Archive for February, 2010
Is there enough food out there for nine billion people?
February 4th, 2010 
Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
New Republic: Sometime around 2050, there are going to be nine billion people roaming this planet--two billion more than there are today. It's a safe bet that all those folks will want to eat. And that's... an incredibly daunting prospect. Right now, an estimated one billion people go hungry each day. So add two billion more people, a limited supply of arable land, plus the fact that rising incomes will boost demand for meat and dairy products, plus the fact that many key natural resources (fisheries, ...
Sea level rise may sink island nations
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Discovery News: There are few legal precedents for how these nations can exist without dry land. Island states need to act now if they want to preserve even their ocean territories. Sea level rise from anthropogenic global warming could erase some island states from the face of the Earth -- but those nations could survive even without land, say researchers. Governments and people of lost islands could survive "in exile," build structures to mark their submerged territory, retain their ...
Australia: Report undercuts Kevin Rudd’s Great Barrier Reef wipeout
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Australian: KEVIN Rudd's insistence that the Great Barrier Reef could be "destroyed beyond recognition" by global warming grates with new science suggesting it will again escape temperature-related coral bleaching. The Prime Minister yesterday put the reef at the centre of political combat over climate policy, telling parliament it would be obliterated in the worst-case scenario that "temperatures went through the roof". But for the second year running, the reef has defied predictions of ...
UK marine energy industry enjoys £22m funding wave
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Business Green: The Carbon Trust will today announce the long-anticipated award of its £22m Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF), dishing out freshing funding to six marine energy firms to help them prepare their wave and tidal energy systems for the water. Atlantis Resources, Aquamarine Power, Hammerfest Strom UK, Marine Current Turbines, Pelamis Wave Power and Voith Hydro were selected to receive grants under the scheme, which was launched last year and is designed to bridge the funding gap that ...
France to support bluefin tuna trade ban: source
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Reuters: France will support a ban on global trade in bluefin tuna, a government official said on Wednesday, bowing to environmentalists' concerns about stocks of the giant fish found mainly in the Mediterranean. France's iTele news channel reported that the proposed ban would not come into force for 18 months. There was no immediate confirmation of this and full details of the French stance were due to be released later in the day. Environmentalists have warned that a prolonged delay ...
Global warming may cook sea turtle eggs
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Discovery News: When they emerge onto beaches around the world to lay their eggs in the sand, sea turtles expose themselves to a trio of threats from climate change: cyclones, rising seas and warming temperatures. A new study finds that for the world's largest population of sea turtles -- in Australia's northern Great Barrier Reef -- blazing hot sands pose the greatest threat to the animals' breeding success over the long term. The researchers predict that from now until 2030, sea level rise ...
France backs ban on tuna exports
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
BBC: France has added its voice to calls for a ban on the global trade in bluefin tuna, the numbers of which have dwindled through overfishing. France wants a ban after an 18-month delay to allow scientists time to study the data on tuna stocks, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said. The bluefin tuna trade might be curbed at world conservation talks in March. France is among the Mediterranean countries that fish bluefin tuna for export to Japan, the main ...
NASA: Arctic melt season lengthening
February 3rd, 2010 Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin
Mongabay: Newly released images from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the Arctic's melt season has lengthened significantly over the past few decades. The melting season--i.e. the length of time in which continuous melting occurs--has increased on average by 6.4 days for every decade between 1979 and 2007. Around the lower-latitude edges of the ice pack, however, this lengthening was far above the average. According to NASA, researchers collect this data by using ...
Is A Pill Take-Back Law in Our Future?
February 3rd, 2010 Dave Dempsey
As the product stewardship movement gains steam, attention is turning to the issue of unsafe disposal of residue or unwanted consumer pharmaceuticals. The widespread detection of pharmaceutical residues in public waters and fish has raised biologists’ concerns. In Minnesota, the popularity of public-sponsored take-back days and a coming legislative proposal in the 2010 session to create a network of collection facilities, funded by pharmaceutical makers, adds a new twist to the problem.
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Ocean Conservancy Holds US Responsible for Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning
February 3rd, 2010 Lucille Chi
This week we’re on the topic of saving endangered sea life, and now is the best time to take action with the Ocean Conservancy!
The Obama Administration has a newly formed Ocean Policy Task Force that’s accelerating a planning process for our glorious ocean and coasts.
Since it’s up to us to make sure these plans maintain, protect, revive and restore the health of the sea sustainably, I also sent the message below to the Obama Administration and the National Ocean Policy Task Force. If we get these simple and straitforward letters to them before the February 12 deadline we’ll help lock in our country’s commitment to take action to ensure comprehensive, responsible ocean planning that holds us accountable in preserving a healthy marine environment for the planet.
Here is the letter we’re sending to President Obama and the Ocean Policy Task Force:
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