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Archive for April, 2013
Less rainfall expected for the Hawaiian Islands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
ScienceDaily: Almost imperceptibly, rainfall over the Hawaiian Islands has been declining since 1978, and this trend is likely to continue with global warming through the end of this century, according to a team of scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. This latest Hawaii rainfall study, published in the March 13, 2013, early online issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, supports previous work conducted at the University of Hawaii. What has been...
Portugal: Wildfires can burn hot without ruining soil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
ScienceDaily: When scientists torched an entire 22-acre watershed in Portugal in a recent experiment, their research yielded a counterintuitive result: Large, hot fires do not necessarily beget hot, scorched soil.
It's well known that wildfires can leave surface soil burned and barren, which increases the risk of erosion and hinders a landscape's ability to recover. But the scientists' fiery test found that the hotter the fire -- and the denser the vegetation feeding the flames -- the less the underlying soil...
Source of organic matter affects Bay water quality
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
ScienceDaily: Each time it rains, runoff carries an earthy tea steeped from leaf litter, crop residue, soil, and other organic materials into the storm drains and streams that feed Chesapeake Bay.
A new study led by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reveals that land use in the watersheds from which this "dissolved organic matter" originates has important implications for Bay water quality, with the organic carbon in runoff from urbanized or heavily farmed landscapes more likely to persist...
Supreme Court justices tackle Texas-Oklahoma water fight
Posted by Reuters: Lawrence Hurley on April 23rd, 2013
Reuters: Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with the sensitive issue of whether a thirsty Texas water district has the right to access water across the Oklahoma state line.
The case arose under the Red River Compact, an agreement between Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma that apportioned water within the Red River basin. The compact was approved by Congress in 1980.
The Tarrant Regional Water District, which provides water in the fast-growing Dallas-Forth Worth area, would like to access...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Supreme Court justices tackle Texas-Oklahoma water fightBrazil’s success in reducing deforestation will be hard to replicate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
Mongabay: The sharp reduction in deforestation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso since the mid-2000s will be difficult to replicate in other tropical countries where commodity production is a major driver in forest loss, argues a new study published in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
The paper, titled "Export-oriented deforestation in Mato Grosso: harbinger or exception for other tropical forests?", evaluated the conditions that enabled Mato Grosso to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil’s success in reducing deforestation will be hard to replicateRiver views trump permanent flood protection
Posted by Associated Press: Jim Suhr and Jim Salter on April 23rd, 2013
Associated Press: Her Missouri hamlet soon to celebrate its 200th birthday, Mayor Jo Anne Smiley embraces Clarksville's perilous place along the Mississippi River, never mind that that the waters again threaten to wipe it and its potpourri of specialty shops off the map. In places like Clarksville and the Illinois town of Grafton just across the river, it's always been the clear views of the Mississippi drawing the tourists, unobstructed by a permanent levee. But that's left both communities north of St. Louis vulnerable....
Let’s Give Clean Water a Chance
Posted by EcoWatch: Yoko Ono on April 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: I was proud to be a part of the gathering of hundreds of clean water supporters at the recent Riverkeeper`s Fishermen`s Ball. It was a true celebration of the power of the grassroots movement for clean water and sustainable energy.
"Big Fish" honoree and fellow "frack"tivist Mark Ruffalo, Yoko Ono and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at the Riverkeeper Fishermen`s Ball on April 16 in New York. Photo credit: Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan
Through this event and my involvement with the fight against fracking...
EPA raises fresh concerns over Keystone pipeline
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday provided another twist to the long-running row over the planned Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, raising fresh concerns over the project's environmental impact.
President Obama is due to make a decision on whether or not to approve the project later this year and industry experts have been predicting that he is likely to rubber-stamp the pipeline after a State Department draft environmental impact statement recently failed to raise objections...
Indonesia: Samsung digs up controversial tin mine links
Posted by BusinessGreen: Jessica Shankleman on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: Samsung has pledged to clean up its act after admitting using tin from Indonesia that has almost certainly been extracted using dangerous and environmentally damaging mining techniques. The electronics giant has written to customers to confirm some of the tin it uses for manufacturing products does originate from the area near Bangka Island, which is believed to be killing coral reefs, driving away fish and destroying rainforests. The email comes after months of pressure from Friends of the Earth...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Indonesia: Samsung digs up controversial tin mine linksFacebook lifts the lid on its water, energy use
Posted by BusinessGreen: Heather Clancy on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: Two years ago, Facebook created the Open Compute Project to rewrite the rules for data centre efficiency, by using approaches that could be shared with other organisations.
This week, it started publishing the results of that work in the form of two public dashboards that track near real-time energy and water usage at its locations in Prineville, Oregon, and Forest City, North Carolina.
Its progress so far is notable. Facebook estimates that the "vanity-free servers" and best practices embraced...