Human population the primary factor in exotic plant invasions in the United States

Contact: Qinfeng Guo, qguo@fs.fed.us, 828-257-4246, Pensoft Publishers23 February 2012(Pensoft Publishers) – Extensive ongoing research on biotic invasions around the world constantly increases data availability and improves data quality. New research in the United States shows how using improved data from previous studies on the establishment of exotic plant species changes the understanding of patterns of […]

Wheat and barley threatened by global warming – ‘Genetic resources of these critical wild cereals are undergoing rapid erosion’

Contact: Rachel Feldman, rfeldman@univ.haifa.ac.il, 972-482-88722, University of Haifa23 February 2012 A 28-year comparative study of wild emmer wheat and wild barley populations has revealed that these progenitors of cultivated wheat and barley, which are the best hope for crop improvement, have undergone changes over this period of global warming. The changes present a real concern […]

GOP not listening to its own scientists on climate change

By Katherine Bagley, InsideClimate News22 February 2012 A number of prominent U.S. climate scientists who identify themselves as Republican say their attempts in recent years to educate the GOP leadership on the scientific evidence of man-made climate change have been futile. Now, many have given up trying and the few who continue notice very little […]

Coastal drinking water more vulnerable to water use than climate change

Contact: Michael RobinUniversity of Saskatchewan (306) 966-1425michael.robin@usask.ca Human activity is likely a greater threat to coastal groundwater used for drinking water supplies than rising sea levels from climate change, according to a study conducted by geoscientists from the University of Saskatchewan and McGill University in Montreal. Grant Ferguson from the U of S Department of […]

Japan’s nuclear evacuees denied refuge in Canada

By Tom Godfrey, Toronto Sun18 February 2012 TORONTO – A Japanese woman who claimed exposure to radiation from damaged nuclear reactors has been denied refugee status in Canada almost one year after that nation was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami that left more than 100,000 people homeless. The woman’s identity has not been released […]

China energy consumption rises at fastest pace in four years

[cf. U.S. CO2 emissions to stay below 2005 levels as coal use shrinks] 22 February 2012 (Bloomberg News) – China’s energy use rose at the fastest pace in four years in 2011 and efficiency improved, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Consumption climbed 7 percent to 3.48 billion metric tons of standard coal equivalent, […]

Graph of the Day: Cumulative Rainfall Anomalies for Southeastern Australia, January 1997 – December 2011

Cumulative rainfall anomalies for southeastern Australia starting from January 1997 to December 2011 in mm. Individual monthly anomalies are shown in the columns. An alternative way to consider the impact of the rainfall declines and recent rainfall is to look at the cumulative rainfall anomalies for southeastern Australia. The cumulative rainfall anomalies provide a measure […]

Fukushima: Return to the disaster zone

By David McNeill21 February 2012 The journey to Fukushima Daiichi begins at the border of the 12-mile exclusion zone that surrounds the ruined nuclear complex, beyond which life has frozen in time. Weeds reclaim the gardens of empty homes along a route that emptied on a bitterly cold night almost a year ago. Shop signs […]

U.S. presidential candidate Rick Santorum takes climate change denial to a Biblical level

By Sahil Kapur21 February 2012 Climate change denial has become a litmus test for modern Republicans, but Rick Santorum, in his fondness for melding faith and government, has become one of the precious few to cite the Bible as evidence that the science-accepting crowd has it all wrong — and apparently the first to bring […]

Chevron begins drilling relief well to extinguish Nigeria rig fire

By Chika Amanze-Nwachuku21 February 2012 Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has begun the process of drilling a relief well to seal the Funiwa 1A natural gas well. According to a statement by the company, the relief well is being drilled to extinguish a fire that began January 16 at the original well, located approximately six miles […]

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