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Archive for October 11th, 2011
Tar sands pipeline ‘another dirty needle feeding America’s fossil fuel addiction’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 11th, 2011
Mongabay: Climate and environmental activism in the US received a shot of enthusiasm this summer when it focused unwaveringly on the Keystone XL Pipeline. During a two week protest in front of the White House, 1,253 activists-from young students to elder scientists, from religious leaders to indigenous people-embraced civil disobedience for their cause and got themselves arrested. The protest, which attracted thousands of others who were not arrested, received widespread media coverage and made it so the Obama...
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Amazon drought released more CO2 than India’s annual emissions
Posted by Yale 360: None Given on October 11th, 2011
Yale 360: A drought that affected large areas of the Amazon rainforest in 2010 triggered the release of about 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than the total annual CO2 emissions of India, according to a new study. After combining a NASA carbon cycle simulation model and satellite data that reflects the “greenness” — or light interception capacity — of forest canopies, researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center found that net primary production in some forest areas decreased by an average of 7 percent...
Hearings on controversial oil sands pipeline end
Posted by McClatchy Newspapers: By Renee Schoof on October 11th, 2011
McClatchy Newspapers: With the formal debate over on Friday, a decision on an oil pipeline that will cross America's heartland and open up a greater market for Canada's oil sands now rests with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In the last of nine public hearings, people got three minutes each to tell two State Department officials their views about whether the pipeline from the oil sands to Texas refineries is in the nation's best interest.
They spoke of the nation's dependence on oil, the need for a secure source,...
Climate change threatens Ghana’s food security
Posted by Chronicle: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh on October 11th, 2011
Chronicle: An increased body of evidence shows that climatic variability is adversely affecting Ghana’s natural resources such as land, water, forests and vegetation, as well as human capital.
Climate change is, therefore, expected to have significant impact on key resource-dependant sectors, such as agriculture and food production, and consequently on food security.
Food security is under threat from unpredictable changes in rainfall and more frequent extreme weather.
FOOD INSECURITY
Recent statistics...
Buried Antarctic lake could hold vital climate clues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 11th, 2011
Reuters: An ancient lake hidden deep beneath West Antarctica's Ice Sheet may reveal vital clues about climate change and future sea level rises, and uncover new forms of life, according to a group of UK engineers and scientist.
This month a British engineering team will travel to one of the most remote and hostile environments on Earth -- Lake Ellsworth, which is buried under 3 kilometres of ice -- in the first stage of a project costing over 7 million pounds ($10.9 million).
The ice sheet covering...
Bahrain: New plan to tackle water shortages
Posted by Gulf Daily News: Rebecca Torr on October 11th, 2011
Gulf Daily News: BAHRAIN is exploring the possibility of creating underground reservoirs as a way of tackling water shortages.
If given the go-ahead they would hold surplus treated waste water to be used for irrigation.
Environmental experts have already conducted a small scale study to assess the health risks of storing treated waste water and are now proposing to hold a pilot study in the field.
The proposal will be put forward in the Second National Communication on Climate Change that will be submitted...
High gold price triggers rainforest devastation in Peru
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 11th, 2011
Mongabay: As the price of gold inches upward on international markets, a dead zone is spreading across the southern Peruvian rain forest. Tourists flying to Manu or Tambopata, the crown jewels of the country’s Amazonian parks, get a jarring view of a muddy, cratered moonscape ... and then another ... and another in what the country boasts is its capital of biodiversity.
While alluvial gold mining in the Amazon is probably older than the Incas, miners using motorized suction equipment, huge floating dredges...
China solar panel maker restarts after cleanup
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 11th, 2011
Associated Press: Solar panel maker Jinko Solar Holding Co. has resumed production following a cleanup prompted by violent protests over pollution from one of its factories in eastern China. Jinko Solar stopped production at its factory in Haining city, west of Shanghai, on Sept. 17 after hundreds of villagers staged protests, some storming the facility and overturning vehicles. Authorities said the factory had failed to address earlier environmental complaints and that the protests followed mass fish deaths in...
UN May Seek to Extend Kyoto Accord Without Canada, Japan, Russia
Posted by Bloomberg: Mathew Carr and Alex Morales on October 11th, 2011
Bloomberg: United Nations emission-reduction negotiators in Durban, South Africa, next month may seek to extend the Kyoto Protocol, excluding Canada, Japan and Russia, said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s top climate diplomat.
The European Union’s conditional willingness to extend “has been exceedingly helpful by building a bridge” between developed and developing nations, Figueres, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Climate Change, said yesterday in London.
Government envoys will gather in Durban...
Fertilizer overuse damages agriculture and environment in China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 11th, 2011
Epoch Times: Farmers in China keep increasing the use of chemical fertilizer in an effort to improve yield, while experts warn their overuse is making formerly arable land unusable, degrading the quality of China's fruit and vegetables, killing lakes and streams, and introducing pollutants into the air.
"If farmers overuse chemical fertilizers for a long period, the fertilizer residues will affect water quality. When the nitrogenous fertilizer is washed away or carried into the air, it will influence air quality,'...