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Archive for January, 2011
Crematorium could help heat council swimming pool
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2011
Guardian: A council is proposing to save money – and combat global warming – by heating a leisure centre and swimming pool using heat generated by the crematorium next door.
Redditch council in Worcestershire says it can save £14,500 a year by warming its new Abbey Stadium sports centre with heat from the crematorium's incinerators that would otherwise be lost.
The council, which says it is the first project of its kind in the UK, is holding briefings later this week with faith groups, funeral directors...
Santos calls on G-20 to tackle climate change
Posted by Colombia Reports: None Given on January 24th, 2011
Colombia Reports: Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos calls on the G-20 to help deal with the devastating effects of Colombia's rainy season and to implement policies to combat climate change.
Santos was received by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, with whom he discussed the bilateral diplomatic agenda, reports Caracol.
"I sent a signal to the G-20 countries and the industrialized world because there is an enormous financial cost and reconstruction will cost us at least COP12 billion [$6.5 million]....
Agric workers brainstorm to minimise effects of climate change
Posted by Modern Ghana: None Given on January 24th, 2011
Modern Ghana: Ghana's 0.05 contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane, has been described as minimal, yet, it is one of the countries to suffer the greatest impact of climate change.
This is due to the fact that the effect of the phenomenon on tropical countries was higher.
GHG are responsible for the warming of the earth, and scientific evidence indicates that due to the activities of humans, it had greatly increased over the years, impacting negatively on agriculture,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Agric workers brainstorm to minimise effects of climate changeLawmakers Gear Up to Drill Commission on Oil Spill Report’s Findings
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2011
Greenwire: This week the leaders of the presidential commission that investigated last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will take their case for increased funding and offshore drilling safety reform to Capitol Hill, but their specific legislative recommendations may reach deaf ears. The seven-member commission's widely anticipated 280-page report and recommendations for offshore drilling reform released to the president earlier this month included several recommendations directed to industry and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lawmakers Gear Up to Drill Commission on Oil Spill Report’s FindingsFood prices could double without GM foods, scientists warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2011
Telegraph: The Government-commissioned report said the current system of food production is not working as farms are focused on mass production that is destroying the environment.
While billions of people around the world are hungry and malnourished, more than a billion others are suffering health problems because of obesity.
This problem is likely to get worse as the population rises and agricultural land becomes increasingly scarce because of climate change and environmental degradation.
The authors...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Food prices could double without GM foods, scientists warnTen tweets for and against GM
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2011
Telegraph: 10 reasons we need GM crops
1. Over 2 trillion meals containing some GM ingredients have been consumed worldwide without one substantiated health impact.
2. GM technology is currently (2009 figures) being used by over 14 million farmers on 134million hectares of land (the equivalent land mass of the UK and Ireland, France and Germany put together)
3. GM can dramatically improve yields in crops on the same amount of land (depending on local conditions and the type of crop).
4. GM crops...
Food system must transform on scale of industrial revolution, says report
Posted by Guardian: Damian Carrington and John Vidal on January 24th, 2011
Guardian: The world will not be able to feed itself without destroying the planet unless a transformation on the scale of the industrial revolution takes place, a major government report has concluded.
The existing food system is failing half of the people on Earth, the report finds, with 1 billion going hungry, 1 billion lacking crucial vitamins and minerals from their diet and another billion "substantially overconsuming", leading to obesity epidemics. Stresses on the food system are reflected in price...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Food system must transform on scale of industrial revolution, says reportBird, Fish Kills Quite Common – and That’s the Problem
Posted by Inter Press Service: Matthew Cardinale on January 24th, 2011
Inter Press Service: The New Year brought a spate of incidents across the United States and around the world in which large numbers of birds appeared to have fallen out of the sky, and thousands of fish were found floating dead in rivers.
As media reports multiplied of mysterious mass wildlife deaths, and blogs and social media picked up on the story, the inevitable theories began circulating, ranging from the outlandish (a sign of the apocalypse) to the more plausible (a consequence of environmental damage, such...
First-ever global map of surface permeability informs water supply, climate modelling
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on January 24th, 2011
Science Centric: University of British Columbia researchers have produced the first map of the world outlining the ease of fluid flow through the planet's porous surface rocks and sediments.
The maps and data, published Friday in Geophysical Research Letters, could help improve water resource management and climate modelling, and eventually lead to new insights into a range of geological processes.
'This is the first global-scale picture of near-surface permeability, and is based on rock type data at greater...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on First-ever global map of surface permeability informs water supply, climate modellingClimate change and evolution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2011
Economist: OUR topics this morning are global warming, evolution and feathers. Let's start with the warming. Despite a frenzied last-minute drive involving snowstorms in Europe and the eastern United States, planet Earth failed to save itself from another last-place finish in 2010: once again, it was the least cold year on record. The World Meteorological Organization announced its finding last week that global mean temperatures for the year were 0.53°C above the 1961-1990 mean, 0.01°C warmer than 2005 and...