Tea off: India’s farmers say climate changing brew
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AP – In this humid, lush region where an important part of the world’s breakfast is born, the evidence of climate change is — literally — a weak tea.
Transocean tries to stop another Horizon probe
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
Reuters – Transocean Ltd, the world’s biggest offshore rig contractor, aims to stop a seventh U.S. body from investigating the accident that sank one of its rigs while causing the largest U.S. offshore oil spill.
Transocean questions CSB’s power to probe oil spill: report
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
Reuters – Transocean Ltd has written to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), challenging the federal agency’s authority to investigate April’s deep-water drilling accident, Bloomberg said.
Scientists aim to map and save endangered habitats
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AP – From mangrove swamps in Venezuela to lowland forests in Indonesia, entire communities of plants and animals are under threat. Now scientists are figuring out how to catalog and map the world’s most threatened ecosystems — just like their familiar list of endangered species.
Texas, EPA fight over regulations grows fierce
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AP – A longstanding tit-for-tat between Texas and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over how to regulate pollution has grown fierce in recent months, leaving industry frustrated and allowing some plants and refineries to spew more toxic waste into the air, streams and lakes than what is federally acceptable.
Gulf spill fund adviser being paid with BP cash
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AP – A law professor being paid $950 an hour with BP’s money has declared that the czar of the $20 billion claims fund for Gulf oil spill victims is independent of the oil giant.
Cleanup of oil-tainted Gulf Coast nears end
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AP – Dig 2 feet into the sand on this wind-swept beach and up comes the foul smell of oil.
’250 billion’ plastic fragments in Mediterranean
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AFP – Some 250 billion microscopic pieces of plastic are floating in the Mediterranean, creating a biological hazard that reverberates up the food chain, according to research supported by green campaigners.
Hong Kong posts record roadside pollution levels
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AFP – Hong Kong is set to record its worst-ever year for roadside air quality, the government said Thursday, amid more warnings over the public health hazard posed by pollution in the teeming metropolis.
Japan postpones launch of emission trading system: reports
January 1, 2011 by John McRae · Leave a Comment
AFP – Japan on Tuesday postponed the creation of a greenhouse gas emission trading system by a year until after April 2014 in the face of strong resistance from the business lobby, news reports said.
