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Archive for June, 2011
Canada spurns Kyoto in favour of tar sands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Canada was roundly criticised by other nations at a major U.N. climate meeting last week after being caught underreporting carbon emissions from its tar sands oil production facilities, one of the country's biggest and fastest growing sources of global warming gases.
But even the "full emissions" data that Canada finally released represents only about half of the actual emissions, according to a new report.
"Small oil sands companies are not required to report their emissions. And oil-refining...
Australia’s beloved koalas under threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2011
Guardian: Scientists are uncertain about the numbers of koalas.
There is no shortage of postcards featuring lovable koalas in Australia, but it is much more unusual to catch sight of the marsupials in the wild. The situation could deteriorate further, say scientists. The number of koalas – a symbol of Australia – is falling. A senate committee is due to report on whether they should be treated as an endangered species.
Studies suggest there are 50,000 to 100,000 koalas left. "In fact, it is hard to say...
Rewards for households that produce less waste but little hope for return to weekly collections
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2011
Telegraph: The waste review, that sets out strategy for waste collection in England over the next ten years, will scrap fines for petty infringements like putting plastic in the wrong recycling box. Instead households will be offered rewards like M&S vouchers for recycling more rubbish measured by a microchip in the bin. For the first time, households are also being offered rewards for putting out less rubbish in a reversal of the 'bin taxes' suggested by the last Government, that would have fined people...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Rewards for households that produce less waste but little hope for return to weekly collectionsEurope Braces for Serious Crop Losses, Blackouts as Record Drought Persists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 13th, 2011
New York Times: One of the driest spring seasons on record in northern Europe has sucked soils dry and sharply reduced river levels to the point that governments are starting to fear crop losses and France, in particular, is bracing for blackouts as its river-cooled nuclear power plants may be forced to shut down.
French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire warned this week that the warmest and driest spring in half a century could slash wheat yields and might even push up world prices despite the U.N. Food and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europe Braces for Serious Crop Losses, Blackouts as Record Drought PersistsWhen Nature Destroys in Slow Motion
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 13th, 2011
New York Times: On May 6, the iris garden alongside Jim and Charity Marlatts' house on a mountain two hours north of Albany was cleaved by a small crack only two inches wide. It was the start of a natural catastrophe, one that is still unfolding at an excruciatingly slow pace.
The Marlatts' treasured glass-and-wood retirement home is now on the scarp -- the geologic term for the edge above -- of the largest landslide in New York State history. About 82 acres of earth is slipping downhill and taking trees, rocks...
Our current snowpack anomaly in past 30 years
Posted by Coloradoan: None Given on June 13th, 2011
Coloradoan: It's the middle of June and the snowpack in Northern Colorado's mountains is still thick and full of water.
But a new U.S. Geological Survey study released Thursday shows that this year's robust snowpack across the region is not normal in the context of the past three decades, when anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change has been causing Colorado's snowpack to progressively shrink.
Northern Colorado's mountains may be an exception to that rule, however.
Using tree ring samples to...
Oil-extraction method also could reduce greenhouse gas
Posted by Dispatch: None Given on June 13th, 2011
Dispatch: Carbon dioxide produced by FirstEnergy's W. H. Sammis power plant along the Ohio River could be injected underground to force more oil out of old wells.
A gas tied to climate change could someday bring new life to old Ohio oil fields.
State officials are investigating whether carbon dioxide could be used to draw millions of barrels of crude oil from fields that were all but played out.
Energy companies have injected carbon dioxide into old oil fields in Texas and California for decades....
Ho Chi Minh floods due to poor planning
Posted by Asia One: None Given on June 13th, 2011
Asia One: Urban experts have rejected suggestions that the worsening of HCM City's chronic flood situation is due to climate change, blaming it instead on rapid urban development and unplanned construction.
The country's most populous city is forecast to be among the 10 places in the world to be worst affected by climate change.
But the experts pointed out that the sea level had risen by just a few millimetres because of global warming but the city's rivers were flowing dozens of centimetres higher....
Worst drought in century threatens Texas oil, natural gas boom
Posted by Bloomberg: Joe Carroll on June 13th, 2011
Bloomberg: The shortage is forcing oil companies to go farther afield to buy water from farmers. Source: Occidental Petroleum Corp. via Bloomberg
The worst Texas drought since record-keeping began 116 years ago may crimp an oil and natural- gas drilling boom as government officials ration water supplies crucial to energy exploration.
In the hardest-hit areas, water-management districts are warning residents and businesses to curtail usage from rivers, lakes and aquifers. The shortage is forcing oil companies...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Worst drought in century threatens Texas oil, natural gas boomLegislators eye W.Va. geothermal potential
Posted by Register Herald: Taylor Kuykendall on June 13th, 2011
Register Herald: A recent study on West Virginia`s geothermal potential had some promising results, and the state`s congressional delegation is eyeing the possibility of a new energy boom.
West Virginia`s vast coal and recently discovered shale gas resources already make the state a fairly powerful player in the energy market, but looking to other energy sources may even further expand that role. Renewable energies are slowly working their way into the state, and federal lawmakers are all looking at the growing...