http://www.physorg.com/space-news/environment/ en-us PhysOrg.com provides the latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. With a new theory surfacing that toxic algae rather than asteroids killed the dinosaurs, scientists are still trying to unravel the mystery of what caused a massive algae bloom off the Northwest Coast that left thousands of seabirds dead and may have sickened some surfers and kayakers. http://www.physorg.com/news180125174.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:40:01 EST news180125174 There's a storm brewing -- a storm of information, that is, in climate and environmental research. People are wading through the turbulence, trying to make sense of it all. http://www.physorg.com/news180119747.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:00:01 EST news180119747 A Web tool that generates color maps of projected temperature and precipitation changes using 16 of the world's most prominent climate-change models is being used to consider such things as habitat shifts that will affect endangered species, places around the world where crops could be at risk because of drought and temperatures that could cripple fruit and nut production in California's Great Central Valley. http://www.physorg.com/news180112989.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:24:07 EST news180112989 In a pilot project that could help better manage the planet's strained natural resources, space-age technologies are helping a Washington state community monitor its water availability. NASA satellites and sensors are providing the information needed to make more accurate river flow predictions on a daily basis. http://www.physorg.com/news180110871.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:00:16 EST news180110871 (AP) -- In a showdown between the world's two largest polluters, China accused the United States and other rich nations Tuesday of backsliding on fighting global warming and the top U.S. envoy said Chinese greenhouse gas emission commitments should be independently verified. http://www.physorg.com/news180110609.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:45:15 EST news180110609 "Development cooperation can play an important role in ensuring that the poorest countries will benefit from climate change funding," says Olof Drakenberg, policy analyst at the Environmental Economics Unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. http://www.physorg.com/news180096118.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:00:02 EST news180096118 Fierce competition over raw materials for new green technologies could become a thing of the past, thanks to a discovery by scientists from the University of Leeds. http://www.physorg.com/news180097093.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:58:48 EST news180097093 Improving the energy efficiency of Maryland homes heated by natural gas would generate a "hat trick" of economic and environmental benefits over the next 10 years, including more than 80,000 new jobs, savings of hundreds of dollars in average heating bills and a nine percent reduction in residential carbon emissions, concludes a new study by the University of Maryland Center for Integrative Environmental Research (CIER). http://www.physorg.com/news180096281.html Space & Earth - Environment Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:47:06 EST news180096281 When it comes to nature, timing is everything. Spring flowers depend on birds and insects for pollination. But if spring-like weather arrives earlier than usual, and flowers bloom and wither before the pollinators appear, the consequences could be devastating for both the plants and the animals that feed on them. http://www.physorg.com/news180023943.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:05 EST news180023943 (AP) -- Poor countries ended a boycott of U.N. climate talks Monday after getting assurances that rich nations were not conspiring to soften their commitments to cutting greenhouse gases, European officials said. http://www.physorg.com/news180024055.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:41:43 EST news180024055 In support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Copenhagen, the European Environment Agency hosted the 'Bend the Trend' event on Sunday evening to provide a global climate networking platform and premiere the screening of the new 'Environmental Atlas of Europe'. http://www.physorg.com/news180022255.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:13:27 EST news180022255 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ethanol, often promoted as a clean-burning, renewable fuel that could help wean the nation from oil, would likely worsen health problems caused by ozone, compared with gasoline, especially in winter, according to a new study led by Stanford researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news180011426.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:11:32 EST news180011426 (AP) -- It isn't easy getting Italy's city dwellers out of their Fiats, off their Vespa scooters and onto bicycles to ride to work, "like here in Copenhagen," says an Italian environmental official. http://www.physorg.com/news179996898.html Space & Earth - Environment Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:08:52 EST news179996898 The signs posted along Michigan's Tittabawassee River warning of dangerous dioxin levels don't really worry fisherman David Mitchell. http://www.physorg.com/news179934710.html Space & Earth - Environment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:10:03 EST news179934710 A national early warning system designed to assist land managers in rapidly detecting threats to forest health is featured in the cover article of the October 2009 issue of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS), the journal of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). http://www.physorg.com/news179934837.html Space & Earth - Environment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:54:15 EST news179934837 (AP) -- Countries that manage Antarctica plan tough new controls on ships visiting the southern oceans and the fuels they use to reduce the threat of human and environmental disasters as tourist numbers rise, officials said Saturday. http://www.physorg.com/news179857758.html Space & Earth - Environment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:30:01 EST news179857758 (AP) -- E-mails stolen from climate scientists show they stonewalled skeptics and discussed hiding data - but the messages don't support claims that the science of global warming was faked, according to an exhaustive review by The Associated Press. http://www.physorg.com/news179857607.html Space & Earth - Environment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:27:14 EST news179857607 (AP) -- Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is calling for more manmade floods to be released from the Glen Canyon Dam into the Colorado River. http://www.physorg.com/news179777121.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:06:00 EST news179777121 (AP) -- Wealthy nations would commit to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next decade, and the world should strive to nearly eliminate them - or at least cut them in half - by 2050 under a draft agreement circulated Friday at the U.N. climate talks. http://www.physorg.com/news179756674.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:00:02 EST news179756674 The first official draft blueprint for a deal at the UN climate talks sees targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to a document seen by AFP on Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news179751599.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:04:23 EST news179751599 In the face of reports about the ills livestock generate for the climate, environment and health, a new study published in the December issue of the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability emphasizes that livestock production in developing and developed countries are very different animals. http://www.physorg.com/news179741681.html Space & Earth - Environment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 08:16:08 EST news179741681 The clean energy technology sector will grow into a 1.6 trillion-euro (2.4 trillion-dollar) industry by 2020, becoming the third largest industrial sector after automobiles and electronics, WWF said Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news179696100.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:10:02 EST news179696100 The first phase of a groundbreaking national assessment estimates that U.S. forests and soils could remove additional quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere as a means to mitigate climate change. http://www.physorg.com/news179690590.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:00:01 EST news179690590 Vermicomposting, the practice of using earthworms to turn waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer, can be an economical, organic waste management practice. During vermicomposting, earthworms and microorganisms stabilize organic waste in an aerobic, moist environment. The resulting product, called vermicompost (VC), or worm castings, provides commercial and amateur growers an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional substrate additives for producing many varieties of container-grown plants. A research team recently experimented with pine bark amended with vermicompost derived from pig manure to see if this organic alternative can produce healthy hibiscus. http://www.physorg.com/news179683263.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:10:02 EST news179683263 (AP) -- At a critical time, the uproar over stolen e-mails suggesting scientists suppressed contrary views about climate change has emboldened skeptics - including congressional Republicans looking to scuttle President Barack Obama's push for mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases. http://www.physorg.com/news179683744.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:09:42 EST news179683744 Rapid population growth and urbanization have raised concerns over stormwater runoff contamination. Studies on watersheds indicate that excess nutrients, specifically nitrate-nitrogen and soluble reactive phosphorus are found in stormwater runoff in many new urban areas. These pollutants degrade water quality and have an impact on the downstream ecosystem by contributing to the growth and decomposition of oxygen-depleting microorganisms. http://www.physorg.com/news179679145.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:20:08 EST news179679145 (PhysOrg.com) -- Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are front and center in finding out how farming affects emissions of the green house nitrous oxide (N2O). http://www.physorg.com/news179678146.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:20:04 EST news179678146 Tropical forest loss accounts for an estimated 17% of global emissions of carbon dioxide. As part of a strategy to reduce these greenhouse gas fluxes to the atmosphere, the UNFCCC's Conference of the Parties 15 in Copenhagen is working to adopt a strategy for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in the post-Kyoto climate treaty. For tropical nations to be effective in tracking and reporting their emissions reductions from forest management and conservation, baseline data sets enabling wall-to-wall forest mapping and monitoring are invaluable. http://www.physorg.com/news179671707.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:10:01 EST news179671707 (AP) -- Fighting back against climate skeptics, over 1,700 scientists in Britain have signed a statement defending the evidence that climate change is being caused by humans, Britain's weather office said Thursday. http://www.physorg.com/news179670878.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:05 EST news179670878 Tropical forest destruction accounts for some 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But quantifying these emissions has not been easy, particularly for tropical nations. New technology, developed by a team of scientists at Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology, is revolutionizing forest monitoring by marrying free satellite imagery and powerful analytical methods in an easy-to-use, desktop software package called CLASlite. Thus far, 70 government, non-government, and academic organizations in five countries have adopted the technology, with more on the horizon. http://www.physorg.com/news179662158.html Space & Earth - Environment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:20:03 EST news179662158