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Archive for July, 2013
What role do beavers play in climate change?
Posted by Science: Sid Perkins on July 12th, 2013
Science: When it comes to transforming their environment, beavers have a lot in common with humans. They clear-cut trees and build dams to block streams, in the process radically altering the world around them. Now, it appears that beavers play a complex role in climate change, too. A new study suggests that beaver dams and the sediments corralled behind them sequester carbon, temporarily keeping greenhouse gases containing the element out of the atmosphere. But when the animals abandon these sites, the carbon...
Secrets, Lies, and Missing Data: New Twists in the Keystone XL Pipeline
Posted by Bloomberg: Brad Wieners on July 12th, 2013
Bloomberg: Even if you haven’t been following the saga of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and haven’t decided if it’s a fast track to U.S. energy independence (those in favor) or “game over” for human civilization (those opposed, because of its role in climate change), yesterday’s developments are too rich to ignore. In fact, it may be game over for the Keystone XL—at least until 2016—thanks, once again, to U.S. State Department oversight. First, a refresher: Because the proposed line crosses the Canada-U.S....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Secrets, Lies, and Missing Data: New Twists in the Keystone XL PipelineRainstorms flood Sichuan province in China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 11th, 2013
New York Times: Rainstorms that are said to be the worst in five decades have flooded large areas of southwest China, washing out bridges, setting off a landslide that buried dozens of people and destroying a memorial to victims of the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province that flattened large parts of the same area. The state news media reported Wednesday that heavy rains, which began last weekend, have killed more than 50 people across China and disrupted two million lives. The worst flooding, in mountainous areas...
Exxon: Report blames Arkansas pipeline bust on defects
Posted by Associated Press: Chuck Bartels on July 11th, 2013
Associated Press: An independent report blames manufacturing defects for the failure of an ExxonMobil pipeline that sent 150,000 gallons of crude oil into the small town of Mayflower, the company said Wednesday.
The report, provided to Exxon and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, found cracks near a seam that failed on the ruptured Pegasus Pipeline, the company said. Both Exxon and the regulatory agency declined to release the report, which was produced by Hurst Metallurgical Research Laboratory...
US, China agree on carbon cutbacks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 11th, 2013
Reuters: The United States and China, the world's top emitters of greenhouse gases, agreed to five initiatives on Wednesday to cut carbon output from the largest sources, including heavy duty vehicles, manufacturing and coal-fired plants, the State Department said.
The US-China climate change working group, which officials from both countries formed in April, will work with companies and non-governmental groups to develop plans by October to carry out the measures aimed at fighting climate change and cutting...
Distant seismic activity can trigger quakes at ‘fracking’ sites
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 11th, 2013
Reuters: Powerful earthquakes thousands of miles (km) away can trigger swarms of minor quakes near wastewater-injection wells like those used in oil and gas recovery, scientists reported on Thursday, sometimes followed months later by quakes big enough to destroy buildings.
The discovery, published in the journal Science by one of the world's leading seismology labs, threatens to make hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which involves injecting fluid deep underground, even more controversial.
It comes...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Distant seismic activity can trigger quakes at ‘fracking’ sitesTrees Using Water more efficiently Due to Carbon Dioxide Increase
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on July 11th, 2013
Nature World News: Trees are using water more efficiently now than they did two decades back, according to a new study from Harvard University and the U.S. Forest Service.
Researchers said that increased levels of carbon dioxide along and lower levels of water in many parts of the world have increased the efficiency of water usage in trees.
Plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere via a process called photosynthesis, where they lose water through leaves. The ratio of water loss to fixed carbon is important...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Trees Using Water more efficiently Due to Carbon Dioxide IncreaseGreenpeace activists attempt to climb London’s Shard
Posted by Guardian: Peter Walker and Karl Mathiesen on July 11th, 2013
Guardian: A group of activists from Greenpeace was on Thursday attempting to climb the Shard, the tapered 310m glass tower next to London Bridge station, as a protest against oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.
In an action that was perhaps inevitable at some point after the completion last year of western Europe's tallest building, visible across much of central London, the six climbers began their ascent in the early hours of the morning.
The Twitter feed for Greenpeace UK carried a photograph of the...
Greenpeace protesters scale the Shard
Posted by Telegraph: Hayley Dixon on July 11th, 2013
Telegraph: The climbers, who began the stunt in the early hours of this morning, are protesting at oil and gas drilling in the Arctic.
The group are named as Ali Garrigan, 27, from Nottinghamshire, Sabine Huyghe, 33, from Ghen in Belgium, Sandra Lamborn, 29, from Stockholm in Sweden, Liesbeth Deddens, 31, from Groningen in the Netherlands, Victoria Henry, 32, from London, and Wiola Smul, 34, from Poland.
They are believed to have climbed onto the 72-storey building from the roof of London Bridge station...
Japanese Nuclear Plant May Have Been Leaking for Two Years
Posted by New York Times: Hiroko Tabuchi on July 11th, 2013
New York Times: The stricken nuclear power plant at Fukushima has probably been leaking contaminated water into the ocean for two years, ever since an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the plant, Japan's chief nuclear regulator said on Wednesday.
In unusually candid comments, Shunichi Tanaka, the head of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, also said that neither his staff nor the plant's operator knew exactly where the leaks were coming from, or how to stop them.
The operator, Tokyo Electric Power, has reported...
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