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Archive for March 13th, 2011
Oil Spills Mean Air Pollution Too
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2011
Scientific American: Crude oil. It’s really a stew of various hydrocarbons. And when the oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico last year, some stew ingredients were able to take to the air—in two distinct groupings. That’s according to research published in the journal Science. Evidence for the atmospheric incursions was captured by NOAA's hurricane hunter airplane on two flights last June. The first oil trail was a three-kilometer wide downwind plume made up of the crude’s lightest hydrocarbons. They evaporated...
Analysis: Nuclear power growth at risk if Japan plant leaks
Posted by Reuters: Gerard Wynn and Bernie Woodall on March 13th, 2011
Reuters: The growing risk of a significant radiation leak at two Japanese nuclear power plants following Friday's earthquake and tsunami threatens to hurt an industry that has enjoyed a rebirth since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
On Friday, nuclear power advocates and environmentalists staked out familiar ground over the incident. But a wider public debate may be ignited if a major radiation leak occurs in Japan, said Paul Patterson, an energy analyst with consultants...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Analysis: Nuclear power growth at risk if Japan plant leaksCosta Rica a picture-perfect paradise
Posted by Herald Times Reporter: None Given on March 13th, 2011
Herald Times Reporter: Costa Rica has endless beauty and friendly people, and it's one of the happiest places on Earth.
In January, four friends and I visited this small, tropical country in Central America. We experienced a range of ecosystems: rainforests, cloud forests, dry Pacific forests, mangroves and coral reefs.
On our first day, we traveled northwest of the capital of San Jos? and peered over the bubbling and steaming main crater at Po?s Volcano National Park. This active volcano vividly called to mind the...
Colombian Amazon village bans prying tourists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2011
AFP: Just off the Amazon River, lies the village of Nazareth. But don't think about dropping by. Tired of being a curiosity to the outside world, the indigenous people have banned tourists.
Thousands of adventurous, backpacking tourists flock to southern Colombia every year, drawn by eco-tourism and the hope of interacting with the peoples who live and commune with the Amazon jungle following age-old traditions.
The Colombian Amazon, a peninsula sandwiched between Brazil and Peru, is famed for its...