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Archive for April 1st, 2011
When the floods came: Australia and Pakistan – video
Posted by Guardian: Gideon Mendel on April 1st, 2011
Guardian: X
Senate Panel Could Vote on Hydropower, Energy Efficiency Measures Soon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
Greenwire: A trio of hydropower bills and a measure on energy efficiency standards may be some of the first legislation the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee takes up this year.
Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said earlier this week that he is planning to hold a legislative markup before the Senate breaks for its spring recess in two weeks and another before the Memorial Day recess in May. A Democratic aide added yesterday that the hydropower and energy efficiency legislation could be among the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Senate Panel Could Vote on Hydropower, Energy Efficiency Measures SoonCorn records healthy gain on demand expectations
Posted by Associated Press: Sandy Shore on April 1st, 2011
Associated Press: Corn prices shot up 6.2 percent Friday on expectations that demand from users such as livestock owners and ethanol producers will strengthen while the grain remains in short supply.
Commercial users of corn joined other investors in buying futures contracts a day after two government reports indicated supplies will remain short even if farmers harvest a good crop this year.
The Agriculture Department predicted farmers will plant about 92.2 million acres of corn in the upcoming planting season....
Japan’s quake could shake climate pledges
Posted by Deutsche Welle: Tamsin Walker on April 1st, 2011
Deutsche Welle: Japan is a significant donor of climate funds but is facing domestic crises Government representatives from around the world are gathering in Bangkok for five days of United Nations climate talks aimed at overcoming obstacles ahead of a major summit at the end of the year.
Hundreds of politicians and climate change advocates are gathering in the Thai capital for talks billed as an opportunity to build on the deal struck in Mexico's Cancun at the end of last year.
In a statement released ahead...
Climate Change And Evolution Of Cross River Gorillas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
redOrbit: Two species of gorillas live in central equatorial Africa. Divergence between the Western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and Eastern Gorillas (G. beringei) began between 0.9 and 1.6 million years ago and now the two species live several hundred kilometres apart. New research published by BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that the divergence of Western lowland gorillas and the Critically Endangered Cross River gorillas (G. g. diehli) occurred more recently, about 17,800...
Preparing For a Warmer Planet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
National Public Radio: How prepared are we for the next big storm? In his new book Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, journalist Mark Hertsgaard explains how some countries like the Netherlands are planning 200 years in advance for rising sea levels and alternating periods of drought and heavy rains.
NGOs plead against environment permit for Romanian gold mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Two major NGOs involved in the conservation of cultural heritage on Friday called on the Romanian minister of Environment not to give permit to a Canadian gold mine project.
"We kindly ask you not to grant any environmental permit to the Rosia Montana gold mine project", the Pro Patrimonio Foundation and the ARA association that gathers Romanian architects and historians said in a open letter to the minister of Environment Laszlo Borbely.
"Open air mines will be located on historical sites...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on NGOs plead against environment permit for Romanian gold minePa.: Volatile byproducts sparked gas-well fire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
Associated Press: AVELLA, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a company failed to properly manage flammable byproducts that caused a gas-well fire that injured three workers in February.
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. says it is working with government agencies and will abide by the department's March 21 order to properly store and manage condensate, a liquid byproduct. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review first reported the order on Friday.
Agency spokeswoman Katy Gresh...
Ethiopia to reforest 15m hectares
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
Carbon Positive: Ethiopia plans to reforest 15 million hectares of degraded land as part of a climate change and renewable energy plan to become carbon neutral by 2025, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced this week. The forestry goal is one arm of a strategy that also includes developing renewable energy resources in hydro, wind, geothermal and bio-gas.
Ethiopia is already home to a reforestation project developed by the Word Bank to earn CER carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism....
U.N. suggests pesticides, chemicals for watch list
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 1st, 2011
Reuters: The United Nations has suggested three pesticides and three industrial chemicals be put on a trade "watch list" because they can threaten human health and the environment, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization said on Friday.
U.N. chemical experts have proposed that pesticides endosulfan and azinphos methyl and the hazardous pesticide formulation Gramoxone Super be added to the Rotterdam Convention's Prior Informed Consent procedure, the FAO said.
The UN-backed Convention prevents unwanted...