Barack Obama and four other US President’s name to be put on new discovered freshwater fishes

A newly discovered species of colourful, freshwater fish has been named after US President Barack Obama due to "global vision of environmental protection and conservation", said scientists. Five new species of freshwater fish called darters have been discovered in river drainage in eastern North America and named after four US presidents and a Vice-President, Scientific American Running Ponies blog reported.

Darters are the smallest members of the perch family, and are named after their ability to zip around, under, into rocks and sediment on the beds of clean, fast-moving waterways. Almost 200 darter species have so far been discovered, most of which live in the rivers and creeks of northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee.

source: Terragreen

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Hawaii became first US state to ban plastic bags at checkout counter in airports

The Honolulu Country in the state of Hawaii has joined three other countries to give Hawaii a first in the nation title as the state that has banned plastic bags at checkout counters in airports and train stations. "Passing the bans did not take an effort- change always does- but people seemed to understand the need for such an effort", Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter, told msnbc.com of the two-year campaign across the islands. The Honolulu

Country Council approved the ban in late April and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, who is also the country executive, initially held back his support, saying he wanted to collect more public input due to enforcement and cost concerns. "This is groundbreaking. By signing this environment-friendly bill, Honolulu joined our neighbour island countries", Carlisle said. "Hawaii has become thee only state in the US where every county has plastic bag legislation"

source:Terragreen

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Strong odour of garbage has overcome the incense of arati in Varanasi

The pleasing incense filling the atmosphere during arati and other rituals has been overcome by the strong odour of garbage. This is the scene at one of the most spectacular ghats in Varanasi, the Dasawamedh Ghats. The Ghats, which is centrally located and witnesses round the year activities, has started to crumble, as reflected in its broken steps and ruptured platforms. While the rec

eding Ganga had left heavy deposition oil silt and mud on the embankments, the dumping of leftovers of puja and other rituals on the ghat had turned the embankments murky. Loads of rotten flowers, garlands, and plastic bags can be found floating nears the embankments and wastes from other ghats are also carried along river banks. "The renovated steps and platforms have started to rupture, unable to withstand even two bouts of monsoon season. The stone slabs that were fixed to the steps and platforms have started to crumble, some of them already uprooted from their original place", said Vinod Majhi, one of the local boatmen and residents of the locality.

Source: Terragreen

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Climate change could influence the Colorado Mountain hail to disappear in a warmer future

Summertime hail could all but disappear from the eastern flank of Colorado's Rocky Mountains by 2070, says a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Colorado Boulder's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Less hail damage could be good news for gardeners and farmers, said lead author Kelly Mahoney, a research scientist at CIRES, but a shift from hail to rain can also mean more runoff, which could raise the risk of flash floods. "In this region of elevated terrain, hail may lessen the risk of flooding because it takes a while to melt," Mahoney said. "Decision makers may not want to count on that in the future". For the new study, published in the journal Natural Climate Change, Mahoney and her colleagues used "downscaling" techniques to try to understand how climate change might affect hail-producing weather patterns across Colorado.

 Source: Terragreen

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Solar projects could be clouded by Finance problems

The second round if the National Solar Mission, which has seen the lowest of the low tariffs, could soon face financing hurdles. The 350 MW of solar power saw birds as low as little than Rs.8 a unit. That is about 33% lower than the current average solar power tariffs of close to Rs. 12 per unit. Banks, which are already wary of lending t

o the power sector, are becoming more cautious with these projects. "I think these bids are aggressive to the extent that they might affect the long-term viability of these projects", says B K Batra, executive director of IDBI Bank. "But, developers might have made their calculations; we will have to see on what basis they were made". Sector experts say tariffs like Rs. 7.50 per unit and Rs. 7.9 could render these projects unviable if they were to get financing at current domestic rates of about 13%. "With non-recourse rupee financing of dept, it will be changing to achieve these tariff numbers and deliver a reasonable return to the equality investor", notes Debashish Mishra, senior director of accounting from Deloitte Touché Tomatsu.

Source: Terra Green

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Aquatic ecosystems in Tasmania face threat due to human activities

An increase in human activity is posing a threat to natural aquatic ecosystems in Tanzania and contributing to environmental damage and ecological changes. Doctoral research carried out by Hezron Emmanuel Nonga shows that agriculture and livestock farming leads to eutrophication in lakes and the proliferation of cyanobacteria, which produce microcystins. New information about microcystins and other mycotoxins in Tanzanian lakes is useful for appraising the risk linked to drinking water and edible fish, which in turn affects the health of both humans and animals.

In Tanzania, there are varied wetland areas and aquatic ecosystems, which are productive, but also vulnerable. Hezron Emmanuel Nonga's doctoral research project has studied how human activities affect ecosystems in wetlands and has also examined the incidence of cyanobacteria, the production of microcystins, and the possible effects of these toxins on wild species. The study was carried out on three alkaline lakes in the north of Tanzania. In addition, similar experiments were conducted in the freshwater Lake Victoria in the Northwest of the country.

source: Terra green

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