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Archive for September 5th, 2014
The ten worst environment decisions in Abbott’s first year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 5th, 2014
Guardian: This Sunday marks a year since Tony Abbott was elected. The prime minister is riding low in the opinion polls as the least popular prime minister in twenty five years, with a net dissatisfaction rating of minus 19.
There's little doubt that Mr Abbott's unpopularity is driven by many things; he was unpopular even before his election in 2013. The litany of broken promises could be one reason. His attempts to unravel the Australian social compact, mostly encapsulated in his first budget, could be...
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Nebraska supreme court examines governor’s role in blessing Keystone XL
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 5th, 2014
Reuters: Nebraska’s supreme court heard arguments on Friday about whether Governor Dave Heineman acted properly when he blessed a route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and the court’s decision could weigh on the controversial project. A lawyer for landowners who may be in the pipeline’s path hoped to persuade the seven-member panel that Heineman overreached and that a decision on the route should be left to an independent state agency. The 30-minute hearing played out in the court’s somber wood-paneled...
How climate change is affecting world’s biggest food company
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 5th, 2014
Washington Post: Food is a necessity, but it's also a big business.
That duality has often pitted consumers against the powerful food corporations that farm, produce, and ultimately feed large swaths of the global population, especially on questions of health and sustainability. But with national diets in this country leading to obesity and diabetes epidemics and global issues around poverty, food waste and climate change, consumers and producers are having new discussions about their relationship to one another....
Nebraska Supreme Court Holds the Key to Keystone XL’s Future
Posted by InsideClimate: John H. Cushman Jr. on September 5th, 2014
InsideClimate: Nebraskan landowners who have fought the Keystone XL pipeline to a standstill there urged the state's Supreme Court on Friday to reaffirm that the legislature acted unconstitutionally when it allowed rubberstamp approval of the pipeline's proposed route across the region's fragile sandhills and vulnerable aquifers. Otherwise, said David Domina, the landowners' lawyer, the Canadian pipeline company TransCanada and its political allies would be free to run untrammeled over private landholders and...
Hillary Clinton Calls Out Climate Deniers at Clean Energy Summit
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 5th, 2014
EcoWatch: As she continues to play a game of "will-she/won`t she" regarding a potential 2016 presidential run, Hillary Clinton called out climate change deniers while delivering a keynote address at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas this week.
She also spoke of the need for America to become the "clean energy superpower of the 21st century," talking about the benefits of clean energy in creating jobs, competing globally, and reducing greenhouse emissions.
"Clinton began her remarks at the...
Threatened African Amphibians Ignored by Modern Species Distribution Models: Researchers
Posted by Nature World: None Given on September 5th, 2014
Nature World: Modern methods of species distribution are leaving out near-extinct amphibians of Africa, a new study has warned.
According to researchers at the University of York and colleagues, most popular tools for species distribution modelling don't account for a whopping 90 per cent of the African amphibian species listed as threatened on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Biologists use statistical methods to predict how climate change will affect distribution of species across continents. The...
Canada leads world in forest decline, report says
Posted by Edmonton Journal: None Given on September 5th, 2014
Edmonton Journal: The world’s virgin forests are being lost at an increasing rate and the largest portion of the degradation is in Canada, according to a new report.
No longer is Brazil the main villain in the struggle to stop forest destruction.
“Canada is the number one in the world for the total area of the loss of intact forest landscapes since 2000,” Peter Lee, of Forest Watch Canada, said in an interview.
He said the main drivers are fires, logging and energy and industrial development.
“There is...
Canada: The case for a moratorium on tar sands development
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Ed Struzik on September 5th, 2014
Yale Environment 360: In a widely publicized commentary in Nature this summer, aquatic ecologist Wendy Palen and seven colleagues were sharply critical of the way that Canada and the United States have gone about developing Alberta’s vast tar sands deposits and the extensive infrastructure of pipelines and rail networks needed to transport those fossil fuels to market. Rather than looking at the cumulative effect of this massive energy Simon Fraser University Wendy Palen development on the climate and the environment,...
Frack-free leaders in Illinois, hedging their bets, shelve calls for ban
Posted by InsideClimate: Katherine Bagley on September 5th, 2014
InsideClimate: Grassroots groups fighting hydraulic fracturing in Illinois have put aside their push for a moratorium or a ban in recent months in favor of seeking stronger industry regulations.
"Basically, we're hedging our bets," said Annette McMichael, spokeswoman for Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE). "We are firmly against fracking, and yet we are willing to work within the legislative confines."
SAFE and other local organizations joined with national environmental groups...
NASA releases blizzard of precipitation data
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on September 5th, 2014
Climate Central: Have you been itching to see the most detailed collection of precipitation data ever pulled together? (Join the club.) Well, you're in luck. NASA has just released a vast trove of snow, rain, hail and more liquid measurements from a satellite launched earlier this year.
In late February, NASA and an international cohort of space programs launched the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory (or GPM for short), the centerpiece of a constellation of satellites watching precipitation around...