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Archive for March 26th, 2013
Studying clouds to find global answers
Posted by Press-Enterprise: Mark Muckenfuss on March 26th, 2013
Press-Enterprise: Some of the same chemicals that scientists believe are influencing climate change may be having an equally important effect on people’s health, as they inhale those chemicals into their bodies.
UC Riverside professor Akua Asa-Awuku is studying both.
Using the world’s largest atmospheric chamber at UCR’s College of Engineering/Center for Environmental Research and Technology, Asa-Awuku is trying to determine how airborne particles from emissions influence the formation of clouds. Clouds affect...
British butterfly species facing extinction after wettest summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 26th, 2013
Independent: Britain's butterflies suffered catastrophically in 2012, which saw the wettest summer on record for England. No fewer than 52 of the 56 resident British species suffered declines in the relentless rain and cold, some to such an extent that they now face extinction in parts of the country, according to the annual survey of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.
The weather created disastrous conditions for species such as fritillaries as they struggled to find food, shelter and mating opportunities;...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on British butterfly species facing extinction after wettest summerShell Plans to Spend $1 Billion on China Shale Gas Development
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 26th, 2013
Bloomberg: Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) will spend $1 billion developing China’s shale gas reserves, according to Peter Voser, the company’s chief executive.
Shell has won government approval for its production sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp., the nation’s biggest oil and gas company, Voser said in an interview in Beijing today. He didn’t specify a timeline or other details for the $1 billion investment.
China is working with overseas partners to introduce hydraulic fracturing, the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shell Plans to Spend $1 Billion on China Shale Gas DevelopmentButterflies ‘hurt by cold, wet 2012’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 26th, 2013
BBC: Butterflies suffered in last year's wet and cold weather, having their worst year since 1976, a charity says.
Only four of the 56 species studied in the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme saw an increase in population size.
The relentless rain and cold of 2012 meant that in particular summer species struggled to find food, shelter and mating opportunities.
The scheme looked at how a range of species did at more than 1,000 sites across the UK.
The black hairstreak, one of the UK's rarest butterflies,...