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Archive for December, 2014
Life On Earth Could Face Mass Extinction 100 Years
Posted by Business Times: India Ashok on December 15th, 2014
Business Times: What if someone told you that in a hundred years, life on earth would cease to exist? Imagine a mass extinction to rival that of the dinosaurs being wiped from the planet! That is the future awaiting us all, according to a recent scientific report. The alarming rate at which animal species are dying may only increase with time. The Nature magazine recently published an article that delivered a grim warning for all its readers. The scientific journal carried out an in depth analysis of all the...
North Dakota Aims Lift Ban on Radioactive Oil Waste
Posted by Bismarck Tribune: None Given on December 15th, 2014
Bismarck Tribune: Oaks Disposal, northwest of Glendive, Mont., is the first landfill in Montana licensed to handle Montana's new regulated limit of 30 picocuries per gram of radiation in oil field. Jeff Rahr, an employee at Oaks Disposal, meters an incoming load to make sure it doesn’t exceed the site’s approved limit for radioactivity. Rahr is metering for one parameter, the background of particles emitted, which can’t exceed 15 uR per hour. He said the load was reading at 4 uR.
The State Health Department is...
More Than Just Cute, Sea Otters Are Superheroes Of The Marsh
Posted by National Public Radio: James Delahoussaye on December 14th, 2014
National Public Radio: On the roof of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, Calif., in a large plastic tank, a sea otter mother named Abby floats with her adopted pup, known as 671.
For up to nine months, Abby will raise her little adoptee, and when 671 is ready, she will be released into a protected inland salt marsh called Elkhorn Slough, just off Monterey Bay.
That's where 671 will set to work to preserve the estuary, says Tim Tinker, who tracks otters for the U.S. Geological Survey.
"The reason why we focus...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on More Than Just Cute, Sea Otters Are Superheroes Of The MarshLima Climate Talks Produce Weak Draft for Global Treaty
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on December 14th, 2014
Environment News Service: A climate deal reached late today by world governments at a UN conference in Lima keeps negotiations on track for a universal global climate treaty in Paris in 2015, but the weak text points to a tough year of talks ahead.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the outcome of the UN-backed climate conference, praising delegates for setting the groundwork for a more conclusive agreement to be reached in Paris.
The UN Climate Change Conference, known also as Conference of the Parties...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lima Climate Talks Produce Weak Draft for Global TreatyU.N., aid groups overstretched by crisis Congo mining heartland
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 14th, 2014
Reuters: Faced with a dearth of United Nations peacekeepers, lack of funding and competition from other global crises, relief agencies are struggling to contain a growing humanitarian disaster in Democratic Republic of Congo's mining heartland.
More than a decade after the official end of a 1998-2003 war that killed millions of people in Congo, mostly from hunger and disease, donors are keen to switch from emergency aid to longer-term development projects in the vast central African country.
But the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.N., aid groups overstretched by crisis Congo mining heartlandWarming climate puts wetlands more at risk to invasive species
Posted by Environmental News Network: Duke University on December 13th, 2014
Environmental News Network: In the battle between native and invasive wetland plants, a new Duke University study finds climate change may tip the scales in favor of the invaders -- but it's going to be more a war of attrition than a frontal assault. "Changing surface-water temperatures, rainfall patterns and river flows will likely give Japanese knotweed, hydrilla, honeysuckle, privet and other noxious invasive species an edge over less adaptable native species," said Neal E. Flanagan, visiting assistant professor at the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Warming climate puts wetlands more at risk to invasive speciesFears for rare wildlife as oil ‘catastrophe’ strikes Sundarbans
Posted by Telegraph: Tom Phillips on December 13th, 2014
Telegraph: Environmental authorities have been placed on high alert amid fears a major oil spill off India's east coast could threaten the habitats and lives of rare animals including dolphins, tigers and crocodiles.
Around 77,000 gallons of oil spilled into the waters of the world-famous Sundarbans nature reserve in neighbouring Bangladesh on Tuesday after a collision between a tanker and another vessel.
"This catastrophe is unprecedented in the Sundarbans and we don't know how to tackle this," Amir...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fears for rare wildlife as oil ‘catastrophe’ strikes SundarbansHimalayas tune in radio shows to reduce climate disaster risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2014
Reuters: "You know, humans do not understand that unless I am there to hold on to the soil, you will not be there either," the tree tells the mountain. "Yes, but ... villagers demand a road, the politician pushes for it and they cut parts of me and cut you and your folks too, and then there is a landslide!" replies the mountain. This unusual dialogue is heard by several thousand people tuned to Venval Vani, a community radio station based in Chamba in Uttarakhand, which was devastated by severe flooding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Himalayas tune in radio shows to reduce climate disaster riskUN: drought in Central America has pushed 2.5m people into food insecurity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 12th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: A drawn-out drought in Central America has pushed 2.5 million people in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador into food insecurity, the UN warned Friday.
The drought in the three countries is “turning into a creeping humanitarian crisis”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian agency, told reporters in Geneva.
Subsistence farmers, farm labourers and low-income families were especially at risk, with young children and pregnant women considered the most vulnerable, he said.
A full...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UN: drought in Central America has pushed 2.5m people into food insecurityEPA methane rules won’t hit gas utilities, industry predicts
Posted by Hill: Timothy Cama on December 12th, 2014
Hill: Natural gas utilities aren’t expecting to be affected very much by potential methane leak regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Leaders from the American Gas Association (AGA) said that utilities, also known as the downstream part of the supply chain, account for less than a quarter of a percent of all methane leaks in the country.
And the costs of reducing leaks from utilities would outweigh many of the benefits of reducing the potent greenhouse gas.
“Down at our end...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EPA methane rules won’t hit gas utilities, industry predicts