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Archive for October, 2011
Climate aid would cost nation $2bn
Posted by Age: Tom Arup on October 27th, 2011
Age: AUSTRALIA should contribute between $1.9 billion and $2.7 billion a year by 2020 to meet international commitments to help poor countries cope with climate change, new analysis has found.
Researchers at the Australian National University will release a report today calculating Australia's share of a worldwide goal to deliver $100 billion of public and private financing a year by 2020 to help developing nations with the impacts of climate change.
The researchers from the Centre for Climate Economics...
Residents flee Bangkok after “massive” flood warning
Posted by Reuters: Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat on October 27th, 2011
Reuters: Residents fled Thailand's capital, Bangkok, on Thursday after authorities warned the city would soon be flooded and called a special five-day holiday to let people escape.
Traffic in central Bangkok was light as the holiday began but a main road out of the city to the flood-free south was jammed. Many people were heading for the seaside town of Pattaya, where hotel rooms and homes to rent were hard to find.
TV footage showed crowded domestic check-in counters at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi...
Climate change making country’s water problems worse: expert
Posted by Reuters: Kim Palmer on October 27th, 2011
Reuters: Climate change and population growth in the United States will make having enough fresh water more challenging in the coming years, an expert on water shortages said on Wednesday.
"In 1985-1986 there were historical (water level) highs and now in less than 25 years we are at historical lows. Those sorts of swings are very scary," said Robert Glennon, speaking at the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Glennon, a professor at Arizona State University and the author...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate change making country’s water problems worse: expertBrazil: Boycott of Dam Hearing Shows ‘Radical’ Foreign Policy Shift
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Activists opposed to the construction of the Belo Monte hydropower dam in the Amazon jungle say the Brazilian government's decision to boycott an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing represents a "radical" shift in the country's foreign policy.
The closed IACHR hearing held Wednesday Oct. 26 in Washington, D.C. was aimed at fostering dialogue to resolve the conflict over the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam on the Xingu river in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
It was also held to discuss...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil: Boycott of Dam Hearing Shows ‘Radical’ Foreign Policy ShiftLawmakers Seek Inquiry on Keystone XL Process
Posted by New York Times: Dan Frosch on October 26th, 2011
New York Times: Lawmakers have called on the State Department’s inspector general to investigate the department’s handling of a crucial environmental study on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and urged President Obama to delay a decision on the project until the report is completed.
In a letter sent on Wednesday to Harold W. Geisel, the State Department’s deputy inspector general, 14 members of Congress asked the department to look into the relationship between the pipeline company, TransCanada, and the firm...
Researchers nurture innovative biofuel crops to reduce our carbon footprint
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2011
ScienceDaily: Fears of global warming and its impact on our environment have left scientists scrambling to decrease levels of atmospheric carbon we humans produce. Now, Tel Aviv University researchers are doing their part to reduce humanity's carbon footprint by successfully growing forests in the most unlikely place -- deep in Israel's Aravah Desert.
With environmental "extras" such as a local plant species, recycled sewage water unsuitable for agriculture, and arid lands unusable for crops, a group of researchers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Researchers nurture innovative biofuel crops to reduce our carbon footprintCanada: Congressional Democrats push for investigation into Keystone XL project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2011
Guardian: A group of Democrats in Congress has written a letter to the State Department demanding an investigation into its handling of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project.
The letter, from independent senator Bernie Sanders and 13 Democrats, was the second potential obstacle to TransCanada's hopes of beginning construction in the near future on the pipeline, after the state of Nebraska on Monday said it was exploring legal measures to re-route the pipeline away from an important aquifer.
The...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Congressional Democrats push for investigation into Keystone XL projectClimate change may be spiking mercury in Yukon rivers: study
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Bradley Bouzane on October 26th, 2011
Vancouver Sun: The massive Yukon River Basin has mercury levels vastly higher than many other comparable river bodies, the U.S. Geological Survey said this week, with release from thawing permafrost singled out as the prime suspected reason.
A five-year sampling shows the basin, which is roughly twice the size of California, has mercury levels 32 times that of some other rivers included in the study, published this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
One USGS researcher, however, said...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change may be spiking mercury in Yukon rivers: studyIndia: Calcutta leads world city list most at risk from climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2011
Environmental News Network: A major new mapping study, analysing climate change vulnerability down to 25km² worldwide, has revealed some of the world's fastest growing populations are increasingly at risk from the impacts of climate related natural hazards and sea level rise.
Many of the countries with the fastest population growth are rated as 'extreme risk' in the Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI) released by risk analysis and mapping firm Maplecroft. These include the strategically important emerging economies...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on India: Calcutta leads world city list most at risk from climate change‘Risk Atlas’ assesses climate vulnerability
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2011
CNN: Some of the world's fastest growing population centers in Asia and Africa are at greatest risk from the impact of climate change, according to a new report.
The Climate Change Vulnerability Index (CCVI), published by UK-based risk analysis and mapping company Maplecroft, examined the climate risks and adaptive capacity of 193 nations factoring in population concentration, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflict.
A total of 30 countries were classified as being at...