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Archive for November 18th, 2012
3,000 Marched Around White House Saying No Keystone XL Pipeline, Yes Climate Solutions
Posted by EcoWatch: 350.org on November 18th, 2012
EcoWatch: More than 3,000 people marched around the White House today, calling on the Obama Administration to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and keep tar sands crude out of the U.S. The event, organized by 350.org, Sierra Club and other public interest groups, followed a 350.org "Do the Math" climate event at Washington, DC’s historic Warner Theater.
The groups also announced that today’s event is the first in a series of actions promoting climate solutions and rejecting tar sands, Keystone...
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Fixing the ‘Silent’ Sanitation Crisis
Posted by Inter Press Service: Isolda Agazzi on November 18th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Organisers of this year's World Toilet Day, which falls on Nov. 19, are using the slogan "˜I give a shit - do you?' to break the silence around the crucial issue of sanitation and remind the international community that 2.5 billion people around the world don't have access to clean and private toilets.
Improving these figures, and achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of people without basic sanitation by 2015, needs a change of mindset and strong political will,...
Only Rare Cold Will Keep 2012 From Being Hottest Year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2012
Climate Central: With a month and a half to go before 2013 begins, it's still technically possible that 2012 won't end up as the warmest year on record for the continental U.S. It's possible, but it's not likely and won't be easy.
The graphic below shows just how cold the next six weeks would have to be to keep 2012 out of the record books.
The graphic, based on data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, shows that 1998 (white line) was the warmest year on record for the continental U.S. (each triangle...
Climate Change Leads to Tougher Times on the Ranch
Posted by Daily Climate: Susan Moran on November 18th, 2012
Daily Climate: For western Colorado ranchers, the decision to sell cattle during tough times can hinge on a flower. Local cattle have developed immunity against the poisonous larkspur that live among more edible grasses. So a rancher culling a herd he can't afford to feed faces a problem restocking once economics improve: The replacements may die if they binge on the purple and pink larkspur.
That's the problem confronting Carlyle Currier, who owns a 4,000-acre ranch in Molina, Colo. and is mulling a decision...
Good gas, bad gas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2012
National Geographic: The last rays of sun filter through the snow-covered spruces along the shore of Goldstream Lake, just outside Fairbanks, Alaska. Out on the lake Katey Walter Anthony stares at the black ice beneath her feet and at the white bubbles trapped inside it. Large and small, in layer upon layer, they spread out in every direction, like stars in the night sky. Walter Anthony, an ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, grabs a heavy ice pick and wraps the rope handle around her wrist. A graduate student...
Global warming could lead to runaway ice cap meltdown
Posted by Summit Voice: Bob Berwyn on November 18th, 2012
Summit Voice: A new study confirms the strong links between global temperatures, melting ice and sea level and suggests that sea level responds more quickly that previously believed, probably because of the feedback warming effect of open water.
Ice volume changes during ancient times can be reconstructed from sea-level records, but detailed assessments of the role of ice volume in climate change is hindered by inadequacies in sea-level records and/or their timescales.
Now, a research team led by Eelco Rohling,...
Pakistan has yet to learn how to deal with natural calamities, say experts
Posted by Express Tribune: None Given on November 18th, 2012
Express Tribune: Though massive floods have swept through the country in three consecutive years, environmentalists feel that the government has not taken them as a cue to better prepare themselves for the next time disaster strikes.
At a seminar on climate change held on Saturday at the Karachi Press Club, experts said that the government has turned a blind eye to the fact that Pakistan is losing billions of dollars because of its changing ecology. The event had been jointly organised by the Pakistan Fisherfolk...
Patriot’s move away from mountaintop removal another sign of coal’s decline
Posted by Gazette-Maill: Ken Ward Jr. on November 18th, 2012
Gazette-Maill: On Thursday, Patriot Coal CEO Ben Hatfield stood up in federal court and announced what once might have seemed unthinkable: A major Appalachian coal producer is phasing out its use of mountaintop removal and all other forms of strip mining.
Hatfield told U.S. District Judge Robert C. Chambers that mountaintop removal mining impacts coalfield communities "in significant ways," and that Patriot's move "will result in a reduction of our environmental footprint."
But a huge part of the real motivation...
‘Ecological depletion causing Rs365bn loss’
Posted by The News: Shahid Husain on November 18th, 2012
The News: Speakers at a seminar on "˜Climate change: Impact on Livelihood, Marine and Coastal Resources' said on Saturday that indigenous people were direct victims of climate change and the state had failed to provide required protection to the people during calamities.
The seminar was jointly organized by Pakistan Fisherfolk's Forum (PFF), Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) and National Council for Environment Journalists (NCEJ), which attracted a large number of fisherwomen and...
‘Writing is on the wall’ at climate summit
Posted by Al Jazeera: Stephen Leahy on November 18th, 2012
Al Jazeera: Two-thirds of the world’s proven fossil fuel reserves cannot be used without risking dangerous climate change, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned this week.
Preventing the consumption of those two-thirds will be the primary task of the annual UN climate negotiations that resume at the end of this month.
Late Wednesday, US President Barack Obama surprised many by saying climate change will be a personal mission in his second term.
"The re-election of President Obama guarantees continuity...