2 Years Later, Grim Photos From the BP Disaster Photo courtesy of Greenpeace It's been two years since the Deepwater Horizon disaster unleashed 4.9 million barrels of oil on the Gulf of Mexico. In the midst of the disaster, BP and its contractors did everything they could to keep people from seeing the scale of the disaster. But new photos released Monday offer some new insight to just how grim the Gulf became for sea life. The images were released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request that Greenpeace filed back in August 2010, asking for any communication related to endangered and threatened Gulf species. Most photos are missing dates and descriptions, though the FOIA request covered the period of April 20, 2010, to July 30, 2010. "The White House was sitting on this stuff for over two years, at the same time they were saying everything was fine, that the oil was gone, and while they were rushing ahead with plans for new drilling in the Gulf, the Arctic, elsewhere," Hocevar continued.
Canada News: Tim Harper: Alberta Premier Alison Redford holds the key to environmental peace zoom There is mounting evidence that Stephen Harper’s determination to make Canada a resource-based economic power may have awakened a sleeping giant. The environment is back on the Canadian political radar, at least for the moment. At the very least, the prime minister’s decision to turn back the clock on environmental assessment in this country has crystallized the huge gulf between his vision for this nation and that of NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, a former provincial environment minister. But, for the moment, Harper and Mulcair can step aside. The most important voice on this issue in Canada today belongs to Alison Redford. If this issue threatens to split east and west or spark social unrest, the Alberta premier will need to lead the way in bringing down the rhetoric. “I always think it’s better for people to comment once they have information than before they do,’’ Redford told her Progressive Conservatives. A simple scan of U.S. and world media in a typical week shows what she is up against.
Weighthacker Nearly one-tenth of hemisphere's mammals unlikely to outrun climate change A safe haven could be out of reach for 9 percent of the Western Hemisphere's mammals, and as much as 40 percent in certain regions, because the animals just won't move swiftly enough to outpace climate change. For the past decade scientists have outlined new areas suitable for mammals likely to be displaced as climate change first makes their current habitat inhospitable, then unlivable. For the first time a new study considers whether mammals will actually be able to move to those new areas before they are overrun by climate change. "We underestimate the vulnerability of mammals to climate change when we look at projections of areas with suitable climate but we don't also include the ability of mammals to move, or disperse, to the new areas," Schloss said. The analysis looked at 493 mammals in the Western Hemisphere ranging from a moose that weighs 1,800 pounds to a shrew that weighs less than a dime.
News - Magnetic bacteria may be building future bio-computers 7 May 2012Last updated at 09:40 GMT Tiny magnets form inside magnetic bacteria Magnet-making bacteria may be building biological computers of the future, researchers have said. A team from the UK's University of Leeds and Japan's Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have used microbes that eat iron. As they ingest the iron, the microbes create tiny magnets inside themselves, similar to those in PC hard drives. The research may lead to the creation of much faster hard drives, the team of scientists say. The study appears in the journal Small. As technology progresses and computer components get smaller and smaller, it becomes harder to produce electronics on a nano-scale. So researchers are now turning to nature - and getting microbes involved. Magnetic bacteria In the current study, the scientists used the bacterium Magnetospirilllum magneticum. These naturally magnetic microorganisms usually live in aquatic environments such as ponds and lakes, below the surface where oxygen is scarce.
Measuring CO<sub>2</sub> to fight global warming, enforce future treaty If the world's nations ever sign a treaty to limit emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide gas, there may be a way to help verify compliance: a new method developed by scientists from the University of Utah and Harvard. Using measurements from only three carbon-dioxide (CO2) monitoring stations in the Salt Lake Valley, the method could reliably detect changes in CO2 emissions of 15 percent or more, the researchers report in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of May 14, 2012. The method is a proof-of-concept first step even though it is less precise than the 5 percent accuracy recommended by a National Academy of Sciences panel in 2010. The study's authors say satellite monitoring of carbon dioxide levels ultimately may be more accurate than the ground-based method developed in the new study. "The ultimate use is to verify CO2 emissions in the event that the world's nations agree to a treaty to limit such emissions," he says.
Doris Duke’s Farm, Hillsborough, N.J., Opening to Public Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times Duke Farms, a 2,740-acre estate in Hillsborough, N.J., has had a $45 million face-lift and will open as a public park on May 19. More Photos » TEENAGERS growing up in this part of Central New Jersey used to boast of how they had jumped the stone walls into Doris Duke’s 2,740-acre estate here. But the legend speaks to the mystery of Doris Duke, “the richest girl in the world,” who, if the newspapers of her day were to be believed, ate her baby porridge from a 14-carat-gold cup, bathed in colored water spouting from an ancient Italian fountain in her bedroom and wore bathrobes made from the wool of a rare species of dwarf camel. In her will Duke left strict instructions about what to do with two other homes she wanted preserved, in Newport and Hawaii. On May 19 that will change. Universities are using the land for various projects, including one to grow a hybrid American chestnut tree resistant to the blight that has devastated the species.
A Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials Overview Authors Committee to Develop a Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials; National Research Council Description The nanotechnology sector, which generated about $225 billion in product sales in 2009, is predicted to expand rapidly over the next decade with the development of new technologies that have new capabilities. The nanotechnology sector, which generated about $225 billion in product sales in 2009, is predicted to expand rapidly over the next decade with the development of new technologies that have new capabilities. A Research Strategy for Environmental, Health, and Safety Aspects of Engineered Nanomaterials presents a strategic approach for developing the science and research infrastructure needed to address uncertainties regarding the potential EHS risks of ENMs. [read less] Suggested Citation National Research Council. Import this citation to:
Off the Grid : Eric Valli Cart - 0 items High Himalaya Share Louis Vuitton Caravans L'Occitane Jungle Nomads Hermes Honey Hunters Voyage d'Hermès Yarsakumbu Off the Grid Tharu Shadow Hunters On the Road Children of the Dust High Himalaya — view — Louis Vuitton Caravans L'Occitane Jungle Nomads Hermes Honey Hunters Voyage d'Hermès Yarsakumbu Off the Grid Tharu Shadow Hunters On the Road Children of the Dust
April was 5th warmest month globally on record - Weather WASHINGTON — Unseasonable weather pushed last month to the fifth warmest April on record worldwide, federal weather statistics show. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center calculated that April's average temperature of 57.9 degrees (14.4 degrees Celsius) was nearly 1.2 degrees (0.7 degrees Celsius) above the 20th Century normal. Two years ago was the hottest April since recordkeeping started in 1880. Last month was the third hottest April in the United States and unusually warm in Russia, but cooler than normal in parts of western Europe. This is despite a now ended La Nina which generally lowers global temperatures. Temperatures that would have once been considered unusually hot and record breaking now aren't even in the top two or three, said Michael Oppenheimer, a Princeton University climate scientist. The last time the globe had a month that averaged below the 20th Century normal was February 1985.
Remembering Adam Yauch: Polly Wog Stew Earlier this morning, Pesco posted the awful news that Adam "MCA" Yauch died this morning at age 47. Words here can't express how sad I am, reading that news. Hits home in part because I'm fighting the same disease, and in part because the Beasties were such a formative part of my subcultural education as I grew into my teen years. The first time I heard them, and Adam Yauch, was when a friend from middle school handed me a home-copied dupe of this cassette tape EP [YouTube, and you can still buy copies on Amazon]. I've embedded some Beastie videos from that era below. (HT @theory)
Wildlife in the tropics plummets by over 60 percent Devastated rainforest in Indonesian Borneo. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. In 48 years wildlife populations in the tropics, the region that holds the bulk of the world's biodiversity, have fallen by an alarming 61 percent, according to the most recent update to the Living Planet Index. Produced by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the index currently tracks almost 10,000 populations of 2,688 vertebrate species (including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish) in both the tropics and temperate regions. "Much as a stock market index measures the state of the market by tracking changes in [...] a selection of companies, changes in abundance (i.e., the total number of individuals in a given population) across a selection of species can be used as one important indicator of the planet's ecological condition," the report reads. The report also examines impacts in particular regions. Related articles Biodiversity loss cripples plant growth