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Archive for August 27th, 2012
GOP Draft Platform Attacks Obama Admin For Saying Climate Change Is A ‘Severe’ National Security Threat
Posted by ThinkProgress: Ben Armbruster on August 27th, 2012
ThinkProgress: With the start of the Republican National Convention this week in Tampa, FL, the GOP draft platform has been getting a lot of attention, particularly for its extreme anti-abortion language and opposition to gay rights. But the Republican platform also attacks President Obama`s National Security Strategy for including "climate change" as a "severe" national security threat:
"The strategy subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy and international health issues, and elevates...
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Desalination Sector Surges as Technology Improves, Demand Grows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: A new report predicts that global investment in water desalination projects will triple over a five-year period from 2011 to 2016, driven by improvements in technology and a surge in companies entering the sector. According to Global Water Intelligence, investments in desalination plant installations will grow from $5 billion last year to $8.9 billion this year; by 2016, the report says, the sector could reach $17 billion. A critical factor has been the emergence of technologies that require less...
‘Eating’ Water Latest and Rising Threat to a Thirsty World
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Paradoxically, the water we "eat" is likely to become one of the growing new dangers to millions of the world's thirsty, hungering for this finite natural resource.
"More than one-fourth of all the water we use worldwide is taken to grow over one billion tons of food that nobody eats," Torgny Holmgren, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), told delegates during the opening of the annual international water conference, World Water Week, in the Swedish capital...
Record-Drought Gets Cattle Hoofin’ It
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on August 27th, 2012
Climate Desk: The great expansion of America took ranchers west. The drought is pushing them back east.
Lifelong Wyoming rancher Neil Forgey is hoping the grass is greener in Winner, South Dakota. This year`s drought has forced a terrible choice on mid-West ranchers: sell, or haul. Neil`s usually verdant land in Douglas, Wyoming--home for decades--is "drier than it`s ever been," he said. Every county in that state is a declared disaster area, eligible for federal money. Neil`s property was also threatened by...
Mekong dam spree could create regional food crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2012
Mongabay: Fish are a hugely important protein source for many people around the world. This is no more evident than along the lower Mekong River delta where an estimated 48 million people depend directly on the river for food and livelihoods. But now a new study in Global Environmental Change cautions that 11 planned hydroelectric dams in the region could cut vital fish populations by 16 percent while putting more strain on water and land resources.
"The Mekong countries are striving for economic growth,...
Rain from Isaac to help wheat, but not corn, soy
Posted by Reuters: Sam Nelson on August 27th, 2012
Reuters: The drought-parched Midwest farm belt could get up to 5 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Isaac but it would be a mixed blessing to farmers, as the moisture will be too late for corn and soybeans but just in time for wheat planting next month.
Farmers are harvesting their corn, which has been devastated by the worst drought in half a century, as a result rain would be of no help at this time of the season.
Rain could be of marginal help to soybeans that were planted late in the season, but...
How methane becomes fish food
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2012
ScienceDaily: Methane is an organic carbon compound containing the fundamental building block of nearly all living material: carbon. It provides an important source of energy and nutrients for bacteria. Methane is produced in oxygen-free environments and is found in abundance at the bottom of lakes.
The Brazilian post-doctoral researcher in biology and ecology, Angela Sanseverino, has presented a study that shows methane from lakebeds to be present in fish tissue. The study was carried out in cooperation with,...
U.N. body urges G20 action on food prices, waste
Posted by Reuters: Patrick Lannin on August 27th, 2012
Reuters: The world's top farm producers in the Group of 20 countries must agree coordinated action to ease worries about food prices, the head of the United Nations food agency said on Monday, as he and other experts bemoaned a huge global waste of food and water.
The third price surge in four years has come after drought in the United states and poor crops from Russia and the Black Sea bread basket region.
Senior figures from the G20 will discuss the food price rises this week, but any decisions on...
Why Your Weathercaster Doesn’t Mention Climate Change
Posted by Triple Pundit: Gina-Marie Cheeseman on August 27th, 2012
Triple Pundit: Call him one of the bravest weathercasters in the country. Broadcasting in South Carolina, a red state for sure, Jim Gandy is not afraid to link extreme weather events and patterns with climate change. Gandy does a segment called Climate Matters, a series that Grist describes as placing "weathercasts in the context of climate change." One Climate Matters broadcast looked at global warming and heat waves.
Just how common is it for weathercasters to even mention climate change? Unfortunately, not...
Philippines Floods Prompt Climate Action
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2012
Inter Press Service: This year's floods, one of the worst in Philippine history, destroyed a staggering 57 million dollars worth of crops, pushing this climate vulnerable country to implement disaster risk reduction measures.
"We used to schedule our harvest season around the wet and dry months. But now you can never tell," says Teresita Duque, a rice farmer in the Nueva Ecija province of the Central Luzon region, the "˜rice granary' of the Philippines.
"The sky suddenly darkens, and the rains just fall," Duque,...