Archive for February, 2010
Arctic melt to cost up to $24 trillion by 2050: report
February 5th, 2010 
Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Reuters: Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday. "Everybody around the world is going to bear these costs," said Eban Goodstein, a resource economist at Bard College in New York state who co-authored the report, called "Arctic Treasure, Global Assets Melting Away." He said the report, reviewed by more ...
Defusing the Methane Greenhouse Time Bomb
February 5th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Scientific American: Methane trapped in Arctic ice (and elsewhere) could be rapidly released into the atmosphere as a result of global warming in a possible doomsday scenario for climate change, some scientists worry. After all, methane is 72 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. But research announced at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union this December suggests that marine microbes could at least partially defeat the methane "time bomb" sitting ...
Climate change likely to make it harder to feed 1 billion hungry: CIDA chief
February 5th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Canadian Press: Poor countries are still gripped by the food crisis of two years ago and climate change will only make things tougher in the coming years, says the head of Canadian International Development Agency. CIDA President Margaret Biggs offered that candid assessment of the state of the undeveloped world and what Canada can to do help, in a speech Thursday to University of Ottawa students. Biggs, who rarely speaks publicly, also said a tough road lies ahead in rebuilding ...
Posted in Ocean 
Comments Off on Climate change likely to make it harder to feed 1 billion hungry: CIDA chiefSouth Africa: Prime property at risk as sea levels rise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Cape Times: Sixteen prime coast areas, including Milnerton Harbour, Green Point, Sea Point, Camps Bay and the entire Strand beachfront are at "high risk" from rising sea levels, says the City of Cape Town's latest sea-level risk assessment. If sea levels rise, as they are predicted to do in the next 25 years, billions of rands of coastal infrastructure will be damaged. In a report submitted on Tuesday to the planning and environment portfolio committee, Darryl Colenbrander of strategy and ...
Cape wind review called ‘rushed.’
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Boston Globe: A federal inspector general`s investigation into the Minerals Management Service`s environmental review of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm has concluded that several federal agencies felt "unnecessarily rushed`` to finish their contributions to the report, although no agency believed its overall conclusions changed as a result. The US Department of the Interior`s Office of Inspector General also found that the Minerals Management Service`s January 2009 final environmental ...
Australia: Coalition needs more than just true believers
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Australian: IN August last year the Victorian coastal Borough of Queenscliffe Council decided to take its own action on climate change and rising sea levels. At a secret meeting the council decided to introduce draconian planning measures limiting building, housing extensions, new projects and subdivisions within a "flood zone" based on predictions of sea levels through to 2100. Approximately 600 homes in the suburbs of Point Lonsdale and Queenscliff were immediately affected, and future development, ...
Europe Leans Toward Bluefin Trade Ban
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
New York Times: European officials are increasing pressure for an international ban on the commercial fishing of bluefin tuna, a threatened species whose fatty belly is prized for sushi. But they are facing a delicate balancing act as they try to weigh economic interests of a Mediterranean fishing industry, a sushi-loving Japan, and a species that some experts say is on the verge of extinction. In the latest move toward protecting the fish, France said Wednesday that it would back a ban starting late ...
France wants tuna trade ban in 18 months
February 4th, 2010 Ocean Conserve: Ocean Conservation RSS Newsfeed
Independent (UK): France wants a ban on international trade in bluefin tuna to come into force in 18 months time in order to protect the over-fished species, a government source said Wednesday. The announcement came weeks ahead of a European decision on whether to back calls for the lucrative but over-exploited fish - beloved of Japanese sushi fans - to be officially listed as an endangered species. The French decision - due to be officially announced later Tuesday by the government - will weigh ...
Experts observe whale hunt noise
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
BBC: Scientists on Shetland believe they may have discovered a previously-unobserved technique being used by killer whales to catch herring. Researchers from Aberdeen and St Andrews Universities recorded the whales emitting a low-pitched noise which caused the fish to bunch up. The mammals then stun the fish with their tails before eating them. The scientists said this behaviour has not been seen anywhere else in the world. The findings have come to light in the BBC2 ...
Swedish PM wants answers on Baltic Sea dumping
February 4th, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Agence France-Presse: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt on Thursday requested explanations from a previous government on Russia's release of toxic waste into Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea, his spokeswoman told AFP. Swedish public television SVT reported Wednesday that between 1991 and 1994 Russia dumped chemical weapons and radioactive waste off the shores of Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. The network also said the Social Democrat government that came into power in 1994 was ...
