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Archive for June 24th, 2013
Obama Climate Change: Why the President’s Promises Are Just Rhetoric
Posted by Policymic: Blair Koch on June 24th, 2013
Policymic: President Barack Obama made headlines upon declaring, "we've got to do something about climate change," during his State of the Union address on February. With a majority of Americans expressing support for planning the impacts of climate change and global warming, as well as the funding of additional studies into increasing clean energy resources and reducing pollution, such as the 2012 study by the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale Project on Climate Change Communication:...
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Military Report: America Has ‘Misguided’ Fixation With Domestic Drilling
Posted by InsideClimate: John H. Cushman Jr. on June 24th, 2013
InsideClimate: A new report from the U.S. Center for Naval Analyses and the London-based Royal United Services Institute, two of the NATO alliance's front-line strategy centers, recommends putting more effort into fighting global warming than securing reliable supplies of fossil fuels.
The authors call the habitual American fixation on winning energy independence through expanded North American production of oil and natural gas "misguided." They say the "only sustainable solution" to the problem of energy insecurity...
Canada’s power supplies could be hit for months by floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: Power cuts in the Canadian oil capital of Calgary could last for weeks or even months, city authorities said on Sunday, after record-breaking floods swept across southern Alberta, killing three people and forcing more than 100,000 to flee their homes.
Some Calgary residents were able to return to sodden homes as rivers dropped and some evacuation orders were lifted. But Bruce Burrell, director of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said power restoration in the city centre, where many of...
Global warming will make Indian monsoon worse and unpredictable, says study
Posted by Times India: Kounteya Sinha on June 24th, 2013
Times India: Scientists have found that the pattern of the Indian monsoon will change under global warming in the future.
Computer simulations with a comprehensive set of 20 state-of-the-art climate models now consistently show that Indian monsoon daily variability might increase.
Scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said, "ups-and-downs of Indian monsoon rainfall is likely to increase under warming."
Scientists found that a 4% to 12% variability change of daily monsoon rainfall...
Climate adaptation goes mobile in Brazil
Posted by Climate News Network: Jan Rocha on June 24th, 2013
Climate News Network.: Over the last few years, violent storms, leading to flooding and mudslides, have become more frequent in Brazil.
In 2011, violent rainstorms wreaked havoc in and around Rio. Houses built on steep hillsides were swept away by devastating mudslides. An entire shantytown built on top of a former rubbish dump in Niteroi collapsed, killing over 50 inhabitants.
In Novo Friburgo, a mountainous town settled by 265 Swiss families in 1820, and the surrounding region, over 1000 people died in January...
Tasmania’s old growth forests win protection after three-decade battle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: Almost 200,000 hectares of Tasmania's old growth forest have been world heritage listed, bringing hope that a three-decade fight between environmentalists, politicians and loggers is over.
The World Heritage Committee has extended the heritage listed boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area by more than 170,000 hectares after accepting a proposal from the Australian government which will give the areas the highest level of environmental protection in the world.
The old growth...
Tasmania hopes foreign zoo breeding program will help save devils
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on June 24th, 2013
Guardian: About 20 Tasmanian devils will be sent to overseas zoos in an ambitious escalation of the battle against a deadly facial tumour disease that has ravaged the marsupials.
The Tasmanian government has launched a pilot project that will see up to three zoos in New Zealand and two in the US take about 20 devils to be exhibited to visitors.
Should the project prove successful, up to 100 devils will be dispersed to zoos across Europe, North America and Japan.
The move follows the recent breeding...
Breathing new life into climate policy: Kemp
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: Shale has killed climate policy. Now the International Energy Agency is trying to bring it back to life.
Following the shale revolution, policymakers can no longer count on peaking oil and gas supplies and soaring fuel prices to save the world from potentially catastrophic climate change.
As the peak-oil panic of 2008 recedes, it has become clear that there are more than enough fossil fuel reserves to cook the planet many times over.
"The world is drifting further and further from the track...
IFC bets big on India?s green biz
Posted by Hindustan Times: Manu P Toms on June 24th, 2013
Hindustan Times: The World Bank’s private sector lending arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), sees a bright future in the Indian renewable energy sector.
By the end of this month, its investment in Indian renewable energy and clean technology sectors that began in 2009-10 would have exceeded $1 billion (R5,900 crore).
IFC follows a July-to-June calendar.
Pravan Malhotra, who leads IFC’s clean technology investment team in South Asia, said more than a third of this investment occurred this year alone....
Chile presidential favorite says HidroAysen project not viable
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2013
Reuters: Chilean presidential favorite Michelle Bachelet said on Sunday night she is against the planned 2,750-megawatt HidroAysen hydropower project, suggesting the controversial complex still faces an uphill battle.
Bachelet, a popular center-leftist who served as president of the world's top copper-exporting nation from 2006 to 2010, is widely expected to win a November 17 presidential election against a weakened right-wing bloc.
"I'm not in favor of HidroAysen and I don't think it's viable," Bachelet...