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Archive for April 7th, 2013
Slaking a Region’s Thirst While Cleaning Its Beaches
Posted by New York Times: Ian Lovett on April 7th, 2013
New York Times: Surfers here have long lived by a simple rule: When it rains, no matter how good the waves may be, stay out of the water. Those who do head out to the Venice Pier on a rainy day might have their bravery (or naïveté) repaid with pinkeye, a fever or diarrhea. “The water will have this weird, funky smell to it,” said Sean Stanley, 26, who has been surfing here his entire life. “It’s murky. You’ll see soda cans and plastic bottles, oil from the cars. All the runoff from the city gets in there.” Even...
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Northern Ireland launches plastic bag levy
Posted by BusinessGreen: Jessica Shankleman on April 7th, 2013
BusinessGreen: Retailers in Northern Ireland will today start charging at least five pence for each carrier bag handed out to customers, as part of a drive across the province to reduce plastic waste.
The Northern Ireland Executive has introduced the Carrier Bag Levy, in a move designed to significantly reduce the 250 million carrier bags distributed in the country each year.
Northern Ireland follows in the footsteps of Wales, which introduced a similar charge in 2011 and subsequently cut handouts of bags...
United Kingdom: When temperatures drop, pollution levels can soar
Posted by Guardian: Gary Fuller on April 7th, 2013
Guardian: On the 5 and 6 March air pollution reached the maximum value of 10 on the UK's air pollution index – levels where the public are advised to reduce strenuous outdoor physical activity. The easterly air flow that bought cold weather to the UK during March also brought particulate air pollution from traffic and industry across Europe which combined with local air pollution from our own cities. Yorkshire, Warrington and Birmingham were the worst areas affected on 5 March. The area with index level 10...
ALERT! Demand India Protect Old-Growth and Abandon Coal
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on April 7th, 2013
TAKE ACTION!
India is a thriving democratic nation with tremendous potential to achieve just, equitable, and ecologically sustainable national development that could last forever. Yet India is heading towards social and ecological collapse unless it stops burning coal and clearing its natural ecosystems, especially important old-growth forest remnants. The momentum of unfettered economic and population growth sweeping India is so severely damaging to the environment that failure to stop burning and cutting threatens the nation's reliable climate, food and water supplies, and its future potential for sustained national advancement. India is an amazing place in so many ways. There is still hope that they will come to understand the importance of a different development model.
Former Obama team member pushes White House to reject pipeline
Posted by CNN: Ashley Killough on April 7th, 2013
CNN: Bill Burton spent the greater part of the past two years working to get President Barack Obama re-elected.
Now he's in a different job, calling on the president to reject the Keystone XL pipeline project, which Obama's administration last month said would have no significant effect on the environment.
In an e-mail sent to Sunday news show staffs, Burton previewed the launch of a new coalition, "All Risk, No Reward," which takes a strong stance against its approval.
"The coalition will be...
When It Rains, It Pours: Study Confirms Climate Change Will Keep Driving More Intense Precipitation
Posted by Think Progress: Ryan Koronowski on April 7th, 2013
Think Progress: Climate change will bring more and more extreme precipitation events this century.
A new study from NOAA`s National Climatic Data Center confirms what climate scientists have long been saying about climate change`s effect on the hydrological cycle.
If you are not familiar with this term, you are certainly familiar with what it describes. As the sun warms the earth, water evaporates from oceans, lakes, and rivers, which then form clouds that produce rain and snow. More evaporation happens when...
State water tunnel plans call for rerouting of 3 Delta highways for years
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on April 7th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: The state of California's proposal to build two massive water diversion tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a major undertaking by itself. But the current plans also call for rerouting and reconfiguring three state highways to handle a decade of heavy construction traffic.
Conceptual engineering documents obtained by The Bee illustrate detours on Highway 160 in Sacramento County around each of three huge water intakes proposed for the project, called the Bay Delta Conservation...
When the desert devours the lake
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on April 7th, 2013
Toronto Star: In its glory days during the 1960s, Lake Chad was 38,000 square kilometres of sparkling blue-green water that nourished humans, animals and plant life in the four countries it straddled: Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. The lake, on the edge of the mighty Sahara Desert, gave solace to people. Poems were written about it; celebrations were held on its banks.
But Lake Chad is now a speck of what it was five decades ago, measuring just 1,300 square kilometres.
The Sahara desert is the culprit....
What happens in Nepal doesn’t stay in Nepal
Posted by International Herald Tribune: Shabbir Mir on April 7th, 2013
International Herald Tribune: Life had been good for Sunyali Majhi, a farmer in Dolalghat, a small village about 50 kilometres from landlocked Nepal’s Kathmandu. She harvested enough rice to sell and feed her brood at home. But the portions have been getting smaller, the financial squeeze tighter.
In the shade of a Peopaal tree, Sunyali and her children are silhouetted against the blue Nepal skies. The scene is idyllic but the family’s anxiety undercuts it: crop yields have fallen drastically this year.
“Over the last decade...
Check out N.M.’s burn scar to see crisp evidence of climate change
Posted by ABQ Journal: None Given on April 7th, 2013
ABQ Journal: Along with 35 people from Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos, from teenagers to retirees, I joined New Energy Economy’s Las Conchas hike last Saturday, a stark and informative experience that displayed the realities of climate change on New Mexico’s forests. The hike was led by self-described “global climate change ecologist” Henry Adams, whose research on the effects of climate change in the Southwest is fairly extensive and connects drought with insects/pathogens with higher temperatures with megafires....