RSS Feed
Archive for November 9th, 2011
Harper Government Guts Environment Programmes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Canada's Stephen Harper government is spending more than 60 billion dollars on new military jets and warships while slashing more than 200 million dollars in funding for research and monitoring of the environment.
Amongst the programmes now crippled is Canada's internationally renowned ozone monitoring network, which was instrumental in the discovery of the first-ever ozone hole over Canada last spring. Loss of ozone has been previously linked to increases in skin cancer.
"The proposed cuts...
Posted in 
United States: City might phase out use of corn-based ethanol fuel
Posted by Coloradoan: None Given on November 9th, 2011
Coloradoan: The city of Fort Collins may phase out use of corn-based ethanol in its fleet vehicles out of concern for the environment.
The majority of City Council members said Tuesday they would support gradually doing away with the use of E85 fuel, which is 85 percent ethanol, because of the impact ramped-up corn production has had nationally, including water and soil degradation in Iowa and Illinois.
Those impacts may not directly affect Fort Collins, said Council member Ben Manvel, but they should...
Holy cities face threat from polluting pilgrims
Posted by CNN: George Webster on November 9th, 2011
CNN: An estimated 2.5 million pilgrims have descended on the city of Mecca for the Islamic Hajj, said to be the largest annual gathering of people in the world.
Every fit and able Muslim is obliged by their faith to make the journey at least once in their lifetime. But with the rising threat of climate change, there are now calls for both pilgrims and authorities in Mecca to reduce the environmental damage wrought by this yearly influx of travelers.
"Everyone arrives at the same time, at exactly...
Climate to widen sleeping sickness risk to southern Africa
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Sleeping sickness could threaten tens of millions more people as the tsetse fly which transmits the disease spreads to southern Africa as a result of global warming, a study published on Wednesday says.
By 2090, an additional 40 to 77 million people could be at risk of exposure to the disease, the study concludes. Currently 75 million people live within its range.
The scientists base the estimate on how the tsetse and the Trypanosoma parasite it carries are likely to respond to rising temperatures...
Gas reserves to provide energy for ‘a century’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Sydney Morning Herald: "The idea that some people have that gas is going to be just a traditional source of fuel is misplaced" ... David Byers, chief executive of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. Photo: James Davies
AUSTRALIA is about to enter a ''golden age of gas'' that will last for many decades, the head of the peak oil and gas industry body has declared.
Both coal seam gas and liquefied natural gas are expected to benefit in the short term from the price on carbon, because they...
Thai PM pledges flood relief as fight for Bangkok goes on
Posted by Reuters: Alan Raybould and Prapan Chankaew on November 9th, 2011
Reuters: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged more than $4 billion on Wednesday to help Thailand recover from the worst floods in half a century, as workers slowed the flow of water threatening the commercial heart of the capital, Bangkok.
Evacuation orders have spread to a third of Bangkok's districts, mostly in the north of the densely populated city of 12 million people, since late October, as floodwater strewn with trash slowly seeps in from northern and northeastern provinces.
Yingluck, a...
Climate change threatens China’s crops, warns expert
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Asian News International: A leading agriculturalist has warned that China might face increasingly grim food shortages in the next few decades due to a possible drop in the country's grain harvest, triggered by a climate change.
Xinhua quoted leading agriculturalist Tang Huajun, who is the deputy dean of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), said yield loss on the country's three main crops - rice, wheat, and corn - is foreseeable if the country fails to take effective measures to offset the impact of climate...
Unanimous agreement among scientists: Earth to suffer major loss in species
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Mongabay: The thylacine, the dodo, the great auk, the passenger pigeon, the golden toad: these specie have become symbols of extinction. But they are only the tip of the recent extinction crisis, and according to a survey of 583 conservation scientists, they are only the beginning. In a new survey in Conservation Biology, 99.5 percent of conservation scientists said a serious loss in biodiversity was either 'likely', 'very likely', or 'virtually certain'. The prediction of a significant loss of species is...
BP to end clean-up operations in Gulf oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 9th, 2011
Guardian: BP will officially be off the hook for any deposits of oil that wash up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico – unless they can be traced directly to the Macondo well, it has emerged.
Under a plan approved by the Coast Guard on 2 November, the oil company will end active cleanup operations and focus on restoring the areas damaged by last year's oil disaster.
The plan, which was obtained by the Associated Press, sets out a protocol for determining which areas of the Gulf still need to be cleaned,...
Nebraska lawmakers debate pipeline eminent domain rules
Posted by Reuters: Michael Avok on November 9th, 2011
Reuters: Nebraska lawmakers debated on Tuesday tightening eminent domain rules for procuring land during the second day of a special session to discuss bills related to the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline.
The pipeline's planned route from Canada to Texas takes it across Nebraska, a move opposed by environmental groups and some property owners who will be affected by the construction.
Nebraska lawmakers are considering five bills to regulate the pipeline and possibly force TransCanada Corp...