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Archive for September 27th, 2011
Keystone XL pipeline: US state department floated two-year delay
Posted by InsideClimate News: David Sassoon on September 27th, 2011
InsideClimate News: In June of 2010, in the midst of the BP Gulf oil disaster, someone deep in the bowels of the U.S. State Department was considering a two-year delay in the Keystone XL pipeline project, according to documents released last week. Public concerns about the oil industry were peaking, and the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline, which had looked like a shoo-in at the beginning of 2010, was getting a closer look. At one point, the State Department even asked a lawyer for TransCanada, the Alberta-based...
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Signs of Climate Change: Arctic Ice Is Vanishing Fast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Time Magazine: If you want to witness climate change, just head north - and keep going until you run out of globe. Of course, that's easier said than done; the Arctic is a forbidding, isolated area, short of people and encased in ice much of the year. But those who make their way to places like Barrow, Ala. - the northernmost point of the U.S. - or the icy seas of the Arctic Ocean will witness a part of the planet that is warming and changing faster than anywhere else. While the world as a whole warmed by about...
Keystone pipeline hearing draws supporters, few critics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Reuters: Supporters outnumbered critics at a government-sponsored hearing on the proposed TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline that would ship oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.
Monday's hearing in Port Arthur was the first of several public hearings to be held regarding the pipeline, which has already raised large protests in Canada and the United States.
Opponents say the $7 billion project will threaten an important U.S. water supply, while supporters say it will bring needed jobs and lessen...
UK accused of ignoring crisis in the Arctic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Independent: Britain needs to pay far more attention to the Arctic and the "new world" of the Far North, a group of experts warned yesterday.
Government ministers are showing no interest in the region David Cameron chose to define his image -- on his celebrated sled-and-husky trip after he became Conservative leader -- even though it is now one of the most rapidly changing areas of the world. It presents many opportunities but also looming environmental and diplomatic difficulties, the conference in London,...
River basins could double food production: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Reuters: Major river basins in Africa, Asia and Latin America could sustainably double food production in some of the poorest parts of the globe in the next few decades, water experts reported on Monday. But myriad competing claims on the water -- from industry, cities and power producers among others -- may stand in the way of a big increase in food production. Scientists in 30 countries spent five years analyzing river basins that cover a total of 5.2 million square miles (13.5 million square km) and...
Wangari Maathai: A ‘Mighty Woman’ Who Spoke Truth to Power
Posted by Inter Press Service: Kerry Kennedy on September 27th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Last night, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth.
Wangari Maathai was Kenya's foremost environmentalist and women's rights advocate. She contended that women have a unique connection to the environment and that human rights violations against...