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Archive for November 1st, 2013
Great Barrier Reef report warns of cumulative effect of development
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on November 1st, 2013
Guardian: The health of the Great Barrier Reef is declining and requires an urgent "net benefit policy" to ensure development along the Queensland coast does no further damage to the vast coral ecosystem, according to a major government assessment.
The Great Barrier Reef strategic assessment warns that the reef faces numerous threats, including erosion of water quality, a plague of crown-of-thorns starfish and climate change, which is described as the "most serious long-term risk facing the reef".
The...
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US Water Reserves Dwindling, NASA Study Shows
Posted by Softpedia: None Given on November 1st, 2013
Softpedia: According to a paper published this summer in the respected journal Science, the amount of freshwater available for consumption in the United States is declining, a phenomenon fueled in part by global warming.
This conclusion is based on data collected by the NASA/DLR Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) spacecraft.
The observations cover 9 years (2003-2012) and showcase how freshwater storage rates have changed over the continental US. As visible in the image above, most of the...
South of the Border, Mining Is King
Posted by Inter Press Service: Carey L. Biron on November 1st, 2013
Inter Press Service: Civil society groups from throughout Latin America are urging "home countries" to take greater responsibility for the actions of their companies abroad, particularly those in the extractives industry.
"We would like to be able to influence policies that are being developed around the supply of minerals for various purposes - a lot of these policies are being framed as having to do with national defence, so there's practically a guarantee that these reserves must continue to be supplied," Pedro...
Well-managed fracking poses ‘low’ health risks
Posted by BusinessGreen: James Murray on November 1st, 2013
BusinessGreen: The public will only face low levels of health risk from shale gas projects, assuming that such projects are "properly run and regulated".
That is the conclusion of a new draft report from Public Health England published yesterday, which draws on scientific literature relating to the impact of chemicals and radioactive material associated with shale gas extraction.
"The currently available evidence indicates that the potential risks to public health from exposure to emissions associated with...