hull and the cry of gulls. On the outer reaches of Louisiana's marshlands, a 75-minute high-speed boat ride from the last inhabited community, it appears that the only powers at work are the forces of Nature. Yet just a few miles away, the forces of ...
Why eco-friendly products are not as green as they appear
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on April 28th, 2010
Independent (UK): Faced with a choice between normal cleaning products and more expensive "green" alternatives, many shoppers pay more to do their bit for the environment. But store chains and specialist manufacturers may be exaggerating some of their claims for "eco" cleaners and washing powders, a process dubbed "greenwashing". according to a survey by a consumer group today. The claims of 14 "green" household cleaners, laundry tablets, nappies and baby wipes were put to the test by a panel of ...
United Kingdom: ‘Water rats’ to carry on polluting
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on April 24th, 2010
Times (UK): BRITAIN'S "water rats' -- the giant utility companies -- have been given permission to carry on polluting beaches just as families start digging out buckets and spades for the summer holidays. The government's Planning Inspectorate has rejected an attempt by the Environment Agency to impose regulations on 4,200 outlets that pump raw sewage into the sea and rivers. It means the water companies -- which together recorded profits of £1.8 billion in 2008-09 -- have again escaped ...
Study details at least four epic droughts in Asia
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on April 23rd, 2010
Independent (UK): A study of tree rings provided Thursday the most detailed record yet of at least four epic droughts that hit Asia over the past millennium, including one that helped end China's Ming Dynasty in 1644. Data collected over the past 15 years for the study is expected to help scientists understand how climate change can unleash large-scale weather disruptions. Any drastic shifts to the seasonal monsoon rains in Asia, which feed nearly half the world's population by helping crops ...