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Archive for May, 2011
China cracks down on lead emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2011
Associated Press: China is cracking down on emissions of lead and other heavy metals following a spate of poisoning cases and reports that much of the country`s soil is contaminated with toxic materials.
Rules viewed yesterday on the website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection order criminal penalties for businesses and local officials who violate restrictions on use of the toxins. They were announced after dozens of children living near a battery plant in southern China`s Guangdong Province were reportedly...
South Korea: South Korea unveils completely eco-friendly building
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2011
Reuters: South Korea has opened what it says is the ultimate eco-friendly business center, a construction that emits zero carbon and uses only renewable energy, in a project to underline the government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.
The 2,500 square-meter building, which houses a climate change research center at Incheon near the capital Seoul, was opened last month by the environment ministry at a cost of around $8 million.
The ministry's National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER)...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on South Korea: South Korea unveils completely eco-friendly buildingClimate Change Blamed for Record Mississippi Floods
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on May 20th, 2011
Environment News Service: Climate Change Blamed for Record Mississippi Floods Environment News Service (ENS)
Climate Change Blamed for Record Mississippi Floods
WASHINGTON, DC, May 20, 2011 (ENS) - Human-induced climate change is contributing to the recent heavy rain and ongoing record flooding along the Mississippi River, and we can expect more extreme weather events in the future, according to scientists and adaptation experts on a teleconference held by the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"Climate change is...
Agricultural research aims to improve harvests on warmer planet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2011
Voice of America: Climate change has brought dramatic droughts and floods around the world, ruining harvests of important cereal crops and reviving concerns about food security on a warmer planet. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are looking at cereal crops at risk and their wild, weedy relatives. The weeds are more resilient under extreme conditions, and seem to be benefiting from climate change, while regular crops suffer.
Plant physiologist Lewis Ziska has been comparing cultivated rice and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Agricultural research aims to improve harvests on warmer planetAmaila Falls Hydro Project… Controversy surrounds Sithe Global licence
Posted by Kaieteur News: None Given on May 20th, 2011
Kaieteur News: Controversy surrounds the licence Sithe Global says was handed to it by Synergy Holdings, the original developer of the US$700 million Amaila Falls Hydro Electricity Project.
Yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, said that it was a question of semantics whether Sithe Global has an altogether new licence or whether the licence which it now has is the old licence with some amendments.
James McGowan, Senior Vice President (Development) at Sithe Global said recently...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amaila Falls Hydro Project… Controversy surrounds Sithe Global licenceChina warns of ‘urgent problems’ facing Three Gorges dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2011
Guardian: Water being released from the Three Gorges Dam in central China's Hubei province. The state council has admitted the dam is creating a legacy of major environmental and social problems. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
The Three Gorges dam, the flagship of China's massive hydroengineering ambitions, faces "urgent problems", the government has warned.
In a statement approved by prime minister Wen Jiabao, the state council said the dam had pressing geological, human and ecological problems. The report...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China warns of ‘urgent problems’ facing Three Gorges damConserving Threatened Species Despite Habitat Fragmentation
Posted by Epoch Times: Cassie Ryan on May 19th, 2011
Epoch Times: Plant species spread by birds may need a helping hand from humans due to fragmentation of forest habitats, according to a new study published in the April edition of the journal Ecology.
Deforestation creates forest fragments that can be separated by large tracts of inhospitable land. Some birds help to propagate certain plants by eating seeds and defecating them at a distance from the parent plant. However, if the seeds land in an area that does not promote growth, long-distance dispersal of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Conserving Threatened Species Despite Habitat FragmentationEPA Admits Making Math Error in Mercury Proposal
Posted by Greenwire: Gabriel Nelson on May 19th, 2011
Greenwire: After being taken to task by critics in the utility industry, U.S. EPA conceded yesterday that it made mathematical errors in newly proposed limits on mercury from coal-fired power plants.
The Utility Air Regulatory Group, a coalition of power companies that often challenges new Clean Air Act rules, recently claimed that "egregious errors" by EPA led to estimates that the cleanest power plants are releasing 1,000 times less mercury than they actually are. The mercury limits are one of the key...
US southern forests face bleak future, but is sprawl or the paper industry to blame?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2011
Mongabay: More people, less forests: that's the conclusion of a US Forest Service report for forests in the US South. The report predicts that over the next 50 years, the region will lose 23 million acres (9.3 million hectares) largely due to urban sprawl and growing populations amid other factors. Such a loss, representing a decline of over 10 percent, would strain ecosystem services, such as water resources, while potentially imperiling over 1,000 species. However, Dogwood Alliance, which campaigns for conservation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US southern forests face bleak future, but is sprawl or the paper industry to blame?Indonesia signs moratorium on new permits for logging, palm oil concessions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2011
Mongabay: After five-and-a-half months of delay due to lobbying and political debate, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono finally signed a two-year moratorium on the granting of new permits to clear rainforests and peatlands, reports Reuters.
But details of the moratorium, which was a condition under Indonesia's billion dollar forest conservation partnership with Norway and was supposed to be signed January 1, won't be released until Friday, leaving it unclear what types of forest will be protected...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Indonesia signs moratorium on new permits for logging, palm oil concessions