Category Archives: environment

Oroville, Calif. Courts Sriracha Maker – Good choice!

The Northern California city, located within a few hours of San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Lake Tahoe, the State Capital and world-renowned Napa Valley, offers easy access to highways, rails, ports and international air travel. Combined with the Sierra Nevada mountain range, Lake Oroville and all of the recreation found throughout the region, Oroville is the ideal place for business and pleasure.

Oroville is in close proximity to prime agriculture and has affordable acreage, ready workforce, and the lowest-priced water in the nation. With plentiful, high-quality water, Oroville is an ideal location for water-intensive businesses, such as manufacturing, data centers, agriculture, and beverage companies. “And we’re hoping to add a little spice to the mix,” adds Glaze.

via Oroville, Calif. Courts Sriracha Maker.

The real – NYC Earth Day, Brought To You By Toyota, United, & Con Ed: Gothamist

The second set of Earth Day celebrations begins in Zuccotti Park at 5 p.m. The Global Climate Convergence, a group of environmental, social, and economic justice groups who are “directing our ire at Wall Street—the ultimate source of the social, economic, and environmental crisis we’re in.”

“It is scandalous that corporations, not just in NYC, but all over the state, have become the face of Earth Day,” Gloria Mattera, co-chair of the Green Party of New York says. “Corporate green washing is not just bad propaganda but continues to wreck havoc on our health and the climate….The threat to the well-being of the planet and our people is so great that we need fundamental changes to our political and economic system.”

via NYC Earth Day, Brought To You By Toyota, United, & Con Ed: Gothamist.

Sherpas abandon Everest climbing season after deadly avalanche | World news | The Guardian

Good on them! Nepalese guides on Mount Everest have decided to abandon this year’s climbing season, to honour 16 colleagues killed in an avalanche last week.

The decision throws the plans of hundreds of foreign mountaineers into chaos, with many of them waiting in base camp after paying tens of thousands of dollars to scale the world’s highest peak.

The Sherpas perform essential tasks on the 8,848-metre (29,029ft) mountain, carrying equipment and food, as well as repairing ladders and fixing ropes to reduce risks for their clients.

“We had a long meeting this afternoon and we decided to stop our climbing this year to honour our fallen brothers. All Sherpas are united in this,” one local guide, Tulsi Gurung, told AFP from base camp.

“Some guides have already left and others will take about a week to pack up everything and go,” said Gurung, whose brother is among those missing after an avalanche last Friday killed 13 Sherpas and left three missing, presumed dead.

via Sherpas abandon Everest climbing season after deadly avalanche | World news | The Guardian.

News Scan for Apr 21, 2014 | CIDRAP – Spin on Deaths

{Yesterday, there were reports that deaths had been double counted – se shall see but this makes sense – some spin over the number by reporting lab confirmed deaths and not all deaths from Ebola.}

Guinea’s number of Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases has reached 203, including 129 deaths, according to the latest update, on Apr 19, from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa. The numbers represent an increase of 1 case and 4 deaths since the previous update on Apr 17.

So far 109 of 158 patients tested had lab-confirmed infections. Of the deaths, 61 are lab confirmed.

via News Scan for Apr 21, 2014 | CIDRAP.

Mapping More Than a Century of Major Earthquakes Around the World – The Wire

It must be frustrating to be hit by a huge earthquake, and then have experts inform you that the “Big One” might still be coming. Yet that’s part of life in Chile: Despite being rocked by a major temblor earlier this month, the country seems to have gotten off relatively easy this time. As one geophysicist said: “Could be tomorrow, could be in 50 years; we do not know when it’s going to occur. But the key point here is that this magnitude-8.2 is not the large earthquake that we were expecting for this area.”

via Mapping More Than a Century of Major Earthquakes Around the World – The Wire.

writeaboutwarming: Fungal Forest Fire – food crops under attack

Not just climate warming – if the crops are more non-diversified GMO seeded crops, the fungi would spread even faster and over a larger area.

The following is a list of fungi, pests and diseases that could be potentially exacerbated by climate change.  It is lifted directly from The Independent.

Asian Soybean Rust affects the soya crop in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer.  There are more than 244 confirmed cases this year.  Industry spending on insecticides and fungicides is expected to reach $11 billion.

Cocoa Pod Borer Disease: Cocoa bean production in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest producer, is likely to dip 2 percent to 410,000 metric tons for 2013-2014, according to the International Cocoa Organization.  The fall is in part due to a tiny, mosquito-sized moth which attacks the plant.

Potato Blight is a fungus-like organism that thrives in damp, humid conditions.  The speed with which blight infection occurs and the devastating impact on the crop make it the biggest threat to the six million tons of potatoes produced in the UK each year.

Coffee Leaf Rust is an orange-colored fungus that has swept through coffee fields from Mexico to Panama.  The epidemic is affecting the livelihoods of more than two million people and causing the loss of 500,000 jobs.

Banana Fungus (TR4): This soil-borne disease is threatening banana crops in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.  The value of traded bananas worldwide totals $8.9 billion.

via writeaboutwarming: Fungal Forest Fire.

Ebola outbreak in west Africa affecting diets continent-wide | The Raw Story

Ebola outbreak in west Africa affecting diets continent-wide | The Raw Story.

Humans, the world over, will eat ourselves into extinction by eating so much meat!

Agoutis, antelopes, chimpanzees, porcupines and other species are all in danger of extinction in Ivory Coast, but today they have at least a few weeks’ respite.

Ironically, “Ebola is a good thing for the preservation of wildlife,” said Colonel Jerome Ake, the Yamoussoukro regional director for water and forestry.

A break in hunting will also benefit the natural environment, since hunters flush out game by starting large brush fires, which they are not always able to keep under control.

In the past 10 years, such blazes have killed 120 people and destroyed more than 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 square miles) of forest and other land, a region twice the size of Luxembourg. But in these days of Ebola, fewer fires are likely to be started.

Avian Flu Diary: Saudi MOH Announces 6 More MERS Cases In Jeddah (1 Fatal)

Fast becoming Saudi SARS-MOH – Based on FluTracker’s MERS Case Line Listing, this brings to 51 the number of cases in this cluster, along with 8 deaths (or 52 and 9 if you count the religious pilgrim who died this week in Malaysia with recent travel history to Jeddah.)   Additionally, 22 (42%) are described as being Health Care Workers.

Cases clustered in hospitals, among healthcare workers and now two people who died after they returned home to Greece and Malaysia

Invasive foreign species pose a threat to the global ecosystem. So when will we learn not to meddle with nature? – Telegraph

Twelve thousand alien species of animals and plants from other lands have taken up residence in Europe, according to the European Union – and as human traffic and trade grow, that influx will surely increase. So, according to the House of Commons environmental audit committee in its latest report on invasive non-native species, it is time to do something about it.

via Invasive foreign species pose a threat to the global ecosystem. So when will we learn not to meddle with nature? – Telegraph.

Just as big a problem in US – Florida having huge problem – pun intended – with Burmese Pythons being let loose in wild and now with no natural predators chomping up Everglades species.