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Archive for December 4th, 2013
Monterey Shale Report Exposes Myth of Economic Prosperity From Fracking California
Posted by EcoWatch: Post Carbon Institute on December 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: Post Carbon Institute and Physicians, Scientists & Engineers for Healthy Energy released a groundbreaking report on yesterday using industry data that presents compelling evidence that the promise of a Monterey Shale boom is a myth.
Authored by geoscientist J. David Hughes, the report, Drilling California: A Reality Check on the Monterey Shale, is the first analysis of oil production data taken directly from the Monterey Shale Formation and questions whether previous studies modeled on assumptions...
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Scientists: Current International Warming Target Is “Disastrous”
Posted by Climate Desk: Tim McDonnell on December 4th, 2013
Climate Desk: Ever since the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen, world leaders have agreed on 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees F) as the maximum acceptable global warming above preindustrial levels to avert the worst impacts of climate change (today we`re at about 0.8 degrees C). But a new study, led by climatologist James Hansen of Columbia University, argues that pollution plans aimed at that target would still result in "disastrous consequences," from rampant sea level rise to widespread extinction.
A major...
Could Your Dandruff Shampoo Be Harming the Environment?
Posted by EcoWatch: Kaye Spector on December 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: It`s bad enough that some shampoos have ingredients that can cause cancer. Now a new study shows that some anti-dandruff shampoos may be harmful to the environment.
The study, in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, says that the anti-dandruff ingredient climbazole recently was detected for the first time in wastewater treatment plant discharge.
Climbazole acts as a highly efficient fungicide, the study says, and not much is known about its impact on the environment. But even...
Aerosol-cloud interactions may predict climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 4th, 2013
PhysOrg: University of Arizona researcher Armin Sorooshian and his research team are on a mission to find missing pieces of an atmospheric puzzle that will help scientists better understand aerosol-cloud interactions and predict climate change.
Sorooshian, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering, and his team spent the summer of 2013 in the air above the United States aboard a Twin Otter and a DC-8 chasing what looked like haze, dust and smoke - those little-understood ubiquitous...
Dredging set to swamp decades of Great Barrier Reef protection
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 4th, 2013
Ecologist: For all the small gains we’ve made so far, it looks likely that pollution of the Great Barrier Reef is set to soar.
Thanks to an extraordinary effort, we have stopped at least 360,000 tonnes of sediment and large amounts of other agricultural run-off polluting Australia's most famous natural wonder. Yet all that effort to protect the reef looks like it's about to be swamped.
140 million tonnes of marine sediment are proposed to be dredged during port development in the Great Barrier Reef over...
Amazon rainforest more able to withstand drought than previously thought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 4th, 2013
ScienceDaily: New research suggests that the Amazon rainforest may be more able to cope with dry conditions than previously predicted. Researchers at the University of Exeter and Colorado State University used a computer model to demonstrate that, providing forest conservation measures are in place, the Amazon rainforest may be more able to withstand periods of drought than has been estimated by other climate models.
Many climate models over predict the water stress plants feel during the dry season because...
Protesters Lock Themselves to Machinery at Enbridge Pipeline Site in Canada
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on December 4th, 2013
Toronto Star: Protesters locked themselves to machinery at an Enbridge Inc. construction site in north Toronto Tuesday, forcing the pipeline company to temporarily halt repair work on its aging Line 9B pipeline, which runs under foot.
About 20 protesters entered the muddy site on Pineway Blvd., north of Finch Ave., before sunrise and barricaded the entrance with wooden pallets and empty drums of drill antifreeze. Enbridge was forced to send all 31 workers on the site home for the day.
For nearly 12 hours,...
Obama’s Top Environmental Adviser Stepping Down
Posted by Hill: Laura Barron-Lopez on December 4th, 2013
Hill: Longtime adviser to President Obama on environmental and climate issues, Nancy Sutley announced plans to resign from her post at the White House on Tuesday.
Sutley will step down in February from her post as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which she has held since 2009.
As chair of environment council, Sutley spearheaded the administration's National Ocean Policy and contributed to Obama's climate agenda.
Obama thanked Sutley for playing a key role in the administration's...
Coal Rush Ravages Indonesian Borneo
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Angela Dewan on December 4th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Barges loaded with mountains of coal glide down the polluted Mahakam River on Indonesian Borneo every few minutes. Viewed from above, they form a dotted black line as far as the eye can see, destined for power stations in China and India. A coal rush that has drawn international miners to East Kalimantan province has ravaged the capital, Samarinda, which risks being swallowed up by mining if the exploitation of its deposits expands any further. Mines occupy more than 70 percent of Samarinda, government...
Raise water spending, get $1.0 trillion benefits: U.N
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 4th, 2013
Reuters: Sharply higher spending on water supplies, twinned with a crackdown on corruption, would yield more than a trillion dollars a year in economic, health and environmental benefits, a U.N.-backed study said on Wednesday.
"Corruption is the elephant in the room" for improved water supplies, said Zafar Adeel, director of the U.N. University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health, which was a co-producer of the report.
The study said investments of $840 billion to $1.8 trillion a year, or...