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Archive for February 8th, 2014
As fresh storms lash coast, UK starts to count long-term cost
Posted by Guardian: Jamie Doward, Tracy McVeigh and Damian Carrington on February 8th, 2014
Guardian: Who would be a fisherman or a farmer? It was a question many would have been asking as Superstorm Saturday blew in, battering coasts and triggering tidal surges that will ensure parts of the country remain under water for weeks.
As the row over who was to blame for failing to tackle the consequences of the extreme weather intensified, concerns grew about the impact that the flooding will have on agriculture. Experts warned the government needed to fully understand that climate change poses a significant...
Posted in 
UK weather: heavy rainfall and severe gales means southern disruption continues
Posted by Blue and Green: Tom Revell on February 8th, 2014
Blue and Green: Forecasters have warned of the likelihood of further flooding in parts of the south-west, with severe gales and heavy rainfall set to cause further disruption.
The warnings come after prime minister David Cameron pledged to take all the necessary steps to help residents in the flood-stricken Somerset Levels. The situation in the region has become so severe that Royal Marines have been deployed to maintain overwhelmed flood defences, while many residents have been urged to leave their homes.
Cameron...
New Twitter Alert! Old-Growth Forests in Tasmania’s World Heritage Area Again Threatened
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on February 8th, 2014
TAKE ACTION to protect Tasmanias old-growth temperate rainforests
NEW!! Protests can now be sent through Twitter as well as with emails. The alert contains simple instructions to install the Earth Action Network Twitter App in Twitter. Please do so, as this makes our protests much harder to block and ignore. We have been working on first of its kind Twitter protest capabilities for months, please help us test it, and support with donations to protect Earths old-growth forests at http://www.rainforestportal.org/shared/donate/ as EcoInternet is back!
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Only a year ago together EcoInternet and you participated in successful protests to end industrial clearcut logging in 170,000 hectares of Tasmania, Australias old-growth temperate rainforests; as vital intact ecosystems including Butlers Gorge; and the Florentine, Weld and Styx valleys, were added to the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Now Australias ecologically challenged federal government led by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot, who famously stated climate change is crap is reneging on these commitments, in an unprecedented move pushing to remove 74,000 hectares from World Heritage Area protection. We need your help to once again call on the Australian government to honor their international obligations and protect Tasmanias World Heritage old-growth temperate rainforests from industrial destruction. ...
How Obama’s Climate Hubs Will Help Farmers Battle Climate Change
Posted by EcoWatch: Brandon Baker on February 8th, 2014
EcoWatch: The Obama Administration couldn`t afford to wait on Congress to take the country`s latest action on climate change.
In an effort to understand and address the impact climate has on farmers in different areas, the administration announced the formation of of seven climate hubs in various regions of the U.S. The end game is aiding farmers and ranchers in fighting the floods, droughts and other conditions that are increasingly intensified by global warming.
"We’ve obviously seen a significant...
Israel creating a water surplus using desalination
Posted by Julia Pyper: ClimateWire on February 8th, 2014
Julia Pyper: In the land of milk and honey, water has always been in short supply. Researchers here have linked temperature rise and drought to migration patterns across this arid region dating back to biblical times. Now, for the first time in its history, Israel is on track to experience a water surplus. The tricky part is scaling up the chemistry and reducing the cost of separating salt from seawater. The first major desalination plant in Israel opened in the southern city of Ashkelon in 2005. Since then,...
Big companies step up efforts to trim environmental risks in supply chains
Posted by Bloomberg: Andrea Vittorio on February 8th, 2014
Bloomberg: Multinational corporations say they are increasingly taking on a regulatory role in their supply chains to improve performance on environment, health and safety (EHS) issues, especially in developing countries where government oversight can be weak.
Although EHS regulations are strong in some developing countries, including China, they can be difficult to enforce, as governments struggle to keep up with growth in manufacturing.
Multinational corporations have traditionally conducted facility...
California drought impact seen spreading from fires to food cost
Posted by Bloomberg: Jennifer Oldham and Michael B. Marois on February 8th, 2014
Bloomberg: The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief.
The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state. And California and other Western states are seeing a surge in wildfires.
As lawmakers rush to enact measures to help farmers...
Flood alerts across England and Wales as south-west braces for 80mph storm
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2014
Guardian: Large areas of England and Wales are on flood and storm alert as a new storm is poised to hit the south and south-west with winds of up to 80mph.
The flooded Somerset Levels where many residents have already been forced from their homes after weeks of heavy rain remain at the highest risk of continued flooding on Saturday.
The Environment Agency said there was a risk of flooding along the coast of Devon and Dorset from the combination of high tides and high winds.
There are more than 300...
North Carolina: Coal Ash Leak Is Diverted but Not Contained
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2014
Associated Press: Duke Energy said Friday that it was diverting the flow of coal ash away from the Dan River, but the company could not yet declare the huge spill fully contained nearly a week after it was discovered. Meghan Musgrave, a company spokeswoman, said that engineers at the Dan River Steam Station had designed a containment system that is capturing nearly all of the toxic runoff and pumping it back into a storage basin. Duke says up to 82,000 tons of coal ash mixed with 27 million gallons of contaminated...
‘I am Earth, ravaged by climate change’
Posted by Times of India: Ankur Tewari on February 8th, 2014
Times of India: Last year's Uttarakhand catastrophe, heavy rains in Gujarat, the typhoon in Philippines and the freezing of Niagara Falls in the US and the Danube River in Europe - are these the result of global warming? All these and other mysteries about the environment will be dealt with in India's first 'feature film' on climate change - It's Tomorrow' - written by non-resident Gujarati, Dr Rajeshkumar Acharya, who currently lives in the US. It is directed by Zanane Rajsingh, who was born in Nagpur but studied...