RSS Feed
Archive for October 26th, 2013
Australia: Fires incite political debate over climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: As bushfires devastated parts of New South Wales, the political sphere was heating up over whether global warming is behind the ferocity of the Australian fire season.
(Song plays throughout: Change - Flume)
(Footage of the bushfires is shown)
TRACY BOWDEN, ABC REPORTER, 7.30: Is this climate change in action?
ANNABELLE CRABB, 7.30 PRESENTER: Behind the fire-front a secondary battle is underway
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONENT, CNN: Is there a link between climate...
Posted in 
Global Ban on Mercury Exempts Mascara and Eye Makeup
Posted by EcoWatch: Kaye Spector on October 26th, 2013
EcoWatch: Mercury was banned in cosmetics and soaps by a recently signed global treaty at the Minamata Convention. But mascara and other eye makeup were exempted.
Mercury is used in trace amounts in eye makeup as a preservative. The treaty exempts eye area cosmetics from the list because “no effective, safe substitute alternatives are available,” according to the signed treaty.
The Minamata Convention for Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects...
Wildfire smoke can drift for hundreds of miles, hurting health
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
United Press International: Smoke from U.S. wildfires can drift for hundreds of miles and hurt the health of millions, an environmental group says.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, based on smoke data from the 2011 wildfire season -- one of the worst in recent decades -- found the area affected by smoke was 50 times greater than the area burned by fire.
About two-thirds of Americans -- nearly 212 million people -- live in counties affected by smoke conditions in 2011. Many states had large wildfires...
Australian bushfires fan global warming debate
Posted by BBC: Jon Donnison on October 26th, 2013
BBC: Australia has been battling unseasonably bad bushfires for weeks. The flames have destroyed hundreds of homes - and have also intensified a political debate about whether there is a link with global warming.
Australia's Blue Mountains get their name from the eucalyptus trees that coat their slopes.
On a warm day the sun heats up the oils in the trees' vibrant green leaves. As those oils evaporate into the atmosphere it gives the range a shimmering blue hue.
For much of this week though the...
Flooding worse than Sandy could hit Jersey Shore because of sea-level rise
Posted by Asbury Park Press: Todd B. Bates on October 26th, 2013
Asbury Park Press: Look for more extreme coastal flooding locally — even worse than during superstorm Sandy — in upcoming decades, a climate expert said Friday.
Ocean and Monmouth counties are “on the front lines of risk from sea level rise, from coastal storms and coastal flooding,” said Ben Strauss, vice president for climate impacts and director of the Program on Sea Level Rise at Climate Central in Princeton.
“I think nationally, they’re among the hot spots at risk nationwide,” Strauss said.
“I think sea...
One year after Sandy, New Jersey towns accelerate dune building, despite holdouts
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on October 26th, 2013
ClimateWire: That stubby dune is now at the center of a major shift that stands to strengthen local officials against oceanfront homeowners who refuse to surrender thin strips of their beach property to the federal government for a much more ambitious program of dune construction.
The change came in July, when the state Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that granted $375,000 to Harvey Cedars homeowners Harvey and Phyllis Karan after the town took a section of their beach through eminent domain. The...
Washington, D.C. gathering shows liberal disdain for Keystone XL
Posted by Greenwire: Jean Chemnick on October 26th, 2013
Greenwire: President Obama's political friends yesterday left him very little room to maneuver on the politically controversial Keystone XL pipeline, taking turns panning the project at a Center for American Progress event attended by some of the most influential Democrats in Washington, D.C.
Former Vice President Al Gore issued the bluntest indictment of the project, comparing American's "addiction" to fossil fuels to a heroin addict's need for a fix.
"You know, junkies find veins in their toes when...
Philippines: To fight climate change, Mindanao’s farmers look to agroforestry
Posted by GMA Network: Kim Luces on October 26th, 2013
GMA Network: As farmers suffer the brunt of global warming's relentless advance, agroforestry seems a viable technique for a better quality and higher yield of harvest despite worsening climate conditions. Around 400 farmers in Columbio and Esperanza, Sultan Kudarat, and 400 more farmers from Lanuza, Surigao del Sur are looking into agroforestry to cope with diverse forms of economic shocks and climate vulnerabilities, said Dante A. Dalabajan, Project Manager of Oxfam's Building Resilient and Adaptive Communities...
The lessons of Superstorm Sandy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
Living on Earth: It's been a year since Hurricane Sandy brought devastating floods to the east coast and destroyed many homes and businesses. Urban Planning Professor Elliott Sclar joins host Steve Curwood to discuss what lessons were learned from Hurricane Sandy about how to protect our coasts and cities in a warming world.
Transcript
CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. Just a year ago Superstorm Sandy mowed a path of destruction from the...
Congress takes little-noticed climate action
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
Living on Earth: ProPublica reporter Theo Meyer recently discovered something remarkable. Last year Congress passed a transportation bill with a clause that directed FEMA to take climate change into account for flood insurance. But Meyer tells host Steve Curwood that so far FEMA hasn't made much progress.
Transcript
CURWOOD: Superstorm Sandy got a boost from unusually warm waters in the West Atlantic, warmth that is expected to increase in years ahead as the climate changes. And though the US Congress has yet...