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Archive for February 3rd, 2014
Tar Sands Pipeline is a Bad Idea, Fails President’s Climate Test
Posted by EcoWatch: Robert Redford on February 3rd, 2014
EcoWatch: The more people learn about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, the less they like it. Despite what we might be hearing in industry spin, the environmental report released by the State Department Friday confirms that tar sands crude means a dirtier, more dangerous future for our children all so that the oil industry can reach the higher prices of overseas markets. That`s right, overseas markets, which is where the majority of this processed oil will end up. This dirty energy project is all risk and...
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GE misstated chemical harm to NY’s Hudson River: federal trustees
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2014
Reuters: General Electric Co has understated or misstated the environmental harm of its chemical dumping into New York's Hudson River, federal officials alleged on Monday.
The company's recent report to New York state officials failed to mention harm done to fish, waterfowl and groundwater, the Federal Hudson River Natural Resource Trustees said in a letter to the company that the trustees made public.
The trustees said the GE report "ignores significant natural resource injuries that have already been...
Manhattan-Sized Ice Chunk Breaks Off Glacier, Sends Message to Climate Change Skeptics
Posted by Weather Channel: Michele Berger on February 3rd, 2014
Weather Channel: When the documentary Chasing Ice came out in 2012, it included footage of the largest glacier calving event ever caught on film. Two years later, the filmmakers hope to use that monumental capture as visual proof of climate change.
In March they begin a several-month tour, stopping in the Congressional districts of climate-change denying legislators. The idea is to shift the debate back from politics to science, to determine what happens when people can actually see rather than just hear about...
Atmospheric Pollutants Being Underreported at Tar Sands Operations in Alberta
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 3rd, 2014
Nature World: Tar sands in Canada's Alberta Province are emitting more hazardous air pollutants than official reports suggest, according to new research from the University of Toronto Scarborough.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Frank Wania, a professor of environmental chemistry, and his PhD candidate Abha Parajulee report that carcinogenic pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are being underreported.
"When dealing with chemicals that have such...
Senate votes to keep subsidizing flood insurance in flood-prone areas
Posted by Grist: John Upton on February 3rd, 2014
Grist: Members of Congress have been clamoring for months to undo one of the most ambitious pieces of climate-related legislation they ever passed. The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 would force coastal property owners to pay full market rates for their flood insurance. The law barely mentioned climate change, but it laid the groundwork for a more sane approach to building - and rebuilding - along increasingly disaster-prone coastlines and riverbanks.
Last Thursday, however, the Senate...
Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier is Moving 10 Miles Per Year, Recording-Breaking Speed
Posted by Nature World: None Given on February 3rd, 2014
Nature World: The massive Arctic glacier believed to be responsible for calving the iceberg that sunk the Titanic is moving from the Greenland ice sheet and into the ocean at record speeds, according to a study in the journal The Cryosphere.
Jakobshavn Glacier is moving at a speed that appears the be the fastest ever recorded, researchers from the University of Washington and the German Space Agency (DLR) report.
"We are now seeing summer speeds more than four times what they were in the 1990s on a glacier...
United Kingdom: Flooding threat spreads to Severn and Thames riverside properties
Posted by Guardian: Steven Morris, Damian Carrington and Matthew Weaver on February 3rd, 2014
Guardian: More homes and businesses are in danger of being flooded over the next few days as pressure built on the government to take action to prevent a similar crisis in the future and residents of the worst-hit area, the Somerset Levels, prepared for a royal visit.
The Environment Agency said high tides, large waves and strong winds would lead to a risk of coastal flooding along the south west and southern coasts of England Tuesday and Wednesday. It warned that properties on the banks of rivers including...
Which is more likely to drive people from their homes — floods or heat waves?
Posted by Grist: John Upton on February 3rd, 2014
Grist: Floods get a lot of attention in our warming world. They can kill people and livestock, inundate crops, destroy infrastructure and homes - and they make great photo ops. Less attention - and less international aid - is directed to victims of intense heat waves that are also linked to climate change.
But it is these heat waves that are most responsible when Pakistanis leave their villages, new research suggests.
Pakistan is a depressing climate case study because its residents are so vulnerable...
United Kingdom: Why the floods a challenge for us to work with nature, not against it
Posted by Guardian: Stephen Moss on February 3rd, 2014
Guardian: For the residents of Muchelney and Moorland, in the heart of the Somerset Levels, the misery goes on. Homes under water, roads cut off, and vast lakes of water where once there were open fields. For dairy farmers, already under pressure from low milk prices and higher feed costs, this could be the final straw.
I live nearby, but our home is 50ft above sea level, and our village has escaped the worst of the flooding. Even so, I have been inundated with messages from friends, wondering if we too...
After Typhoon’s Devastation, a Philippine Town Is Losing Those Who Could Rebuild It
Posted by New York Times: Keith Bradsher on February 3rd, 2014
New York Times: As Jesse Siozon waited for his grandfather's funeral to begin, beneath the orange and blue tarps that serve as the roof for the storm-damaged Santo Niño Church, he spoke of a double loss.
His grandfather may well have been the last person in this bedraggled city to succumb to injuries and illnesses brought on by Typhoon Haiyan. And now Mr. Siozon, a 30-year-old nurse, is being forced to leave Tacloban, his family's hometown for four generations, because efforts to rebuild have stalled and jobs...