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Archive for March 7th, 2013
Droughts raise water supply concerns in China
Posted by China Daily: None Given on March 7th, 2013
China Daily: In Wang Lianying's backyard are four basins filled with water that she uses for laundry, one each for soaking, soaping, scrubbing and rinsing. "The water's good for four or five cycles, at least half a month," the 69-year-old housewife said. "Our ox has to drink the water we use for washing our feet. "But we won't even be able to afford to use any water this way if the rain doesn't come in the next few days," she said. For many villagers like Wang in Songming county, Yunnan province, conserving...
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Millions of Indians facing worst drought in decades
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Millions of people in western India are suffering their worst drought in more than four decades, with critics blaming official ineptitude and corruption for exacerbating the natural water shortage.
Central areas of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, are facing a water shortage worse than the severe drought in 1972, the state's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan told AFP.
"In recorded history the reservoirs have never been so low in central Maharashtra," he said. "With every passing...
Biodiversity in Logged Forests Far Higher Than Once Believed
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Fred Pearce on March 7th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Researchers have discovered a significant flaw in large swaths of ecological research into the impact of logging on tropical forests: Scientists have been dramatically overestimating the damage done by loggers, skewing conservation strategies paid for by the donations of millions of environmentally minded citizens.
Logged tropical forests, new research suggests, are much more valuable for biodiversity than previously thought. Our understandable preoccupation with protecting pristine ecosystems...
NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Expected to Follow
Posted by EcoWatch: Steve Horn, DeSmogBlog on March 7th, 2013
EcoWatch: In a roll call vote of 95-40, the New York State Assembly has passed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the toxic horizontal drilling process through which oil and gas is procured that`s found within shale rock basins across the country and the world.
The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed off by Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, would close the state`s doors to the oil and gas industry`s desire to begin operating in New York`s portion of the Marcellus Shale basin until...
Australia links ‘angry summer’ to climate change – at last
Posted by Guardian: Jessica Aldred on March 7th, 2013
Guardian: The hottest summer on record. The hottest January on record. The hottest day on record for Australia as a whole. Bushfires in every state and territory. Daily rainfall records and major flooding. Over a period of 90 days, these were some of the 123 extreme weather records broken during Australia's "angry summer".
Despite the dramatic headlines and "flame-seared images" that documented extreme weather over the summer, the Australian media largely failed to make the link to climate change. Of 800...
Canada’s Arctic glaciers headed for unstoppable thaw: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2013
Reuters: Canadian glaciers that are the world's third biggest store of ice after Antarctica and Greenland seem headed for an irreversible melt that will push up sea levels, scientists said on Thursday.
About 20 percent of the ice in glaciers, on islands such as Ellesmere or Devon off northern Canada, could vanish by the end of the 21st century in a melt that would add 3.5 cm (1.4 inch) to global sea levels, they said.
Governments are trying to understand every likely centimeter of sea level rise caused...
Canadian Arctic May Lose 20% of Glaciers by 2100, Study Shows
Posted by Bloomberg: Alex Morales on March 7th, 2013
Bloomberg: A fifth of Canada’s Arctic glaciers may disappear this century, raising sea levels as their retreat becomes harder to reverse, scientists said.
An increase in average global temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) would be sufficient to melt the ice from glaciers on Canada’s northern islands, according to a statement e-mailed today by the British Antarctic Survey, whose researchers contributed to the study.
The Arctic has become a harbinger of climate change, with the effects of...
Keystone Pipeline Decision May Influence Oil-Sands Development
Posted by Bloomberg: Brad Olson and Jeremy van Loon on March 7th, 2013
Bloomberg: A U.S. decision on whether to approve TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline has the potential to accelerate -- or slow --investments in Canada’s oil sands.
A decision on the 875-mile (1,408 kilometer) U.S. portion of the pipeline, designed to carry 830,000 barrels of crude a day to Gulf Coast refineries, is expected later this year. Stopping the pipeline would mean continued discounted prices for Canadian crude, making it harder for producers to sell their commodity at a profit and potentially...
Environmentalists Mull Legal Action Over Keystone XL Process
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2013
Reuters: After the Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared an important hurdle last week, critics of the project are searching for ways to force more of the delays that have dogged it for more than four years already.
The State Department said Friday that TransCanada Corp's pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to Texas would not add to global greenhouse gas emissions because oil sands crude will make it to market whether or not the project is built.
That interpretation neutralized a major argument that many...
Canadian Official: Keystone Rejection Wouldn’t Harm US-Canada Relationship
Posted by The Hill: Ben Geman on March 7th, 2013
The Hill: Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver predicted Wednesday that the U.S. will approve the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, but added that rejection would not harm the relationship between the two allies.
“I am not anticipating a rejection,” he told reporters at a major energy conference here.
But he said the U.S.-Canada relationship is far too deep to be changed by the pipeline decision.
“We have the most important commercial bilateral relationship in the world, and certainly...