RSS Feed
Archive for June, 2012
Great Bear Forest to Be Massive Carbon Offset Project
Posted by The Tyee: None Given on June 11th, 2012
The Tyee: In a young man's eyes the logging that laid waste to the coastal forest was akin to a military invasion.
Cameron Hill was barely a teenager when loggers descended onto Gitga'at First Nation territory in the early '80s, clear-cutting vast stands of old-growth cedar in the midst of what is now known internationally as the Great Bear rainforest.
"We still have huge blocks of our territory decimated from those clear cuts," says Hill, now 44, a band councillor and school teacher in the remote north...
‘Algal biofuels are no energy panacea’
Posted by SciDev.Net: Hoysall Chanakya on June 11th, 2012
SciDev.Net: Algal biofuels, like crops, demand land, water, fertilisers, pesticides and inputs that are costly for India, says Hoysall Chanakya
Of late, there is heady euphoria over 'green' algal biofuels that are dangled as a panacea for developing countries such as India. While it is true that algal biofuels can contribute to a fossil fuel-free future, the promises of runaway successes are unrealistic. Scientists and policy makers need to address several critical issues that raise doubts over the sustainability...
Sahel locust invasion threatens crops in Niger and Mali
Posted by Guardian: Celeste Hicks on June 11th, 2012
Guardian: Northern Niger and Mali – areas already hit by a devastating food crisis and civil conflict – are facing a new threat in the form of locusts. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is warning that swarms of locusts are moving south from Libya and Algeria, and that early rains across the Sahel have led to the sprouting of vegetation that the insects can feed on. The warning comes as farmers across the Sahel prepare to start their annual crop planting season in the hope that a good harvest could...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Sahel locust invasion threatens crops in Niger and MaliClimate change to warm Canada with increased temperatures of up to 2°C by 2020 and 4°C by 2050 – CNW Group
Posted by CNW: None Given on June 11th, 2012
CNW: Intact Financial Corporation and the University of Waterloo, along with more than 80 experts from across the country, today released the Climate Change Adaptation Project report, which provides a roadmap for adaptation in Canada. It projects rising temperatures across the country and substantial fluctuations in precipitation levels, all of which will leave a range of sectors, cities and rural regions in Canada vulnerable. City infrastructure, biodiversity, freshwater resources, Aboriginal communities...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change to warm Canada with increased temperatures of up to 2°C by 2020 and 4°C by 2050 – CNW GroupIraq ‘green belt’ front line in anti-desertification fight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Karbala, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, is best known as the site of the shrines of Imam Hussein and Abbas, who are among the most revered figures in Shiite Islam, and sees millions of pilgrims visit every year.
But it is also the location of a six-year-old project aimed at fighting worsening desertification in Iraq: a “green belt”, or a 27-kilometre crescent lined with thousands of young trees in orderly patterns, irrigated by dozens of wells.
The area had been used as a military...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Iraq ‘green belt’ front line in anti-desertification fightAlberta Oil Spill: Up To 3,000 Barrels Spill Near Red Deer River Reports Plains Midstream Canada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 10th, 2012
Canadian Press: Crews were scrambling Friday to contain and clean up a pipeline spill that is believed to have sent up to 475,000 litres of crude oil flowing into a rain-swollen Red Deer River system in west-central Alberta.
Plains Midstream Canada says when the spill was discovered Thursday night it closed off its network of pipelines in the area.
Tracey McCrimmon, executive director of a community group that works with the industry, said it was rural homeowners who first raised the alarm about an oil pipeline...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alberta Oil Spill: Up To 3,000 Barrels Spill Near Red Deer River Reports Plains Midstream CanadaEthics for an ‘Ecological Civilisation’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 10th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Leading Japanese ecologists are pushing for the concept of environmental "ethics" to influence the upcoming Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, an approach they contend will foster accountability towards sustainable development.
"(Environmental) ethics is based on the concept of making people accountable for the preservation of natural resources and biodiversity. By highlighting this aspect, we aim to combat the priority on economic growth that has hijacked previous Earth Summits," said Ryoichi Yamamoto,...
Koch brothers seek buyers for Canadian tar sands assets
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 10th, 2012
Reuters: Koch Industries' Canadian energy division has put interests in several Alberta oil sands properties on the auction block, adding to a growing list of opportunities for developing the massive resource being shopped to potential bidders.
Koch Oil Sands Operating ULC is offering stakes in six properties comprising 220,000 net acres, with total bitumen in place estimated at more than 8 billion barrels, according to Western Divestments, the financial adviser for the offering.
The recoverable resource...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Koch brothers seek buyers for Canadian tar sands assetsRecord heat marches on: Texas and contiguous US had warmest spring on record
Posted by Texas Climate News: Bill Dawson on June 10th, 2012
Texas Climate News: Much of Texas has been getting something of a break from the history-making, headline-grabbing drought of 2011 in recent months, but the state`s excessive heat marches on.
All in all, temperature data through the end of May seem unlikely to be cited by many climate-change skeptics.
The figures, the NCDC reported, showed Texas had its warmest spring (March through May) on record and its third warmest January-through-May period.
Three Texas cities had their warmest January-through-May periods...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Record heat marches on: Texas and contiguous US had warmest spring on recordCalls for an African Green Revolution, Only Smarter
Posted by Inter Press Service: Carey L. Biron on June 7th, 2012
Inter Press Service: To deal with looming food crises in the coming decades, Africa needs a Green Revolution on par with what took place in Asia during the 1960s and 1970s, according to experts in Washington.
But such a revolution would need to ensure that the mistakes made in Asia are not repeated in Africa, warned Shenggen Fan, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) here, while unveiling a new policy brief released here on Thursday.
As world leaders prepare to gather in Rio...