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Archive for January 30th, 2013
A One-Stop Shop for Water Worries
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2013
New York Times: Water, or the lack thereof, is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. As temperatures rise and droughts become more frequent, the threat of dwindling water resources worries not just environmentalists and governments but companies and their investors, too.
Nearly every industrial sector, from food and beverages to mining to pharmaceuticals, depends on water for its operations. Figuring out which places are likely to be hit hardest can help a company either steer clear of a certain...
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Asia–Pacific Analysis: Pushing for a strong climate change policy
Posted by SciDevNet: Crispin Maslog on January 30th, 2013
SciDevNet: Although the region is not a big polluter, the threat of climate change means it should lead the way on cuts, argues Crispin Maslog.
The category 5 super typhoon Bopha, which wreaked havoc in southern and central Philippines in the first week of December 2012, was the world's second deadliest disaster last year.
It wiped out villages, leaving around 1,900 people dead or missing and resulting in losses of more than US$1 billion. Bopha also caused damage worth US$20 million to the Pacific island...
The Surprising Connection Between Food and Fracking
Posted by Mother Jones: Tom Philpott on January 30th, 2013
Mother Jones: In a recent Nation piece, the wonderful Elizabeth Royte teased out the direct links between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the food supply. In short, extracting natural gas from rock formations by bombarding them with chemical-spiked fluid leaves behind fouled water--and that fouled water can make it into the crops and animals we eat.
But there's another, emerging food/fracking connection that few are aware of. US agriculture is highly reliant on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and nitrogen...
United Kingdom: Cumbria rejects underground storage dump
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2013
Guardian: Government plans to undertake preliminary work on an underground storage dump for nuclear waste were rejected by Cumbria county council on Wednesday, adding a major roadblock to plans for a long term solution to the problem of nuclear waste.
The county and its western district councils Allerdale and Copeland which make up the "nuclear coast" opposite the Isle of Man were the only local authorities in the UK still involved in feasibility studies for the £12bn disposal facility.
Cumbria's cabinet...
Greenland research station to monitor climate change
Posted by Copenhagen Post: Christian Wenande on January 30th, 2013
Copenhagen Post: Aarhus University has begun the construction of a modern research station in northern Greenland that will monitor how climate change is affecting the region.
The station, which will be a vast upgrade from the little shack that currently houses climate research in the area, will study how the shifting climate alters the air, ocean, geology as well as the plants and animals in the region.
Warmer climate in recent times has led to the Arctic ice cap melting to half of what it was just 30 years...
Canada: Is climate change putting Toronto’s infrastructure at risk?
Posted by CTV: None Given on January 30th, 2013
CTV: City hall’s parks and environment committee is debating a report Tuesday that paints a gloomy picture for Toronto’s existing and aging infrastructure.
The study examined the effect climate change will have on the city’s infrastructure in the decades to come.
In response to the study, some environmentalists are calling on the city to invest in a major overhaul of infrastructure, including roads, bridges, drainage and sewer systems, to prepare for and adapt to climate change projections and potentially...
Heavy rains in Australia leave four dead
Posted by New York Times: Matt Siegel on January 30th, 2013
New York Times: Punishing winds, torrential rains and powerful ocean swells have inundated large areas of Australia’s two most populous states, driving thousands of people from their homes and killing at least four people. The floods add one more blow to a barrage of bizarre and destructive weather in the country, which was in the grip of a searing four-month heat wave and scores of huge wildfires before the remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald made landfall late last week. As the storm system crept south along...
Christie’s backing of federal shore rules raises worries
Posted by Philadelphia Inquirer: James Osborne on January 30th, 2013
Philadelphia Inquirer: Shore houses that have been in working-class families for generations will be abandoned. Property values will spiral downward, leaving Shore towns' budgets in tatters.
That is the dire scenario painted by a growing coalition of federal, state, and local officials along the Jersey Shore after Gov. Christie's announcement last week that New Jersey would adopt the federal government's preliminary floodplain maps - which would effectively require houses along large swaths of the Shore to be elevated...
Australia flooding: No end in sight to the devastation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: THE devastation caused by the cyclonic weather will continue for days, with thousands of homes inundated, entire communities isolated and the possibility that Brisbane could run out of drinking water.
Four people have died in the disaster, all in Queensland. A three-year-old boy hit by a falling gum tree while watching floodwaters in Brisbane is the latest victim.
His 34-year-old pregnant mother remained in a critical condition in hospital on Tuesday night with several broken bones and severe...
China’s coal use rivals rest of world combined – EIA report
Posted by US News and World Report: None Given on January 30th, 2013
US News and World Report: Since 2000, China has accounted for more than 80 percent of the global increase in coal use, according to the EIA.
China alone uses almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined, a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration noted Tuesday, and will likely dominate the coal market in 2013 thanks to the nation's increasingly ravenous demand for energy.
That bodes well for America's coal industry, experts say, which has languished in recent years as environmental regulations...