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Archive for October 25th, 2010
Water emerges as new weapon in Texas coal plant fight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Houston Chronicle: There is a new front in the fight over whether Texas should build more coal-fired power plants -- water. The various water factions - farmers, environmentalists and growing, thirsty cities - have come together as allies against proposed coal plants across the state, with battles now raging from Abilene to Corpus Christi. Their shared concern: The plants will use too much of an already stressed resource. So the unlikely allies are asking water suppliers to not sell the rights to ...
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Ho Chi Minh City set to bear brunt of climate change impacts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Thanhnien News: Ho Chi Minh City and other Asia's coastal megacities will suffer more frequent and severe flooding affecting millions of people, if current climate change trends continue, a new report says. Major flooding could cost billions of dollars in infrastructure damage, hurting the economy. The hardest hit are likely to be urban poor populations, says the report titled Climate Risks and Adaptation in Asian Coastal Megacities. The report was released Friday at the Asia Pacific Climate ...
Australia: Antarctic snowfall linked to south-western drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
WA Today: Increased snowfall in the Antarctic has been linked to drought in south-western Australia. Researchers, including Australian Antarctic Division principal research scientist Tas van Ommen, have been analysing ice cores in the Antarctic and revealed snowfall variability may be linked to climate in the Southern Ocean and the South-West. Dr van Ommen said the ice cores, drilled at Law Dome in the Antarctic, provided a record of annual variations in snowfall and provided a record ...
U.N. talks on nature inch forward but rifts remain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Reuters: A U.N. meeting to set targets to fight rising animal and plant extinctions inched on Friday toward agreement, but rich and poor countries remained split over details of a new framework on genetic resources. Envoys from nearly 200 countries are meeting in Nagoya, Japan, from Oct 18-29 to set new goals to preserve nature's riches after they failed to meet a goal for a "significant reduction" in losses of biological diversity by 2010. The meeting hopes to push governments and ...
Greenpeace critical of PNG graft, “carbon cowboys”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Reuters: Rainforest-clad Papua New Guinea is not ready for international funding for U.N.-backed forest carbon credits to stem deforestation, said Greenpeace, citing corruption, "carbon cowboys" and lack of political leadership. A Greenpeace report into PNG's attempts to promote a U.N.-supported scheme REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), found it was more interested in the funding than reducing carbon dioxide emissions. REDD, which the United Nations hopes will ...
Greenpeace critical of Papua New Guinea graft, “carbon cowboys”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Reuters: Rainforest-clad Papua New Guinea is not ready for international funding for U.N.-backed forest carbon credits to stem deforestation, said Greenpeace, citing corruption, "carbon cowboys" and lack of political leadership. A Greenpeace report into PNG's attempts to promote a U.N.-supported scheme REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), found it was more interested in the funding than reducing carbon dioxide emissions. REDD, which the United Nations hopes will ...
Papua New Guinea Receives ‘Golden Chainsaw’ From Greenpeace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Epoch Times: PORT MORESBY--Greenpeace has presented the Papua New Guinea government with a "Golden Chainsaw" for being greedy rather than green when it comes to tackling climate change. Greenpeace gave the award to PNG representative Federica Bietta during climate change talks in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday. Greenpeace said it chose PNG for the dubious honour for its continued corruption in the forestry sector, stalling UN talks on reducing climate change, disregard for indigenous people's ...
Greenpeace hands PNG ‘Golden Chainsaw’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
WA Today: Greenpeace has presented the Papua New Guinea government with a "Golden Chainsaw" for being greedy rather than green when it comes to tackling climate change. Greenpeace gave the award to PNG representative Federica Bietta during climate change talks in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday. Greenpeace said it chose PNG for the dubious honour for its continued corruption in the forestry sector, stalling UN talks on reducing climate change, disregard for indigenous people's rights and ...
Last house on sinking Chesapeake Bay island collapses
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Washington Post: On Holland Island, Md.
The story was strange enough to be a child's fable: In an isolated section of the Chesapeake Bay, there was a two-story Victorian house that seemed to emerge directly from the water.
And, scurrying around it, there was a retiree, trying to keep the house from falling in.
Finally, the man gave up. And last week, the house did, too. Raked by a storm, it cracked at the spine and collapsed into a one-story wreck.
The tale of the house and the man illustrates the Chesapeake's...
Farmers union bows down over disastrous climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2010
Jakarta Post: On the back of the prolonged rainy season and its impact on crops, the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) has given its consent on the government’s plan to import food commodities, given a transparent process is in place. HKTI chairman Prabowo Subianto said last week that the government must be transparent in importing rice, sugar and wheat to prevent abuses in the market, which could damage the livelihood of more than 80 million farmers nationwide. “The government must be transparent on when...