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Archive for June 26th, 2013
The microbeads in your body wash are slowly filling the Great Lakes with plastic
Posted by Grist: Sarah Laskow on June 26th, 2013
Grist: Sigh. You think the world would have caught on by now that plastic is one of the most incidentally destructive inventions the human race has ever come up with. Sure, L.A. just banned plastic bags, which is great. But meanwhile those tiny microbeads - the little bits of plastics in body wash that cosmetics companies invented for no real reason except to have a new thing to sell their customers - are slowly accumulating in the Great Lakes, where fish eat them.
Scientific American reports:
They...
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Obama Has a Plan for Climate, What If It Involves Tar Sands?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 26th, 2013
Scientific American: "You see, I've got this plan..." ...
On a sweltering day in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama sweated as he laid out his new plan to combat climate change. In addition to the mandatory cuts in CO2 pollution from coal-fired power plants and the efforts to protect the country from the ravages of climate change highlighted by my colleague Mark Fischetti, Obama also found time to mention a little pipeline that would connect the tar sands in Alberta, Canada with refineries along the Gulf Coast...
Spending review: environment suffers worst cuts once again
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 26th, 2013
Guardian: Environment secretary Owen Paterson had, I'm told, battled hard in the fight over which departments' budgets would fare the worst in Wednesday's spending review. He failed. One insider told me: "Paterson was lucky to escape with a department at all."
George Osborne inflicted the highest level of budget cuts – 10% - on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), alongside a few other unfortunates – just as he did in the 2010 spending review.
The casualties will be flood defences...
As Gaza heads for water crisis, desalination seen key
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 26th, 2013
Reuters: A tiny wedge of land jammed between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean sea, the Gaza Strip is heading inexorably into a water crisis that the United Nations says could make the Palestinian enclave unliveable in just a few years.
With 90-95 percent of the territory's only aquifer contaminated by sewage, chemicals and seawater, neighborhood desalination facilities and their public taps are a lifesaver for some of Gaza's 1.6 million residents.
But these small-scale projects provide water for...
Obama’s pragmatist side wins out in Keystone comments
Posted by National Post: None Given on June 26th, 2013
National Post: Barack Obama downplayed any thoughts that his new climate change action plan is a straight choice between “the health of our children and the health of the economy.”
But it wasn’t just the 33 degree heat that made him wipe his brow continually. This was a defining moment in his presidency -- a speech where he made clear he is a firm believer in man-made climate change and intends to match his lofty rhetoric with regulatory action.
What to make of Mr. Obama’s plan from a Canadian perspective?...
Climate change debate is indeed obsolete
Posted by Bennington Banner: Michelle Karas on June 26th, 2013
Bennington Banner: Whether you call it climate change, global warming or just plain crazy weather, it’s clear the climate in Vermont and in the rest of the country has changed quite a bit over the last 50 years.
Some dismiss global warming as political positioning or an extremist explanation for natural phenomena.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday asserted just the opposite. During a speech at Georgetown University, Obama said the debate over climate change and its causes is obsolete and announced a plan to tackle...
Has Obama turned against Keystone?
Posted by Bloomberg View: Mary Duenwald on June 26th, 2013
Bloomberg View: The first reports about President Obama's climate speech today were all about the one thing not part of his "climate action plan": the Keystone XL pipeline.
As if to ward off criticism for not including the controversial project, Obama said, "Our energy strategy . . . has to be about more than just building one pipeline."
He also said the pipeline, which would carry crude from Canada's oil sands to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico, would be approved "only if it doesn't exacerbate the impact...
Obama and Congress must fight climate change like they do terrorism
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Andrew Guzman on June 26th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: For a man with his hands tied, President Obama is offering a decent enough plan to fight climate change. In a speech today, he’s expected to announce federal regulation of greenhouse gases at existing coal-fired power plants, increased energy standards for buildings and appliances, and greater development of renewable energy on federal lands. These are moves that he can try without approval from Congress. And while they are halfway measures, they are better than no measures.
But imagine if his...
Canada Confident Keystone XL will be approved
Posted by Associated Press: Rob Gillies on June 26th, 2013
Associated Press: Canada's natural resources minister said Tuesday he's confident the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline project from Canada to Texas will be approved because it meets President Barack Obama's requirement that it not lead to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
Joe Oliver responded to Obama's comments earlier Tuesday that the pipeline should be approved only if it does "not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution."
Oliver pointed to "Obama's very own State Department"...
Obama’s pipeline comments send mixed messages
Posted by Washington Wire: Tennille Tracy on June 26th, 2013
Washington Wire: President Barack Obama's unexpected mention of the Keystone XL pipeline in his climate-change speech Tuesday gave the appearance of pledging a tough line on the project's environmental impact. But his comments were embraced by Keystone supporters, who said the pipeline has already met the president's standards. Standing outside Georgetown University in a blanket of heat that left him wiping sweat off his forehead, Mr. Obama said Keystone will be approved "only if this project does not significantly...