February 7th, 2012
Guardian: Labour has accused the chancellor of the exchequer of "actively revelling in contempt for environmental protection", in the latest broadside in the row over green policies that has consumed the coalition since the resignation of Chris Huhne on Friday.
Caroline Flint, shadow energy secretary, warned that the Tory right was breaking apart the cross-party consensus on climate change, thereby endangering the UK's economic health as well as threatening the planet with untrammelled global warming. Her...
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February 7th, 2012
Hindu: Bangalore, which was once known for its salubrious climate, is getting hotter by the day because of the rise in global and local pollution levels, according to J. Srinivasan, Chairman of the Divecha Centre for Climate Change, and Professor at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Attributing the phenomenon to rise in carbon dioxide level in the city, he said excessive consumption of fossil fuels like petrol and diesel has resulted in carbon emission...
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February 7th, 2012
Business Journal: The California Department of Public Health has released a study finding that heat events, flooding and wildfires --events associated with anticipated future climate change -- will impact Fresno County's minorities the greatest.
Fresno and Los Angeles counties were examined for the study.
The study also found areas with a predominantly minority population were more susceptible to heat stress because of a number of factors such as limited vegetation, open space, access to transportation to visit...
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February 7th, 2012
Washington Post: Russian scientists have drilled into the vast, dark and never-before-touched Lake Vostok 2.2 miles below the surface of Antarctica, the state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Monday.
"Yesterday, our scientists stopped drilling at the depth of 3,768 meters and reached the surface of the subglacial lake,' the news agency quoted a source as saying. The team had "finally managed to pierce' the ice sheet into Vostok, the source said.
The report could not be verified Monday, but numerous...
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February 7th, 2012
A recent study discovered that many Tel Aviv wells are polluted beyond suitability as drinking water sources. Data collected by the Health Ministry and Water Authority showed that 96 of a total 166 wells in the Tel Aviv area were closed due to contamination. Nearly two-thirds of the wells have been shuttered since 1980, when all 166 were in full operation.
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February 7th, 2012
Rwanda has raised the price of a permit to see mountain gorillas to $750 per day starting June 1, 2012, up from $500. While the price is steep, the program each year raises millions of dollars in revenue for gorilla conservation, including $8 million in Rwanada alone in 2008, according to a 2011 study published in PLoS ONE.
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February 7th, 2012
Reuters: The UK's greenhouse gas output climbed 3.1 percent in 2010 as people used more gas to heat their homes amid colder weather and more nuclear plants were closed for maintenance, according to final government estimates published Tuesday.
The country emitted 590.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent of the six greenhouse gases (GHGs) covered by the Kyoto Protocol, up from 572.5 million tonnes in 2009, said the government report, revising an initial estimate made last year of 582.4 million.
"2010 was,...
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February 7th, 2012
Evidence that jellyfish are taking over the oceans is currently lacking, according to a new study published in Bioscience. Complied by a number of marine experts, the study found that while jellyfish have been on the rise in some regions it is likely due to a natural cycle of jellyfish populations and not a global boom. Researchers, including a number of marine biologists, have warned for years that jellyfish numbers may be exploding due to human activities, such as overfishing, warmer oceans due to global climate change, and the rise of oxygen-depleted, so-called "dead zones."
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February 7th, 2012
Associated Press: A federal judge has set aside nearly seven hours for opening statements in a trial over the deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that resulted in the nation's worst offshore oil spill. Monday's order by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier divides up 400 minutes of opening statements by lawyers for the plaintiffs, government entities and companies involved in the trial scheduled to start Feb. 27. Plaintiffs' attorneys will go first and get 75 minutes to speak. BP PLC, owner of the blown-out...
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February 7th, 2012
Business Green: The UK has been pumping out more greenhouses gases (GHG) than previously thought, according to new government figures confirming emissions rose 3.1 per cent between 2009 and 2010.
The finalised figures unveiled this morning by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reveal that UK homeowners and businesses emitted 590 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2010, compared to 573 million tonnes in 2009.
The statistics show DECC has been slightly underestimating the...
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