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Archive for January 10th, 2013
Tell Obama to Enact Immediate Moratorium on Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 10th, 2013
EcoWatch: Sign this petition to tell the Obama administration to enact an immediate national moratorium on high-volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent scientific studies are completed on the impacts of fracking to the environment, climate and human health.
Signing this petition automatically sends an email calling for a moratorium on fracking to the U.S. EPA, Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management.
This petition...
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How much water is needed to produce food and how much do we waste?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2013
Guardian: As much as 2bn tonnes of food are wasted every year - equivalent to 50% of all food produced - according to a report published today by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME)
The IME estimate that 30-50% (1.2-2bn tonnes) of all food produced is "lost before reaching a human stomach". Consumer affairs correspondent Rebecca Smithers writes today:
The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) blames the "staggering" new figures in its analysis on unnecessarily strict sell-by dates,...
Mercury Levels in Humans and Fish Regularly Exceed Health Advisory Levels
Posted by EcoWatch: International POPs Elimination Network on January 10th, 2013
EcoWatch: A new scientific report finds that humans and marine ecosystems around the world are contaminated with mercury and that mercury levels in humans and fish regularly exceed health advisory guidelines. The report, a collaboration between International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) and Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI), highlights the urgent need for an overall reduction in mercury emissions when government delegates convene next week in Geneva in their final negotiating session to establish an...
World Bank Focuses on Climate Change in Hunt For Fresh Strategy
Posted by Bloomberg: Sandrine Rastello on January 10th, 2013
Bloomberg: The World Bank can make a difference in areas such as climate change, education and health, President Jim Yong Kim said, as he crafts a strategy for the poverty- fighting lender.
Having spent his first six months in the job listening to the staff and board of directors, Kim said he is taking steps to make the bank less bureaucratic. Asked by the organization’s 188-member countries to be more selective on the projects it undertakes, Kim now has to prioritize its efforts and make “tough choices,”...
Philippines storm survivors in ‘critical’ need of shelter – Red Cross
Posted by AlertNet: Thin Lei Win on January 10th, 2013
AlertNet: Five weeks after Typhoon Bopha killed more than 1,000 people and affected 6 million in the southern Philippines, hundreds of thousands of survivors are in critical need of better shelter, the Red Cross has said.
The most intense storm to hit the disaster-prone Southeast Asian nation last year struck Mindanao island in the early hours of Dec. 4, flooding farming and mining towns and burying many people in mudslides. More than 210,000 houses were totally or partially damaged, and over 800 people...
United Kingdom: Opponents dismiss wildlife-friendly claims
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2013
Guardian: Angling, wildlife and heritage groups on Thursday attacked new proposals for a £34bn tidal barrage across the Severn estuary, with one telling MPs that environmental benefits touted by proponents of the barrage are "spin" and "guff".
But former Labour minister Peter Hain, who stepped down as an MP last year to back the plans, told the energy and climate change committee that it would generate 5% of the UK's energy, create 50,000 jobs and protect the region from storm surge flooding.
"Of course...
UN finds rising mercury emissions, need for treaty
Posted by Associated Press: John Heilprin on January 10th, 2013
Associated Press: Mercury pollution in the top layer of the world's oceans has doubled in the past century, part of a man-made problem that will require international cooperation to fix, the U.N.'s environment agency said Thursday.
The report by the U.N. Environment Program showed for the first time that hundreds of tons of mercury have leaked from the soil into rivers and lakes around the world.
As a result of rising emissions, communities in developing countries face increasing health and environmental risks...
Indonesia: Govt told to ratify Nagoya Protocol to save biodiversity
Posted by Jakarta Post: Elly Burhaini Faizal on January 10th, 2013
Jakarta Post: Environmental groups have called on the government to ratify an international treaty that allows the country to reap the benefits of its own genetic resources.
The treaty, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from the Utilization (Nagoya Protocol), defined how countries access genetic resources and share the benefits of the resources with the country of origin.
Indonesia acceded the Nagoya Protocol on May 11, 2011, but the...
United Kingdom: Severn Barrage: Energy and Climate Change committee inquiry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2013
BBC: Former Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has said the time has come to press ahead and build the Severn Barrage as the proposal has been "studied to death".
The project would create thousands of much-needed jobs and help tackle climate change, the Labour MP told a House of Commons committee.
Supporters say the £30bn barrage would provide 5% of the UK's electricity.
But opponents say it would harm the environment and that the costs outweigh the benefits.
Mr Hain, who quit the shadow cabinet to...
The jolt we need to take on climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 10th, 2013
New Scientist: If changing temperatures and rainfall patterns kill off coffee, will that finally spur us into action?
THE introduction of coffee into Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries has been proposed as an important contributory factor to the rush of creativity and energy that spawned the scientific and industrial revolutions. How ironic, then, that the world's second favourite liquid after oil is under threat from climate change caused by industrial pollution.
The coffee plant is inordinately fussy...