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Archive for May 28th, 2013
Sri Lanka: Jaffna aquifer depleting from overuse
Posted by SciDevNet: Dilrukshi Handunnetti on May 28th, 2013
SciDevNet: The single limestone aquifer, which is the main source of freshwater in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, is gradually depleting through overuse, researchers say. "The area suffers from severe groundwater imbalance which might reach crisis proportions in the future," Shanti de Silva, one of two scientists who carried out the research for the agricultural department of the University of Jaffna, told SciDev.Net. At a presentation of the research results last month (18 April), de Silva called...
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Hope Amid the Dams and Dangers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2013
New York Times: Jeff Opperman, a senior freshwater scientist with the Nature Conservancy, took a once-in-a-lifetime trip down the Mekong River in Southeast Asia with his wife and two children, ages 8 and 10. This is his final post. Previous posts can be found here.
In my previous post I described how dozens of hydropower dams -- planned and under construction -- could lead to significant declines in the Mekong’s fisheries productivity, which feeds tens of millions of people, and its charismatic species like the...
In Age of Electronic Democracy, Keystone Voices Get Wide Audience
Posted by InsideClimate: John H. Cushman Jr. on May 28th, 2013
InsideClimate: Stu Luttich of Geneva, Neb. is just one of the thousands of ordinary Americans who sat down in early March and gave the State Department their two cents worth on the Keystone XL pipeline. Luttich has what he calls "some ground" in Nebraska that he'd like to restore to native grassland, and he works with other Nebraskans trying to do the same thing. So when the State Department opened its 45-day public comment period on the Keystone draft environmental impact statement, he offered his take on the...
Facing high fuel costs, North Dakota plans new refineries: Kemp
Posted by Reuters: John Kemp on May 28th, 2013
Reuters: North Dakota's residents have received an enormous income windfall from the shale boom, but strong local demand for trucking and fracking fuel has left them facing the highest gasoline prices in the mainland United States.
Only insular Hawaiians pay more to fill up at the pump.
North Dakota needs more local refining capacity to turn its abundant, high-quality crude into gasoline and especially diesel for trucks and oilfield operations.
There are proposals for three new refineries, which...
Compelling conversation is the key for improving the odds on sustainability
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Balch on May 28th, 2013
Guardian: Being gloomy has never been easier. Open any newspaper and the world looks every bit like it's going to pot. Carbon levels in the atmosphere are stratospheric, literally. Freak weather-related disasters are becoming two-a-penny. One in eight people are still going to bed hungry. The apocalypse, you'd think, is nigh.
Bryan Welch would like you to think otherwise. A rare breed in these doom-mongering days, 53-year-old Welch is an out-and-proud optimist. This is the man who gave his book about the...
Escalating Water Strains In Fracking Regions
Posted by Forbes: Mindy Lubber on May 28th, 2013
Forbes: It’s bad enough that Western farmers and ranchers are reeling from a three-year-old drought and record heat waves. Now they’re feeling the heat from the goliath energy industry – over water. From Texas to Colorado, hydraulic fracturing energy production is using larger amounts of water. So much that farmers and other major users are getting increasingly nervous about running out of the precious resource, especially as more people move to these states. In drought-ravaged Texas, fracturing-related...
As US Oil Booms, an Unlikely Word Rises: Depletion
Posted by CNBC: Javier E. David on May 28th, 2013
CNBC: Could the U.S. energy revolution fall prey to the law of diminishing returns?
Oil depletion, or the rate at which a new production is sapped from existing wells, is a hot topic in energy circles. It was common fodder during the years where some analysts ominously warned about demand outstripping oil, but is rarely mentioned in the context of America's budding energy boom.
At least for now, depletion is not an immediate risk for a country that has only begun to scratch the surface of its oil...
Majority Face Water Shortages ‘Within Two Generations’
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on May 28th, 2013
Guardian: The majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will live with severe pressure on fresh water within the space of two generations as climate change, pollution and over-use of resources take their toll, 500 scientists have warned.
The world's water systems would soon reach a tipping point that "could trigger irreversible change with potentially catastrophic consequences," more than 500 water experts warned on Friday as they called on governments to start conserving the vital resource. They said it...
Mangrove conservation pays off for Kenya’s coastal communities
Posted by Reuters: James Karuga on May 28th, 2013
Reuters: When Kahindi Charo gathered 30 of his friends to replant mangroves in the 32 square km (12 square mile) Mida Creek area, people in his village of Dabaso in Kilifi County dismissed them as crazy idlers.
Charo recalls that back then, in 2000, the creek had suffered badly from unregulated harvesting that had left the area bare, with rotting stumps and patches of old mangrove trees.
Today, Mida Creek, about 60 km (38 miles) north of Mombasa, flourishes with dense mangrove plantations...
California environmentalists fear frack fight a distraction
Posted by Reuters: Rory Carroll and Braden Reddall on May 28th, 2013
Reuters: As California sets the ground rules for drilling in the Monterey oil formation, a hard-to-reach shale reserve that is the largest in the United States, some environmentalists worry that politicians, regulators and fellow activists are fighting the wrong battle. The state regulator is hammering out rules for hydraulic fracturing, while the legislature is debating 10 bills on the practice. The drilling technique known as "fracking" has caused so much concern about environmental problems that it is...