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Archive for April, 2011
WWF warns of massive forest loss
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
United Press International: More than 568 million acres of forest worldwide will disappear by 2050 if no action is taken, a new WWF report warns.
The report calls on governments and businesses to unite around a goal of zero net deforestation and forest degradation, or ZNDD, by 2020 as a global benchmark to avoid dangerous climate change and reduce biodiversity losses.
"We are squandering forests now by failing to sort out vital policy issues such as governance and economic incentives to keep forests standing," said Rod...
Indian Ocean’s waters may fuel Atlantic’s gulf stream, Miami study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Bloomberg: Waters “leaking” from the Indian Ocean into the south Atlantic may counter a predicted slowdown in the system of currents that includes the Gulf Stream and warms Europe, scientists said.
The flow from the Indian Ocean’s Agulhas system into the Atlantic may be increasing by 1.4 million to 4 million cubic meters of water per second every decade, researchers led by Lisa Beal at the University of Miami said in Nature. The water then joins the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation that includes...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Indian Ocean’s waters may fuel Atlantic’s gulf stream, Miami study showsTexas wildfires continue to rage amidst historic drought conditions
Posted by Climate Central: Dave Levitan on April 28th, 2011
Climate Central: State and local emergency responders battle wildfires near Swenson, Texas. Credit: Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System
Justin Myers shuttled back and forth, day after day: he fought the Swenson fire, then the Cooper Mountain fire for days on end, then the previously contained Swenson fire lit up again and he was back at it. And then, of course, he would come home to see if fires had crept any closer to his own ranch in Stonewall County, northwest of Abilene, Texas.
"We fought fire every...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Texas wildfires continue to rage amidst historic drought conditionsCoal is back, even as the Obama administration pushes green energy
Posted by I Watch News: None Given on April 28th, 2011
I Watch News: Big coal is hardly in retrenchment mode. Four of the nation’s five biggest coal companies saw sales rise in 2010, even as the Obama administration blocks expansion of coal mines and focuses on greener energy.
Most of the 1 billion tons of coal produced every year is used to generate electricity in the United States, said Carol Raulston, a spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, a trade group. Growth in production from 2009 to 2010 is attributed to an improving economy, which creates greater...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Coal is back, even as the Obama administration pushes green energyWater currents of South Africa could stabilize climate in Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
EurekAlert: Water currents of South Africa could stabilize climate in Europe
An international team of marine scientists studies the effects salt water from the Agulhas Current can have on global warming
One of the ocean currents which particularly interests oceanographers and climatologists is the Gulf Stream. This current, originating in the Gulf of Mexico, transports enormous amounts of warm tropical waters to the North Atlantic and is the cause of Europe's habitable climate. Climate predictions point...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Water currents of South Africa could stabilize climate in EuropeSurfers Against Sewage: Warning for our beaches
Posted by Independent: Ian Burrell on April 28th, 2011
Independent: Celine Gehret has been asked to pose for photographs many times but never while wearing a pink colander for a hat and a plastic shopping bag for a face mask. But Gehret, one of Cornwall's most outstanding surfers, is anxious to make a point.
The campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) claims that Britain's beaches are being damaged by the "growing problem' of marine litter and the discharge of effluent into the ocean.
An unusually warm April has already led to packed beaches but to coincide...
Road-building plans threaten Indonesian tigers
Posted by Associated Press: Ali Kotarumalos on April 28th, 2011
Associated Press: Indonesia is preparing to greenlight the construction of several highways through a park that has one of the world's few viable populations of wild tigers, conservationists warned Thursday.
The move would be especially alarming, they said, because it would come just months after the government signed a deal in Russia promising to do everything possible to save the iconic big cats from extinction.
There are about 3,500 tigers left in the wild worldwide. The Kerinci Seblat National Park, which...
Link Between Crop Failure and Climate Change Often Missed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent.
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 21 and ends today.
The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Link Between Crop Failure and Climate Change Often MissedIndia: Himalayan farmers point to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Himalayan villagers have won the backing of climate science for their suspicions that snow cover, water resources and the ecosystem are changing in their region, a study published Wednesday said.
The authors of the research carried out by Britain's Royal Society say this is the first time that subjective perceptions about climate change have been put to a wide scientific test.
And, they argue, it shows that local knowledge, far from being snubbed or sidelined, can be a useful tool for combating...
Illegal rosewood bust in Madagascar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 28th, 2011
Mongabay: Illegal rosewood bust in Madagascar
Illegal rosewood bust in Madagascar
Authorities in Madagascar seized several trucks carrying illegally logged rosewood timber, reports Asity Madagascar, a conservation group that aided in the seizure.
Asity Madagascar -- the island nation's branch of Birdlife International -- said more than more than 800 rosewood planks and 100 logs were recovered by the operation.
The rosewood is believed to have been cut in Tsitongambarika, the largest remaining area...