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Archive for January 18th, 2014
United Kingdom: Nuclear waste site consultation was rigged to favour Sellafield, say experts
Posted by Guardian: Jamie Doward on January 18th, 2014
Guardian: The government stands accused of drafting the consultation process to select the site of a multibillion-pound nuclear waste storage facility to favour a location that some geologists claim is unsuitable for burying radioactive material.
Two leading geologists told the Observer that they believed the government was keen to push through Sellafield as the site of the facility, a subterranean tunnel network that would be the size of Carlisle, despite an official inquiry demonstrating that its geology...
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Easing conditions help Australian fire crews
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: Easing conditions on Sunday helped Australian fire crews battling major wildfires that destroyed 25 homes in the nation's southeast following a week-long heatwave, with warnings of a long and dangerous season ahead. Firefighters in South Australia and Victoria states said they had gained the upper hand over a series of blazes which started this week during a scorching heatwave that brought temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius for several consecutive days. Infernos in South Australia levelled...
California’s Drought: The New Normal
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 18th, 2014
EcoWatch: Scientific projections regarding climate change suggest that these dry conditions could become the new normal. The drought proclamation formally recognizes that "extremely dry conditions ... may continue beyond this year and more regularly into the future." This calls for permanent and fundamental changes in our behavior.
Here are five ways to get started:
1. Reduce leaks: As a homeowner or renter, the best way to determine if you have a leak is to turn off all taps and see if the dials still...
Climate change alters land map of India
Posted by Hindustan Times: Snehal Rebello on January 18th, 2014
Hindustan Times: The adverse effects of climate change are being felt on more than a fourth of India’s landmass over the last four decades. While some parts of the country have turned arid, others have witnessed more rainfall.
A study by the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) at Hyderabad has revealed that about 27% of the country’s geographical area has been directly impacted by climate change, a result of increase in mean surface temperatures coupled with changes in rainfall pattern between...
West Virginia water declared safe but smell – and fear – lingers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Associated Press: The smell lingers -- the slightly sweet, slightly bitter odour of a chemical that contaminated the water supply of West Virginia's capital more than a week ago. It creeps out of faucets and shower heads. It wafts from the Elk River, the site of the spill. Sometimes it hangs in the cold night-time air.
For several days, a majority of Charleston-area residents have been told their water is safe to drink, that the concentration of a chemical used to wash coal is so low that it will not be harmful....
Chemical Spill Muddies Picture in State Wary of Regulations
Posted by New York Times: Trip Gabriel, Michael Wines and Coral Davenport on January 18th, 2014
New York Times: Here in West Virginia, residents were still reeling from the chemical spill that left more than 300,000 people without usable water for days, many of them still frightened and unsure whether official assurances that they could once again drink tap water or bathe their children were true. But in Washington on Wednesday, among friends at an event sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, West Virginia’s junior senator and former governor, Joe Manchin III, was preaching a familiar...
Drowned by EU millions: Thought ‘extreme weather’ was to blame for the floods?
Posted by Daily Mail: George Monbiot on January 18th, 2014
Daily Mail: We all know what's gone wrong, or we think we do: not enough spending on flood defences. It's true that government cuts have exposed thousands of homes to greater risk, but too little public spending is a small part of the problem.
It is dwarfed by another factor, overlooked in public discussion: too much public spending.
Vast amounts, running into billions, are spent every year on policies that make devastating floods inevitable. This is the story that has not been told, a story of destructive...
Hydropower struggle: Dams threaten Europe last wild rivers
Posted by Spiegel: Philip Bethge on January 18th, 2014
Spiegel: Europe's last remaining wild rivers flow through the Balkans, providing stunning scenery and habitat to myriad plants and animals. But hundreds of dam projects threaten to do irreparable harm to the region's unique biospheres -- to provide much needed electricity to the people who live there. How did Europe's rivers look before they were tamed -- back when they were allowed to flow freely through the beds they spent centuries carving out? Most of the Continent's waterways, like the Elbe, the Rhine...
Governor declares drought emergency in California
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on January 18th, 2014
Al Jazeera: It’s official: California is in a drought emergency.
Gov. Jerry Brown made the long-awaited emergency declaration Friday morning in San Francisco, a day after legislators and hundreds of farmers from parched districts in Northern California and the Central Valley rallied on the steps of the Capitol in Sacramento.
"We are in an unprecedented, very serious situation," Brown said.
The governor asked Californians to reduce their water consumption by 20 percent.
"We're heading for a train...
Great Lakes mayors join forces to adapt to climate change
Posted by CTV: None Given on January 18th, 2014
CTV: The provincial government is supporting a new program launched by members of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative in an effort to adapt their municipalities to climate change.
The one time, $145,000 grant will help develop the Municipal Adaptation and Resilience Service or MARS program.
The goal of MARS is to give member municipalities a portal where they can share information to help them adapt and prepare for major environmental events such as storms and flooding.
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