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Archive for February, 2012
For Republicans, Keystone pipeline is central to agenda
Posted by New York Times: Jennifer Steinhauer on February 2nd, 2012
New York Times: Just six months ago, Keystone for many Americans was the state nickname for Pennsylvania. But now Keystone, the Canadian pipeline, has become a centerpiece of the Republican economic and political agenda, and the party’s preferred truncheon against President Obama. On the airwaves, on the campaign trail and in both chambers of Congress, Republicans are relentlessly pushing for an expansion of the pipeline known as Keystone XL and criticizing Mr. Obama’s decision to reject the project for now, forgoing...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on For Republicans, Keystone pipeline is central to agendaUnited Kingdom: Caroline Spelman refuses to deny plans to slash environmental regulations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2012
Guardian: The environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, has refused to deny that the Cabinet Office is proposing to rip up of thousands of pages of environmental regulations and guidance as part of the government's "red tape challenge". The proposal, revealed by the Guardian, is understood to be led by Oliver Letwin and is causing deep concern among green MPs and campaigners.
It follows the cutting of planning regulation guidance from 1,000 pages to just 50 pages, which sparked a national outcry last year....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Caroline Spelman refuses to deny plans to slash environmental regulationsClimate change precipitates food shortages, unrest
Posted by Zee News: None Given on February 2nd, 2012
Zee News: Long-term climate change has often destabilized civilizations through food shortages, hunger, infectious disease and unrest, a study reveals.
Historical records foreshadow a grim picture for a future threatened by even greater climate change, says the study by the Australian National University (ANU).
Tony McMichael, professor at the ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and population Health, examined climate change and its impact over the last 6,000 to 7,000 years, as documented in historical,...
Australia braces for floods, threat to coal and crops
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2012
Reuters: Heavy summer rains across eastern Australia prompted authorities to issue flood warnings for vast areas of Queensland and New South Wales states on Thursday, including coal mining areas in the Hunter Valley.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued the flood warnings with heavy rain expected over the next 24 hours, following saturating rains over the past week which have already swelled rivers in New South Wales and Queensland.
Floods and wild weather last year inundated coal mines and damaged crops....
Climate change should remain at the top of the local government agenda
Posted by Guardian: Daniel Ratchford on February 2nd, 2012
Guardian: Four or five years ago, if you asked a gathering of local government chief executives what were the top three priorities for their councils over the next decade, a majority would have included climate change. Ask the same question today, and you'll get a very different answer.
Climate change seems to have fallen off the local government agenda. A recent Local Government Chronicle poll, based on research by Green Alliance, found that 37% of councils are de-prioritising climate change, and 28% are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change should remain at the top of the local government agendaIsrael: Climate Change and Forest Fires Conference
Posted by Jerusalem Post: None Given on February 1st, 2012
Jerusalem Post: On Thursday, January 26, scientists and foresters participating in the Climate Change and Forest Fires Conference organized by KKL-JNF, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, visited the Carmel Forest. KKL-JNF Chief Forester David Brand welcomed the participants, many who came from around the world, and provided professional background information during the tour.
The group was greeted at a site overlooking Nahal Bustan by KKL-JNF Northern Region Director Dr. Omri Boneh,...
China’s disregard for the environment shows no sign of improving
Posted by Telegraph: David Eimer on February 1st, 2012
Telegraph: China continues to struggle to balance the demands of growing its economy and lifting more of its 1.3 billion-plus people out of poverty, with the need to protect what is left of its environment.
Decades of loosely-regulated industrialisation has rendered vast swathes of China's land and waterways toxic. One-third of the Yellow River is not only incapable of supporting marine life but is so deadly it can't be used even for industrial purposes. The pollution that belches from coal-fired power plants...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China’s disregard for the environment shows no sign of improvingREDD: Saving the Amazon rainforest
Posted by GlobalPost: Simeon Tegel on February 1st, 2012
GlobalPost: International negotiators are closing in on a new solution for combating climate change -- and saving the world's remaining forests.
Some 20 percent of all greenhouse-gas emissions now come from deforestation, especially in the lush, green band of tropical rainforest that circles the earth.
That is more than from global transport.
So representatives from member states involved in UN climate negotiations are attempting to hammer out a way to make it more profitable to protect forests than...
Argentina tries to combat a drier future
Posted by AlertNet: Ana Belluscio on February 1st, 2012
AlertNet: For almost two months, an intense drought has been damaging crops in Argentina, especially corn and soy, threatening the economic and food security of a country where agriculture and livestock account for approximately 10 percent of GDP.
German Cuadrada rents 220 hectares (540 acres) of land in Pozo del Molle, Cordoba province, where he grows maize and soybeans. Since December he has lost his entire maize crop and part of his soybeans.
"If we don't receive a 100-150 mm (4-6 inches) rainfall...
20 tons of cadmium poisoning vital Chinese river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2012
Telegraph: Even considering China's notoriously poor environmental record, the spill in Guangxi Province is huge with officials describing it as "unprecedented".
In 2005, the discharge of just over 6 tons of cadmium into a tributary of the Pearl River in Guangdong Province prompted a massive pollution scare and cut off water supplies for over 100,000 people.
The scale of the disaster in Guangxi is far larger, with millions of people already affected. Experts from China's Ministry of Environmental Protection...