Thursday News Bucket

9 Comments

1. 

   Knoxville Progressive on December 28, 2006 at 11:48 am

   The US proposed listing polar bears as threatened, marking the first time the US has singled out climate change as the potential driving force behind the demise of a species.  The proposal by the Interior Department’s US Fish and Wildlife Service is linked to the fact that rising temperatures in the Arctic are reducing the sea ice that polar bears need for hunting, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne told a news conference.

   An Interior Department official who did not wish to be named told AFP that the proposed listing marks the first time the US government has acknowledged a direct link between global warming and its potential effects on a species.  Identifying polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act could force US industries to reduce their carbon dioxide output to protect the Arctic predators.  Kempthorne underlined, however, that any action to curb greenhouse emissions to protect the bears was beyond the scope of his agency.  [Do I smell the makings of another Supreme Court case on global warming?]

   University of Utah researchers say having a large number of offspring could be detrimental to the health of parents.  [To which all parents are now screaming, “Well, duh!’]  The study, based on data collected from 21,000 couples who lived in Utah between 1860 and 1985, said parents with higher numbers of children are more likely to have ill health and die younger, the BBC reported Tuesday. The study said this is especially acute in women.  The researchers said their findings may explain the occurrence of menopause, which ends the reproductive years of women.

   The French-made Corot spacecraft designed to search out planets blasted off Wednesday on a Russian rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russia’s space agency said.  The Corot is the latest step in a quest to find planets orbiting other stars, with the ultimate goal being any discovery of another planet fit for human habitation.  [Since we’re doing such a great job with this planet…]

   Temperatures in China will rise significantly in coming decades and water shortages will worsen, state media said Wednesday, citing the government’s first national assessment of global climate change.  Compared with 2000, the annual average temperature in China will rise by as much as 3.3 degrees Celsius by 2050, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the assessment.  The report notes that although north China is expected to have more days of rain, water shortages will increase because of faster evaporation caused by rising temperatures.  Typhoons and other types of extreme weather will also hit China more often, according to the report, a cooperative project involving the Ministry of Science and Technology and 11 other government departments.  [So maybe we should join the fight against this global capitalist imperialist menace?  Or start with a good purge (see below)?]

   Soaring pollution levels in China may be even worse than thought because local governments bent on economic growth are lying about their progress in meeting environmental goals, state media said today.  Data reported by China’s regional governments indicates a national goal to reduce China’s two main pollutants by two percent in 2006 has been reached, but calculations by the top environment watchdog show they actually grew two percent, Xinhua news agency said, quoting an environment official.  “The figures on pollution control reported by local governments dropped remarkably this year, while the real environmental situation continues to deteriorate,” said the unnamed official with the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).  “The inaccurate figures were caused by insufficient supervision of the local governments and possible fabrication.”  The two pollutants are chemical oxygen demand, a measure of organic pollutants in water, and sulfur dioxide, Xinhua said.  The official’s comments mark the latest in a series of alarms by SEPA, which has said central-government efforts to curb the environmental damage from China’s chugging economy are being overwhelmed by the local pursuit of economic growth at any cost.

   As the earth has warmed over the past few decades, birders are finding fewer migratory species from the northernmost regions, and more and more species of birds that would never venture this far north.  Details here.

   An ancient ice shelf has cracked off northern Ellesmere Island in northern Canada, creating an enormous 66-square-kilometre ice island and leaving a trail of icy blocks in its wake.  The ice shelf collapse, suspected to have been caused by global warming, is the biggest in Canada in 30 years and is indicative of the transformation under way on Ellesmere, Canada’s most northern land mass.

   Democrats in Congress are looking to push the Superfund program back into the spotlight. They’re looking not only at its funding levels but also its funding sources. A central issue: whether to restore “polluter pay” taxes on industry to help fund toxic waste cleanups.

   As a United States senator, Jon S. Corzine was relentless in warning that the nation’s chemical plants, and the railways that carry their potentially dangerous cargo, are vulnerable to a devastating terror attack.  After a year as governor of New Jersey, well, not so much…

   • 

     idredit on December 28, 2006 at 8:30 pm

     That Ellesmere ice shelf collapse took less than 1 hour!!!

     “It turned out it took less than one hour for the ice shelf to calve off in the early afternoon of Aug. 13, 2005, Copland said. Low frequency “rumbling” and tremors were picked up on earthquake monitors, and Canadian and U.S. satellites captured images of the shelf cracking and breaking away.”

     Wow.

     Thanks KP

2. 

   CabinGirl on December 28, 2006 at 11:49 am

   thinking we all needed a vacation…  🙂

   Thanks for posting one, Knox.

   • 

     idredit on December 28, 2006 at 12:30 pm

     Welcome back. May you prosper in 2007.

     • 

       CabinGirl on December 28, 2006 at 12:32 pm

       Thanks.  And a prosperous and trouble-free New Year to you too!

3. 

   ask on December 28, 2006 at 12:55 pm

   Pakistan land mine plan ripped

   KABUL, Afghanistan – A top U.N. human rights officer said Wednesday that Pakistan’s plan to mine parts of its border with Afghanistan would only add to civilian casualties in a region already littered with unexploded ordnance.

   Pakistan said Tuesday that it would plant land mines and build a fence on parts of its 1,500-mile frontier with Afghanistan to fend off criticism that it does too little to stop Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas from crossing the border.

   “From a human rights perspective, we would be concerned about any mining, including this,” said Richard Bennett, the U.N.’s chief human rights officer in Afghanistan. “Human rights advocates are solidly opposed globally to the use of land mines. The U.N. is opposed to the use of mines.”

4. 

   idredit on December 28, 2006 at 12:56 pm

   On The Hill: Excuse us guys we have our first female speaker and we need some `Potty Parity’ – that’s closer. So the plumbers and carpenters will need to work throughout the holidays; the male dominated chambers – the men-only facilities will need a re – do.

   Time for this to be made public: Iran may need nuclear power: study – National Academy of Sciences.

   “Iran’s claim to need nuclear power may be genuine, given that it could run out of oil to export as soon as eight years from now, according to an analysis published on Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences.”

   Carried over to Crawford, Texas: Iraq Desperation in the White House-Joseph Galloway

   • 

     Oui on December 28, 2006 at 5:41 pm

     .

     U.S.-Iran nuclear co-operation in the 1970s

     Iran signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it in 1970. With the establishment of Iran’s atomic agency and the NPT in place, plans were drawn by the Shah to construct up to 23 nuclear power stations across the country together with the USA by the year 2000.

     

     By 1975 U.S. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, had signed National Security Decision Memorandum 292, titled “U.S.-Iran Nuclear Co-operation,” which laid out the details of the sale of nuclear energy equipment to Iran projected to bring U.S. corporations more than $6 billion in revenue.  

     "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

     • 

       idredit on December 28, 2006 at 8:25 pm

       Oui, a Good find.  Let’s keep that under wraps..can’t give that broad coverage. It’s not in keeping with our current demonizing spin. Let’s also forget that right after 9/11, we asked Iran’s help with Afghanistan …and got it.