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Archive for September 1st, 2011
Brazilian Women Rise Above the Waters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2011
Inter Press Service: Almost a year and a half after floods wreaked havoc in a large part of the state of Rio de Janeiro, a group of women are struggling to rebuild their lives. They lost everything except their will to pick themselves up again and make the best of the aid they receive, to become self-sufficient again.
When Elisete dos Santos came home from work on the night of Apr. 5, 2010, the water was already up to her calves.
The storm had started in the morning and by four a.m. the following day the water...
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For Protesters, Keystone Pipeline Is Line in Tar Sand
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2011
National Public Radio: Dozens of environmental activists showed up in front of the White House Thursday to get arrested in a peaceful protest against a proposed oil pipeline that would cut across the American Midwest.
Organizers said that over the past 10 days, about 800 people have been handcuffed and bused off to a police station in this ongoing action.
At issue is a proposed pipeline that would connect oil resources in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas coast. The 1,700-mile long Keystone XL, as it's...
Drought intensifies in the South, no end in sight
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on September 1st, 2011
Reuters: Record-breaking triple-digit temperatures were prolonging a devastating drought that has been baking the South and the dry spell could extend into next year and beyond, climate experts said on Thursday.
"Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... we are seeing expansion of this drought. This drought will continue to persist and likely intensify," said climatologist Mark Svoboda, with the University of Nebraska's National Drought Mitigation Center.
The drought is edging its way to the...
Organic farming can be more profitable in the long-term than conventional agriculture
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2011
Mongabay: Organic farming is more profitable and economically secure than conventional farming even over the long-term, according to a new study in Agronomy Journal. Using experimental farm plots, researchers with the University of Minnesota found that organic beat conventional even if organic price premiums (i.e. customers willing to pay more for organic) were to drop as much as 50 percent.
"Doing an economic study like this, it’s important to get as complete a picture of the yield variability as we can,"...
United Kingdom: The Conservatives will pay dearly for desecrating what people love most
Posted by Guardian: Alexander Chancellor on September 1st, 2011
Guardian: I have lived in the country in Northamptonshire for several years now, but am beginning to think of returning to London just for a bit of peace and quiet. The trouble with the country is that it is a scene of almost permanent conflict. People argue about borders, and fences, and trees. They challenge each other's building plans. They are constantly fighting off threats to their privacy and quiet. There used to be a clay-pigeon shooting club on my doorstep, but that thankfully was recently closed....
Economic analysis reveals organic farming profitable long-term
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2011
ScienceDaily: Organic farming is known to be environmentally sustainable, but can it be economically sustainable, as well? The answer is yes, according to new research in the Sept.-Oct. issue of Agronomy Journal. In an analysis of 18 years of crop yield and farm management data from a long-term University of Minnesota trial, an organic crop rotation was consistently more profitable and carried less risk of low returns than conventional corn and soybean production, even when organic prime premiums were cut by half....
South Africa: While Politicians Deliberate Climate Change, Others Adapt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2011
Inter Press Service: While many scientists, academics and politicians still theorise about ways to adapt to climate change, a South African civil society organisation has launched a hands-on project that mobilises communities to take easy steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Called the Project 90 by 2030, it encourages individuals, organisations and companies to change the way they live and operate by 90 percent by the year 2030. The idea stems from the suggestion environmental activist George Monbiot makes in his book...
Four ways to prevent famine in the Horn of Africa – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 1st, 2011
AlertNet: Future famines in the Horn of Africa could be prevented by commercialisation of existing research findings and increased investment in livestock and agriculture, experts in Kenya said at the opening of a three-day meeting on the regional food crisis.
Almost 13 million people across Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti are experiencing hunger due to prolonged drought, with famine killing tens of thousands in the worst affected parts of Somalia.
"Livestock management and farming condition in...
Keystone Pipeline, Tar Sands Oil, and Climate Change Are Not in Our National Interest
Posted by Huffington Post: Peter Lehner on September 1st, 2011
Huffington Post: Over the next few months, the State Department will examine whether the proposed Keystone XL pipeline running from the Alberta tar sands oil fields to the Texas Gulf Coast is in America's national interest.
To answer that question, you have to decide what kind of future you want for our country.
Do you want America to create cars that can go twice as far on a gallon of gas, employ 150,000 workers to build, and cut our oil use by more than 3 million barrels a day?
Or do you want America to...
Cut price latrine on design award shortlist
Posted by SciDev.Net: Kounila Keo on September 1st, 2011
SciDev.Net: A toilet kit and a self-cleaning water filter are among the innovations shortlisted for a major award that recognises the importance of design in improving lives.
The Easy Latrine and Tulip Siphon Water Filter, both being rolled out in Cambodia, have reached the final round of the Denmark-based INDEX awards which have a top prize of EUR500,000 (US$711,000), and will be awarded later today.
The US$35 Easy Latrine is an affordable, all-in-one toilet kit aimed at the rural poor in Cambodia, where...