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Archive for April 11th, 2013
Climate Change-Drought Connection Not ‘Significant’ In 2012 U.S. Dry Spell, NOAA Reports
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 11th, 2013
Associated Press: Last year's huge drought was a freak of nature that wasn't caused by man-made global warming, a new federal science study finds. Scientists say the lack of moisture usually pushed up from the Gulf of Mexico was the main reason for the drought in the nation's midsection. Thursday's report by dozens of scientists from five different federal agencies looked into why forecasters didn't see the drought coming. The researchers concluded that it was so unusual and unpredictable that it couldn't have been...
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California should tighten fracking regulations, report says
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on April 11th, 2013
LA Times: California needs to strengthen regulation of hydraulic fracturing, according to a UC Berkeley report that identified a number of shortcomings in state oversight of the controversial practice.
Known as fracking, the technique involves the high-pressure injection of chemical-laced fluids into the ground to crack rock formations and extract oil and gas. Although not new to California, the practice has come under increasing scrutiny recently as states such as Pennsylvania and New York experience a...
Despite armed guards, Africa’s rhinos losing battle to poachers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 11th, 2013
Reuters: Five days after the rhino was gunned down, its carcass had been picked apart by scavengers while the poachers who killed the threatened animal had probably taken its valuable horn over the South African border into Mozambique.
All that was left of its calf was a skull swarming with flies and a few other bones collected by crime scene investigators at South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park for DNA tests that may one day be used to link the poachers to the stolen horns.
South Africa, home...
Climate Change Drives Spread of Invasive Plants in Cuba
Posted by Inter Press Service: Ivet González on April 11th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Botanist Ramona Oviedo has spent decades combing the countryside in Cuba to study and curb the spread of invasive plant species, a serious problem that has been aggravated by climate change.
Global warming "can worsen the impact of invasive plant species, which are more resistant than Cuba`s native flora," Oviedo, a researcher at the Ecology and Systematics Institute (IES), said in an interview with IPS.
The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines invasive alien species as...
McCarthy needs to open the windows at the EPA, letting in press and public
Posted by Environmental Health: Beth Parke and Joseph A. Davis on April 11th, 2013
Environmental Health: President Obama has an opportunity to fix badly broken media policies that keep Americans in the dark about their environment. Gina McCarthy's nomination as the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency affords him an opportunity to live up to his promise to create an "unprecedented level of openness in government.'
The Obama administration has been anything but transparent in its dealings with reporters seeking information, interviews and clarification on a host of environmental, health...
Can Congress overrule Obama on Keystone XL?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 11th, 2013
Washington Post: As the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power takes up legislation Wednesday to force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline extension, the bill raises a key question: can Congress wrest the Keystone decision away from President Obama?
The answer: Neither side knows exactly, but depending on the legislative language, Congress could very well pull it off.
The Northern Route Approval Act, the subject of Wednesday’s hearing, would grant TransCanada a permit to build a 1,179-mile...
Extreme weather to hit community sector
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 11th, 2013
AAP: COMMUNITY organisations are not well prepared to deal with the impact of climate change and extreme weather, new research reveals.
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) has commissioned research finding small and medium-sized organisations are at risk of permanent closure as a result of major damage to physical infrastructure caused by events like heatwaves, drought, bushfires and floods.
"To date the community sector has been overlooked in the climate change adaptation policy settings,"...
Britain’s love affair with bottled water – a national scandal?
Posted by Ecologist: David Gray on April 11th, 2013
Ecologist: The UK bottled water industry releases 350,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year
One of Britain's leading authorities on water supplies has branded the bottled water industry a scam, backing campaigners' claims of wasted millions and environmental pollution at a time when tap water standards have never been higher.
Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering at Glasgow University, has highlighted growing fears that our increasing consumption of bottled water is...
India prepares to adopt binding emission reduction target
Posted by RTCC: None Given on April 11th, 2013
RTCC: India could be on the verge of departing from its long held negotiating position and adopt binding emission reduction commitments.
A report in the Times of India says the government plans to commission a study assessing when the country’s greenhouse gas emissions are likely to peak.
“The year when India`s emissions trajectory peaks before it starts to dip is expected to influence the date from when the government will be ready to take on a cap in absolute terms on greenhouse gases under the...
Delay on China Avian Flu Announcement Questioned
Posted by New York Times: Keith Bradsher on April 11th, 2013
New York Times: Of all the mysteries surrounding the emergence of a new and deadly strain of avian influenza around Shanghai, one of the biggest is why China’s hundreds of medical and veterinary labs did not spot the problem sooner — or if they did, why it was not disclosed. Even the censored Chinese news media has begun cautiously questioning why the authorities did not say anything sooner about a disease that resulted in the first known human case in eastern China on Feb. 19, but was not announced to the public...