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Archive for June, 2012
The global environment: Boundary conditions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2012
Economist: PULL a spring, let it go, and it will snap back into shape. Pull it further and yet further and it will go on springing back until, quite suddenly, it won’t. What was once a spring has become a useless piece of curly wire. And that, in a nutshell, is what many scientists worry may happen to the Earth if its systems are overstretched like those of an abused spring.
One result of this worry, in the autumn of 2009, was the idea of planetary boundaries. In the run-up to that year’s climate conference...
Planning for urban population surge will limit crises – experts
Posted by AlertNet: Laurie Goering on June 18th, 2012
AlertNet: Nearly all the expected surge in the world's population from 7 billion people to 9 billion by 2050 will come in urban areas of Asia and Africa, and planning for it will be crucial to limit the spread of slums and related social and environmental problems, experts say.
That many fast-growing cities today have informal settlements and black-market economies "is in part a testament to failure to accommodate and plan for urban growth effectively and fairly', said Gordon McGranahan, principal researcher...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Planning for urban population surge will limit crises – expertsClimate change adversely affecting agriculture
Posted by Times of India: Times Of India on June 18th, 2012
Times of India: Climate change, the greatest global challenge, is already a reality for the farmers of Rajasthan. It is increasing the pressure on already scarce resources and if proper measures are not taken, migration towards the cities will soon reach new heights.
According to the Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change (RAPCC) report by the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board prepared with the help of a multi-disciplinary team of experts from TERI with support from GIZ says, 'enough is already known...
European Arctic forests expansion could result in carbon dioxide release: study
Posted by Phys.Org: None Given on June 17th, 2012
Phys.Org: Carbon stored in Arctic tundra could be released into the atmosphere by new trees growing in the warmer region, exacerbating climate change, scientists have revealed.
The Arctic is getting greener as plant growth increases in response to a warmer climate. This greater plant growth means more carbon is stored in the increasing biomass, so it was previously thought the greening would result in more carbon dioxide being taken up from the atmosphere, thus helping to reduce the rate of global warming....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on European Arctic forests expansion could result in carbon dioxide release: studyDeformed Fish Found Downstream of Tar Sands Mines
Posted by Earth Island Institute: Jason Mark on June 17th, 2012
Earth Island Institute: Chief Allan Adam, the head of the Fort Chipewyan community in the far north of Alberta, has been fishing in Lake Athabasca for all of his life. His father, now 76 years old, has been fishing there even longer. And neither of them has seen anything like what they pulled from the lake on May 30: two grotesquely deformed, lesion-covered fish.
When they caught the sickly fish, each taken from a different part of the lake, the two Indigenous men immediately figured that it had something to do with...
Colorado wildfire weeks away from containment as conditions worsen
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2012
Guardian: Wildfires continued to rage through northern Colorado on Sunday, having already destroyed the most homes of any wildfire in the state's history.
Authorities brought in additional crews over the weekend to battle flames that have scorched about 85 square miles and destroyed at least 181 properties
More than 1,630 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire, officials said in a news release Saturday night. The figure represents a more than doubling of on-duty firefighters from a day earlier....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado wildfire weeks away from containment as conditions worsenUnited States: Schneiderman crushes Koch Brothers in climate-change lawsuit
Posted by NY Alt News: Cliff Weathers on June 17th, 2012
NY Alt News: New York Attorney General`s office recently won an important decision in Albany County State Supreme Court dismissing a lawsuit by a Koch Brothers`-backed political organization that attempted to stop New York`s involvement in a multi-state campaign to cut climate changing emissions.
Last week, the AG`s office defended the climate-change moderation effort, known as the "Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” against a suit backed by Americans for Prosperity, the Virginia-based conservative advocacy...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Schneiderman crushes Koch Brothers in climate-change lawsuitInaction on economic, climate and resource threats raising anxieties at Rio+20
Posted by AlertNet: Laurie Goering on June 17th, 2012
AlertNet: Brazil's Amazon region this year saw its worst flooding in over 100 years of record-keeping, just seven years after it suffered its worst recorded drought.
"We are seeing the cycle of climate extremes has changed totally,' observed Eduardo Braga, a former governor of Amazonas state and now chair of Brazil's Senate. "What was a climate extreme that came every 30 or 50 or 100 years is now much more frequent.'
"In our opinion this is one of the alerts humanity needs to understand,' he warned Saturday...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Inaction on economic, climate and resource threats raising anxieties at Rio+20Canada: First Nations woman navigates anti-oilsands charge
Posted by Edmonton Journal: Trish Audette on June 17th, 2012
Edmonton Journal: Eriel Deranger was 12 when her father took her north of Fort McMurray, within sight of the Syncrude and Suncor oilsands facilities, to teach her about traditional hunting, trapping and fishing.
“My mom and dad were very political people,” says Deranger, who is now a mother. “My dad sort of told us that we have to stop these projects.”
Now 33, Deranger has become something of an official face for her community’s opposition to ramped-up oilsands development in the face of lingering questions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: First Nations woman navigates anti-oilsands chargeFracking can cause earthquakes, but risk is low: Study
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Kerry Sheridan on June 16th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Certain oil and gas operations that involve injecting wastewater underground can cause earthquakes, but the risk from hydraulic fracturing is generally low, said a US scientific report Friday.
The report by the National Research Council found that the most significant risk of earthquakes is linked to secondary injection of wastewater below ground to help capture remaining hydrocarbons from a petroleum reservoir.
Also, a technique called carbon capture and storage that aims to reduce carbon...