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Archive for October 27th, 2010
ALERT! Canada to Place Pacific Coastal and Temperate Rainforest Ecosystems at Risk for Tar Sands Pipelines and Further Oil Addiction
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on October 27th, 2010
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
The proposed Canadian Enbridge Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline through British Columbias pristine temperate rainforests and coastal ecosystems seeks to export tar sand [search] synthetic petroleum to Asia. Tar sands oil production will increase by 30%; causing up to five times the climate change pollution as conventional crude oil, and turning boreal forest the size of New York and New Jersey into an ecological wasteland. B.C.'s precious and fragile temperate rainforests and coastal waters will be placed at risk by major industrial development, and First Nations' salmon economy endangered. A whole series of new pipelines are being built and planned which, like needles, will inject the U.S. and Asia with another dose of dirty oil over-development. Tar sands and boreal forest destruction [search] must end, not be negotiated upon and greenwashed in backrooms by foundation fed green NGOs, as has become the pattern in Canadian forest advocacy.
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Comments Off on ALERT! Canada to Place Pacific Coastal and Temperate Rainforest Ecosystems at Risk for Tar Sands Pipelines and Further Oil AddictionNew monkey found in Myanmar near China dam project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Reuters: A new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project, scientists said Wednesday. They said hunters in Myanmar's Kachin state said the long-tailed black monkey, with white-tufted ears and a white beard, could often be tracked in the rain because its upturned nostrils made it prone to sneezing when water dripped in. "It's new to science. It's unusual to travel to a remote area ...
Reality check for ‘miracle’ biofuel crop
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
SciDev.Net: The hardy jatropha tree as a biofuel source may not be the panacea for smallholders that some have claimed, say Miyuki Iiyama and James Onchieku. It sounds too good to be true: a biofuel crop that grows on semi-arid lands and degraded soils, replaces fossil fuels in developing countries and brings huge injections of cash to poor smallholders. That is what some are claiming for Jatropha curcas, the 'miracle' biofuel crop. But studies on the ground suggest a lot more research and ...
Pennsylvania Governor Bans Fracking in State Forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
NYT: Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania signed an executive order on Tuesday effectively banning further natural gas development on state forest lands. Mr. Rendel, a Democrat, said the moratorium was needed in part to prevent the unchecked industrialization of public lands in a state that has seen a boom in natural gas development unparalleled there. Much of Pennsylvania, along with large swaths of New York and West Virginia, sits atop the Marcellus Shale, a potentially vast ...
Drought Has Amazon Tributary At Record Low Levels
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Associated Press: A severe drought has dropped water levels on a major Amazon tributary to their lowest point since officials began keeping records more than a century ago, the government reported Monday, cutting off dozens of communities who depend on the river for work and transportation.
Floating homes along the Rio Negro now rest on muddy flats, and locals have had to modify boats to run in shallower waters in a region without roads. Some riverbanks have caved in, although no injuries have been reported. Enormous...
The decline of the eel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Guardian: There are six of them, writhing lazily at the bottom of Darryl Clifton-Dey's plastic tank. "Weird" doesn't, frankly, do them justice: small, beady eyes; big ugly snout. Sinuous, slimy; even on a sunny morning on the banks of the Thames, faintly sinister. Beasts of legend and bad dreams. Even lightly sedated, one half-hearted wriggle and they slide effortlessly out of your grasp, a powerful ripple of grey-green and silver. Their skin is extraordinary, like liquid velvet.
It's not widely known that...
New monkey found in Myanmar near China dam project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Reuters: A new type of snub-nosed monkey has been found in a remote forested region of northern Myanmar which is under threat from logging and a Chinese dam project, scientists said Wednesday.
They said hunters in Myanmar's Kachin state said the long-tailed black monkey, with white-tufted ears and a white beard, could often be tracked in the rain because its upturned nostrils made it prone to sneezing when water dripped in.
"It's new to science. It's unusual to travel to a remote area and discover a...
At least 230 ducks die in latest Syncrude incident
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Reuters: About 230 ducks were euthanized after they landed on a toxic waste pond owned by Syncrude Canada Ltd, just three days after the oil sands producer was fined C$3 million for a similar incident two years ago that killed 1,600 waterfowl.
Syncrude said the birds landed on its Mildred Lake tailings pond in the northern Alberta oil sands on Monday and many had to be euthanized after coming into contact with tar-like bitumen floating on the surface of the pond.
They were among an unknown number of...
Climate show forecasts frozen, ramshackle London
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2010
Reuters: London's River Thames has frozen over, Buckingham Palace is surrounded by a shanty town and a flooded British capital is depicted as Venice with parliament rising from the waters in a new climate change show.
The "Postcards from the Future" exhibition is on at the Museum of London until March 6 next year. It includes 14 digitally transformed images of some of London's most famous landmarks to show the worst impacts of global warming, food scarcity and rising sea levels on Britain's capital.
Creators...
When the water ends: Africa’s climate conflicts
Posted by 360: None Given on October 27th, 2010
360: For thousands of years, nomadic herdsmen have roamed the harsh, semi-arid lowlands that stretch across 80 percent of Kenya and 60 percent of Ethiopia. Descendants of the oldest tribal societies in the world, they survive thanks to the animals they raise and the crops they grow, their travels determined by the search for water and grazing lands.
These herdsmen have long been accustomed to adapting to a changing environment. But in recent years, they have faced challenges unlike any in living memory:...