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Archive for August 20th, 2012
The Climate Change Limits of US Natural Gas
Posted by Council on Foreign Relations: Michael Levi on August 20th, 2012
Council on Foreign Relations: The Associated Press reported last week that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have dropped to a twenty-year low on the back of abundant natural gas. “The question,” it correctly observed, “is whether the shift is just one bright spot in a big, gloomy [climate change] picture, or a potentially larger trend.” I’ve argued repeatedly in the past that surging supplies of natural gas are good news for climate change. But there are important limits to what U.S. natural gas can do. This post is going to illustrate...
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Recommendations to save India’s Western Ghats creates political stir
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Mongabay: A massive expert panel report on the conservation of the Western Ghats has caused a political stir in India. The report, headed by noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, recommends that the government phase out mining projects, cancel damaging hydroelectric projects, and move toward organic agriculture in ecologically-sensitive sections of the Ghats. The report, which was leaked after the government refused to release it, has yet to be implemented. Recently dubbed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Western...
Can natural gas really help tackle global warming? A primer.
Posted by Washington Post: Brad Plumer on August 20th, 2012
Washington Post: This winter, the United States reached a striking milestone. Carbon-dioxide emissions from the energy sector sank to their lowest levels in 20 years. At a glance, the country appears to be making major progress in tackling climate change. And many analysts give credit to the recent flood of cheap natural gas, which is shoving aside coal as America’s top source of electricity.
Yet some environmentalists have argued that the accolades for natural gas are premature. True, the shale gas boom has led...
Canada: Climate change adaptation: street surfaces that absorb water
Posted by Toronto Star: Jennifer Wells on August 20th, 2012
Toronto Star: There’s a post-rain freshness at the Kortright Centre for Conservation as Glenn MacMillan tamps his boots across the still-wet pavers.
MacMillan is senior manager, water and energy, for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, and he’s based here at Kortright, the city’s bucolic testing ground for energy and conservation initiatives.
The pavers in question are deemed pervious, or permeable, due to the void space that rims the hard stones, space that is filled with penetrable, pea-sized...
United Kingdom: Government to reconsider Severn tidal power project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Guardian: A plan to build an 11-mile long barrage across the Severn estuary has been given a boost after David Cameron asked ministers to re-examine the proposal.
The £30bn scheme, championed by the former Labour minister Peter Hain who quit his shadow cabinet role earlier this year to promote it, promises to generate 5% of the UK's electricity and create 10,000 jobs. It would be expected to be operational for more than 120 years.
The prime minister met Hain last month to discuss the plan and, according...
Argentina files WTO complaint over Spanish biodiesel rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: Argentina has filed a complaint against the European Union, the World Trade Organization said on Monday, challenging Spanish rules that the South American country argues discriminate against its biodiesel exports.
The dispute comes after the EU filed a complaint against Argentina's import licensing rules, and signals a worsening of trade relations since Argentina seized control of oil company YPF, a subsidiary of Spain's Repsol, in April.
By "requesting consultations" at the WTO, Argentina...
Gauging the Impact of Warming On Asia’s Life-Giving Monsoons
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Christina Larson on August 20th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Bouncing along bad roads in a jeep through central Mongolia, with bright blue skies and high clouds overhead, we drive for miles through a treeless landscape, passing only dry grasslands dotted with cattle and white yurts. But as we head north -- myself, two U.S. scientists, and one Mongolian forestry expert -- we begin to notice Siberian pine and larch growing on the northern slopes of rolling hills, but not the southern slopes, and at some elevations, but not others. In water-scarce Mongolia, as...
Reclaiming the seed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Ecologist: Seed is the first link in the food chain. Seed sovereignty is the foundation of food sovereignty. If farmers do not have their own seed or access to open pollinated varieties that they can save, improve or exchange, then they have no seed sovereignty and consequently no food sovereignty. The deepening food crisis has its roots in changes in the seed supply system, and the erosion of seed diversity and seed sovereignty. Seed sovereignty includes the farmer's rights to save, breed and exchange seed,...
Dry weather gives early U.S. corn and soy harvest a boost
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: Dry weather will speed early harvesting of corn and soybean crops for the next week to 10 days in the southern section of the U.S. Midwest, agricultural meteorologists said Monday.
Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather, said cooler and mostly dry weather was expected this week in the Midwest crop belt.
The exception would be light rain late in the week in the northwestern Midwest and showers in the southwest Plains on Monday and Tuesday.
"Rather benign weather this week, and...
Russia harvest forecasts cut as drought hits crop in east
Posted by Reuters: Polina Devitt on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: Two leading Russian agricultural analysts cut their forecasts for Russia's grain harvest on Monday after harvest data from two drought-stricken eastern growing regions reduced the outlook for the overall crop.
SovEcon narrowed their grain forecast to 71-72.5 million metric tons (78.3- 79.9 million tons)from a previous 70-74 million tonnes after the start of harvesting campaign in Urals and Siberia regions showed weak crop prospects. It has also cut wheat harvest forecast to 39-41 million tonnes...