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Archive for January, 2013
Government hypocrisy on major projects will lock in climate chaos
Posted by Greenpeace: None Given on January 22nd, 2013
Greenpeace: Government hypocrisy on major energy projects is fueling climate change and placing populations at risk, Greenpeace International said as it released a new report revealing the alarming threat posed by a planned massive global increase in emissions from coal, oil and gas projects. The 14 carbon intensive projects highlighted in the Point of No Return report range from massive coal expansion in Australia, China, the US and Indonesia, to oil expansion in the tar sands of Canada, the Arctic and Brazil...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Government hypocrisy on major projects will lock in climate chaosMillions still need aid in Pakistan’s “forgotten” crises
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on January 22nd, 2013
AlertNet: Millions of Pakistanis still need humanitarian assistance due to three consecutive years of monsoon flooding, persistent insecurity and government restrictions on aid workers, which are worsening poverty and hunger across the country.
The latest data shows that nearly 60 percent of the population of around 190 million are food insecure, meaning they do not eat enough nutritious food each day to lead a healthy, active life, according to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP).
They include flood-hit...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Millions still need aid in Pakistan’s “forgotten” crisesCanadian resource firms step up legal fight against green groups
Posted by AlertNet: Kristen Courtney on January 22nd, 2013
AlertNet: Risks are growing for climate and environmental activists who take a stand against Canadian firms involved in the resource extraction and energy businesses, because companies are increasingly using the law to fight back.
On Dec. 5 2012, lawyers for EthicalOil.org, a lobby group that supports the exploitation of oil sands, sent a fax to the Canada Revenue Agency alleging that the Sierra Club of Canada Foundation was flouting tax laws and urging the agency to investigate. EthicalOil.org has hit...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canadian resource firms step up legal fight against green groupsInauguration 2013: Obama calls immigration, climate change key second-term issues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2013
Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring "our journey is not complete," President Barack Obama took the oath of office for his second term before a crowd of hundreds of thousands Monday, urging the nation to set an unwavering course toward prosperity and freedom for all its citizens and protect the social safety net that has sheltered the poor, elderly and needy.
"Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it," Obama said in his relatively brief, 18-minute...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Inauguration 2013: Obama calls immigration, climate change key second-term issuesThe Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy – a book review
Posted by Mongabay: Gabriel Thoumi on January 21st, 2013
Mongabay: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy, edited by Heidi Wittmar and Haripriya Gundimeda, provides thoughtful and actionable approaches to integrate nature’s benefits into decision-making frameworks for local and regional policy and public management institutions. Filled with numerous case studies, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy, delivers a compendium of concepts and ideas. These case studies focus on steps that can be implemented...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in Local and Regional Policy – a book reviewWomen need more adaptation funding, activists charge
Posted by AlertNet: Syful Islam on January 21st, 2013
AlertNet: Despite being disproportionately affected by climate change, women and girls are getting relatively little attention and money in Bangladesh's climate adaptation initiatives, activists and negotiators say.
The Bangladesh Climate Change Trust Fund, financed with Tk 25 billion ($305 million) from the national budget, has financed only one project focused on women out of 109 climate adaptation and mitigation projects, they say.
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, coordinator of the Bangladesh climate negotiation...
Taking a Harder Look at Fracking and Health
Posted by New York Times: Jon Hurdle on January 21st, 2013
New York Times: A coalition of academic researchers in the United States is preparing to shine a rigorous scientific light on the polarized and often emotional debate over whether fracking for natural gas is hazardous to human health.
Some five years after the controversial combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and surrounding states got under way, a team of toxicologists from the University of Pennsylvania is leading a national effort to study...
The Climate Change Endgame
Posted by New York Times: Thomas E. Lovejoy on January 21st, 2013
New York Times: WHETHER in Davos or almost anywhere else that leaders are discussing the world’s problems, they are missing by far the biggest issue: the rapidly deteriorating global environment and its ability to support civilization. The situation is pretty much an endgame. Unless pressing issues of the biology of the planet and of climate change generated by greenhouse gas emissions are addressed with immediacy and at appropriate scale, the matters that occupy Davos discussions will be seen in retrospect as...
Warming Soil Could Release Carbon, Enhance Effects Of Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2013
RedOrbit: Climate change could cause soil to grow warmer and release additional carbon dioxide into the air, enhancing the effects of global warming, a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change has discovered.
The study, which was completed by scientists from the University of New Hampshire (UNH), the University of California-Davis (UC Davis), and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), provides new insight into how microorganisms in the earth are influenced by temperature, though it also...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Warming Soil Could Release Carbon, Enhance Effects Of Climate ChangeWhat is causing Australia’s heatwave?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2013
Guardian: Australia has started 2013 with a record-breaking heat wave that has lasted more than two weeks across many parts of the country. Temperatures have regularly gone above 48°C, with the highest recorded maximum of 49.6°C at Moomba in South Australia. The extreme conditions have been associated with a delayed onset of the Australian monsoon, and slow moving weather systems over the continent.
Australia has always experienced heat waves, and they are a normal part of most summers. However, the current...