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Archive for April, 2010
Obama uses executive power to reverse Bush environmental policies
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Gannett: For eight years, environmentalists cried foul as President George W. Bush used his executive power to weaken clean air and water regulations, open public lands to increased oil and gas drilling and block action to fight climate change. Now, President Barack Obama is exercising that same authority to reverse course, and business groups are the ones yelling. Obama has moved to improve the fuel efficiency of cars, halt uranium mines near the Grand Canyon, strengthen anti-smog ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Obama uses executive power to reverse Bush environmental policiesFrom rebellious roots, Earth Day now mainstream
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Associated Press: There was no "Green Movement" yet and little talk of global warming. Instead, the original Earth Day 40 years ago emphasized "ecology" and goals like cleaning up pollution and litter -- along with a more anti-establishment vibe than today. "Welcome, sulfur dioxide, hello, carbon monoxide," a woman sang from the 1968 countercultural Broadway hit, "Hair," at a rally in Philadelphia that day. Across the country, activists donned gas masks or spread out in grassy parks to hear speeches ...
Scientists to study biodiversity along river Congo
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Agence France-Presse: A large team of DR Congolese and Belgian scientists will next week embark on a 47-day expedition to study the fauna and flora along central Africa's Congo river, organisers announced Wednesday. At least 67 ornithologists, biologists, geologists, linguists and other experts will thus mark both the International Year of Biodiversity and the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The scientists will board a boat in Kisangani in the northern DR ...
EU lawmakers raise pressure on Canadian oil sands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Reuters: European parliamentarians are raising the pressure on the Canadian oil sands industry, which they accuse of destroying forests and polluting the air and waterways. Seventeen members of the European Parliament wrote to European climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard on Tuesday, urging her to maintain barriers to oil sands in draft EU standards to promote greener fuels. "The extraction and refining of tar sand oil is around three times more carbon intensive than conventional oil," ...
Colorado River water policy faces an age of limits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Salt Lake Tribune: Change comes hard to Western water policy. The Prior Appropriation Doctrine, interstate compacts, groundwater law, the "law of the river" -- all of these seem set in stone in the minds of the region's policymakers. Of course, the West's rivers aren't bound by such a static existence. Indeed, they are changing in fundamental ways, opening a wide chasm between our water policy and our water sources. This is particularly true for the Colorado River Basin. Climate scientists are ...
Canada: RBS faces climate change protests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
Guardian: Royal Bank of Scotland will be the target of a series of direct action protests this summer, the organisers of Climate Camp have announced today. The environmental group wants to broaden its campaign to target banks which fund the oil industry, particularly controversial tar sands developments, and engage in carbon trading, which they say is exacerbating climate change. The bank, following its £20bn taxpayer funded bailout, is a crucial link between government and the oil ...
Earth Day at 40: How it Began, Where It’s Going
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 22nd, 2010
National Geographic: From grassroots beginnings in 1970, Earth Day--which celebrates its 40th anniversary today--has blossomed into a global tradition. Organizers expect more than a billion to honor Earth Day in 2010--but many will do so with Facebook rather than megaphones. As part of the Billion Acts of Green, an initiative organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Earth Day Network's Green Generation campaign, more than 30 million people will use social media to encourage green activities. One ...
Iceland: The ash cloud’s silver lining
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2010
Newsweek: Initially, the environmental consequences will be severe. The contents of eruptions depend on location and geologic conditions, but all volcanoes spew skyward a mix of pulverized rock and glass, both of which can devastate ecosystems in the short term. The floating ash that has limited air travel will soon settle on Europe's fields and water systems and may have deadly consequences when ingested by livestock. The glass-and-rock mixture is fatal to most plant species since it prevents ...
‘Love-dart’ slug, lungless frog among new species on Borneo
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Wildlife researchers said on Thursday they have discovered around 120 new species on Borneo island, including a lungless frog, the world's longest insect and a slug that fires "love darts" at its mate. Conservation group WWF listed the new finds in a report on a remote area of dense, tropical rainforest that borders Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei on Borneo. The three governments in 2007 designated the 220,000-square-kilometre (88,000-square-mile) area as the "Heart of Borneo" ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘Love-dart’ slug, lungless frog among new species on BorneoSevern Trent presses for reforms to allow water trading
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2010
Guardian: The water industry needs to undergo radical reform in order to survive, according to one of the biggest utilities in Britain, Severn Trent. The reforms would also reduce debt levels and customers' bills, according to chief executive Tony Wray, who wants companies to divert more water from rivers in wetter parts of the country to supply households in the drier south-east. This plan would be cheaper than building dozens of planned reservoirs and desalination plants to cope with ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Severn Trent presses for reforms to allow water trading