RSS Feed
Archive for September 7th, 2012
Concord, Mass., bans sale of plastic water bottles
Posted by NBC: Miguel Llanos on September 7th, 2012
NBC: Bans on plastic bags have taken root in communities across the country, but banning the sale of water in plastic bottles? The town of Concord, Mass., is in line to be the first in the nation to do just that, now that the state's attorney general has signed off. The bottled water industry, for its part, is considering a lawsuit.
Championed by an 84-year-old resident during a three-year battle, the law bans the sale of single-serving PET water bottles of one liter or less starting on Jan. 1 in Concord,...
Posted in 
Obama acceptance speech soft pedals climate goals
Posted by Bellona: Charles Digges on September 7th, 2012
Bellona: In a speech inspiring for its embrace of responsibility to future generations, President Barack Obama nonetheless accepted the Democratic nomination in a sobering manner that was longer on political survival and shorter on ambitious climate goals than many environmental observers had hoped. Hovering over his appeal to voters at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, were clouds that this was no longer 2008, and that the political course to a greener economy that lay ahead...
Climate change ruins world for children
Posted by Evansville Courier and Press: Wendy Bredhold on September 7th, 2012
Evansville Courier and Press: My daughter was born in July 2011, within a week of air quality alerts. This year, she celebrated her first birthday within a summer of them.
Summer 2012 should have been the first that we could really enjoy as a family, but with poor air quality, regular heat advisories with temperatures topping 100 degrees, and the threat of West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes in the cooler evenings, my husband and I have kept our daughter inside.
We had hoped to take her to the Vanderburgh County Fair, but...
African farming makes progress against climate change
Posted by Examiner: None Given on September 7th, 2012
Examiner: A report of the improvements in East African farming and livestock management that help small farmers adapt to climate change developed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) appeared online before publication in the journal Food Security on September 7, 2012, and was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site the same day.
Food insecurity in this part of the world is a constant threat from changing...
Slum surveys giving ‘invisible’ inhabitants a say in urban planning
Posted by Guardian: Claire Provost on September 7th, 2012
Guardian: In 2005, Jeremiah Makori was asleep in his home in Nairobi's Deep Sea slum when he heard a voice outside.
"We went to sleep as usual, and at midnight I heard a strange voice outside, [saying] move out and save your lives," he said. He rushed outside with his nightclothes on, carrying his two sons, and watched his home disappear. "It was all demolished. We lost everything."
Makori had lived in the slum since 1998, having left his home in rural western Kenya to look for work in the city.
Although...
Balkans drought fuel fear of repeat winter energy crisis
Posted by Reuters: Maja Zuvela on September 7th, 2012
Reuters: A second straight winter of blackouts and escalating energy prices is hanging over the Balkans as the driest weather in 40 years has depleted water levels and shows no signs of easing.
Hydro power accounts for about a quarter of the region's generation, and with nearly 1,800 MW of coal-fired capacity offline for planned maintenance, utilities may have to turn to costly imports to maintain supply as they did a year ago.
"If the drought continues the situation in the power sector is set to be...
Issac tar balls came from BP oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 7th, 2012
Associated Press: Laboratory tests show that globs of oil found on two Louisiana beaches after hurricane Isaac came from the 2010 BP spill.
Tests run by Louisiana State University (LSU) for state wildlife officials confirmed that oil found on Elmer's Island and Grand Isle matched the biological fingerprint of the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed from BP's Macondo well.
On Wednesday, BP said oil from its spill had been exposed by Isaac's waves and that the company would work to clean it up....
Yangtze finless porpoise: China’s national treasure disappearing fast
Posted by Guardian: Nicola Davison on September 7th, 2012
Guardian: It's been an hour and the group of volunteers aboard the rickety fishing boat are still yet to spot a Yangtze finless porpoise, known as jiangzhu or "river pig". Thirty years ago, when they numbered 2,000, the mammals could be seen from the shore here dancing on Dongting Lake in the sludge-coloured waves. Now there are about 85 jiangzhu here. As Xu Yaping, the patrol's chief, peers through the haze, and coal barges and dredgers churn the lake, the chance of encountering this ancient creature seems...
African farmers must do more to beat climate change -study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 7th, 2012
Reuters: African farmers are finding new ways to cope with droughts, erosion and other ravages of climate change but need to develop even more techniques to thrive in an increasingly uncertain environment, scientists said on Friday.
Smallholders have started to plant more drought-resistant and faster-growing crops to keep the harvests coming in, according to a survey of 700 households in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania.
"The good news is that a lot of farmers are making changes," said Patti Kristjanson,...
Obama Says Climate Change Not A Hoax, Extreme Weather Not A Joke
Posted by Climate Desk: James West on September 7th, 2012
Climate Desk: President Obama, often shy of turning climate change into a marquee campaign issue, last night made a full-throated endorsement of climate action, calling out Governor Romney and the Republicans as disbelievers of reality, and jokesters about a real threat. He also explicitly linked this summer's extreme weather to global warming.
"And yes," he said to some of the longest applause of the night, "my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet – because climate change...