ecology – Page 78

Reports of Massive Glacier Melting Pour In

by Daniel Kessler

The voices for climate action come from everywhere. This weekend both the Dalai Lama, at a speech in India, and scientists publishing a paper in Nature, brought the world’s attention to the melting of the earth’s glaciers, a reality that is dramatically changing landscapes and threatening millions who depend on glaciers for fresh water…..

In India, the Dalai Lama, at the centenary celebrations of India’s former President R. Venkataraman, said that “since millions of Indians use water coming from the Himalayan glacier, so you have certain right to show your concern about ecology of that plateau.”———- /cont

via As Minsters Meet at Climate Talks, Reports of Massive Glacier Melting Pour In : TreeHugger.

. Small debris-free plateau glacier with glacier lakes at Gangrinchemzoe Pass at 5,200 m, south of the main Himalayan divide, Bhutan. Photo via USGS

GoDaddy CEO Hunts and Kills Elephant,

Photo by Craig Baerwaldt via Flickr Creative Commons

GoDaddy CEO Hunts and Kills Elephant, Posts Video Online – We Offer 3 Non-Violent Alternatives : TreeHugge

The CEO of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, filmed himself killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. As if that weren’t bad enough, he actually states that shooting it is rewarding. Yes. Rewarding. In fact he states, “Of everything I do, this is the most rewarding.” Why? Because the elephant is a so-called “problem elephant” or one that has had conflicts with farmers. Well, guess what, Bob, there are alternatives for dealing with elephants when they clash with farmers other than shooting them dead. Here are three far

via GoDaddy CEO Hunts and Kills Elephant, Posts Video Online – We Offer 3 Non-Violent Alternatives : TreeHugger.

Climate Chaos.. Amazon Drought

Risk of drying in the Amazon Basin: NASA Satellites Detect Extensive Drought Impact on Amazon Forests

El verano pasado hubo una sequía sin precedentes en el Amazonas y dos equipos espaciales de la NASA observaron sus efectos. La selva no recuperó su estado normal hasta bastante después de terminar el período seco, a finales de octubre de 2010. “El verdor de la vegetación, que es una medida de su salud, disminuyó en un área superior a tres veces y media el Estado de Texas”, explica Liang Xu (Universidad de Boston), que lidera la investigación.

via Sequía en la Amazonía se ve desde el espacio – cinabrio blog.

Perú: Inambari generaría desastre ecológico

Perú: Inambari generaría desastre ecológico, indica experto

Servindi, 03 de febrero, 2010.- El ingeniero Luis Moreno Figueroa, experto en construcción de centrales hidroeléctricas, manifestó que el proyecto hidroeléctrico de Inambari afectará gravemente la diversidad ambiental.

La construcción de la represa, generará transformaciones en la temperatura, flora y fauna de la zona y la propia región.

El proyecto ha sido reiteradamente rechazado por la Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y afluentes (Fenamad) y en particular de los jefes de las comunidades de Boca Inambari.

Ellos denunciaron que la ejecución y puesta en funcionamiento de la hidroeléctrica “generará migraciones masivas forzadas de los centros poblados y comunidades indígenas aledañas al área de influencia directa del embalse”.

El megaproyecto producirá un impacto económico negativo en las actividades agrícolas e interrumpirá un tramo aproximado de 90 kilómetros de la Carretera Interoceánica, que unirá la costa de Perú en el Pacífico y la de Brasil en el Atlántico.

La organización indígena señalan la hidroeléctrica de Inambari provocará la deforestación y afectará directamente a las áreas dentro de la zona de amortiguamiento del Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene.

La construcción del embalse, de unas 41.000 hectáreas, demanda asimismo la tala una gran cantidad de bosques tropicales en las inmediaciones del Bahuaja Sonene, mientras que el dique de la hidroeléctrica implicará la modificación de su cauce

via ESCENA MUNDIAL,

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Fukushima fallout nears Chernobyl levels –

Radioactive Japanese reactors

Japan’s damaged nuclear plant in Fukushima has been emitting radioactive iodine and caesium at levels approaching those seen in the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Austrian researchers have used a worldwide network of radiation detectors – designed to spot clandestine nuclear bomb tests – to show that iodine-131 is being released at daily levels 73 per cent of those seen after the 1986 disaster. The daily amount of caesium-137 released from Fukushima Daiichi is around 60 per cent of the amount released from Chernobyl………..

….Iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid, and leaves only as it decays radioactively, with a half-life of eight days. Caesium is absorbed by muscles, where its half-life of 30 years means that it remains until it is excreted by the body. It takes between 10 and 100 days to excrete half of what has been consumed.

While in the body the isotopes’ radioactive emissions can do significant damage, mainly to DNA. Children who ingest iodine-131 can develop thyroid cancer 10 or more years later; adults seem relatively resistant. A study published in the US last week found that iodine-131 from Chernobyl is still causing new cases of thyroid cancer to appear at an undiminished rate in the most heavily affected regions of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

Caesium-137 lingers in the environment because of its long half-life. Researchers are divided over how much damage environmental exposure to low doses has done since Chernobyl. Some researchers think it could still cause thousands of new cases of cancer across Europe.

via Fukushima radioactive fallout nears Chernobyl levels – health – 24 March 2011 – New Scientist.