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Archive for August, 2011
Featured video: debating the tar sands pipeline as arrests mount
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2011
Mongabay: As arrests during a two week long civil action against the Keystone Pipeline XL in Washington DC rose to nearly 600 people, Bill McKibben, head of 350.org, and Robert Bryce, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, debated the issue on PBS. While activists oppose the massive pipeline (from Canada to Texas) for a variety of reasons, including potential oil spills, the major issue at stake is climate change. Oil from tar sands carried a significantly heavier carbon burden than other oil sources. Many...
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Can Water Treaties Be Climate-Proofed?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2011
New York Times: The Indus River flows through a valley in northern Pakistan. Arguments over control of the Indus River system have been a source of tension between the two rival powers on the subcontinent.
For centuries, water has been a potent weapon between warring states. When Pisa was at war with Florence, Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli planned to divert the Arno and leave Pisa dry.
For at least as long, water has been a casus belli. India and Pakistan have contested one another`s access to the Indus...
Texas drought could threaten endangered species
Posted by Associated Press: Betsy Blaney on August 30th, 2011
Associated Press: Federal officials are readying plans to evacuate a small number of endangered species in Texas as a severe drought lowers water levels and threatens the survival of rare wildlife in the state's huge ecosystem.
Months with almost no rain have caused water levels to drop by half or more in many rivers, lakes and other bodies of water, including springs in the central Texas Hill Country that are the only remaining habitat for populations of small fish, amphibians and other creatures. If the water...
Is climate change making us crazy?
Posted by The Week Magazine: None Given on August 30th, 2011
The Week Magazine: Scientists worldwide are forecasting severe drought, unprecedented flooding, and scorching heat waves as a result of climate change. One thing that's often overlooked in these discussions, however, is the effect that climate change may have on our mental health. But researchers in Australia have just published a report, A Climate of Suffering: The Real Cost of Living with Inaction on Climate Change, that gives us some new clues. Here, a brief guide to this research:
How could climate change affect...
Libya: Gadhafi loyalists blamed for Tripoli water crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2011
Associated Press: A Libyan rebel official says attacks by Moammar Gadhafi's forces on water engineers deep in the Libyan desert have caused a widespread water shortage in the capital, Tripoli. The official, Aref Ali Nayeb, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that regime forces fired on repair crews a week ago as they tried to restart wells pumping water from deep aquifers some 700 kilometers (434.98 miles) south of Tripoli. The wells feed into a vast water network that supplies the capital. Nayeb says the security...
Environment Agency spins river story
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2011
Guardian: The Environment Agency (EA) is getting better at its relentless spin. Its well-publicised report on the "10 most improved rivers in Britain" comes hard on the heels of news that otters have now returned to all English counties. The two stories suggest that nothing but good ever happens to our waterways and the government is living up to its intention to be the "greenest ever".
If only.
No one is disputing that the water quality of the 10 rivers has dramatically improved on 40-50 years ago....
Climate change ‘threatens mental health’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 30th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Flooding, drought and superstorms boosted by climate change are not only poised to ravage human habitats but mental health as well, according to Australian researchers.
"The damage caused by a changing climate is not just physical," they said in a report released this week by the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Sydney.
"Recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and wellbeing, with serious flow-on consequences...
Tar sands pipeline plan renews energy vs. environment debate
Posted by PBS: None Given on August 30th, 2011
PBS: Transcript
JEFFREY BROWN: Next: a friendly and safe new source of oil for the U.S. or an environmental disaster waiting to happen?
The tar sands of Alberta, in western Canada, are today considered one of the largest oil reserves in the world, a source of crude petroleum known as bitumen. But the extraction of oil there has come with concerns about the environmental impact. And now those concerns have exploded with a plan by the Calgary-based company TransCanada to build a massive pipeline to...
United States: Experts predict drought could be around for years to come
Posted by Gonzales Inquirere: Lynn Adams on August 30th, 2011
Gonzales Inquirere: The bad news is, Texas is in the strangehold of the second-most severe drought in state history and the worst ever for a single year.
The badder news: Get used to it. The drought may be around for the next year or two.
And, yes, global warming may be a contributing factor. Climate scientists predict much more of the same in coming decades because of long-term warming trends.
Texas is poised to surpass a 1956 dry spell and record its worst drought on record if high heat and low rainfall persist...
Thailand: Bangkok facing ‘disaster scenarios’
Posted by Canberra Times: Bianca Hall on August 30th, 2011
Canberra Times: Climate change and rising sea waters could wipe out much of the world's rice stocks and leave millions homeless in Thailand, a leaked US cable reveals.
The diplomatic cable, sent to ASEAN members and US departments last year, was part of the cache of tens of thousands of diplomatic documents issued by WikiLeaks last week.
In it, the US embassy in Bangkok flags the alarming prediction that rising sea levels will threaten Bangkok's 12million residents with inundation by 2050. The UN International...