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Archive for April 23rd, 2013
Source of organic matter affects Bay water quality
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
ScienceDaily: Each time it rains, runoff carries an earthy tea steeped from leaf litter, crop residue, soil, and other organic materials into the storm drains and streams that feed Chesapeake Bay.
A new study led by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reveals that land use in the watersheds from which this "dissolved organic matter" originates has important implications for Bay water quality, with the organic carbon in runoff from urbanized or heavily farmed landscapes more likely to persist...
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Supreme Court justices tackle Texas-Oklahoma water fight
Posted by Reuters: Lawrence Hurley on April 23rd, 2013
Reuters: Supreme Court justices on Tuesday wrestled with the sensitive issue of whether a thirsty Texas water district has the right to access water across the Oklahoma state line.
The case arose under the Red River Compact, an agreement between Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma that apportioned water within the Red River basin. The compact was approved by Congress in 1980.
The Tarrant Regional Water District, which provides water in the fast-growing Dallas-Forth Worth area, would like to access...
Brazil’s success in reducing deforestation will be hard to replicate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 23rd, 2013
Mongabay: The sharp reduction in deforestation in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso since the mid-2000s will be difficult to replicate in other tropical countries where commodity production is a major driver in forest loss, argues a new study published in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
The paper, titled "Export-oriented deforestation in Mato Grosso: harbinger or exception for other tropical forests?", evaluated the conditions that enabled Mato Grosso to...
River views trump permanent flood protection
Posted by Associated Press: Jim Suhr and Jim Salter on April 23rd, 2013
Associated Press: Her Missouri hamlet soon to celebrate its 200th birthday, Mayor Jo Anne Smiley embraces Clarksville's perilous place along the Mississippi River, never mind that that the waters again threaten to wipe it and its potpourri of specialty shops off the map. In places like Clarksville and the Illinois town of Grafton just across the river, it's always been the clear views of the Mississippi drawing the tourists, unobstructed by a permanent levee. But that's left both communities north of St. Louis vulnerable....
Let’s Give Clean Water a Chance
Posted by EcoWatch: Yoko Ono on April 23rd, 2013
EcoWatch: I was proud to be a part of the gathering of hundreds of clean water supporters at the recent Riverkeeper`s Fishermen`s Ball. It was a true celebration of the power of the grassroots movement for clean water and sustainable energy.
"Big Fish" honoree and fellow "frack"tivist Mark Ruffalo, Yoko Ono and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. at the Riverkeeper Fishermen`s Ball on April 16 in New York. Photo credit: Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan
Through this event and my involvement with the fight against fracking...
EPA raises fresh concerns over Keystone pipeline
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday provided another twist to the long-running row over the planned Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, raising fresh concerns over the project's environmental impact.
President Obama is due to make a decision on whether or not to approve the project later this year and industry experts have been predicting that he is likely to rubber-stamp the pipeline after a State Department draft environmental impact statement recently failed to raise objections...
Indonesia: Samsung digs up controversial tin mine links
Posted by BusinessGreen: Jessica Shankleman on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: Samsung has pledged to clean up its act after admitting using tin from Indonesia that has almost certainly been extracted using dangerous and environmentally damaging mining techniques. The electronics giant has written to customers to confirm some of the tin it uses for manufacturing products does originate from the area near Bangka Island, which is believed to be killing coral reefs, driving away fish and destroying rainforests. The email comes after months of pressure from Friends of the Earth...
Facebook lifts the lid on its water, energy use
Posted by BusinessGreen: Heather Clancy on April 23rd, 2013
BusinessGreen: Two years ago, Facebook created the Open Compute Project to rewrite the rules for data centre efficiency, by using approaches that could be shared with other organisations.
This week, it started publishing the results of that work in the form of two public dashboards that track near real-time energy and water usage at its locations in Prineville, Oregon, and Forest City, North Carolina.
Its progress so far is notable. Facebook estimates that the "vanity-free servers" and best practices embraced...
Canadian Lawyer Wants Climate Change Warning Labels On Gas Pumps
Posted by Triple Pundit: Gina-Marie Cheeseman on April 23rd, 2013
Triple Pundit: Climate change is a very real threat to humanity, as many scientists have warned us. A Canadian lawyer named Robert Shirkey wants all Canadians who pump gasoline to understand the threat of climate change. He started a campaign, ourhorizon.org that calls for labels to be put on gas pump nozzles. The campaign aims to get municipalities in Canadian provinces to pass legislation that require the labels.
There are 4,000 municipalities in Canada. The campaign`s website contains a database of municipal...
Climate zones will shift faster as world warms
Posted by Nature: Amanda Leigh Mascarelli on April 23rd, 2013
Nature: Earth's regional climate zones will shift more quickly in response to warming as the globe grows hotter in coming decades, according to a study published online in Nature Climate Change on Sunday1. This is likely to make it harder for species to cope, raising the risk of extinction.
“If these changes are happening faster and faster, it means that the ecosystems have less and less time to adapt,” says Irina Mahlstein, a postdoctoral researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental...