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Archive for June 17th, 2013
Nicaragua OKs plan for cross-country canal, environment be damned
Posted by Grist: John Upton on June 17th, 2013
Grist: Nicaragua is one step closer to being carved in half by a massive cross-country canal. Leftist President Daniel Ortega rammed the project through his country`s congress last week. The lawmakers gave the Hong Kong-based HKND Group a 50-year concession to excavate and operate the canal, which is intended to rival Panama`s. If it`s actually built - and that`s still a big if - it promises to give an economic boost to the bitterly poor country. Nicaragua would get a minority share of profits and, say...
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U.S. Fracking Industry Reacts to Water Scarcity Issues
Posted by Ceres: Peyton Fleming on June 17th, 2013
Ceres: Hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. fracking) has recast the U.S.’s energy future, but it’s also shining a light on fragile water supplies, which could crimp the industry’s growth.
Exploration fracking well drilling in the desert. Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
The pinch is especially strong on shale energy producers and state regulators who are scrambling to find ways to keep the water flowing to this thirsty industry while not shortchanging farmers, municipalities and growing populations. Anywhere...
Mayors Vow to Strengthen Defenses Against Extreme Weather
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on June 17th, 2013
Environment News Service: As unprecedented extreme weather and climate change wreak havoc across the country, 48 local elected officials today committed themselves to fortifying their cities, towns, and counties. As the "inaugural signatories" of the Resilient Communities for America Agreement letter, the officials pledged to take cost-effective actions to prepare and protect their communities from the increasing disasters and disruptions fueled by climate change -- heat waves, floods, droughts, severe storms, and wildfires....
Hummingbird tree-sit could stop San Fran developers where occupiers failed
Posted by Grist: Susie Cagle on June 17th, 2013
Grist: When dozens of police officers in riot gear raided the occupied Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco early last Thursday morning, it seemed like the end of the road for this garden space. Activists from around the Bay Area had moved in on June 1 with the hopes of holding off the developers set to raze the farm and replace it with 182 condo units, retail space, and a parking garage. But after the early raid, a handful of arrests, and one activist falling 30 feet from a protest platform hung in a tree,...
Warming bad for life in freshwater lakes and rivers
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on June 17th, 2013
Climate News Network: Austria's alpine lakes are warming, and that's bad news for the region's fish and economy, according to new research in the journal Hydrobiologia. The Alpine valleys are warming: From 1980 to 1999 the region warmed three times the global average. Martin Dokulil of the Institute for Limnology at the University of Innsbruck studied data from nine lakes larger than 10 square kilometers, or about 2,500 acres. The largest, Bodensee or Lake Constance, touches Austria's border with Germany and Switzerland;...
Catastrophic Oil Spill Threat to Canadian River Basin
Posted by Climate News Network: Paul Brown on June 17th, 2013
Climate News Network: The Mackenzie River Basin, a vast globally important area in Canada, is at great risk from climate change and a catastrophic oil spill from the tailing ponds of tar sands mining, according to a panel of nine Canadian, American and British scientists. The warning came just days after the Canadian Oil Producers Association says it expects oil production from tar sands in the region to double by 2030. The Mackenzie River Basin showing how it drains north to the Arctic Ocean. A report produced after...
United Kingdom: Indoor fracking installation seeks to provoke debate
Posted by Guardian: Mark Brown on June 17th, 2013
Guardian: It is one of the biggest, most polarising issues there is, but artists who have created an indoor fracking installation insist they are not trying to sway opinion either way. "We want to create an emotionally engaging experience. People can then go away and come to their own conclusions," said Heiko Hansen, who with his partner, Helen Evans, has recreated the sounds, tremors and flames you would get from a fracking operation. The process of fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – involves drilling...
Pakistan can expect worse heatwaves to come, meteorologists warn
Posted by Guardian: John Vidal and Razeshta Sethna on June 17th, 2013
Guardian: Near-record temperatures in Pakistan have claimed hundreds of lives and devastated crops in the third major heatwave in four years. But as temperatures on Friday dipped to under 38C (100F), signalling the end of nearly four weeks of blistering heat, leading meteorologists warned that the country could expect longer, more intense and more frequent events in future. Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, a vice-president of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and former director of Pakistan's Met Office,...
Monsoon rains cover India early, boost crop hopes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2013
Reuters: India's monsoon rains have covered the entire country a month ahead of the normal schedule, increasing the prospects for a bumper output for summer-sown crops such as rice, oilseeds and cotton in one of the world's leading producers. The rains usually cover all of India by mid-July, but this year it happened on June 16, said a senior official at the India Meteorological Department, who did not want to be named. The rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the...