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Archive for February 7th, 2014
University studies if quakes in North Texas linked to fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2014
Reuters: A team of scientists has launched a study of seismic activity in North Texas to determine if fracking may be the cause of a series of earthquakes that have rattled two towns in the region since November.
The seismic activity in Azle and Reno, northwest of Fort Worth, has national implications, with opponents of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, saying what is happening in the towns points to the dangers of the energy source extraction method.
"It's important that we don't rush to conclusions,"...
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West Virginia’s Water Nightmare Closes Schools
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on February 7th, 2014
Environment News Service: Crude MCHM, one of two chemicals that leaked into West Virginia`s Elk River last month, was detected in the water supply of George Washington High School this morning, according to Kanawha-Charleston Health Department officials, weeks after the water was declared safe to use.
But Nassandra Wright, the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department`s head sanitarian, said the school`s results are below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention`s recommendation of one-part-per-million.
George Washington...
US ‘climate hubs’ to save farms from extreme weather
Posted by New Scientist: Aviva Hope Rutkin on February 7th, 2014
New Scientist: The US government is creating seven new "climate hubs" that will help everyday people, particularly farmers, handle the effects of global warming.
The hubs are essentially a combination of real-world and online networks that will operate out of the offices of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to connect existing government agencies more effectively. The hope is that the hubs will help minimise the harmful effects of climate change, such as excess storms and droughts, by helping scientists,...
California drought granted fleeting respite with spate of storms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2014
Guardian: A series of storms has drenched California and even heavier rains are expected this weekend, promising a fleeting respite from the state’s devastating drought.
Bay area mountains were expected to receive 152mm (six inches) of rain and the northern sierras two feet of snow, a welcome deluge after the driest winter on record.
A ridge of high pressure that has hovered over the west coast for months, blocking normal weather patterns, eased and allowed a weather system to break through, dumping...
United Kingdom: David Cameron blames last Labour govt for flooding in Somerset
Posted by Guardian: Patrick Wintour and Steven Morris on February 7th, 2014
Guardian: David Cameron made a carefully controlled lightning visit to the flooded Somerset Levels on Friday and blamed the last Labour government for a pause in local river dredging in the late 1990s that he said had made the area more liable to flood.
The prime minister's afternoon tour contrasted with a chaotic and rowdy visit by the beleaguered Environment Agency chairman Chris Smith, a former Labour minister, who earlier in the day rejected repeated calls for him to resign.
Six weeks after the flooding...
‘Massive’ Coastal Floods Predicted as Storms Flood Britain
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on February 7th, 2014
Environment News Service: Met Office forecasters warn that strong winds and big waves will bring risk of flooding and damaging winds along Britain`s southern and southwestern coasts into the weekend, intensifying storm conditions that have persisted all week. Globally, coastal regions face "massive increases in damages from storm surge flooding during the 21st century," new research predicts.
Over the next three days, more rain and very strong winds are in the forecast as Atlantic storm Ruth batters Britain this weekend...
Bill McKibben to President Obama: Say No to Big Oil
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 7th, 2014
EcoWatch: In an interview with Moyers & Company, author and environmental activist Bill McKibben tells Bill Moyers that many who believed Barack Obama in 2008 when he called for ending the tyranny of the oil industry are about to find out “whether or not they were right to believe.” McKibben said President Obama is “theoretically a good environmentalist,” but in practice “stood aside and opened up the Arctic to drilling, opened up huge swaths of offshore America to more oil drilling, opened up the Powder...
Fish Farms to Produce Two-Thirds of Global Supply by 2030
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 7th, 2014
EcoWatch: Aquaculture--or fish farming--will provide close to two thirds of global food fish consumption by 2030 as catches from wild capture fisheries level off and demand from an emerging global middle class, especially in China, substantially increases.
These are among the key findings of Fish to 2030: Prospects for Fisheries and Aquaculture--a collaboration between the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),...
Should coastal Britain surrender to tides?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2014
Guardian: Before the coast became our national park and playground, we once feared the sea. It was where "beauty, horror and immensity united", as the Romantics might put it. This phrase sprang to mind watching the church tower of Porthleven cowering behind terrifying blasts of spray this week, and seeing a section of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's South Devon railway, the engineering marvel that snakes along the south coast, reduced to something like a rope bridge at Dawlish.
Those whose homes have been wrecked...
Chinese villagers mob police in environmental spat: Xinhua
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 7th, 2014
Reuters: Around 100 villagers attacked a police station in southwestern China on Friday as part of an environmental protest, state media said in a rare report about what are increasingly common demonstrations.
Two government workers and one local resident were injured in the clash in Baha village in Yunnan province at around midday, Xinhua said, citing local authorities. The situation was brought under control soon afterwards, it added.
Xinhua did not give further details about Friday's incident but...