RSS Feed
Archive for November 27th, 2013
Putting a price on nature would be disastrous | Nick Dearden
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 27th, 2013
Guardian: As UN climate negotiations rumbled on in Warsaw, big business came together with conservation groups in Edinburgh last week at the inaugural World Forum on Natural Capital to put a price on nature.
The idea goes back to the Rio+20 conference in 2012, when a group of investors drafted the natural capital declaration. It argues that if we price everything nature gives us (wildlife, plants, forests, waterways, pollination, you name it), companies would think twice before destroying them.
Like...
Posted in 
EPA Names New Scientific Integrity Chief
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 27th, 2013
LA Times: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday appointed Francesca Grifo as the agency's official in charge of scientific integrity.
In addition to overseeing the scientific integrity program, Grifo will chair an internal committee that deals with issues of standards, transparency and scientific freedom.
In 2009 President Obama issued a directive that ordered federal agencies to refocus on science and remove political pressure from science policy.
Also Naturalists take a lizard safari...
Focusing On Jobs, Quebec Leans in Favour of Enbridge’s Pipeline Plan
Posted by Globe and Mail: RHÉAL SÉGUIN on November 27th, 2013
Globe and Mail: The Quebec government contends the economic impact of reversing the flow of Enbridge's 9B oil pipeline cannot be overlooked as it moves to support the controversial project.
Quebec Minister of the Environment Yves-François Blanchet said a final decision won't be made until after a National Assembly committee completes its hearings, but indicated he was leaning in favour of the project.
"I hope the positive aspects of this project can outweigh the negative ones, because there are 4,000 jobs...
U.S. May Be Producing 50% More Methane Than EPA Thinks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 27th, 2013
National Public Radio: Methane is the source of the gas we burn in stoves. You can also use it to make plastics, antifreeze or fertilizer. It comes out of underground deposits, but it also seeps up from swamps, landfills, even the stomachs of cows.
And while methane is valuable, a lot of it gets up into the atmosphere, where it becomes a very damaging greenhouse gas.
Scientists have been trying to find out, with varying success, exactly how much of this climate-warming gas gets into the atmosphere. A study published...