Author: Emily Bouckaert

New study finds that lower levels of fog could leave coast redwoods more susceptible to drought damage.

Reduced amounts of fog cover during the summer could be troublesome for the coast redwoods, according to a University of California at Berkeley study released Tuesday. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study suggests that lower levels of fog are exposing west coast habitat including redwoods to greater drought stress.

The coast redwood or Sequoia sempervirens is a giant, long-lived conifer with an extremely limited distribution.  According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) Red List, the trees can only be found along a 725 km-long coastal belt spanning from Central California to southern Oregon.  The ICUN lists the species under “vulnerable” conservation states with a decreasing population trend.

The redwoods have special adaptations that allow them to collect water directly from the atmosphere.  This is especially crucial during summer months, when the trees compensate for dry conditions by obtaining about 40 percent of their water intake from atmospheric moisture according to Reuters.

To understand the fog frequency changes along the coast, lead researchers James Johnstone and Todd Dawson used historical data dating back to 1951.  They then extrapolated fog conditions back during the early 1900s for which there is no historical record.

“Over the past 58 years, the coastal fog has decreased by about 1.3 hours a day,” Johnstone told Rueters.

Meanwhile the causes for the decreased fog frequency remain unclear. USA Today reports that the decrease in fog frequency could be due to natural oceanic and atmospheric variations.  Climate change is also possibly a contributing factor, but Johnstone told USA Today that, “there is not clear evidence for this point.”

Even though Dawson told Reuters that it is possible that climate change plays some role in the disappearing fog, he describes how you would need an, “analysis of fog everywhere around the world, and how it’s changed everywhere around the world, to say okay, there’s this general global pattern.”

Sources: Reuters , USA Today, ICUN Red List, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Attendees are encouraged to drink tap water during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

Metro Vancouver is promoting the use of municipal tap water instead of purchasing bottled water during the Olympic Games, the CBC reports. Municipal officials seek to reduce the city’s bottled water consumption by 20 percent at the end of the year as a part of their Tap Water Campaign.

The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel has joined the campaign, agreeing to no longer sell bottled water. Instead, hotel guests will be able to purchase reusable steel water bottles to keep.

“Bottled water is a major seller in our guest rooms through the mini-bars. I was concerned about the fall-off of those sales … but it’s the right thing to do,” hotel manager Randy Zupanski told the CBC.

If the movement gathers steam, it could affect the bottled water sales of Coca-Cola Ltd., a major Olympic sponsor.

However, Coca-Cola spokesperson Nicola Kettlitz told the CBC he is not concerned about the tap water competition.

“Our bottled water does not compete with tap water. It’s about having clean water available in a convenient place, and tap water is not always available in a convenient place,” Kettlitz said.

Vancouver isn’t the only city promoting tap water consumption.  Officials in London have included plans to provide free tap water to tourists when they host the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, according to the London Evening Standard. In addition, many U.S. municipalities have already banned the purchase of bottled water for city-funded events.

Meanwhile Food and Water Watch has published guidelines on how consumers and promoters can enjoy events that are bottled water free.

Sources: CBC, London Evening Standard, foodandwaterwatch.org

Read recent commentary from Peter Gleick on the bottled water battles here, here and here. Also check out Circle of Blue’s reports on other cities fighting to “take back the tap,” here and here.

A survey released in Maine finds trace amounts of pharmaceuticals present in landfill leachate.

A survey from the Maine Department of Environmental Quality has revealed that traces of medications like birth control, antidepressants, and pain relievers were found in the liquid that drains from landfills, the Huffington Post reports.

This contaminated water is known as leachate. Most Maine landfills have systems that collect and transport leachate to wastewater treatment facilities where the liquid is treated and then pumped into rivers.

Expired or unused medications are usually discarded in landfills. This is considered a better form of disposal than flushing, because wastewater treatment facilities in Maine are not equipped to remove medical contaminants from the liquid.

But if the leachate contains traces of medications, those medications will still be present after the water is treated and pumped back into rivers.

While Maine does not draw any drinking water directly from rivers that receive treated leachate wastewater, this could potentially be an issue for other states.

These kinds of toxins can be harmful to some types of aquatic life. But lobbying organization,Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) argue that the amount found in the environment are too small to pose a significant threat to the safety of drinking water.

“The amounts of pharmaceuticals (in the environment) are infinitesimally small. We’re talking about two drops in an Olympic-size swimming pool. Those two drops are much lower than any doses that would have an effect on humans,” said Marjorie Powell, senior assistant general counsel at PhRMA told the Associated Press.

PhRMA does not support a newly proposed bill in Maine that would call for manufacturers to fund the collection and disposal of unused medications.

Meanwhile the Office of National Drug Control Policy has issued suggestions on how to safely dispose of unused prescriptions or expired medications. The organization suggests first checking to see if your local pharmacy has a “take back” program or if your community’s hazardous waste collection program accepts medications. If neither of these programs are available, they recommend removing medications from their original containers, mixing them with undesirable substances such as used coffee grinds or kitty liter and then placing the mixture in a seal-able container or bag before putting them in landfills.

Sources: Associated Press, Huffington Post, and Federal Guidelines: Proper Disposal of Prescription Drugs

Preliminary tests conducted under the ice in East Antarctica found that the seawater isn’t heating up.

The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) found that seawater temperatures beneath the Fimbul Ice Shelf are hovering slightly above freezing. This data indicates the water is actually “icier” than temperature projections made by an Antarctic regional computer model, according to Dr. Nalan Koc of NPI.

The findings at the Fimbul Ice Shelf offer an increasingly infrequent glimmer of optimism for the fate of polar ice. Recently, reports about global climate change and its effects on the polar regions have been troublesome. Earlier this fall, scientists from the Catlin Arctic-World Wildlife Federation collected data that suggested the Arctic Ocean will be ice free in summer due to rising global temperatures within 20 years. In addition, the National Snow and Ice Data Center couldn’t locate the stiff, non-navigable “multi-year” arctic ice pack they expected to find a recent expedition in the Beaufort Sea.

On the whole, however, Antarctic ice is disappearing. Antarctica is losing over 100 cubic kilometers (24 cubic miles) of ice annually, and that rate is accelerating, according to gravity data collected by NASA’s Grace satellite.

Much of the ice loss is occurring in the West Antarctic region. According to NASA, the East Antarctic region has experienced less ice loss along its edges due to two factors: it is situated on the large continental landmass, and precipitation in the region compensates for much of the ice loss. In contrast, the West Antarctic region is comprised of a series of smaller islands, meaning there is less continental ice and more ice shelves. Ice shelves are defined as the portions of glaciers that extend beyond the landmass. They are more vulnerable to melt due to greater exposure to fluctuating seawater temperatures. In addition, when the buffer of an ice shelf is removed, the continental glacier ice is put at greater risk for melt.

Ole Anders Noest of NPI described the state of the Fimbul Ice Shelf in East Antarctica after his initial examination in a written statement.

“This situation seems to be stable, suggesting that the melting under the ice shelf does not increase,” Noest Wrote.

Source: Reuters