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Archive for June 25th, 2014
California drought helps state save oak trees from deadly pathogen
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2014
Guardian: California's drought is worsening and turning farms to dust, but it is also helping to save oak trees from a deadly fungus and keep beaches clean from bacteria-saturated water.
The lack of rain has impeded a disease which kills the state's signature tree and reduced the amount of bacteria-laden water which contaminates the coast, according to reports this week.
The good news did not dispel alarm over the wider crisis. Almost 33% of California is now suffering “exceptional” drought, the highest...
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White House climate report sidesteps Keystone question
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on June 25th, 2014
Globe and Mail: No mention of Keystone XL. Not a word about oil sands from Canada.
Exactly a year after President Barack Obama’s dire warning that global warming would “condemn ... future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing” unless greenhouse-gas emissions from burning fossil fuels were cut drastically, the White House issued a progress report. It didn’t even mention the controversial plan to funnel carbon-heavy Alberta oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries – a plan which has dominated the climate-change...
Detroit’s Water War: a tap shut-off that could impact 300,000 people
Posted by Guardian: Martin Lukacs on June 25th, 2014
Guardian: It was six in the morning when city contractors showed up unannounced at Charity Hicks' house.
Since spring, up to 3000 Detroit households per week have been getting their water shut-off – for owing as little as $150 or two months in bills. Now it was the turn of Charity's block – and the contractor wouldn't stand to wait an hour for her pregnant neighbour to fill up some jugs.
"Where's your water termination notice?" Charity demanded, after staggering to the contractor's truck. A widely-respected...
New study quantifies the effects of climate change in Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2014
ScienceDaily: If no further action is taken and global temperature increases by 3.5°C, climate damages in the EU could amount to at least €190 billion, a net welfare loss of 1.8 percent of its current GDP. Several weather-related extremes could roughly double their average frequency. As a consequence, heat-related deaths could reach about 200,000.
US states confront worries about fracking, quakes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2014
PhysOrg: Earthquakes used to be almost unheard of on the vast stretches of prairie that unfold across the U.S. Midwestern states of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
But in recent years, they have become commonplace. Oklahoma recorded nearly 150 between January and the start of May. Most were too weak to cause serious damage or endanger lives. Yet they've rattled nerves and raised suspicions that the shaking might be connected to the oil and gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, especially...
Loveland voters fracking ban rejection seen victory Colorado battle
Posted by Business Journal: Cathy Proctor on June 25th, 2014
Business Journal: Loveland voters voted against a measure that would have imposed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, within the town’s borders about an hour north of Denver.
The tally was 9,942 in favor, and 10,844 against the measure, according to Loveland’s city elections website.
B.J. Nikkel who has campaigned against fracking bans in other northern Colorado elections, credited the victory in Loveland to “an unprecedented coalition of citizens and civic leaders [who] came together...
FAO: forests vital in sustainable development and reducing poverty
Posted by Blue and Green: Ilaria Bertini on June 25th, 2014
Blue and Green: The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called on the world to strengthen its forest policies so that they “put people at the centre”, recognising the role they can have in reducing poverty, providing food and contributing to sustainable development.
The State of the World`s Forests report by the FAO argues that countries do not do enough to promote the socioeconomic benefits derived from forests, given that they are precious resources for many people who rely on them for food, shelter...
Fracking flowback could pollute groundwater with heavy metals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2014
PhysOrg: The chemical makeup of wastewater generated by "hydrofracking" could cause the release of tiny particles in soils that often strongly bind heavy metals and pollutants, exacerbating the environmental risks during accidental spills, Cornell University researchers have found.
Previous research has shown 10 to 40 percent of the water and chemical solution mixture injected at high pressure into deep rock strata, surges back to the surface during well development. Scientists at the College of Agriculture...
Higher Food Prices Can Help to End Hunger, Malnutrition and Food Waste
Posted by Inter Press Service: Andrew MacMillan on June 25th, 2014
Inter Press Service: The choice of foods displayed on supermarket shelves can be quite bewildering. This abundance encourages us to take it for granted that we will always be able to buy the food we want at affordable prices.
Any customers who give thought to how and where all the different foods are produced and end up in their shopping trolleys will start to uncover a rather disturbing situation.
They will find that in most countries, people working at all levels in the food system - in supermarkets, in meat...
Another concern arises over groundwater contamination from fracking accidents
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2014
PhysOrg: The oil and gas extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, could potentially contribute more pollutants to groundwater than past research has suggested, according to a new study in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology. Scientists are reporting that when spilled or deliberately applied to land, waste fluids from fracking are likely picking up tiny particles in the soil that attract heavy metals and other chemicals with possible health implications for people and animals....