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Archive for June, 2012
Climate Change Threatens Arctic Alaska Village’s Fish Stock, Drinking Water
Posted by Alaska Dispatch: Alex DeMarban on June 11th, 2012
Alaska Dispatch: Melting ice cellars and rotting whale meat, the arrival of beaver fever in a once-pristine land, and water supplies that might go dry are just a few of the health risks posed by climate change in the Arctic.
Now, in a newly released fifth report examining looming threats to villages, the Center for Climate and Health at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium zeroes in on the Arctic Alaska village of Selawik, population 830, about 70 miles southeast of Kotzebue that's said to be sinking as...
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Comments Off on Climate Change Threatens Arctic Alaska Village’s Fish Stock, Drinking WaterMore people, more environmental stress
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
ScienceDaily: Although it's long been suspected that human activity has greatly contributed to environmental stress, it's only recently that science has begun to show just how great a role that activity is playing.
In an article published in the journal Nature Climate Change, Michigan State University's Thomas Dietz and his colleague, Eugene Rosa of Washington State University, take a critical look at the various factors that have long been prime climate-change suspects. One in particular: The role of population...
Q&A: “Today’s Food System Is Failing Small Farmers”
Posted by Inter Press Service: TerraViva Interviews Kanayo F. Nwanze, President Of The International Fund For A on June 11th, 2012
Inter Press Service: With heads of state from more than 120 nations and tens of thousands of civil society and international development experts gathering for the U.N. Summit on Sustainable Development next week, it is accepted wisdom that rethinking agriculture is one of most critical issues facing this and future generations.
TerraViva spoke with Kanayo F. Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a U.N. agency that focuses on eradicating rural poverty in developing countries through...
U.S. Gulf coast communities struggle amid record flooding
Posted by Reuters: Kelli Dugan on June 11th, 2012
Reuters: After a weekend that included navigating streets in kayaks and canoes, residents in parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast sought alternate routes and emergency shelter on Monday as the work week got under way.
With nearly 2 feet of rain reported in some areas since Thursday, flooding has racked up millions of dollars in damage and left thousands without power. Many have been forced into shelters in the face of what some are calling an unprecedented June deluge.
"We've probably seen the worst of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Gulf coast communities struggle amid record floodingWill Water Dry Up at Summit on Sustainable Development?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
Inter Press Service: The headline in a New York newspaper last March captured the essence of a future potential threat to political stability the world over: "U.S. Report Sees Tensions Over Water."
The study, a collective vision of the U.S. intelligence community, warned that during the next 10 years, many countries important to the United States will "almost certainly experience water problems - shortages, poor water quality or floods - that will contribute to the risk of instability and state failure, and increase...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Will Water Dry Up at Summit on Sustainable Development?Mexico: Yearly Floods the New Reality for Rural Women
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Year after year, women in rural areas of the southeastern Mexican state of Tabasco have to get ready for floods that threaten their homes, crops and livestock.
"We have adapted. Now we build our houses on stilts," Celia Hernández, who works for an indigenous tourism project in Centla, 857 km south of Mexico City, told IPS.
"Every year in June," she said, "the women start putting things away and preparing the older people and children," in case there is flooding and everyone has to evacuate...
Hundreds flee wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico
Posted by Associated Press: Thomas Peipert on June 11th, 2012
Associated Press: Authorities on Monday were ramping up the fight against large wildfires burning out of control in northern Colorado and southern New Mexico.
Ten air tankers and 400 firefighters were at a fire burning nearly 60 square miles in a mountainous area about 15 miles west of Fort Collins. Fire authorities have conceded they could use more help but haven't said what they need.
One person remains missing in the Colorado fire, which has spread smoke as far as central Nebraska, western Kansas and Texas....
Appalachian activists get the coal shoulder in Washington D.C
Posted by Politico: Erica Martinson on June 11th, 2012
Politico: Appalachian activists looking for help fighting the coal industry got a hard lesson this week: Don’t expect much from Washington.
Federal agency employees who met with a slew of visiting activists explained that bitter partisanship, hostility from Congress and a morass of litigation have often tied their hands, some of the protesters said afterward.
“They want to do what needs to be done — they just feel like they’re being hamstrung and attacked by Congress,” said anti-mountaintop removal activist...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Appalachian activists get the coal shoulder in Washington D.CAre we pushing the planet to brink of irreversible change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
Scientific American: Roughly 10,000 years ago, the great sheets of ice that had covered much of the planet receded, triggering a wave of extinctions, ecological changes and, ultimately, the rise of human civilization. All those changes came about as roughly 30 percent of the planet's surface went from ice-covered to ice-free.
Since then, humans have transformed roughly 43 percent of the planet's surface to suit our need for food and shelter. Think: agriculture and cities.
Now scientists suggest that our ongoing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Are we pushing the planet to brink of irreversible change?Keystone XL: How Canada’s pipeline splits the US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
Toronto Star: Three years ago, when the Canadian pipeline people first came round Bob Math's cattle ranch in northernmost Montana, the conversation was brittle.
The TransCanada emissaries were pleasant enough. But it soon became apparent their Keystone XL pipeline was more than a proposal. They were talking fait accompli.
"It wasn't a request, it was an announcement: 'This is what we're going to do on your land,'' Math says of that initial overture to trench through his 600-head Black Angus operation tucked...