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Archive for October 23rd, 2012
Cayman Islands: Remarkable comeback: blue iguana downgraded to Endangered after determined conservation efforts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Mongabay: The wild blue iguana population has increased by at least 15 times in the last ten years, prompting the IUCN Red List to move the species from Critically Endangered to just Endangered. A targeted, ambitious conservation program, headed by the Blue Iguana Recovery Team, is behind this rare success for a species that in 2002 only numbered between 10 and 25 individuals.
Endemic to Grand Cayman island in the Caribbean, the blue iguana (Cyclura lewisi) suffered precipitous declines due to habitat loss,...
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Climate Change, the Taboo Phrase in U.S. Electoral Politics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Inter Press Service: The United States endured its hottest summer in history this year, with droughts and wildfires ravaging the country. And according to a new report from the global reinsurance giant Munich Re, insurance losses related to extreme weather have nearly quadrupled in the U.S. since 1980.
So one might expect that climate change would be a hot topic in the debates being held ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6.
But during the four nationally televised debates held so far -- three presidential...
Colorado goes fracking free: we have the power
Posted by Guardian: Mariel Hemingway on October 23rd, 2012
Guardian: Recently, I joined a movement called Frack Free Colorado, helping to educate all of us energy consumers on the ease of moving to renewables like wind and solar, and away from the more toxic oil, gas and coal. I'll be speaking on Tuesday, on the lawn of the Colorado state capitol, along with others like Leilani Munther, known as the "Carbon-free Girl" race car driver, actor and environmental activist Daryl Hannah, scientist Sandra Steingraber, musicians Jakob Dylan and Rami Jafee of the Wallflowers,...
Report Details Chemical Industry’s Massive Campaign Contributions
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 23rd, 2012
EcoWatch: Determined to block efforts to strengthen the 36-year-old Toxic Substances Control Act, chemical interests have invested $375 million since 2005 to elect and influence industry-friendly political leaders, Common Cause said in a report released today.
“The dimensions of chemical industry spending documented in this study, Toxic Spending, are staggering,” said James Browning, Common Cause’s regional director for state operations and a principal author of the report. “By following the money, we see...
14 eco groups ask Pa. to change drill/water policy
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Begos on October 23rd, 2012
Associated Press: Fourteen environmental groups have asked Republican Gov. Tom Corbett to reverse a recent change in how official notifications of possible water pollution related to Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling are handled. But state officials say the public still gets the information it needs.
The 14 groups claim the new policy would delay warning the public about pollution related to oil and gas drilling from a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves blasting chemical-laden...
Senator wants details on US natural gas export rules
Posted by Reuters: Roberta Rampton on October 23rd, 2012
Reuters: The U.S. Energy Department needs to explain how it will determine whether to allow more exports of the nation's bountiful supplies of natural gas, a top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee said on Tuesday.
Senator Ron Wyden, who is in line to be the next chairman of the panel if Democrats hold the Senate after the Nov. 6 elections, asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu to explain "the actual decision-making criteria" that will be used to rule on applications to export liquefied natural gas, or...
US Presidential Debates’ Great Unmentionable: Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Guardian: The Pentagon ranks it as a national security threat and, left unchecked, climate change is expected to cost the US economy billions of dollars every year – and yet it has proved the great unmentionable of this election campaign.
Amid unprecedented melting of the Arctic summer sea ice, new temperature records in the US and a historic drought, the last of three presidential debates wound up on Monday night without Barack Obama or Mitt Romney ever uttering the words climate change.
It was the...
Can cities be both “resilient” and “sustainable”?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Scientific American: This article arises from Future Tense, a partnership of Slate, the New America Foundation, and Arizona State University. On the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 24, Future Tense and Scientific American will be hosting an event in New York City on building resilient cities. To learn more and to RSVP, visit the New America Foundation website.
If you`ve successfully flushed a toilet recently, then you appreciate (at least subconsciously) the workings of a good sewer system. Waste disappears, no matter...
MUST SEE TV Ad Reveals the True Costs of Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: New Yorkers Against Fracking on October 23rd, 2012
EcoWatch: As scientists and physicians continue outlining the disastrous health impacts of fracking, New Yorkers Against Fracking today began a new effort to outline the negative economic impacts of fracking. In a new television ad that will air starting tomorrow in the Binghamton and Elmira markets, Pennsylvania residents detail lies the gas industry told and the devastating impacts on property values that came along with fracking.
“I’m holding a mortgage on a home I can’t give away,” says Pam Judy in...
14 Activists Arrested Protesting Coal in South Africa
Posted by Greenpeace Africa: None Given on October 23rd, 2012
Greenpeace Africa: Fourteen activists including groundWork's Bobby Peek, Earthlife`s Makoma Lekalakala and Greenpeace Africa's Melita Steele have been arrested while protesting at the Eskom megawatt park. Today, three campaigning organizations joined forces to put South Africa’s energy utility, Eskom, under "new management." Activists confronted the utility to publicly highlight that Eskom has failed to deliver clean, affordable, accessible electricity to the people of this country, and demand a shift away from coal....