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Archive for August, 2011
In Arid South African Lands, Fracking Controversy Emerges
Posted by Yale Environment 360: todd pitock on August 4th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: In Arid South African Lands,
Fracking Controversy Emerges
The contentious practice of hydrofracking to extract underground natural gas has now made its way to South Africa’s Karoo, a semi-desert known for its stark beauty and indigenous plants. But opposition is growing amid concern that fracking will deplete and pollute the area’s scarce water supplies.
On a cool day in May, Jonathan Deal, the 52-year-old owner of an ecotourism farm called Gecko Rock, strikes up a steep kopje at a pace...
Posted in 
Record breaking spring due to warm weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2011
Telegraph: The Woodland Trust survey of 40,000 volunteers found that the traditional signs of spring were on average 17 days earlier because of the hot weather in April.
The orange-tipped butterfly was spotted almost a month early on 13th April, the earliest sighting since records began in 1891. The horse chestnut, dog rose and purple lilac also broke records for coming into leaf early.
Most of the species only have records going back to 2001,
The survey recorded the earliest leafing this century for...
Heat waves pushes Texas power grid into red zone
Posted by Reuters: Eileen O'Grady on August 4th, 2011
Reuters: The Texas power grid operator has scrambled this week to meet soaring electricity demand in the face of a brutal heat wave, and residents of the second most populous U.S. state are one power plant shut-down away from rolling blackouts.
Power demand for Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc, or ERCOT, which runs the power grid for most of the state, hit three consecutive records this week as Texans cranked up air conditioners to escape one of the hottest summers on record.
The grid operator...
Plant Biologists Dissect Genetic Mechanism Enabling Plants To Overcome Environmental Challenge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
redOrbit: When an animal gets too hot or too cold, or feels pangs of hunger or thirst, it tends to relocate – to where it’s cooler or hotter, or to the nearest place where food or water can be found. But what about vegetative life? What can a plant do under similar circumstances?
Plants can’t change the climate and they can’t uproot themselves to move to a more favorable spot. Yet they do respond successfully to changes in environmental conditions in diverse ways, many of which involve modifications of...
Climate Change an Extra Burden for Native Americans, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
New York Times: Because tribal lands are particularly prone to drought, flooding, wildfires and other weather extremes, American Indian tribes suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, a new study from the National Wildlife Federation and other groups reported Wednesday.
American Indians and Alaska natives are more dependent than most other Americans on natural resources and on the bounty of oceans and rivers and thus are particularly at risk from the effects of a warming planet, according...
Protected areas not enough to save life on Earth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
Mongabay: Since the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 protected areas have spread across the world. Today, over 100,000 protected areas-national parks, wildlife refuges, game reserves, marine protected areas (MPAs), wildlife sanctuaries, etc.-cover some 7.3 million square miles (19 million kilometers), mostly on land, though conservation areas in the oceans are spreading. While there are a number of reasons behind the establishment of protected areas, one of the most important is the conservation...
Parasite Creating Deformed Frogs in Western U.S
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
National Geographic: Amphibians with "sick and twisted" deformities continue to be widespread in the western United States, new research says. ee more pictures of the deformed frogs.)
A flatworm parasite called Ribeiroia ondatrae infects several species of frogs just as they're developing their limbs, causing an assortment of defects such as no legs or even multiple legs that jut out at weird angles from the frogs' bodies scientists say.
The deformed frogs are often unable to move and either die or quickly get...
The Global Food Crisis, Mapped
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
New York Times: Oxfam, the anti-hunger group, has been running a campaign to call attention to the global food crisis, its consequences and its potential solutions. The Times outlined the challenge of future food security on a warming planet in this article several weeks ago, and this week my colleague Jeffrey Gettleman described the appalling famine unfolding in Somalia. The Somalia situation has a drought component, although the causes of the suffering seem to be primarily political. The people at Oxfam just...
As Famine Rises, So Do Political Hurdles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: During East Africa's worst drought in 60 years, tens of thousands have already died and millions urgently need food. The United Nations is warning that the crisis will worsen if aid is not increased. Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai says government systems have severely lagged in helping locals and solving environmental problems. She tells host Michel Martin what else should be done to bring relief to the region.
Canada: New Method Makes Tar Sands Removal Cheaper and Cleaner, Group Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
Yale Environment 360: A Canadian consortium says it has developed technology that could double the amount of oil that can be extracted from Alberta’s abundant tar sands and cut greenhouse gas emissions associated with the
Exploiting North America’s largest oil deposit has destroyed vast stretches of Canadian forest. Now opponents are battling the Keystone XL pipeline, which would pass through environmentally sensitive lands as it moves the oil to market.
Existing technologies to extract and process the sludgy bituminous...