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Volcano Blast Sparks Guatemala Emergency

Lulu Sinclair
Sky News Online
Fri, 28 May 2010 11:16 UTC
Pacaya volcano

The last big eruption of the Pacaya volcano was in 1998
A state of emergency has been declared in Guatemala after a volcanic eruption killed a television journalist and forced the international airport to close.

Anibal Archila's burnt body was found near the Pacaya volcano by a colleague, who said the reporter had been unable to escape a shower of boulders triggered by the eruption.

Some 1,600 people have been evacuated from the slopes of the volcano, which stands 2,552m (8,372ft) above sea level about 15 miles south of the capital, Guatemala City.

Three children aged seven, nine and 10 have been reported missing in the area.

Between two and three inches of ash have built up on streets in some southern parts of the capital city since the volcano started erupting on Wednesday.

Comment: According to Global Voices quoting Vivo en Guatemala blog:
Currently, explosions are taking place every second and can reach 500 meters above the crater surface. The ash columns are reaching 1500 meters of height and are dispersing towards the West and South West over the villages of El Rodeo and El Patrocinio. Ash precipitation is also reported in Amatitán, San Francisco of Sales, Calderas, Los Pocitos and San Vicente Pacaya.


      Read More...
Fish

Renowned Marine Biologist Carl Safina on the BP Oil Spill's Ecological Impact on the Gulf Coast and Worldwide


Democracy now
Thu, 27 May 2010 22:33 UTC
bird oil

Carl Safina, founding president of Blue Ocean Institute. He is author of many books about marine ecology and the ocean, including Song for the Blue Ocean.

Juan Gonzalez: As we continue our discussion on the BP oil spill, we turn now to look at the long-term ecological impact of the spill. Our next guest testified before Congress last week and warned the fallout from the spill may be felt across much of the world. Joining us here in New York is Carl Safina, the founding president of Blue Ocean Institute. He's author of many books about marine ecology and the ocean, including Song for the Blue Ocean.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

Carl Safina: Thanks for having me.

Juan Gonzalez: What message did you bring to Congress?

Carl Safina: Well, that this is not just a regional disaster, although it certainly is, but that the Gulf of Mexico is a tremendous engine of life and also a tremendous concentration zone, where animals from the whole open Atlantic Ocean funnel into the Gulf for breeding and millions of animals cross the Gulf and concentrate there on their northward migration and then fan out to populate much of North America and the Canadian Arctic, the East Coast, the Canadian Maritimes. So it's a real hotspot, and it's a terrible place to foul.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Hurricane plus oil equals more problems

Lauren Russell
CNN
Thu, 27 May 2010 22:21 UTC
Image

Hurricane Katrina
A predicted busy hurricane season this summer is on a collision course with an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the results are anyone's guess, weather experts say.

"The problem is that this is a man-made experiment we wish we hadn't made," said Jenni Evans, a professor of meteorology at Penn State University.

Scientists on Thursday said as much as 19,000 barrels of oil have been spewing every day from the BP well in the Gulf, making it the largest oil spill in U.S. history. Most of the oily water lies off the coast of Louisiana, where marshes and wildlife have been coated and the state's fishing and tourism industries have taken direct hits.

Not only is it hard to track how contaminants would be redistributed by a hurricane, but it's also hard to predict how the slick would affect the storm, NOAA Public Affairs Officer Dennis Feltgen and Evans agreed.
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Alarm Clock

2nd, stronger Iceland volcano 'to erupt'


Press TV
Thu, 27 May 2010 20:55 UTC
Image

A warning sign at the base of Myrdalsjokull glacier, which is part of the ice cap sealing the Katla volcano. Katla is 10 times more powerful than neighbor Eyjafjallajokull.
Scientists have warned a second much larger volcano in Iceland is showing signs of eruption, with the government expressing readiness to face a possible crisis.

After the successive eruptions of Eyjafjallajokull which caused air traffic mayhem in Europe and brought thousands of flights to a halt earlier in the year, Katla volcano is also threatening to blow.

Experts say there has been a 200 percent increase in its volcanic activity in recent days, MSNBC reported.

"An eruption in the short term is a strong possibility," the University College London (UCL) institute for risk and disaster reduction outlined in a report.

Seismic readings indicated a substantial increase in tremors in the areas surrounding the volcano, the report said.

On May 21 alone, four earthquakes near Katla were detected in 12 hours; a record since the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull volcano in March.
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Bizarro Earth

Vanuatu (2nd Earthquake) - Magnitude 6.4


USGS
Thu, 27 May 2010 20:13 UTC
2nd Vanuatu Earthquake_270510
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 20:48:00 UTC

Friday, May 28, 2010 at 07:48:00 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
13.641°S, 166.713°E

Depth:
32.2 km (20.0 miles)

Region:
VANUATU

Distances:
215 km (135 miles) NNW of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

335 km (210 miles) SSE of Lata, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Isl.

485 km (300 miles) NNW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu

2085 km (1300 miles) NE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Sherlock

EPA Takes a Second Look at Popular Pesticide Atrazine

Jack Weingart
CBS News
Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:08 UTC
Image

The Environmental Protection Agency is rethinking its regulatory position on atrazine, one of the most commonly-used weed killers in America, as new scientific studies find the pesticide more hazardous than previously believed.

The EPA's independent scientific advisory panel is set to review the EPA's most recent evaluation of the popular pesticide atrazine and its non-cancer effects in a four-day public meeting starting next Monday, April 26.

Atrazine has been on the market and deemed safe by the U.S. government since 1958. The EPA estimates 76.5 million pounds of active ingredient are applied across the country every year, primarily on corn crops in the Midwest.

Comment: According to the EPA website:
One of the most widely used agricultural pesticides in the U.S., atrazine may be applied before and after planting to control broadleaf and grassy weeds. It is used primarily on corn, sorghum, and sugarcane, and is applied most heavily in the Midwest. Atrazine is used to a lesser extent on residential lawns, particularly in Florida and the Southeast
About time the EPA decides to reexamine the chemical. There is significant evidence that Atrazine posses a serious threat to human and environmental health:

More Stark Evidence of the Hazards of Atrazine

EPA Fails To Inform Public About Weed-Killer In Drinking Water

Serious Birth Defects Linked to the Agricultural Chemical Atrazine

An End to Atrazine

      Read More...
Magnify

Commonly Used Atrazine Herbicide Adversely Affects Fish Reproduction


Science Daily
Thu, 20 May 2010 15:00 UTC
Image
© USGS
Fathead minnow. Atrazine, one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world, has been shown to affect reproduction of fish.
Atrazine, one of the most commonly used herbicides in the world, has been shown to affect reproduction of fish, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study.

"Concentrations of atrazine commonly found in agricultural streams and rivers caused reduced reproduction and spawning, as well as tissue abnormalities in laboratory studies with fish," said USGS scientist Donald Tillitt, the lead author of the study published in Aquatic Toxicology.

Fathead minnows were exposed to atrazine at the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center in Columbia, Mo., and observed for effects on egg production, tissue abnormalities and hormone levels. Fish were exposed to concentrations ranging from zero to 50 micrograms per liter of atrazine for up to 30 days. All tested levels of exposure are less than the USEPA Office of Pesticides Aquatic Life Benchmark of 65 micrograms per liter for chronic exposure of fish. Thus, substantial reproductive effects were observed in this study at concentrations below the USEPA water-quality guideline.
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Red Flag

Scientists: BPA has Widely Contaminated the Oceans

Tom Laskawy
Grist
Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:37 UTC
Image

BPA leached from plastic: not just a problem for landlubbers.
It's looking more and more like the chemical industry's idea to make the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A ubiquitous in the environment was a terrible, and terribly dangerous, idea. Having successfully tainted the food supply with its presence, BPA has now has put the world's oceans at risk (via Science Daily):
Scientists have reported widespread global contamination of sea sand and sea water with the endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) and said that the BPA probably originated from a surprising source: Hard plastic trash discarded in the oceans and the epoxy plastic paint used to seal the hulls of ships. The team analyzed sand and seawater from more than 200 sites in 20 countries, mainly in Southeast Asia and North America. All contained what Saido described as a "significant" amount of BPA, ranging from 0.01 parts per million (ppm) to 50 ppm. They concluded that polycarbonates and epoxy resin coatings and paints were the main source.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Vanuatu: Earthquake Magnitude 7.2


US Geological Survey
Thu, 27 May 2010 14:07 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 17:14:48 UTC

Friday, May 28, 2010 at 04:14:48 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
13.710°S, 166.507°E

Depth:
36.1 km (22.4 miles)

Region:
VANUATU

Distances:
215 km (135 miles) NNW of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

340 km (210 miles) SSE of Lata, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Isl.

485 km (300 miles) NNW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu

2070 km (1290 miles) NE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

UK: Four Walkers Struck by Lightning Within 35 Minutes in Lake District


The Daily Mail
Thu, 27 May 2010 06:42 UTC
Image
© Paul Lewis
Lightning zone: An aerial view of the area where the helicopter was called to
A spate of lighting strikes across the Lake District sparked a dramatic series of mountain rescues by the crew of a Royal Navy helicopter, it emerged today.

Four hill walkers, in three different locations, were airlifted to hospital following an electric storm in the national park yesterday afternoon.

The helicopter, from HMS Gannet at Prestwick, Scotland, had initially been called to a separate incident involving a man with a suspected shoulder injury at Langdale, Cumbria.

But at around 3pm, as reports of lightning emerged, the crew were instead deployed to help a hiker who had been struck at Grasmoor.

Within 35 minutes they had been called out to two other hillside locations - Crag Hill and Whiteless Pike - and rescued three more victims of lightning.
      Read More...
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