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Archive for July, 2012
Fighting for Reproductive Rights; Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 12th, 2012
CNN: CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Christiane Amanpour. Tonight, two life-and-death issues, each controversial. But where the facts are incontrovertible, first reproductive rights. One hundred thousand women die in childbirth every year because of unintended pregnancies. And the leading cause of death is that amongst teenagers worldwide. One simple remedy could cut this number by a third and that is contraception. Yet it's not available to 222...
Spurred by Record Heat, Drought Stretches Across U.S
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 12th, 2012
Climate Central: Drought conditions have expanded and reached another record level for the 21st century as of Thursday, escalating concerns about the fate of the 2012 corn crop. As of Thursday morning, nearly 61 percent of the country was classified as being in at least moderate drought, up from about 56 percent just one week ago, which was the largest swath of the country to be affected by drought conditions since the Drought Monitor began in 2000.
According to the weather summary accompanying the...
Climate Change Deniers Resurface: Who Will You Believe?
Posted by Huffington Post: Bob Keefe on July 12th, 2012
Huffington Post: The temperature's cooling, the power is back on in Washington, D.C., the fires are almost out in Colorado and they've almost cleaned up from the flooding in Florida.
So naturally, those who continue to deny (at the peril of the rest of us) the connection between climate change and extreme weather disasters are once again raising their heads and raising their voices.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, the igloo-building, oil-state politician who recently authored a book proclaiming global warming is a hoax, used...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate Change Deniers Resurface: Who Will You Believe?Research murky on danger of Asian carp invasion
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 12th, 2012
Associated Press: As scientists aboard a research boat activate an electric current, the calm Illinois River transforms into a roiling, silvery mass. Asian carp by the dozen hurtle from the water as if shot from a gun, soaring in graceful arcs before plunging beneath the surface with splashes resembling tiny geysers. Water quality specialist Thad Cook grunts as a whopper belts him in the gut. His colleagues duck and dodge to avoid the missile-like fish that plop onto the deck, writhing madly until someone can grasp...
Increase in Mountain Roads Causing Environmental Degradation in Southeast Asia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 12th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: The rapid expansion of roads across the rural mountains of Southeast Asia often triggers unintended environmental consequences that in many cases undermine the socioeconomic benefits, according to an article in the journal Nature Geoscience. While international organizations have supported “aggressive” efforts to expand road networks to increase agricultural development, trade, and tourism in remote regions, poorly designed mountain roads can cause landslides, soil erosion, and increased deforestation,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Increase in Mountain Roads Causing Environmental Degradation in Southeast AsiaPreventing Fires, Before Everything’s Aflame
Posted by Climate Central: Ari Phillips on July 12th, 2012
Climate Central: Wildfires have been national news this summer. Massive, destructive burns in Colorado and New Mexico have emblazoned websites and TV screens across the country. But just as the monsoon rains roll into the Southwest bringing much needed moisture, the nation's gaze over the fires will move on, too.
The wildfires are just the eye-catching flashpoint of a complex and ongoing process of forest management and restoration in the Southwest. Since the U.S. Forest Service began monitoring national forests...
Indigenous tribes end occupation of Belo Monte
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 12th, 2012
Mongabay: After occupying the construction site of the massive Belo Monte dam for 21 days, some 300 indigenous people have left and gone home. The representatives from nine Amazonian tribes abandoned their occupation after two days of meeting with the dam's builder, the Norte Energia consortium.
Belo Monte, if completed, will be the world's third largest dam, but has been opposed by indigenous groups and conservationists for decades. The dam will displace 16,000 people according to the Brazilian government,...
Climate change will unleash buried toxics
Posted by East Bay Express: None Given on July 12th, 2012
East Bay Express: Toxic sites ringing the San Francisco Bay tell the story of its recent past. Smelting plants, hazardous waste dumps, landfills, shipyards, fuel depots, and military bases recall an era when the bay was prized more for its tactical and commercial values than for its ecology. Most have been closed or removed, but their toxic legacy often remains intact, hidden just beneath the surface; long-buried chemicals, heavy metals, and hazardous waste still seep into the bay on a daily basis.
The problem...
The Dead Sea is Dying: Can A Controversial Plan Save It?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 12th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: On a quiet stretch of coastline along the western shore of the Dead Sea, a sinkhole had swallowed a piece of a road, pulling in concrete and rusted fence posts. The sea lay a short distance beyond, its turquoise-colored waters dropping at the rate of more than one meter a year.
The sinkholes are among the most visible effects of the continuing slow “death” of the Dead Sea, which borders Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank. Thousands of sinkholes have opened up around the Dead Sea’s coastal plain,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Dead Sea is Dying: Can A Controversial Plan Save It?Climate change scepticism could wipe out rural towns
Posted by Yahoo!7 News: Tom Nightingale on July 12th, 2012
Yahoo!7 News: A new report is warning hundreds of inland Australian towns could cease to exist by 2050 if locals do not adapt to climate change.
The report studied 1,600 bush towns and found the ones with low education rates are least likely to make the decisions needed to adapt to a hotter future.
But in many regional areas there is resistance to change because of lingering scepticism about climate change.
The same scepticism means the research may not have much impact on the areas it targets.
The...