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Archive for October 21st, 2013
Australia: Clear link between climate change & bushfires: UN adviser warns Tony Abbott
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Judith Ireland on October 21st, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: A senior United Nations climate change official says there is ''absolutely'' a link between climate change and bushfires and has warned that the Coalition government will pay a high political and financial price for its decision to scrap carbon pricing.
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, the head of the UN's climate change negotiations, Christiana Figueres, said there was a clear link between climate change and bushfires such as those raging in New South Wales.
She noted...
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Australia merges blazes in wildfire battle to prevent ‘megafire’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 21st, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Firefighters on Tuesday deliberately merged two major blazes in southeastern Australia in a desperate battle to manage the advancing infernos as weather conditions worsen.
Crews made up largely of volunteers worked through the night along trails in heavily forested areas west of Sydney to try to prevent the fires becoming one out-of-control "megafire" that could race towards a third blaze nearby.
Firefighters have been battling wildfires across the state of New South Wales since they flared...
Tesoro says no date set to restart burst North Dakota pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 21st, 2013
Reuters: Tesoro Logistics LP said on Monday it still did not have a date to restart a North Dakota oil pipeline that ruptured in September and spilled 20,600 barrels of crude onto farmland. The company said it is continuing to clean up the site of North Dakota's largest oil spill since the shale oil revolution in the state. So far, Tesoro has collected 3,400 barrels of oil of the spilt oil. "We are moving forward with our repair plan and are working with PHMSA on a restart plan. We do not have an update...
Study of Yangtze Finless Porpoise Reveals Not All Cetaceans Hear Alike
Posted by Nature World: James A. Foley on October 21st, 2013
Nature World: A new study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and marine biologists in China highlights the differences in dolphins' ability to hear across species, reshaping the previous "one-size-fits-all" approach taken on the hearing ability of the cetaceans.
In the heavily trafficked, murky waters near China's Three Gorges Dam, the Yangtze finless porpoise faces an aural assault beneath the water, with the noise of shipping, deep-water dredging and underwater construction creating a cacophony...
In Kansas, Farmers Commit To Take Less Water From The Ground
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 21st, 2013
National Public Radio: If you've flown across Nebraska, Kansas or western Texas on a clear day, you've seen them: geometrically arranged circles of green and brown on the landscape, typically half a mile in diameter. They're the result of pivot irrigation, in which long pipes-on-wheels rotate slowly around a central point, spreading water across corn fields.
Yet most of those fields are doomed. The water that nourishes them eventually will run low.
That water comes from a huge pool of underground water known as the...
Global climate spending falling further behind target – report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 21st, 2013
Reuters: Global spending to combat climate change fell last year and remains far below the level needed to prevent its most dangerous effects, a report by the Climate Policy Initiative said on Tuesday.
Investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency and adaptation to climate change totalled $359 billion, $5 billion less than in 2011, as an economic slowdown hit state and private-sector budgets.
The International Energy Agency estimated last year that $5 trillion of investment in clean energy alone...
0.3% of GPD would protect East Asia from climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 21st, 2013
ScienceDaily: About 12 million people in 23 East Asian cities are at risk from rising sea levels, severe storms, and more intense drought caused by climate change that could jeopardize $864 billion in assets, a new report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warns. Economics of Climate Change in East Asia notes that while climate adaptation investments can be large, the aggregate cost to protect the most vulnerable sectors -- infrastructure, coastal protection, and agriculture -- would be less than 0.3% of East...
Buy Organic Bananas, Save Crocodiles
Posted by EcoWatch: Kaye Spector on October 21st, 2013
EcoWatch: Chemicals sprayed on bananas to control pests and disease are making their way into the bodies of the emaciated crocodiles who live near banana plantations in Costa Rica, says a new study that illustrates the environmental impact of pesticide use--and gives another reason to buy organic foods, even those with inedible peels.
Crocodiles who live near Costa Rican banana plantations are sickly, and researchers suspect pesticides are either directly responsible or impacting the crocs` environment...
Straw Should be Used as Alternative Energy Source, German Researchers Argue
Posted by Nature World: Tamarra Kemsley on October 21st, 2013
Nature World: Straw from agriculture could help address Germany's future energy needs, a new study published in the journal Applied Energy suggests.
Led by researchers from the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research, Thueringian Regional Institute for Agriculture (TLL) and German Biomass Research Center, the report found that of the 30 million tons of cereal straw produced nationally every year, between 8-13 million could be used sustainably for energy or fuel production. This could in turn provide between...
New Brunswick fracking protests are the frontline of democratic fight
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on October 21st, 2013
Guardian: The image of burning police cars played endlessly on the evening news. Television and talk radio blared out reports of "clashes" between police and indigenous protestors. Last Thursday in New Brunswick near the Elsipogtog First Nation, we were told the government had enforced an injunction against a blockade of a US shale gas company. There was nothing about the roots of a conflict years in the making. An appeal to the stereotype of indigenous violence was enough: once again, the natives were breaking...