RSS Feed
Archive for September, 2011
G20 focus on small farmers could improve world food security – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on September 14th, 2011
AlertNet: A commitment by G20 nations to strengthen agricultural research in developing countries will help reduce food insecurity as long as it focuses on small farmers and their needs, officials and experts said at a G20-backed conference this week.
After many years out in the cold in terms of funding, agriculture is firmly back on the political map as a result of fast-rising food prices, including the 2008 crisis that led to unrest around the world, and a further push to record highs this year as a result...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on G20 focus on small farmers could improve world food security – expertsDallas breaks much-awaited heat record, with mixed emotions
Posted by Reuters: Marice Richter on September 14th, 2011
Reuters: Record watchers in Dallas had something to cheer about on Tuesday, or lament, depending on their point of view after this summer officially logged more triple-digit days in north Texas than any other on record.
"We made it," said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. "We tied the record on Monday and beat it on Tuesday."
Home to such championship teams as the Mavericks, the Cowboys and the Stars, Dallasites are used to winning and have learned to savor...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dallas breaks much-awaited heat record, with mixed emotionsCalmer winds slow growth of Minnesota wildfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2011
Associated Press: Calmer winds, cooler temperatures and a few moments of sleet and light snow brought encouragement Wednesday as firefighters continued efforts to contain a blaze that was in a "pause mode" -- days after it moved at breakneck speeds, swallowing nearly 160 square miles of forest along the Minnesota-Canada border.
The fire in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is one of the largest on record in the state, and just under half of the access points into the wilderness were closed to campers by...
Somali refugees in drought-hit Kenya brace for floods
Posted by AlertNet: Katy Migiro on September 14th, 2011
AlertNet: After running from drought and famine, some 200,000 Somalis living in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya are likely to be hit by floods, the Kenya Red Cross said on Tuesday, warning that climate change is making it increasingly difficult to know where disaster will strike next.
The Kenya Red Cross predicts that 700,000 people in Kenya will need emergency aid, such as food and medical care, due to flooding between October and December. About 30,000 are likely to be displaced.
Most of...
Greenpeace and WWF anniversaries highlight wildly differing tactics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2011
Guardian: This week marks two anniversaries of global green campaigning groups that could scarcely be more different, while holding almost identical aims.
On Thursday, Greenpeace turns 40 – an unlikely candidate for middle age, given its activists' reputation for eye-catching and sometimes dangerous stunts. Last Sunday, WWF celebrated 50 years since the opening of its first office in Switzerland – a much more staid affair, as befits an organisation that boasts the support of the Prince of Wales and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Greenpeace and WWF anniversaries highlight wildly differing tacticsClimate change will increase droughts and hurricanes in Central America, says expert
Posted by Blue Channel 24: None Given on September 14th, 2011
Blue Channel 24: Central America is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and, if nothing is done soon, will suffer serious droughts and more intense hurricanes, said this Monday in San Salvador, Julie Lennox, an expert on climate change focal point of the Subregional Headquarters of ECLAC, in Mexico.
"We have been accumulating more and more evidence of the high vulnerability of Central America because of its socioeconomic development, as its high exposure to climate variations in extreme events,"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change will increase droughts and hurricanes in Central America, says expertFamine in Africa: Can Reforestation Improve Food Security?
Posted by Mongabay: Karimeh Moukaddem on September 14th, 2011
Mongabay: Deforestation worsens famine in Africa, but drylands restoration could help.
Millions of people across the Horn of Africa are suffering under a crippling regional drought and tens of thousands have died during the accompanying famine. Refuge camps in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are swelling with the hungry.
The best hope in the short-term is food aid and logistical support, but in the longer term, dryland reforestation efforts may help improve food security, argues a new report from the Consultative...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Famine in Africa: Can Reforestation Improve Food Security?Enfants terribles of the environment hit middle age
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: We sort our rubbish.We recycle our rainwater. We worry about depleted oceans, ravaged rainforests, threatened species. If we fly abroad, buy a car, crank up the heating or air-conditioning - or even purchase bottled water - we may think about how we add to the greenhouse effect.
These reflexes are now anchored among consumers in many parts of the world.
Yet 40 years ago, when environmentalism was limited to a tribe of academics and quirky visionaries, such actions would have triggered bewilderment,...
Perry sidelines critic of Texas nuclear waste site
Posted by Reuters: Peter Henderson and Karen Brooks on September 14th, 2011
Reuters: Texas Governor Rick Perry has sidelined a state commissioner opposed to expanding the scope of a nuclear-waste landfill while appointing a new board to oversee a project owned by one of his biggest political donors.
Perry, who tops the list of candidates seeking the Republican nomination to run for U.S. president, has said his appointments are based on experience. A spokeswoman said the new makeup of the commission reflected its "evolving needs."
Billionaire Harold Simmons and his company Waste...
New evidence cites more BP oil spill mistakes
Posted by Associated Press: Harry R. Weber and Dina Cappiello on September 13th, 2011
Associated Press: A BP scientist identified a previously unreported deposit of flammable gas that could have played a role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, but the oil giant failed to divulge the finding to government investigators for at least a year, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Associated Press.
While engineering experts differ on the extent to which the two-foot-wide swath of gas-bearing sands helped cause the disaster, the finding raises the specter of further legal and financial troubles...