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Archive for October 4th, 2011
UN climate change envoy urges action to avert floods, drought, hunger
Posted by Medill Reports: Gretchen Roecker on October 4th, 2011
Medill Reports: U.N. special envoy on climate change Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and her 22-person international commission started warning countries to avert global warming in 1987. Twenty-five years later, the former Norwegian prime minister said the ongoing lack of international cooperation to curb carbon emissions and invest in clean energy threatens us all. Already, drought, hunger and disease connected to rising temperatures jeopardize “our common future,” she told a large audience at the University of Illinois...
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Great Lakes face stresses from run-off, invaders
Posted by Reuters: Andrew Stern on October 4th, 2011
Reuters: Great Lakes shorelines are becoming clogged by algae blooms fed by agricultural run-off, while invasive mussels decimate the food chain in deeper waters, an environmental group said on Tuesday.
The five lakes, which contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water and supply tens of millions of people, may be "veering close to ecosystem collapse," the report by the National Wildlife Federation said.
"Too much food is causing massive algal blooms in Lake Erie and other coastal systems, while too...
Enviros Blame Rep. Pearce for Inciting N.M. County to Bulldoze River
Posted by New York Times: Paul Quinlan on October 4th, 2011
New York Times: An environmental group accused Republican Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico of inciting a county in his district to flout federal environmental laws by bulldozing 47 road crossings through a stretch of the San Francisco River in the Gila National Forest.
County leaders have argued they were maintaining National Forest System roads. The environmental group Center for Biological Diversity disagreed, giving notice (pdf) yesterday to Catron County of its intent to sue for what the group alleges were...
Public opposition pushes Myanmar to suspend giant Chinese dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 4th, 2011
Mongabay: Large-scale opposition has pushed the Myanmar government to suspend construction of a massive Chinese dam. Being built on the confluence of the Mayhka amd Malihka rivers at the head of Irrawaddy River, the Myitsone Dam would have created a reservoir the size of Singapore and has already pushed 12,000 people off their land. China Power Investment Corporation, which is building the dam, has fired back at the Myanmar government saying their decision will lead to 'a series of legal issue'.
President...
China angry over Burma’s decision to suspend work on £2.3bn dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 4th, 2011
Guardian: Burma's decision to suspend the country's biggest hydroelectric project has shocked and enraged China, the government's most influential backer on the international stage.
Senior officials in Beijing have castigated their south-east Asian ally and threatened legal action. It emerged that they were not consulted before President Thein Sien of Burma announced last Friday a halt to building the $3.6bn (£2.3bn) hydropower dam on the Irawaddy – known as the Myitsone project – because it was "against...
Canada: Oil sands imports could be banned under EU directive
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on October 4th, 2011
Guardian: Oil from controversial and environmentally destructive tar sands is likely to be all but banned from Europe after a decision on Tuesday. The move also casts doubt on the future of other controversial energy sources such as shale gas.
Tar sands (also known as oil sands) have been a target of green campaigners for several years, as the extraction of low quality oil from sands – chiefly in Canada to date – produces far greater greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil drilling operations, and...
Chopping Down Trees to Save Forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 4th, 2011
New York Times: Jim Pitts, a Forest Service specialist, surveyed the devastation wrought by the Wallow Fire in eastern Arizona this year. Nearly a half-million acres burned.
Jim Pitts stood on a Forest Service road near the Arizona town of Nutrioso and surveyed the damage in the valley below. It was July, and only a few weeks earlier the Wallow Fire, the largest in recorded history in Arizona, had swept through this section of steep slopes and tightly packed trees.
“This is pretty devastating, both from the...
Q&A: “The Future of Brazil is the Natural Knowledge Economy”
Posted by Inter Press Service: Fabíola Ortiz Interviews Brazilian Climate Expert Carlos Nobre * - Tier on October 4th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Brazil could play a leading role in a new global agenda for sustainable development and become an "environmental power", says Carlos Nobre, one of the world’s foremost climate change experts.
In addition to a series of natural conditions that make the country particularly suited for this role, there is also a high level of awareness in Brazilian society that this future is possible, believes Nobre, the secretary of Research and Development Policies and Programs at the Brazilian Ministry of Science...
Ottawa’s grasp on oil sands pollution insufficient, watchdog warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 4th, 2011
Canadian Press: The federal government's information about greenhouse-gas emissions and oil sands pollution is so spotty that key decisions are being made without fully understanding the consequences, says the environmental auditor.
There's no way of telling whether Ottawa is on track to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gases, environment commissioner Scott Vaughan says in a new report.
And in the booming oil sands area of Alberta, Ottawa can't possibly understand how the environment of the broader...
Apple wakes up to Chinese pollution concerns
Posted by China Dialogue: Xie Xiaoping on October 4th, 2011
China Dialogue: In the face of sustained pressure from Chinese green groups, Apple has finally broken its silence on pollution problems in its supply chain, for the first time holding talks with the environmental organisations that, for many months, have been asking the firm to increase transparency -- and improve oversight -- of its China operations. Ma Jun, director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) and the man fronting the campaign, has already had preliminary discussions with Apple...