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Archive for June, 2011
Afforestation will hardly dent warming problem: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Schemes to convert croplands or marginal lands to forests will make almost no inroads against global warming this century, a scientific study published on Sunday said.
Afforestation is being encouraged under the UN's Kyoto Protocol climate-change treaty under the theory that forests are "sinks" that soak up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air through photosynthesis.
But environmental researchers, in a new probe, said that even massive conversion of land to forestry would have only a slender benefit...
Radiation bombards reactors, make them brittle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Associated Press: No aging problem has been more vexing or dangerous in nuclear power plants than the tendency of reactors to grow brittle.
This stubborn problem threatens the main radiation barrier at the plants: the garage-size steel vessels that cradle tons of radioactive fuel.
In certain emergencies, these vessels would flood with cooling water. If the vessel walls are too brittle, they could shatter and spew their radioactive contents into the environment.
This kind of accident is most likely to occur...
China food prices spike as floods ruin farmland
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 20th, 2011
Reuters: Torrential rain across southern and eastern China which has killed more than 100 people and triggered the evacuation of half a million has left large areas of farmland devastated as food prices surge, state media said on Sunday.
Weeks of rainstorms in the stricken province of Zhejiang in the Yangtze delta have caused nearly 5 billion yuan ($772 million) of damage, reducing vegetable production by 20 percent and pushing prices in the provincial capital of Hangzhou up by as much as 40 percent, Xinhua...
Irish turf cutters don’t give a sod for EU bog ruling
Posted by Guardian: Henry McDonald on June 20th, 2011
Guardian: Down in the bog, amid a field of black strips of turf stacked like Jenga sticks, Michael Fitzmaurice looks up defiantly at the plane snooping on his industry.
The aircraft is on the lookout for anyone still cutting, piling or collecting turf – an endeavour that the EU deems illegal.
"It's some crack that we have a country in recession and virtually bankrupt but the authorities can afford to put a plane in the sky to spy on turf cutters," he says breaking apart a piece of the black, natural...
Pylons could go ahead in national parks fear CPRE
Posted by Telegraph: Louise Gray, on June 19th, 2011
Telegraph: Nearly 300 miles of power lines will be needed over the next decade to connect new power stations to people's homes.
This could mean at least 1,000 pylons through areas of great natural beauty.
At the moment the National Grid, is consulting on whether it is possible to bury some of the cables underground.
But the Campaign for the Protection for Rural England (CPRE) and the Campaign for National Parks fear the body in charge of the country's electricity network is not taking underground cables...
Extreme weather moves on to agenda
Posted by Malaysian Star: Antonia Zerbisias on June 19th, 2011
Malaysian Star: Disaster management conference to tackle fallout from natural disasters, including global food crisis The first six months of 2011 have brought image after image of human misery and ecological upheaval. Droughts, wildfires, twisters, floods, heat waves, extreme blizzards -- just about every natural disaster you can imagine has hit just about every place on the planet. How to handle them, how to survive them, how to clean up and rebuild after them are among the many issues that will be on the agenda...
Amid Texas Drought, High-Stakes Battle Over Water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 19th, 2011
New York Times: On the cliffs surrounding Lake Buchanan in Central Texas, a white ring extends some 13 feet above the shoreline, marking where the water reaches when the lake is full. At nearby Lake Travis, staircases that once led to the water's edge now end well above it.
Lakes upriver near Austin are dropping in the drought.
These two lakes serve as key water sources for dozens of cities and hundreds of farmers, as well as for several power plants. With Texas gripped by drought, water levels have fallen...
China raises flood alert to top level, 555,000 evacuated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2011
Reuters: China has mobilized troops to help with flood relief and raised its disaster alert to the highest level after days of downpours forced the evacuation of more than half a million people in central and southern provinces.
The official China Daily said more than 555,000 people had been evacuated in seven provinces and a municipality after rains in recently drought-stricken areas caused floods and mudslides in the Yangtze River basin.
Central authorities have raised the disaster alert to the highest...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on China raises flood alert to top level, 555,000 evacuatedAs Crops Are Killed, House Forbids USDA From Preparing For Climate Disasters
Posted by Think Progress: None Given on June 18th, 2011
Think Progress: Flooded farmland in Tennessee
In a disturbing trend of attacking the government’s ability to prepare for climate risks, the House passed an amendment to the fiscal 2012 agriculture spending bill that would prohibit the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing new regulations on climate change adaptation. This amendment puts the nation at increased risk of food disruptions, forest fires and huge economic losses.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who introduced the amendment, bizarrely...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Crops Are Killed, House Forbids USDA From Preparing For Climate DisastersFukushima halts water decontamination
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2011
Associated Press: Fukushima workers detected a sharp radiation increase in the system's caesium-absorbing component. Officials at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it had begun because of a rapid rise in radiation.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, is investigating the cause and could not say when the clean-up will resume, company spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said.
Fresh water is being pumped...