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Archive for June 3rd, 2011
The Agriculture Chief as Water Advocate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2011
New York Times: Most people do not realize the intense relationship between modern agriculture and water quality. In an article in Friday`s paper, I write about a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River and how it has been linked to runoff from farms, largely from chemicals used as fertilizers.
My article did not mention that runoff from farms is also polluting drinking water in the farm states themselves, including Iowa, where local lakes are experiencing their own outbreaks of...
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Are Tougher Regulations Coming to Pa. Marcellus Shale Drilling Companies?
Posted by Yahoo!: Jason Gallaghe on June 3rd, 2011
Yahoo!: The numerous Marcellus Shale gas wells located across Pennsylvania might be providing a much-needed shot in the arm to the state economy, creating over 45,000 jobs, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, but many environmentalist groups and residents are concerned about the effects the process being used has on the ecosystem and water quality of the state. With the Susquehanna River recently being ranked as the most endangered river in the United States, even Gov. Tom Corbett's administration...
Dropped Charges in Ecuador Could Affect Chevron Racketeering Case
Posted by Greenwire: Lawrence Hurley on June 3rd, 2011
Greenwire: An Ecuadorean court's decision to dismiss criminal charges in a case concerning oil pollution liability could affect high-stakes litigation in New York over whether Chevron Corp. should have to pay up to $18 billion in damages.
The criminal case in Ecuador focused on whether fraud tainted an agreement between the government and Texaco Petroleum Corp. over oil remediation and the oil company's future liability.
Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001 and has since been battling in court against indigenous...
Controversial Brazil hydro-dam cleared for construction
Posted by Jamaica Gleaner: None Given on June 3rd, 2011
Jamaica Gleaner: Controversial Brazil hydro-dam cleared for construction
The massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon rain forest won approval from Brazil's environmental protection agency on Wednesday, clearing the way for construction of a project fiercely opposed by environmentalists, indigenous activists and celebrities including film director James Cameron and rock star Sting.
The dam would be the world's third-largest, behind China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu, which straddles...
Brazil’s shame
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2011
Mongabay: As an American I know a lot about shame — the U.S. government and American companies have wrought appalling amounts of damage the world over. But as an admirer of Brazil's recent progress toward an economy that recognizes the contributions of culture and the environment, this week's decision to move forward on the Belo Monte dam came as a shock. The dam will generate lots of electricity — more than 10 percent of Brazil's current capacity during the rainy seasons, much less during the dry season...
Tropical ‘hotspots’ may get too warm to farm
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Climate change is on track to disrupt lifeline food crops across large swathes of Africa and Asia already mired in chronic poverty, according to an international study released Friday.
More than 350 million people face a "perfect storm" of conditions for potential food disaster, warns the report by scientists in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Temperature increases projected by UN climate scientists could, by 2050, shorten growing seasons below critical...
Drought exposes water, power woes threatening China
Posted by Reuters: Chris Buckley on June 3rd, 2011
Reuters: Wang Guzhen and Xiao Gongguo count the cost of central China's drought with each push needed to heave their fishing boat through mud to shrinking Lake Honghu, surrounded by drying flats strewn with grounded boats.
The months-long drought parching middle and lower parts of the Yangtze River basin is the latest reminder of the risks that China's limited and heavily used water sources pose for the world's second-biggest economy.
Even before this drought, smaller lakes around Lake Honghu were disappearing,...
Climate change in tropics poses food threat to poor
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2011
Guardian: Areas that will experience more than a 5% decrease in the length of the growing season, from the report Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics. Photograph: ccafs.cgiar.org
The shorter growing seasons expected with climate change over the next 40 years will imperil hundreds of millions of already impoverished people in the global tropics, say researchers working with the world's leading agricultural organisations.
The effects of climate change are likely...
‘Zero Emissions’ Housing Development Misses Target, but Satisfies Most Residents
Posted by ClimateWire: Jeremy Lovell on June 3rd, 2011
ClimateWire: Nine years after opening its doors as the United Kingdom's first carbon-neutral housing development, the "Beddington Zero Emissions Development," known as BedZED, is underperforming its carbon targets but easily meeting the expectations of its residents. There is a long list of people waiting to move in.
With its visually striking and brightly colored weather-vane ventilation cowlings, rooftop gardens, photovoltaic (PV) panels and unique building design, the community of 100 apartments stands...
China drought raises questions about climate change
Posted by Reuters: Chris Buckley on June 3rd, 2011
Reuters: China's drought along its biggest river, the Yangtze, is for some scientists a demonstration of how global warming could increasingly disrupt the complex dance of air flows, rains and waterways that feeds dams and farming heartlands. [ID:L3E7GV15V]
Many older farmers around Lake Honghu, part of the drought-stricken Yangtze River basin, said summers and winters had seemed warmer in the past decade, and some said overall rainfall had shrunk, although impressions varied.
Few blamed global warming,...