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Greenland Ice Sheet Flows Faster During Summer Melting
(Goddard Space Flight Center, June 06, 2002)
New measurements show that the flow of ice in the Greenland ice sheet has been accelerating since 1996 during the summer melt season. The results suggest that the ice sheet may be responding more quickly to the warming climate than previously thought. In an article published in Science magazine's online Sciencexpress June 7, Jay Zwally, an ICESat Project scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., Waleed Abdalati, Polar Program scientist at NASA Headquarters, Washington, and colleagues report that increases in ice velocity during the summer are correlated with the timing and the intensity of ice sheet surface melting. This story is also reported in the LA Times here. "Should all of the ice sheet ever thaw, the meltwater could raise sea level 21 feet and swamp the world's coastal cities, home to a billion people. It would cause higher tides, generate more powerful storm surges and, by altering ocean currents, drastically disrupt the global climate.Climate experts have started to worry that the ice cap is disappearing in ways that computer models had not predicted."

posted by A Curmudgeon 1:08 PM

 

PC users 'want greener machines'
(BBC News, 26 June 2006)
Consumers are willing to pay up to an extra £108 ($197) for a PC containing fewer chemicals, a survey has found. . . . People also feel manufacturers should take responsibility for the disposal of old machines, the research shows. . . . So-called e-waste is a growing global problem, with 30 million PCs being dumped each year in the US alone. . . . The study by Ipsos-Mori for Greenpeace coincides with an announcement by PC maker Dell to phase out a number of toxic chemicals in its products. . . . The nine-nation research found that UK computer users were willing to pay an extra £64 ($117), while people in China were prepared for spend up to £108 ($197) for a more environmentally sound PC. . . . A report published by the UN University in 2004 said making the average PC required 10 times the weight of the machine in chemicals and fossil fuels. . . . The study also found that the short life of computer equipment was leading to a mountain of toxic waste, mainly in India and China. . . . Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a massive global problem. Thirty million computers are thrown out every year in the US alone. . . . About 70% of heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, in landfill sites come from e-waste.

posted by LoZo 8:28 AM

 

Work begins on Doomsday Seed Vault
(BBC News, 19 June 2006)
Norway is starting construction on a "doomsday vault" in the Arctic which is designed to house all known varieties of the world's crops. . . . Dug into a frozen mountainside on the island of Svalbard, it is hoped the project will safeguard crop diversity in the event of a global catastrophe. . . . More than 100 countries have backed the vault, which will store seeds, packaged in foil, at sub-zero temperatures. . . . Prime Ministers from five nations helped lay the cornerstone on Monday. . . . Premiers from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland attended the ceremony near the town of Longyearbyen, in Norway's remote Svalbard Islands, roughly 1,000 km (620 miles) from the North Pole. . . . "This facility will provide a practical means to re-establish crops obliterated by major disasters," Cary Fowler, executive secretary of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, said in a statement. . . . Fowler, who led a feasibility study on the project, said crop diversity was also threatened by "accidents, mismanagement, and short-sighted budget cuts". . . . Already, some 1,400 seed banks around the world, most of them national, hold samples of a country's crops. But these banks "can be affected by shutdowns, natural disasters, war or simply a lack of money," said Mr Riis-Johansen. . . . While Norway will own the vault itself, countries sending seeds will own the material they deposit - much as with a bank safe-deposit box. The Global Crop Diversity Trust will help developing countries pay the cost of preparing and sending seeds.

posted by LoZo 7:14 PM

 

40 Arrested at L.A. Urban Garden Eviction
(Jacob Adelman, ABC News, June 13, 2006)
Sheriff's deputies evicted people from an urban community garden to make room for a warehouse Tuesday, touching off a furious protest in which actress Daryl Hannah and others climbed into a walnut tree or chained themselves to concrete-filled barrels. More than 40 people were arrested. . . . Authorities cut away branches and used a fire truck to bring down the "Splash" actress and another tree-sitter, who raised their fists as they were removed. Hannah was arrested. . . . "I'm very confident this is the morally right thing to do, to take a principled stand in solidarity with the farmers," she said by cell phone before the fire truck raised officers into the tree. . . . About 350 people grow produce and flowers on the 14 acres of privately owned land, in an inner-city area surrounded by warehouses and railroad tracks. The garden has been there for more than a decade, but the landowner, Ralph Horowitz, now wants to replace it with a warehouse. . . . At daybreak Tuesday, 120 deputies, some with batons and riot helmets, showed up to serve an eviction order that a judge signed last month. Deputies used saws to cut down the chain-link fence around the site.

[COMMENT by Lorenzo: Welcome to the Fascist States of Amerika.]

posted by LoZo 3:40 PM