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Archive for February 15th, 2013
Environment Canada to report drop in pollutants amid pipeline debate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Ottawa is set to proclaim a dramatic decline in key pollutants like heavy metals and sulphur as it seeks to burnish its environmental record in the face of criticism at home and in the United States.
In a report to be released on Friday, Environment Canada says emissions of mercury and lead were down 23 per cent and 21 per cent respectively in 2011 from the previous year, while sulphur oxides were 7 per cent lower and nitrogen oxide was down 6 per cent. The 2011 report does not cover carbon dioxide...
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United Kingdom: Inside H&M’s design for a new water management strategy
Posted by BusinessGreen: Harry Stevens, GreenBiz.com on February 15th, 2013
BusinessGreen: H&M will design a new strategy that will fundamentally alter and improve the Swedish fashion company's management of water. The effects of the plan will impact water not only in its own operations, but will ripple through its supply chain as well. The World Wildlife Fund will help H&M develop the strategy as part of a three-year partnership. H&M and WWF have collaborated in the past on other programs, including the Better Cotton Initiative, but the two organisations have found that their most potent...
Federal Charges Filed In Ohio Dumping Case
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2013
National Public Radio: The owner of an oil and natural gas drilling company in Youngstown, Ohio, has been charged with violating the federal Clean Water Act. He's accused of dumping tens of thousands of gallons of drilling waste water into a storm sewer that eventually runs into a local river.
Climate Change’s Links to Conflict Draws UN Attention
Posted by Bloomberg: Flavia Krause-Jackson on February 15th, 2013
Bloomberg: Imagine India in 2033. It has overtaken China as the most populous nation. Yet with 1.5 billion citizens to feed, it’s been three years since the last monsoon. Without rain, crops die and people starve.
The seeds of conflict take root.
This is one of the scenarios Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, will present today to members of the United Nations Security Council in New York to show the connection between climate change and global security...
United Kingdom: After the horsemeat scandal, are you still a meat-lover?
Posted by Guardian: Nell Frizzell, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Felicity Lawrence and Steven Poole on February 15th, 2013
Guardian: Unless you've eaten a lukewarm, soil-like bowl of Beanfeast, cooked over a single gas ring stove on a windy beach in Scotland, you will never understand the drudgery of being a vegetarian in the 1990s.
Back when Portobello mushroom burgers and halloumi skewers sounded more like elocution exercises than dishes, I was being brought up by a vegetarian mother and, well, let's call him a hungry father. We rarely ate meat at home, choosing instead those delicious packets of Beanfeast, Quorn chunks and,...
The top 10 hardest-hit states for crop damage
Posted by Climate Central: Alyson Kenward on February 15th, 2013
Climate Central: The searing U.S. drought of 2012 devastated the nation's corn crop, pushing yields down in some states to their lowest levels in nearly 30 years. According to recently-released numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were among the hardest hit Corn Belt states, with yields at 28-, 26-, and 22-year lows, respectively.
To put the severity and impact of the 2012 U.S. drought in context, the top 10 hardest-hit states for crop damage are illustrated in...
Reptiles face risk of extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2013
BBC: Almost a fifth of the world's reptile species are at risk of extinction, according to scientists.
Research led by the Zoological Society of London found that the future of 19% of the world's reptiles are threatened.
Conservation experts also confirmed that 47% are vulnerable and highlighted the possible extinction of three species.
The figures are based on a random sample of 1,500 of the world's reptile species.
"It's essentially an election poll set up - using this sample to give an...
Climate Change’s Links to Conflict Draws UN Attention
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2013
Bloomberg: Imagine India in 2033. It has overtaken China as the most populous nation. Yet with 1.5 billion citizens to feed, it’s been three years since the last monsoon. Without rain, crops die and people starve.
The seeds of conflict take root.
This is one of the scenarios Joachim Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, will present today to members of the United Nations Security Council in New York to show the connection between climate change and global security...
Ex-IPCC head: Prepare for 5°C warmer world
Posted by Climate News Network: Alex Kirby on February 15th, 2013
Climate News Network: The world has missed the chance to keep greenhouse gas emissions below the level needed to prevent the temperature climbing above 2°C, according to the British scientist who used to chair the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The scientist, Professor Sir Robert Watson, chaired the Panel from 1997 until 2002, when he was ousted after US pressure for his removal. Professor Watson says there is a 50-50 chance of preventing global average temperatures rising more than 3°C above their...
RFK Jr. arrested: Celebs, enviros arrested at Keystone pipeline protest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: Celebrities and environmental activists, including lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and civil rights leader Julian Bond, were arrested Wednesday after tying themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also was arrested -- the first time in the group's 120-year history that a club leader was arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The club's board of directors approved the action as a sign of its opposition to...