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Archive for September 25th, 2013
United Kingdom: Caroline Lucas set for fracking protest court hearing
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on September 25th, 2013
BusinessGreen: Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has defended her right to protest against shale oil and gas exploration, after she was charged over her part in protests at Balcombe, West Sussex.
The MP for Brighton Pavilion was among a group of demonstrators arrested during a day of anti-fracking protests in Balcombe, Sussex, last month.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed yesterday that Lucas would be charged with breaching a police order on public assemblies and wilful obstruction of the highway.
She...
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UN climate change panel to release summary of latest science Friday
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 25th, 2013
CNN: Think of it as a giant barometer for climate science. With a new groundbreaking study on climate change seemingly coming out every other week, it can be hard to keep up with the latest findings. Fortunately, every five to six years, the United Nations sums it up in a comprehensive report. That's what's going on this week in the Swedish capital Stockholm, where the latest Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set for release on Friday. The document will bring together...
Indonesia sets a carbon time-bomb
Posted by Conversation: None Given on September 25th, 2013
Conversation: One of the world’s major terrestrial carbon pools is rapidly deteriorating as large parts of Indonesia’s peatlands are deforested and converted to oil palm and paper plantations. No longer a carbon sink, Indonesia’s peatlands are now a globally significant source of emissions.
The June fires in Sumatra once again drew international attention to Indonesia’s forests. At the fires' peak, 140,000 hectares were burnt in just one week.
Most fires were in peatland, much of it on land destined to become...
State Department Ignores Keystone XL Impact on Endangered Species
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 25th, 2013
EcoWatch: A new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) finds that the State Department’s review of the Keystone XL pipeline woefully underestimates the impacts it would have on some of America’s most endangered species, including whooping cranes, northern swift foxes, piping plovers, pallid sturgeon, American burying beetles and others. The study found that State Department failed to fully consider the impacts that oil spills, power lines, habitat destruction, construction disturbances and expanded...
More Than 80 Elephants Dead From Cyanide Poisoning in Zimbabwe Park
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 25th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Poachers poisoned watering holes with cyanide in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, killing 81 elephants in the latest wave of slayings to supply the trade in illegal ivory. The cyanide, poured into remote watering holes in the park, also killed smaller animals and vultures that ate the poisoned carcasses. Park rangers arrested nine alleged poachers after following them to a cache of ivory tusks hidden in the park. The elephant death toll of 81 includes 41 carcasses found earlier this month following...
United Kingdom: Green MP Caroline Lucas charged over anti-fracking protest
Posted by Guardian: Sandra Laville on September 25th, 2013
Guardian: The Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, defended her right to peacefully protest on Wednesday after it was announced she faced criminal charges over her part in an anti-fracking demonstration in Sussex.
Lucas spoke after the Crown Prosecution Service said it had carefully examined the evidence and decided it was in the public interest to charge the MP for obstructing the highway and failing to comply with a police request to move.
Officers arrested her last month during the protest against oil...
Ecosystem Recovery from Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Will Take Decades
Posted by Nature World: None Given on September 25th, 2013
Nature World: It will likely take decades before the deep-sea ecosystem around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site recovers from the impacts of the environmental disaster, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One.
When the well head blew out on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010, nearly 5 million barrels (210 million gallons) of oil spewed from the ocean floor, encroaching upon the soft-sediment ecosystem in place at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill and plume covered...
Research examines start of fracking in Ohio
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 25th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Tapping a Valuable Resource or Invading the Environment? Research Examines the Start of Fracking in Ohio
A new study is examining methane and other components in groundwater wells, in advance of drilling for shale gas that's expected over the next several years in an Ohio region.
The team of UC researchers spent a year doing periodic testing of groundwater wells in Carroll County, Ohio, a section of Ohio that sits along the shale-rich Pennsylvania-West Virginia borders. The study analyzed 25...
How the insurance industry is dealing with climate change
Posted by Smithsonian: None Given on September 25th, 2013
Smithsonian: Risk analysis groups have detected an increased frequency of Atlantic hurricanes due to climate change, forcing insurance companies to rethink their models. Photo by Flickr user Brian Birke
When it comes to the calculating the likelihood of catastrophic weather, one group has an obvious and immediate financial stake in the game: the insurance industry. And in recent years, the industry researchers who attempt to determine the annual odds of catastrophic weather-related disasters--including floods...
In France, fracking ban faces constitutional test
Posted by PRI: None Given on September 25th, 2013
PRI: Forever is a long time. Definitely way too long for opponents of France’s first-in-the-world ban on hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. Back when it was passed in 2011, many thought the ban would be the final word on fracking in France. The controversial method of injecting water, chemicals and sand deep underground to produce shale gas and oil would never be used here. Instead, shale gas, or gaz de schiste, is still a hot topic, in large part because an American drilling company is...