Russia counts the cost of drought and wildfires
The extreme heatwave, which caused a severe drought and wildfires in Russia, might be over, but both officials and consumers are now busy calculating its cost and trying to work out its consequences.
Russian deputy economy minister, Andrei Klepach, said earlier this week that the drought would take up to 0.8% off this year’s economic growth, “or maybe even more than that”.
The 0.8% official figure equals 313bn roubles ($10.1bn, £6.6bn at the current exchange rate), but is smaller than the 1.0-1.5% range some experts have come up with recently.
And it is not just about the annual economic growth rate being slower than expected.
In the first two full weeks of August, consumer prices in Russia rose by 0.4%, the same increase seen during the whole month of July.
Mr Klepach thinks that the August inflation rate will be about 0.5% “at best”. While for 2010, it will definitely exceed the earlier forecast of 6-7%, it will be lower than the previous year’s level of 8.8%, he suggests.
Farmers’ problems
Some smaller dairy farmers have had no choice but to start slaughtering cattle, due to rocketing fodder prices they cannot afford.
Bigger agricultural holdings are in a better position as still have a supply of fodder from last year and are using this year’s poor crops to feed their cows.
The agriculture ministry estimates that the sector lost some 32.7bn roubles, as more than a quarter of crops have been destroyed.
But some experts believe the loss figure might be several times higher, if you include other factors such as lower agricultural machinery sales.
First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said earlier this month that Russian banks were looking into prolonging agricultural credits worth 127bn roubles to help the industry.
Tapping into the electric power of heat
What if every gallon of gas in our cars and lump of coal in our power plants did extra duty? What if we could get more work out of our fuel? That’s the basic idea of waste heat recovery systems. A young venture based in San Francisco, California, called Alphabet Energy aims to take the decades-old idea of generating electricity from captured heat, and deploy it at massive scale on the cheap with a little help from nanotechnology and the semiconductor industry.
By providing a thermoelectric chip that can be inserted into any exhaust flue or engine to convert heat into electrical power, Alphabet hopes to become the “Intel of waste heat,” said Matt Scullin, the company’s chief executive and co-founder.
A thermoelectric device is simply a device that can make use of heat to generate power with no moving parts (just as a solar cell generates electricity from light.) It is based on the long-known principle that electrons can be pushed through a material by heat. Alphabet says its innovation is in both the choice of material and proprietary technology that gives it low thermal conductivity, and makes it highly suitable for both scale and miniaturization””for use in small devices as well as in large factory flues. The device is connected by wire to the plant’s electrical system or to the grid, so it feeds in power converted by heat in real time.
Only a year old, Alphabet has the ambitious goal of leading what it believes could be a $200 billion global market for technology at the core of waste heat recovery systems.
(Related: U.S. Energy Secretary: Change Can Happen Fast)
Alphabet’s efforts come as part of a larger drive by researchers, entrepreneurs, and trade groups to make use of heat energy that’s currently thrown away by factories, power plants, cars and even laptop computers. U.S. policymakers have generally lagged behind that push, said Scullin. But recently a bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Democratic Representative Paul Tonko of New York, former head of his state’s public power research authority, introduced a bill that would provide a 30 percent investment tax credit for installation of waste heat recovery systems in industrial settings.
Fire devil twister blazes a trail in Brazil
A fire tornado caused by brush fires and strong winds has stopped motorway traffic as drivers in Brazil gawped at the rare phenomenon.
The whirlwind of flames burned through fields beside the road in the northwest city of Aracatuba in Sao Paulo state.
But, as quickly as it appeared, the roaring twister fizzled down and just a smouldering line in the land remained.
The firestorm followed a drought which has led to brush fires across Brazil.
It has been three months since it last rained in the region and Sao Paulo state is already suffering from high pollution levels.
Humidity levels have also soared with Globo TV reporting they were similar to those in the Sahara desert.
As a precaution, state authorities have forbidden farmers from burning sugar cane field waste, a typical after-harvest activity.
In the most remote areas municipalities with few resources have been unable to contain fires.
Fire tornados, also known as fire whirls or fire devils, are rare and depend on certain air temperatures and currents to create a vertical, rotating column of air.
In 1923, a fire tornado ignited by the Great Kanto earthquake in Tokyo grew to the size of a large city and killed 38,000 people in 15 minutes.
At the time most of the buildings in Japan were made from wood and fire spread from house to house, destroying the city.
It estimated the earthquake and the ensuing fire killed between 100,000 and 141,000 people.
The ever-increasing bounty of agriculture has been with us as long as I can remember, but it may have finally hit the dreaded Peak, according to a new study published in CropScience by Robert Graybosch, a geneticist at the University of Nebraska and James Patterson, a geneticist at Oregon State University.
Genetic improvements have increased wheat yields about 1% each year since the late ’50s. But in 1984, several scientists noticed that the average yield improvement seemed to have slowed, in a sign that genetic gain was plateauing.
Graybosch and Patterson then went back in and made a more detailed study, carefully analyzing the last 50 years of data collected by the Department of Agriculture. They found that ever since the early ’80s, genetic gain has continued to steadily drop. And now it appears to have come to a halt.
About 68 million metric tons gets harvested in the US every year. There’s only two ways to get more. One is to increase the amount of land devoted to growing wheat. The other? Breeding efforts, like making it mature at ideal times, resist fungal infections, and divert more energy into making grain. We seem to have exhausted option two, if these scientists are right.
Several suspects.
1. Faster breeding pathogens, evolving more quickly than plant breeders can fight back
2. Possibly, breeding itself has weakened wheat by reducing the gene pool
Wheat has not been subjected to genetic modification, as have corn and soy. Wheat’s genome is very complex.
Directly altering wheat DNA with genetic modification could fix the problem, but it is not a choice that is popular, says Graybosch. Other options: plant more land, use more water. They don’t sound so great either.
Dry water shown to be effective in trapping CO2 emissions
A sugar-resembling substance that can absorb carbon dioxide within itself has been developed by a team led by Andrew Cooper, from the University of Liverpool, in the UK. The substance is called “dry water”, because it’s made of water and because it’s dry, containing silica.
A water droplet, which constitutes 95 percent of the particles, is surrounded by a modified version of silica, that resembles beach sand. The silica has the role of preventing the water droplets to combine and turn into a liquid. That’s why it’s called “dry water’.
Discovered in 1068, dry water was used at first in the cosmetics industry and then, in 2006, it was restudied by Cooper’s group for other potential applications. The find powder can retain gases by combining them with the water molecules to form a hydrate.
Carbon dioxide can be stored this way just like hydrogen and methane. This can be compared to the phenomenon of “burning ice”, in which methane is trapped the same way in hydrates and then slowly released.
Drought tolerant maize to hugely benefit Africa: study
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Distributing new varieties of drought tolerant maize to African farmers could save more than $1.5 billion dollars, boost yields by up to a quarter and lift some of the world’s poorest out of poverty, a study found.
The study published on Thursday by the Mexico-based International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), with input from other food research institutes, focused on 13 African countries in which it has been handing out drought tolerant maize to farmers over the past four years.
It described maize as “the most important cereal crop in Africa,” a lifeline to 300 million vulnerable people.
The Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa plan aims to hasten the adoption of maize varieties that withstand dry weather.
“The vision of this project is to generate by 2016 drought tolerant maize that … increases the average productivity of maize under smallholder farmer conditions by 20-30 percent on adopting farms (and) reaches 30-40 million people.”
It also aims to add an annual average of $160 – $200 million worth of additional grain to Africa’s harvest, it said.
Wilfred Mwangi, a Kenyan agricultural economist on the project, said the drought resistant maize shows comparative yields that beat other varieties even if there’s no drought.
“We are saying that comparing with whatever farmers are growing now, these varieties will outperform what they are doing,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Analysis: China clean energy plan hinges on coal price
China’s $736-billion push to harness nuclear, wind, solar and biomass energy hinges on making the cleaner fuels competitive with cheap and CO2-intensive coal without derailing surging industrial growth.
The world’s second-largest economy faces formidable challenges to make the plan work. Beijing must upgrade its rickety electricity grid, open up the network to alternative energy and raise tariffs to make new energy sources competitive with coal-fired power. All that while retaining investor confidence China will remain the low cost factory of the world.
“Parallel policies are essential,” said Wang Yi, deputy head of Institute of Policy and management, China Academy of Science.
“The government must gradually lift fossil fuel prices while granting incentives to non-fossil fuels to establish a long-term price signal.”
The plan is awaiting government approval, and the loans, grants and tax breaks it includes aim to encourage renewables, gas and nuclear use.
Beijing aims to cut carbon intensity as much as 45 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and increase the share of renewables to 15 percent of primary energy consumption. That is nearly double the current ratio and would make the country a leader in green energy manufacturing and use.
Design Competition to Determine Four New LEED Platinum Homes in New Orleans
At the onset of the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, students and emerging professionals are putting their time towards helping to rebuild New Orleans in a sustainable fashion. The 2010 US Green Building Council Natural Talent Design Competition, in partnership with the Salvation Army’s EnviRenew program, is preparing to have the final student and emerging professional designs for a small, green and affordable home judged by an internationally recognized panel in conjunction with the citizens of New Orleans’ Broadmoor neighborhood (where the homes will be built).
The designs, to be occupied by elderly couples, are designed to be LEED for Homes Platinum certified. Each home will be 880 SF, 7′ above grade for flood considerations and utilize Universal Design standards, all for under $100,000! All entries are currently on display through the Open Architecture Network and represent entries from 31 host USGBC Emerging Professional Committees, which coordinated the local marketing and first round of local judging.
The top four designs, two students and two emerging professional teams, will be announced by the end of August. Each of the winning teams will be honored by having their designs built for local residents in need, an incredible feat for both residents and designers. They will then enter into a measurement and verification period, a first for any design competition, to determine the grand prize winner a year after occupancy. During this measurement and verification period each home will be evaluated on energy efficiency, water use reduction, and indoor air quality among others. USGBC has elevated the conventional ‘design’ competition by implementing the measurement and verification period to test the built homes against their sustainable design claims, an issue striking the green building industry as a whole currently.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Storms bringing heavy rain and a tornado swept over parts of northwestern Germany on Thursday night, causing chaos and widespread flooding.
A rainfall reservoir threatened to burst its banks and flood an industrial area in Rheine, forcing emergency workers to bolster it with sandbags. And a tornado touched down in Bad Salzuflen causing considerable damage. There were also temporary power blackouts in several parts of the state of Baden-Württemberg due to falling trees and flooding. http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100827-29435.html
Not sure but this tornado seems record breaking and a very rare phenomenon (not anymore) in germany.
The drought tolerance varies according to the article from 6-30%. But looking back to 2009 it seems that these figures are not very reliable!
Monsanto GM-corn harvest fails massively in South Africa http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/270101#tab=comments&sc=0&contribute=&local=
The main problem with a lack of food in africa seems to be this:
“agricultural productivity growth in developing countries is now less than 1 percent annually.” http://climateprogress.org/2010/08/27/the-coming-food-crisis-global-warming-podest/#comments
“Fire tornado” This happend in russia’s wildfires aswell.
Regarding the cost of the drought & wildfire people miss to factor in health issues from smog and potentially radioactive contamination.
It takes around 10 years till the roots of the burned trees loss their carbon – so there is a feedback present.
Why didn’t anyone tell me that Sen. Murkowski was a climate champion? http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/67697
Waste heat recovery. I can see this working with hybrids. Turn the heat into electricity and feed that electricity to the batteries.
But with normal ICE vehicles? Might make a tiny improvement in gas mileage as it could replace the gas power needed to run lights and AC.
Add it to existing coal plants? Great! If we could get more from the coal burned we wouldn’t need to burn as much coal.
Danielle a Cat 4; Earl more organized; Northwest Passage opens for 4th year in a row http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1589
The Prop 23 push is in full gear in CA. Check this one out:
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/wind-263900-power-energy.html
From your friends at the Manhattan Institute.
How did you miss this one Prokaryotes?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS125711544920100826
MIT develops autonomous solar powered robots to clean oils spills from the sea. ~5,000 could have taken care of the gulf spill.
Beautiful NASA satellite pic of monster hurricane Danielle (600 miles wide, cat. 4, sustained winds 135 mph); click on it for the hi-res version: http://bit.ly/Danipic
The United Nations says up to one million people have been forced to flee their homes in the past 48 hours.
United Nations officials say the disaster has now reached a magnitude of crisis beyond initial fears.
“The floods seem determined to outrun our efforts. About one month from the onset of the floods, we don’t know when we will see their end, as the disaster is still unfolding.” More rain is forecast in southern Pakistan over the weekend http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/28/2996027.htm
Sorry if this is a repost…
Massive coral die-off in 93 degree waters.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38741347/ns/us_news-environment
“Sorry if this is a repost… ”
Np, as long the problem is not solved, reminder are a necessity “redouble”.
Solid info about South America -
Cold empties Bolivian rivers of fish
Scientists who have visited the affected rivers say the event is the biggest ecological disaster Bolivia has known, and, as an example of a sudden climatic change wreaking havoc on wildlife, it is unprecedented in recorded history.
“There’s just a huge number of dead fish,” says Michel Jégu, a researcher from the Institute for Developmental Research in Marseilles, France, who is currently working at the Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. “In the rivers near Santa Cruz there’s about 1,000 dead fish for every 100 metres of river.”
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100827/full/news.2010.437.html
—————-
As a system approaches a tipping point, it tends to move to the extremes, and has a harder time recovering from them.
Thank you for dissuading misinforming
commentators.
Jan 2010
Freak snowstorms and record low temperatures sweeping northern China are linked to global warming, say Chinese officials.
But, unlike the unseasonal snow falls that hit Beijing at the start of winter, the dump this week appears to have no link to the Government’s relentless efforts to change the micro climate.
There are about 2000 weather modification offices in China, according to the media, which are responsible for bombing the skies with silver iodide to induce precipitation. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/china-blames-freak-storm-on-global-warming-20100104-lq6t.html
Climate change sparks quickest evolution
“Our study is the first to experimentally show that certain species in the wild could adapt to climate change very rapidly,” lead researcher Rowan Barrett said on Friday.
However, the University of British Columbia (UBC) evolutionary geneticist warned, the evolutionary jump carries a deadly price tag: a high mortality rate.
About 95 per cent of the fish population died during the three-year study, with only five per cent developing a tolerance for cold,” he said.
“The consequences of losing 95 per cent might be catastrophic, because the remaining five per cent might not be able to sustain the population,” said Barrett. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/climate-change-sparks-quickest-evolution-20100807-11p63.html
Barrett noted that humans also evolved over some 10,000 generations, since their first migration from Africa, raising the question of how many generations it might take for northern peoples to evolve genes that could cope with warmer climates experienced by their African ancestors.
“You can start to draw a parallel in evolutionary rates,” said Barrett.
But he warned that, as shown by the 95 per cent mortality rate in the stickleback, such rapid evolution “can make the population extremely vulnerable… there are always consequences.”
The physiology of climate change: how potentials for acclimatization and genetic adaptation will determine ‘winners’ and ‘losers’
Physiological studies can help predict effects of climate change through determining which species currently live closest to their upper thermal tolerance limits, which physiological systems set these limits, and how species differ in acclimatization capacities for modifying their thermal tolerances. Reductionist studies at the molecular level can contribute to this analysis by revealing how much change in sequence is needed to adapt proteins to warmer temperatures — thus providing insights into potential rates of adaptive evolution — and determining how the contents of genomes — protein-coding genes and gene regulatory mechanisms — influence capacities for adapting to acute and long-term increases in temperature. http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/213/6/912
Maybe only black people can survive – lol.
“Have millions of years of evolution in thermally stable habitats like the Southern Ocean led to the loss of protein-encoding genes and regulatory elements that are essential for adapting to rising temperatures?
Fig. 1A shows how acute lethal temperature (LT50) varies among congeners native to different latitudes and distributed at various heights along the subtidal-to-intertidal gradient. Adaptive variation is clear. Tropical species are uniformly more heat tolerant than temperate species and, within each latitudinal group, species occurring highest in the intertidal zone have the highest LT50 values”
Junk DNA has answers and maybe characteristic agents jump start them? (As observed recently). Environments determinate the impact on habitats – the contents of the air once breathed create DNA impulse in organism. With sudden onset of unprecedented Co2 values the Genome is under stress to evolve faster.
This presentation of the data reveals a striking relationship: for both the tropical and temperate congeners, the most heat-tolerant species are, in general, most threatened by further increases in habitat temperature because current MHTs may reach or exceed the LT50. Furthermore, as discussed below, the most warm-adapted congeners of porcelain crabs are further disadvantaged by possessing a relatively small ability to increase LT50 during acclimation
Thank you for linking GW to economics.
The Curious Curse of the Microburst
Hammer of the Gods
Just when the leaves and mulch start letting go of their flood stink, just when there’s a chance that the heat and humidity might just back down a little, what do we Nashvillians get? A microburst, that’s what. http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/the-curious-curse-of-the-microburst/Content?oid=1739286
If Monsanto is not on the list of ‘most evil corporations’, please insert it. Their patent lawyers need to be indicted for committing genocide in the third world.
Monsanto brought the extraction mentality of chemical industries to food production, replacing the caring mentality of the small farm. They just don’t care. (Except about $$$$)
Numbers confirm it: Summer was a scorcher http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jclIVwsLwA0KCvevBtalyW0lVFDQD9HSNK9O6
Monsanto in Gates’ Clothing? The Emperor’s New GMOs
If you had any doubts about where the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is really placing its bets, AGRA Watch’s recent announcement of the Foundation’s investment of $23.1 million in 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock should put them to rest. Genetic engineering: full speed ahead. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-holt-gimenez/monsanto-in-gates-clothin_b_696182.html
Judge bans new Monsanto sugar beet plantings
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White said he was “troubled by maintaining the status quo that consists of 95 percent of sugar beets being genetically engineered while (the U.S. Department of Agriculture’ Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) conducts the environmental review that should have occurred before the sugar beets were deregulated.” http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2010/08/16/daily14.html
*** The fossil record from oceans around New Zealand shows a sudden discharge of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age, raising the possibility that a similar process may occur as a result of global warming, researchers say.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/nz-seabed-samples-clue-to-global-warming-20100828-13wbp.html
the ice began to melt, the CO2 began to leak back into the atmosphere, eventually escaping quickly as warming intensified, and so thoroughly, that there was little trace of it in the NZ samples.
Today, the CO2 level in the atmosphere has been rising in the past 200 years, pushing up the levels in the ocean.
“Human activities are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate and the build up of this important greenhouse gas is believed to contribute to global warming. It is also forcing much more carbon dioxide into the sea,” said Shane.
“If, as we have seen, the natural process of global warming at the end of the last glacial period caused the sudden release of extra carbon dioxide from the oceans into the air, there is reason to believe that a similar process might occur as a result of man-made global warming, further adding to the problem”.
Bolivia Asks Argentina, Brazil for Help in Putting Out Amazon Fires
The Bolivian government asked Argentina and Brazil for help in putting out the fires set by peasants in the Amazon to clear land for planting, given that they have burned more than 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) and are causing problems for air transportation.
The general director for forest matters in the Environment Ministry, Weimar Becerra, told Erbol radio that help was requested from Argentina and Brazil through their embassies in La Paz, specifically that they send water-tanker aircraft to Bolivia to be used in putting out the fires.
“It’s an environmental disaster. We have six forest fires (with flames) over 50 meters (yards) high, which are growing, and as a country we are not in the circumstances to put out the forest fires, which are serious,” Becerra said. http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=363743&CategoryId=14919
Brazil: Logging generates employment opportunities in Amazon
Commercial logging is still the main source of employment in most of the municipalities of Amazon region in Northern Mato Grosso, says the Timber Industry Association of Northern Mato Grosso (Sindusmad).
For example, in Cotriguaçu, a municipality 970 km Northwest of Cuiaba city of 14,000 people, more than 1,000 people are directly employed by the timber industry. Cotriguaçu forests are a source of many commercial timber species including Jatobá, Ipê, Cumaru, Caxeta, Tauari and Pinho Cuiabano. http://www.ihb.de/wood/news/logs_softwood_plywood_23886.html
Tasmania’s climate change hit list
A new report shows alpine regions and coastal areas will be Tasmania’s first casualties of climate change. Commissioned by the state government, the list of threatened flora and fauna has taken 18 months to compile.
Report author Louise Gilfedder says the Miena Cider Gum is already in decline because of habitat changes in the central highlands. “The impacts of drought, pests, insects has really given them a hammering over the last 20 to 30 years and they could become the first local extinction,” http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/29/2996494.htm
Volcano quiet for 400 years erupts in Indonesia http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ip0DHCVSi8VFY3fjkPYrhckXNIPwD9HT7DU80
Mongolian Cabinet holds meeting in Gobi desert
Top Mongolian officials donned dark green baseball caps reading “Save our planet” and set up chairs and tables in the sands of the Gobi desert for a Cabinet meeting aimed at drawing attention to climate change.
The meeting of 12 government ministers was held in scorching heat Friday in Gashuunii Khooloi, a sandy valley in South Gobi province, about 415 miles (670 kilometers) south of Ulan-Bator, the country’s capital.
The ministers, dressed in suits and ties, arrived in the desert in jeeps after a 15-hour journey. Officials planted a Mongolian flag in the ground, set up long tables and chairs in the fine, golden sand and discussed climate change against the backdrop of a vast expanse of desert and a bright blue sky.
“Mongolia is feeling the impact of global climate change,” Prime Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar said at the one-hour meeting. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gieukCVS8Qp2QB4xbLFxhyaE7HzwD9HT3FAO0
Batbold pointed to the recent winter as an example of problems Mongolia faces. The winter was the harshest in decades and a fifth of the country’s livestock died.
The government blames global warming for a decrease in rainfall and says that rising average temperatures have caused many rivers and springs to dry up and snow cover to melt. It also says the frequency of natural disasters and drought has jumped.
The site for the meeting was chosen because parts of it used to be arable land
Disappointed By Congress, EPA Pursues Climate Change
The last time we spoke to EPA administrator Lisa Jackson in October of last year, she was pretty hopeful that Congress would pass a climate change bill. They didn’t, and now the agency is issuing new rules and regulations that will do some of the things it hoped Congress would. Host Liane Hansen asks Jackson how she responds to critics who say the EPA is overstepping its authority. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129506744
I think “Discovered in 1068, dry water…” must be a typo.
Californian Leader Slams Proposal to Scrap Climate Legislation
“We are not going to sit idly by and watch you dismantle our environmental achievements…which are also economic achievements,” says Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents over 300 of the valley’s major companies (including HP, Google and IBM). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-van-diggelen/californian-leader-slams-_b_698379.html
Toxic algae blooms choking Lake Erie
After years of recovery, Lake Erie is sick again.
Ask the boaters who get the spinach-like clumps of algae on their boat propellers, the tourists grossed out by the sight of pea-green water, the property owners picking up whiffs of stench, the beach-goers confronted by signs urging them to stay out of the water, and the scientists who have said at conferences for at least five years that an ecological backslide is in progress. http://toledoblade.com/article/20100829/NEWS16/8280386/0/NEWS
Prevailing Disaster
Hopes for a new climate treaty grow dimmer, even in the face of extreme weather events http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/88/8834gov1.html
Earthquakes may be tied to gas drilling activity
“It’s more than just lubricating the fault face, but it has a similar effect of essentially making it possible for the earthquake to take place, for the fault to move slightly,” said Hohn. http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=16275
Coal Ash Dump Sites Polluting Drinking Water across US with Heavy Metals and Arsenic
A new study has identified 39 additional coal ash dumpsites in 21 states that are contaminating water supplies with heavy metals, showing the government is inadequately monitoring these disposal sites and lax at regulating the toxic waste. The study is entitled IN HARM’S WAY: Lack of Federal Coal Ash Regulations Endangers Americans and Their Environment http://coto2.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/coal-ash-dump-sites-polluting-drinking-water-across-us-with-heavy-metals-and-arsenic/
Charity predicts more food shortages in Africa because of EU target to produce 10% of all transport fuels from biofuels by 2020
European Union countries must drop their biofuels targets or else risk plunging more Africans into hunger and raising carbon emissions European Union countries must drop their biofuels targets or else risk plunging more Africans into hunger and raising carbon emissions http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/30/biofuels-land-grab-friends-of-the-earth
Pesticides found in Bald Eagles in the Great Lakes Region
Chlorinated materials are very persistent and cycle through the soil, air and water for decades. DDT is the most notorious organochlorine pesticide, however several organochlorines are still registered for use, including lindane (as a pharmaceutical), endosulfan, methoxychlor, dicofol and pentachlorophenol.
Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences tells Discovery News that this study helps illustrate why “we shouldn’t be making chemicals that don’t go away for a long time” because “there is very little information on their toxicity [which is] a problem with our regulatory system.” http://www.beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/?p=4142
Newcastle oil spill clean-up continues
The oil spill last Wednesday has been blamed on a coal ship that is berthed in the port. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/29/2996646.htm?section=justin
Ekpan oil spill
THE Delta State government may have taken the recent Ekpan oil spillage caused by Chevron Nigeria Ltd in the state to the international community, as the oil outfit remained adamant to accept responsibility of damage to thousands of fish farmers occasioned by the spill.
While Chevron claimed its tug boat spilled a paltry eight litres of diesel to the Warri creeks, Delta State government investigation team said over 18,000 litres leaked into the swamp.
The spill adversely affected over 7,800 Ekpan fish farms owned by clients to the state micro credit programme with billions of naira gone down the drain. http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/10363-ekpan-oil-spill-uduaghan-on-top-of-the-situation-aide
“these farmers borrowed money and invested heavily only for Chevron to cause massive spill that destroyed the fish farms.”
According to her, the multi-national oil company must be made to respect the its name, condemning the paradox in the Nigeria Delta region, where the natives were poor and oil companies were rich without showing concerns to the plights of the rural dwellers as neigbours.
She described the micro credit programme in the state as a factor that had drastically addressed the human capital development agenda of the government, as it had helped to reduce poverty in the state.
NZ minister turns down marine reserve creation http://www.wildlifeextra.com//go/news/akaroa-reserve.html#cr
Officials: Oil spill impact may last years
Though crews are expected to finish cleaning the Kalamazoo River by the end of September, the economic impact could be far-reaching.
Officials fear some of the crude oil, which could have seeped into the ground and out of sight, will continue to affect the river environment and the local economy for years to come. http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20100828/OILSPILL/8280312/Officials-Oil-spill-impact-may-last-years
Monsanto’s Toxic Milk
Genetically-engineered bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in milk increases cancer risks. American dairy farmers inject rBGH to dairy cows to increase milk production.
European nations and Canada have banned rBGH to protect citizens from IGF-1 hazards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SXVpvgXo9Q
The Price Of Traffic In China
It’s not just the inconveniences of traffic jams that may last for months outside of Beijing, it’s also the global climate. http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=the-price-of-traffic-in-china-10-08-29
The Tanzanian government announced last week that they will, in conjunction with development partners and international organizations, establish a climate change research center near Africa’s highest mountain. http://www.eturbonews.com/18167/climate-change-center-be-established-near-kilimanjaro
With Neighbors Unaware, Toxic Spill at a BP Plant
While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children come down with respiratory problems. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/us/30bprefinery.html