Biology
Breach
November 11, 2014, from San Francisco Chronicle
The first faint traces of radioactivity in the ocean from the Fukushima nuclear disaster have been detected 100 miles off Eureka, a scientist who has been monitoring radiation levels across the Pacific reported Monday.
The levels of the radioactive element Cesium-134 were far lower than any radiation that would pose a threat to human or marine life, said Ken Buesseler, a nuclear chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod.
The radioactivity was detected in samples of ocean water volunteers aboard a research vessel from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratory in Monterey County collected last August. The samples were sent for analysis to Buesseler's lab at Woods Hole....
No federal government agency finances efforts to track radioactivity in ocean water, so Buesseler has created a volunteer organization of coastal residents to collect water samples periodically and send them to his lab at Woods Hole. He has volunteers collecting water samples along the coast from San Diego to Canada and around Hawaii.
November 11, 2009, from St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Ginger Gambaro's book club was slated to dissect "The Hummingbird's Daughter" by Louis Alberto Urrea one night in late September.
But the novel didn't end up dominating the conversation. Instead, the book club's members seized on a local hot topic: Ameren UE's plan to construct a 400-acre coal-combustion waste landfill at the nearby power plant located in the Missouri River bottomlands....they decided to organize. Less than two months later, the Labadie Environmental Organization formed and more than 65 people turned out for their first public meeting.
Their mission? "Save Our Bottoms."
November 11, 2009, from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Chinese factory workers exposed to huge amounts of bisphenol A substantially increased their risk of sexual dysfunction, according to a study released late Tuesday that is expected to add more urgency to the question of the chemical's safety...
The five-year study examined 634 workers in factories in China, comparing those working in BPA-manufacturing facilities with a control group working in plants where no BPA was made. The study found workers in the BPA facilities had four times the risk of erectile dysfunction, and seven times more risk of ejaculation difficulty....BPA, used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, is commonly found in baby bottles, plastic containers, the lining of cans used for food and beverages, and dental sealants. It has been detected in the urine of 93 percent of Americans tested.
|
Climate
Chaos
November 11, 2016, from Climate Central
The election of Donald Trump as the nation's next president spurred celebration in some quarters and dismay in others, including among those concerned about the steady warming of the planet....
Trump's comments on climate change have included calling it a hoax and warning that Environmental Protection Agency policies are costing the country jobs, though he has talked about the importance of maintaining clean air and water. He has suggested he will pull out of the landmark Paris agreement and scuttle the Clean Power Plan, as well as boost the domestic coal and oil industries.
While the U.S. is only one country, it is a linchpin to the viability of international agreements and to moving the needle on limiting warming.
|
Resource
Depletion
November 11, 2009, from Climate Wire
Straddling the border between Nevada and Arizona, the Hoover Dam is a symbol of human engineering might. For more than 70 years, its massive walls have tamed the flows of the Colorado River, fueling the growth of cities like Las Vegas that depend on it to supply water and power from its generating station.
But these days, what's most striking is the lack of water stored behind the dam's concrete arch. A thick white band of mineral deposits marks the walls of Black Canyon above the water line. Locals call it the "bathtub ring." It's where the water used to be, before the start of the current decade-long drought.
|
Recovery
November 11, 2013, from CommonDreams
"What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness," Saņo told the assembly, describing the massive devastation and thousands feared dead following Typhoon Haiyan, the "strongest in modern recorded history."
"We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw," he added, appealing to the representatives of nearly 200 countries who assembled in a bid to reach a new agreement to replace the Kyoto protocol that expired last year. Many anticipate the talks will only amount to a 2015 agreement for new limits on greenhouse gas emissions....
To climate change deniers, or those countries who are less impacted by the effects of global warming and therefore are less motivated to enact meaningful change, Saņo challenged them before the Warsaw assembly, saying, "I dare them, I dare them to get off their ivory towers and away from the comfort of their armchairs."
November 11, 2013, from BBC
A new study suggests that the ban on ozone depleting chemicals may have also impacted the rise in global temperatures.
CFC gases were responsible for a massive hole in the ozone layer but they also had a powerful greenhouse effect.
The authors link a ban on their use to a "pause" or slowdown in temperature increases since the mid 1990s.
The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience....
"Our analysis suggests that the reduction in the emissions of ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol, as well as a reduction in methane emissions, contributed to the lower rate of warming since the 1990s," the authors write.
November 11, 2011, from New York Times
The Obama administration, under sharp pressure from officials in Nebraska and restive environmental activists, announced Thursday that it would review the route of the disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline, effectively delaying any decision about its fate until after the 2012 election.
The State Department said in a statement that it was ordering a review of alternate routes to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of Nebraska, which would have been put at risk by a rupture of the 1,700-mile pipeline carrying a heavy form of crude extracted from oil sands formations in Alberta to refineries in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast.
|
ApocaDocs