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Archive for May 24th, 2014
On World Fish Migration Day, Recalling When America’s Rivers Ran Silver
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on May 24th, 2014
New York Times: John Waldman is a Queens College biology professor and author focused on the bountiful past and potential restoration of the waters of the Northeast. I loved “Heartbeats in the Muck,” his history of the changing biology of the 1,500 square miles of New York Harbor, and am enjoying his new book, “Running Silver: Restoring Atlantic Rivers and Their Great Fish Migrations,” which achingly describes the bygone biological bounty of eastern waterways and lays out strategies for bringing back at least a...
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Britain Proposes Easier Access to Tap Shale Rock Energy
Posted by New York Times: Stanley Reed on May 24th, 2014
New York Times: While most western European governments are opposed to developing oil and gas from shale rock through hydraulic fracturing, the British government continues to plug away at the obstacles inhibiting the country’s fledgling shale industry. The government on Friday proposed giving companies the right to drill laterally under land without seeking the consent of each landowner as long as the wells were at least 300 meters, or about 985 feet, deep. It also endorsed industry proposals that operators make...
Climate Blues: How Environmentalists Chill Out in Warming World
Posted by NBC: Miguel Llanos on May 24th, 2014
NBC: Studies warning of an Antarctic ice sheet collapse. A wildfire season that could shatter records. Shellfish eaten away by oceans turned more acidic due to greenhouse gases. U.N. and U.S. reports stating that climate change is advancing more quickly.
Everyone gets down about their work from time to time, but for environmentalists, they can sometimes quite literally be dealing with the end of the world as we know it. For some, the answer is obvious: work harder. For others, it's about accepting...
California Assembly Passes Historic Law Remove Plastic Microbeads
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 24th, 2014
EcoWatch: In a historic vote yesterday, the California Assembly passed the Microplastic Nuisance Prevention Law to ban the sale and manufacturing of personal care products containing tiny, synthetic plastic microbeads. Thanks to 5 Gyres Institute, the group that authored the bill sponsored by Assembly Member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), California sets a national precedent for holding companies liable for products that harm aquatic species and pollutes our water.
“The passage of our bill by the California...
Report: 40 states expect water shortages in next decade
Posted by Daily Caller: None Given on May 24th, 2014
Daily Caller: our-fifths of U.S. states are expecting to have water shortages in the near future, according to a new government watchdog report. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) review state water regulators and experts and review of water supply literature found that officials in 40 out of 50 states expect water shortages to occur in some parts of their states in the next decade. Many officials are concerned about water shortages in the future, especially in the wake of a severe drought that has hit...
Keystone XL: Where Things Stand
Posted by Rainforest Action Network: Amanda Starbuck on May 24th, 2014
Rainforest Action Network: It`s been one month since the climate movement won a significant delay on the Keystone XL pipeline. Since then, the oil industry and their political and media backers have gotten increasingly desperate:
Oil companies tried to ram a vote on Keystone through the U.S. Senate. Last week, that effort collapsed in disarray and finger-pointing among the fossil fuel industry`s biggest political boosters.
TransCanada, the Canadian company behind Keystone, even resorted to threats to sue the U.S. government...
UK’s South England holds billions of barrels of shale oil
Posted by Bloomberg: Nidaa Bakhsh on May 24th, 2014
Bloomberg: Shale rock underneath some of the wealthiest counties in southern England may contain billions of barrels of oil, a government report said.
The Weald basin, covering counties south of London including Surrey, Sussex and Kent, may have oil in place of as much as 8.6 billion barrels, according to a report published today by the British Geological Survey. It didn’t say how much could be extracted profitably. The U.K.’s current extractable oil reserves are 3.1 billion barrels, data by BP Plc (BP/)...
Albertans want strong action on climate change: Poll
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 24th, 2014
Edmonton Journal: The Alberta government should listen to the large majority that is calling for strong action on climate change -- not just the intense closed-door lobbying effort by oil industry, says the Pembina Institute.
A new poll by Ipsos-Reid shows that 76 per cent of Albertans want to see tough action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas industry, says the Pembina’s Simon Dyer. Only six per cent were opposed.
“It’s clear Albertans think we can have strong climate legislation and a robust...
Climate scientist describes hotter, drier Oregon
Posted by Gazette-Times: James Day on May 24th, 2014
Gazette-Times: How about a 24-inch rise in the sea level at Newport by 2100? Or an increase in temperature of up to 14 degrees Fahrenheit? Those are some of the possible effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest, as outlined by Phil Mote, who helped to write the Northwest portion of the third national climate assessment that was released May 6. Mote is an Oregon State University professor and the director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute for the Oregon University System. During a one-hour...
Pope: Destroying the Earth is a sin
Posted by MSNBC: Jane C. Timm on May 24th, 2014
MSNBC: Pope Francis made the biblical case for mitigating the effects of climate change, speaking to a massive crowd in Rome.
In his brief speech, Francis issued a dire warning about the effects of climate change.
“Safeguard Creation,” he said, according to Think Progress, “because if we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!”
“Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift...