While Overnight News Digest remains a nightly series hosted by a small group of editors, led by ek hornbeck, and graciously founded by Magnifico, I have a few changes tonight.
If you are interested in environmental issues, please join DK GreenRoots, a new environmental advocacy group created by Meteor Blades. DK GreenRoots is comprised of bloggers at Daily Kos and eco-advocates from other sites. We focus on a broad range of issues. We alert each other to important eco-stories in the mainstream media and on the Internet, promote bloggers at one site to readers at other sites and discuss crucial eco-issues. We are in exciting times now because for the first time in years, significant environmental legislation will be passed by Congress. DK GreenRoots can also be used to apprise members of discussions and strategy sessions happening in Meteor Blade's Green Diary Rescue thread, which is also our workroom. |
h/t to Land of Enchantment for the awesome image. h/t to Oke for source code of table.
ECO NEWS
Heard at the Melbourne Zoo on Sunday, June 28: "The orangutan will be extinct in the wild in less than 10 years, due to palm oil." (told to husband by orangutan keeper)
Borneo Orangutan Survival UK
About The Orangutan
Orangutans are a species of great ape found only in South East Asia on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, although evidence of their existence has been found in Java, Vietnam and China. The gentle red ape demonstrates significant intelligence, with an ability to reason and think and is one of our closest relatives, sharing 97% of the same DNA as humans.
Orangutan.net: Threats to Orangutans
Orangutans Face Extinction
Why does the orangutan need your help?
A crisis exists for the orangutan. Never before has its very existence been threatened so severely. Economic crisis combined with natural disasters and human abuse of the forest are pushing our closest cousins to extinction. They have lost approximately 80% of their habitat in the last 20 years. We lost approximately 1/3 of the wild population of orangutans during the fires of ‘97-’98. There are approximately 54,000 orangutans remaining in Borneo and approximately 6,600 left in Sumatra.Experts estimate orangutans could be extinct in the wild in as few as 25 years.
The threats to the survival of the orangutan are numerous and difficult to remedy. These include:
* Loss of Habitat
* Illegal hunting
* The notorious pet trade
* Palm Oil
Diarist wonders: Did climate change contribute to the terrible bushfires in Victoria, Australia, last January and February?
CSIRO National Lab: Scientists Answer
It is not possible to attribute an individual weather event to climate change. What we need to look at is trends over time.
The extreme fire weather conditions that occurred in Victoria during January and February were partly due to very high temperatures following a 50 year warming trend, and very dry conditions following 12 years of below-average rainfall.
Most of the warming observed over the past 50 years can be attributed to human-induced increases in greenhouse gas emissions. The dryness over the last 12 years may be due to natural variability but may also be partly due to an increase in greenhouse gases, however it is still too early to tell.
173 people died. Countless flora and fauna destroyed. Ongoing coverage of hearings: Victorian Bushfire coverage
Carbon labels on food to be introduced in 2010
Environmental group Planet Ark will run the voluntary scheme in conjunction with Britain's Carbon Trust.
Great Salt Lake cleans itself of natural pollutant
The mineral selenium is changing the notion that the Great Salt Lake is nothing more than a giant puddle.
Yes, some selenium from the runoff that flows into the lake turns it into a depository for waste from the four streams that feed it, like a massive puddle.
But the lake also exhales selenium.
This pour-in-breathe-out cycle, detailed in recent science reports, helps explain how the Great Salt Lake remains healthy for birds, even when it takes in massive quantities of selenium each year
Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District's garden shows the path to water-wise beauty
Maybe Utah could justify being the nation's No. 1 water hog if residents were drinking the water. But we're not: Homeowners use 65 percent of their purified water on their yards.
This is where the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District's Conservation Garden Park -- and visiting expert gardeners -- can help.
From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Saturday, a certified master gardener or apprentice is on hand to guide a trip through the garden, which has a new addition offering step-by-step advice on landscape design.
Saving water isn't just something to do during a drought. Demographic studies project that Utah will add 1.5 million people to its population by 2030. Experts at the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District -- the state agency that supplies water to most of the Salt Lake Valley -- say that current rates of water use can't support that growth.
Coalition urges carbon credits for farmers to mirror US bill
COALITION MPs have urged the Rudd government to amend its emissions trading scheme further to ensure proposed US emissions laws do not disadvantage Australian farmers.
The opposition's calls for farming to be given credits for reducing carbon emissions are part of continuing plans to delay the carbon pollution reduction scheme in the Senate when parliament resumes in August.
Senior Liberal senator Bill Heffernan said yesterday the proposed US carbon trading scheme was very different from Australia's and would disadvantage Australian farmers who could not get carbon credits for cutting carbon emissions.
Senator Heffernan also said Australian farmers should not be penalised for methane emissions -- cow farts -- while Brazil and India did nothing about their much bigger national gas-emitting cattle herds.
"Brazil has three times the number of cattle than Australia and India has 10 times the number -- that's a quarter of a billion cattle," Senator Heffernan said. "Neither Brazil nor India have any plans to do anything about it."
Top weather experts: Weather disasters may rise
The nation is bracing for a higher risk of more extreme weather as a trend toward increasing weather-related disasters has been recorded since the 1990s, top weather experts have said.
"Extreme weather will be more frequent in the future due to the instability of the atmosphere, and global warming might be the indirect cause," He Lifu, the top weather forecaster at the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), was cited by Tuesday's China Daily as saying.
The CMA responded to 16 emergencies last year to address weather-related disasters, the most since 1949.
Navigation tech used to monitor endangered sharks in S China's Hainan
For the first time on the Chinese mainland, fishery officials are using SPLASH, a state-of-the-art navigation technology, to tag and track two whale sharks--an endangered species and the world's largest mammal.
The two sharks were released Monday at Sanya of southernmost China's Hainan Province.
The SPLASH navigation technology is one of the most accurate and innovative techniques in the world to conserve marine animals, David Rowat, chairman of Marine Conservation Society in Seychelles and an expert in marine conservation, was quoted as saying by Tuesday's China Daily.
Mumbai may get water once in 2 days
The only megacity in the country assured of a daily supply of water may soon have to brace itself for piped water every
other day.
"There has been practically no rain in the catchment areas and if the situation persists we will be forced to supply water only on alternate days,’’ said Anil Diggikar, additional municipal commissioner in charge of water supply. "We will watch the situation for another week and then curtail thesupply,’’ he added.
"Pune is already moving towards water supply on alternate days,’’ he said. In fact the PMC announced a 30% water cut on Monday. Diggikar ruled out cloud seeding, saying it was tried eight to ten years ago but the results were not encouraging. On June 9, the BMC had instituted a 10% cut after the monsoon failed to arrive on June 7. On June 20, it was increased to 20% as the rains were unsatisfactory.
Even in 2031, India's per capita emission will be 1/7th of US
Even if India grows by 8% every year with the current set of technologies and policies in place, its per capita emissions will not
exceed 2.77 tonnes in 2031 -- almost seven times less than the current per capita emissions of the US and almost four times less than the current per capita emissions of UK.
This has been arrived at by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) after conducting an economy-wide modelling by looking at the future emissions of the country and the impact of economic growth on it.
Carrying out a comprehensive 37 sector non-linear model, the economic think tank has concluded that even under the most favourable assumptions of GDP growth and most adverse assumption of energy efficiency change, per capita carbon dioxide emissions will remain close to the current global average per capita emissions.
Around the World in a Kilometer
Deserts, ice sheets, oppressive humidity: A new museum in Bremerhaven has turned the world's climate zones into an experience. SPIEGEL ONLINE took a kilometer-long trip around the world at the Klimahaus (Climate House), which opens to the public on Saturday.
As far as earth's lines of longitude go, 8 degrees east isn't particularly spectacular. It doesn't go through any metropolises, it doesn't have a time element like the international dateline and it isn't nearly as significant as the prime meridian, which divides the planet into eastern and western hemispheres.
Still, 8 degrees east longitude has something that sets it apart from the rest of its 359 peers. Its span around the globe has been condensed to just under 5,000 square meters in Bremerhaven, Germany. At the city's new Klimahaus (Climate House), which is located on a street named At 8 Degrees Longitude and will open its doors to the public for the first time on Saturday, visitors can travel the virtual line of longitude in a single day and experience a wide variety of climate zones along the way.
Environment: green jobs to rise to a million by 2017
Among the many jobs proposed in Gordon Brown's statement today, 400,000 will have a green tinge by 2017. That will take the total British employment in the sector to more than a million.
The prime minister also highlighted some key proposals that will form the basis of the upcoming white paper on energy: four commercial-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration plants for Britain and a commitment to build 1,000 onshore and offshore wind turbines in 2009-10.
"The bill complements the £1.4bn of public investment provided in the budget, and up to £4bn now on offer from the European investment bank," said Brown.
Whaling Commission could discuss ending commercial hunting ban
The meeting deferred a decision on a controversial bid from Greenland to add humpback whales to its annual hunt.
The Greenland Inuit are one of the indigenous peoples granted hunting quotas because they are deemed to need whale meat.
The meeting wrapped up a day ahead of schedule, although a small group of delegates convened on Friday to start planning a second year of talks about a possible compromise deal between the various blocs.
Print Email Font Resize Public lands in 6 states, including Utah, set for solar projects
The federal government's top land steward said Monday that the United States will fast-track efforts to build solar power generating facilities on public space in six Western states.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he has signed an order setting aside more than 1,000 square miles of public land for two years of study and environmental reviews to determine where solar power stations should be built.
"We are putting a bull's-eye on the development of solar energy on our public lands," Salazar said during an announcement with U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, in a courtyard shaded by a solar power array at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Salazar and Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader, invoked President Barack Obama's call for rapid development of renewable energy.
"We hear a lot about doing something about the environment," Reid said. "That's what this is all about. We want to not be dependent on foreign oil. This will make America a more secure nation."
China's grip tightens on 'green' metals
The rare-earth metal neodymium, used in electric car motors and wind turbines, is at the epicenter of the race between wealthy and emerging nations to create green technologies, while poorer countries appear to be relegated to spectator status.
Neodymium is a lanthanoid, at position 60 on the periodic table of elements for the number of atoms in a single molecule. Its production and wide range of uses reflect the competition over raw materials in the area of green technologies.
Jose Luis Giordano, associate professor of engineering at the University of Talca in Chile, noted in an interview that there is a battle between the United States, China and Japan over neodymium, samarium and praseodymium, over ceramic superconductors, and for alternatives to these materials, still in the experimental stages.
THE WAR ZONES
Afghanistan
Do Poor Weapons Hinder Germany in Afghanistan?
German soldiers in Afghanistan are seeing more action than ever, resulting in more deaths and injuries. The growing body count has sparked debate over soldiers' equipment and doubts as to whether the current limits on engagement are appropriate.
The soldier is afraid for his life. He can only see about 15 Taliban in front of his armored vehicle, but judging by the Kalashnikov fire and anti-tank weapons coming from all sides, there must be more. He fires back, but he has no idea whether his bullets are hitting the intended Taliban targets. His comrades in the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, have thrown in smoke grenades as an evasive tactic and they have covered the area with a thick cloud. But he knows he must be killing something.
Not too far behind, other German troops are cowering -- but he's oblivious to them. About 400 meters away (1,312 feet) an armored "Fuchs" (Fox) personnel carrier flips into a ditch filled with water during an evasive maneuver. Three of his comrades drown.
Pakistan
Taliban scrap N. Waziristan peace deal
Clashes between security forces and militants intensified in North Waziristan on Monday and the Taliban scrapped a peace deal they had signed with the government 16 months ago.
Security officials said that 27 soldiers had lost their lives on Sunday in an attack on a military convoy in Wacha Bibi near Datakhel, about 35 kilometres west of Miramshah.
Local people said the place where the convoy had been attacked was littered with wrecked army vehicles. Army personnel retrieved the wounded and the bodies of their fighters and shifted them to Islamabad.
On Monday, helicopters pounded suspected militant positions in Wacha Bibi, a narrow pass in the mountainous region. According to officials, five civilians were killed in the shelling.
Iraq
Iraqis celebrate U.S. military's departure
Iraqis are jubilantly celebrating the departure of U.S. troops from their country, The Times is reporting. After counting down the days, they rejoicing by dancing and singing. According to The Times, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has declared June 30 "a day of national sovereignty," designating it a public holiday.
In central Baghdad’s Zawra Park, a mild dust storm did little to deter thousands of people from gathering to celebrate as fireworks lighted up the sky. The BBC reports that musicians and poets entertained and that flowers adorned police patrol vehicles. On the social-networking site Twitter, people are posting congratulatory messages with the hashtag #Iraq such as "Happy National Sovereignty Day!" The Times also has a photo gallery accompanying the story on the celebrations.
Other
Malaysian police arrest Afghan, Pakistani migrants
Malaysian authorities arrested 36 Afghans and six Pakistanis after detaining two boats trying to smuggle them to Australia via Indonesia, a top marine police official said Monday.
Marzuki Ismail, central Selangor state's marine police chief, told AFP that authorities Saturday also arrested 14 Indonesians, including three boat operators, involved in smuggling migrants.
'We first detained a small wooden boat around midnight near Port Klang (west of the capital Kuala Lumpur) with 15 Afghans and six Pakistanis in it.
'Upon investigation we secured information that there was a mother ship that was waiting nearby,' Marzuki said.
AROUND THE WORLD
Yemeni plane crashes in Comoros, 150 on board
An airliner with 150 people on board belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Tuesday, a senior government official said.
"We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," Comoros vice-president Idi Nadhoim told Reuters from the airport at the main island's capital Moroni.
Nadhoim said the accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, but could not give any more details.
The location was not immediately known, but a medical worker in the town of Mitsamiouli, on the main island Grande Comore, said he had been called into the local hospital.
Tougher screening for Tamils over fears of an influx of ex-Tigers fleeing Sri Lanka
FEARS that ex-Tamil fighters may be passing themselves off as refugees will lead to the latest boatload of unauthorised arrivals - believed to be Tamils - being subjected to a particularly rigorous security screening process.
The Australian has been told the recent defeat of the Tamil Tigers in their stronghold in northeastern Sri Lanka has led to concerns Tamil fighters may seek to flee the island amid fears of government retribution.
Tamils are understood to comprise most of the 194 asylum-seekers who arrived at Christmas Island on Sunday, the largest single group since the current influx began last year.
As the latest arrivals push the Christmas Island detention centre closer to capacity, the federal government yesterday formalised a five-year contract with Serco Australia, the local arm of British company Serco Group, to operate Australia's seven detention centres.
Russian roulette, anyone? Putin closes down casinos
ONE of the largest mass lay-offs in recent Russian history will occur tomorrow, and the Kremlin itself is decreeing it.
The Government is closing every legal casino and slot-machine parlour, under an anti-vice plan promoted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that only a few months ago was widely perceived as far-fetched. But the result will be hundreds of thousands of people thrown out of work.
And in a move that at times seems to have taken on almost farcical overtones, the Kremlin has offered the gambling industry only one option for survival: relocate to four regions in remote areas of Russia, as many as 6500 kilometres from the capital.
China "gravely concerned" about U.S. investigation of its steel products
China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement Monday that the Chinese government is shocked and "gravely concerned" about the frequency and direction with which U.S. probe into Chinese steel products.
According to the statement published on the ministry's web site, the United States Department of Commerce launched three dual investigations, namely anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, in ten days into China-made wire trays, steel grating, and stranded steel wire on June 26, June 19 and June 17.
The Chinese steel industry is strongly dissatisfied with the situation, said the statement.
Such practice is sending wrong signals of trade protectionism to the U.S. domestic market and the international society, and could seriously affect the interest of downstream part of the U.S. steel industry, while damaging the normal steel trade between the two countries, said the statement.
The EU Presidency Is Too Big for Small Nations
In times such as these, with no end to the financial crisis in sight, the rotation of the EU Presidency makes one thing patently clear: The European Union needs clearer structures, more integration, and better foreign representation. Moreover, the Czech tenure has revealed that smaller EU countries are not up to the daunting coordination and leadership tasks that a crisis of this magnitude requires.
It is of course unfortunate when a government collapses in the middle of a Council Presidency. But Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek's influence had long been waning; from the beginning he was ineffective at leading the European Union. It is also sheer bad luck to have a president like Vaclav Klaus who makes no secret of his fundamental distaste for the Maastricht Treaty and for European integration as such. Yet, in order to save face, the Czech Senate approved the Lisbon Treaty on May 6, 2009 --clearing one of the last hurdles to Lisbon's ratification.
AROUND THE USA
Nearly 90 major medical mistakes logged at Utah hospitals in 2008
One full-term infant died. Four healthy patients passed away unexpectedly after surgery. Another patient committed suicide. And dozens more left hospitals sick not from their illness but from their stay: They fell down, were given the wrong drug, became infected from surgical equipment left inside their bodies.
There were at least 89 of these most serious medical errors last year in Utah hospitals and surgical centers, up 56 percent from the 57 logged in 2007, according to a Utah Department of Health report requested by The Salt Lake Tribune.
The annual report does not cover all errors - it collects so-called "sentinel events," or mistakes that result in an unexpected death or a serious physical or psychological
injury.
Iowa town's FootEd Thomas Laid to Rest, complete coverage
Insurers record worst quarter in 28 years
The first three months of 2009 proved to be the worst first quarter in 28 years for the property casualty insurance industry, due in large part to continued investment losses.
The property casualty insurance industry suffered a net loss of $1.3 billion in the first quarter, compared with a $8.5 billion net income in the first quarter last year, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.
"Property casualty insurers absorbed a pounding in first-quarter 2009, as the recession deepened and stock markets tumbled," said Michael Murray, assistant vice president for financial analysis for ISO, an insurance data and risk research firm in New Jersey, in a statement.
ISO and Property Casualty Insurers Association put out the aggregate numbers for the industry. The figures are estimates for all property casualty insurers based on reports from at least 96 percent of the industry.
Hondurans in South Florida find their voice
In years past, low key rallies calling for immigration reform and relief drives usually marked the extent of local Hondurans gathering for a cause.
But Sunday's military sanctioned removal of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya truly galvanized local Hondurans.
''We're a strong group here in South Florida and our voice needs to drown out all the negativity being spread right now,'' said Francisco Portillo, president of the group Francisco Morazan, which helps Honduran immigrants with everything from filling out immigration paperwork to voter registration.
P.S. There are slight changes to the outline of the diary, including adding a permanent section of Other under THE WAR ZONE, and relabeling "AROUND THE USA" to be more specific now that I am overseas.