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Archive for March 29th, 2011
The dark side of spring? Pollution in our melting snow
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 29th, 2011
Science Centric: With birds chirping and temperatures warming, spring is finally in the air. But for University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) environmental chemist Torsten Meyer, springtime has a dark side.
'During the winter months, contaminants accumulate in the snow,' says Meyer, an expert on snow-bound organic contaminants and a post-doctoral fellow at UTSC. 'When the snow melts, these chemicals are released into the environment at high concentrations.'
In a specially designed, temperature-controlled laboratory...
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Ecuador: Trees on Shaky Ground in Texaco’s Rainforest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
Inter Press Service: When the trunks of the trees move with every step you take, you know you are in a swamp. This is what happens when you walk over the seemingly firm and vegetation-covered ground over what was once a pit used to dump oil sludge in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
The extent and impact of oil contamination on the environment and human health in northeastern Ecuador are much worse than anyone could imagine, as Tierramérica discovered during an extensive tour of the area.
This reporter travelled...
Wind can keep mountains from growing
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 29th, 2011
Science Centric: Wind is a much more powerful force in the evolution of mountains than previously thought, according to a new report from a University of Arizona-led research team.
Bedrock in Central Asia that would have formed mountains instead was sand-blasted into dust, said lead author Paul Kapp.
'No one had ever thought that wind could be this effective,' said Kapp, a UA associate professor of geosciences. 'You won't read in a textbook that wind is a major process in terms of breaking down rock material.'...
Will the Gulf Stream slow down?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
Guardian: The Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift – which are part of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation – bring warm water, and with it warm air, from the tropical Atlantic to northern Europe. This helps keep the UK several degrees warmer than it would otherwise be.
Although this system is unlikely to pack up entirely, the IPCC deems a slowdown of it "very likely" over the next century. The reason is that increasing rainfall and snow-melt across the Arctic and nearby land areas could send more freshwater...
Billion-plus people to lack water in 2050: Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
AFP: More than one billion urban residents will face serious water shortages by 2050 as climate change worsens effects of urbanization, with Indian cities among the worst hit, a study said Monday.
The shortage threatens sanitation in some of the world's fastest-growing cities but also poses risks for wildlife if cities pump in water from outside, said the article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study found that under current urbanization trends, by mid-century some 993...
Nuclear power: When the steam clears
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
Economist: FEAR and uncertainty spread faster and farther than any nuclear fallout. To date the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan, laid low by the tsunami of March 11th, seems to have done little if any long-term damage to the environment beyond the plant’s immediate vicinity or to public health. In fits and starts, and with various reverses, the situation at the plant has come closer to being under control.
But the immediate crisis is far from over. The temperature of the three reactors...
Greener corporate accounts urged to aid nature
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
Reuters: Companies should do more to report their impact on nature to help curb damage that drains trillions of dollars a year from the world economy, a leading U.N. expert said on Monday. Pavan Sukhdev, head of the U.N. Environment Programme's Green Economy Initiative, said it could take five to 10 years to develop rules that would enable comparisons about which firms were best or worst in protecting the natural world. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is helping study...
Japan: Long game
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
BBC: We are now in a long game at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
Two-and-a-half weeks on from the colossal Tohoku quake and its associated tsunami, engineers are working tirelessly to regain full control of the facility.
The past week has seen major gains in getting on top of the crisis, but difficulties and frustrations continue to hamper progress.
The major concern right now would appear to be the second reactor unit at the six-unit plant.
High levels of radiation...
Mexico makes major raid on exotic animal traffickers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2011
Reuters: Hundreds of police raided illicit markets to crack down on the lucrative trade in wild animals and rare flowers, arresting 15 traffickers across Mexico this weekend in one of the biggest swoops of its kind.
Rich in flora and fauna, Mexico is a major hub for animal trafficking where locals buy lizards, macaws and tropical fish in city markets and smugglers move endangered species across the country's border with the United States.
In three days of raids, authorities netted 4,725 wild plants...
Zimbabwe farmers struggling with worsening droughts
Posted by AlertNet: Lucia Makamure on March 29th, 2011
AlertNet: Esnath Murambasvina fondly remembers helping her parents grow crops such as maize, millet and groundnuts on their small piece of land in Masvingo province.
"My parents were farmers all their lives but I remember never lacking anything as I was growing up,' recalls the 55-year-old, whose parents were able to send her to nearby private mission schools on the proceeds from their farm.
Today she finds it very hard to accept that the soil that fed and sent her to school now cannot even produce enough...