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Archive for October 16th, 2013
Photo Essay: Documenting the Scope of China’s Environmental Challenges
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Photographer Sean Gallagher has lived and worked in China for seven years, visiting nearly all of its provinces as he documents the country’s daunting ecological problems and its widely varied landscapes. In a Yale Environment 360 photo essay, the Beijing-based photojournalist chronicles China’s widespread water and air pollution, the battle against the desertification that has spread across the country's northern regions, and the threats to the nation's biodiversity. "The current state of many...
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North Dakota pipeline spill prompts calls for better oversight
Posted by EnergyWire: Mike Lee on October 16th, 2013
EnergyWire: North Dakota needs to do more to ensure that pipelines can safely carry the rapidly expanding oil production from the Bakken Shale, state officials, transportation experts and environmentalists said after a pipeline leaked 20,600 barrels in a wheat field last week.
It typically takes months to determine the cause of a pipeline leak. The North Dakota accident fits a general pattern, though, of pipeline problems that critics have pointed out over the past few years -- it involved an older pipeline...
Environment Agency cuts will have a far-reaching impact on communities
Posted by Guardian: Kevin Warden on October 16th, 2013
Guardian: When the chancellor announced his spending review in June, it was clear that the Environment Agency's future was not rosy. But its staff were shocked to learn on 10 October that the cuts would translate into approximately 1,400 job losses.
Senior managers will work out the details of which services will be cut on 14-15 October and put their proposals to the agency's board on 17 October for endorsement.
Although we do not know the details, one thing is clear: the Environment Agency relies on...
United Kingdom: Fresh questions raised over fracking jobs ‘boom’
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on October 16th, 2013
BusinessGreen: Projections suggesting the UK's nascent fracking industry could grow rapidly to support up to 74,000 jobs have come under fire this morning, as reports reveal that official estimates put the job creation potential of the sector at no more than 24,300 full-time posts.
This summer a report from the Institute of Directors predicted that the UK shale gas industry could support up to 74,000 direct and indirect jobs, at the same time as helping to hold down energy costs and bolstering UK energy security....
Ofwat to block ‘unjustified’ Thames Water price hike
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Rankin on October 16th, 2013
Guardian: The water regulator Ofwat plans to block an "unjustified" 8% increase in customer bills proposed by Thames Water. Thames Water wants to add £29 to the bills of its 14 million customers in London and the south of England, arguing that the one-off charge is needed to help pay for the Thames tideway "super-sewer" in the capital, as well as an increase in Environment Agency charges and a spike in unpaid bills. The price hike would take the average annual bill to almost £400 by 2015. Ofwat said the...
Investing in people and evidence for sustainable farming
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 16th, 2013
SciDevNet: Food security is difficult to pin down. It can be explained simply as access to enough food. But behind that simplicity lies an interconnected web of factors -- from food prices to agricultural practices, nutrition, natural resources, technology, trade and social development.
Breaking down such complexity to its component parts is artificial, but is often necessary to gain understanding. It is in that spirit that the collection of articles this week focuses on just one, but fundamental, aspect...
Sustainable food production: Facts and Figures
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 16th, 2013
SciDevNet: Advances in agricultural science and technology (S&T) have contributed to remarkable increases in food production since the mid-twentieth century. Global agriculture has grown 2.5--3 times over the last 50 years. [1] This has let food production keep pace with human population growth so that, overall, there are enough calories produced per capita. However, progress toward reducing hunger is variable across the world (see figure 1).
Hunger and malnutrition affect every aspect of human development...
Nepal shifting rains and changing crops
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 16th, 2013
SciDevNet: With weather becoming more erratic every year as a result of climate change, Nepali farmers are progressively shifting their approach, turning vast areas of rice paddies into small-scale vegetable farming. Vegetables are more resilient as they can be hand watered in case of drought. Farmers say that with rains that used to come in April now shifting as late as mid-June, vegetables that can be sown at the time the rains finally fall are now a better investment.
But large parts of their fields now...
Fracking foes may key drive Michigan ballot campaign underway as project looms in Livingston County
Posted by Free Press: None Given on October 16th, 2013
Free Press: Livingston County opposition to hydraulic fracturing could be instrumental in getting a proposal to ban fracking on the November 2014 ballot, the head of the ballot effort said.
Many of the 965 county residents who signed the petition to put the question to voters did so after a high-volume hydraulic fracturing permit was issued in Conway Township, near Fowlerville, said LuAnne Kozma, campaign director for the Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan.
The committee failed in its first attempt...