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Archive for November 18th, 2014
Why Lizards Have Bird Breath
Posted by Nature World: None Given on November 18th, 2014
Nature World: It has long been thought by scientists that birds' one-directional loop through their lungs was a unique characteristic, but a new study shows that lizards too may share this type of breathing.
If University of Utah researchers are accurate with their findings, it would mean this unidirectional flow evolved long before the first birds, arising nearly 300 million years ago in a common ancestor of lizards, snakes, crocodiles and dinosaurs including birds.
"We thought we understood how these lungs...
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Should U.S. Government Kill Thousands of Birds to Save Salmon?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2014
National Geographic: Alexa Piggott is crawling through a dark, dusty, narrow tunnel on this 62-acre island at the mouth of the Columbia River. On the ground above her head sit thousands of seabirds. Piggott, a crew leader with Bird Research Northwest, is headed for an observation blind from which she'll be able to count them.
It's September, and the low-lying island is relatively quiet. Most of the fledglings and their parents have left, and only a few thousand pelicans and cormorants remain. But in the spring, 60,000...
6 Questions What’s Next for Keystone XL as US Senate Votes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2014
National Geographic: A U.S. Senate vote on the Keystone XL pipeline, slated for Tuesday, won't resolve the seemingly endless pipeline saga that has engulfed Barack Obama's presidency.
Even if the Senate passes a bill to force approval of the $8 billion U.S.-Canadian pipeline, as the U.S. House of Representatives did for the ninth time last week, that won't end debate and begin the project's construction. Not even close.
Congress is unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority to override an expected Obama veto. Even...
Pipeline builder advised to gin up fake grassroots support
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 18th, 2014
Grist: TransCanada Corp., the company seeking to build the Keystone XL pipeline, has teamed up with the world`s largest public relations firm to promote a proposed alternative pipeline that`s entirely in Canada.
Greenpeace Canada obtained documents that the U.S. public relations firm Edelman drafted for TransCanada that outline a campaign to promote Energy East, the company`s proposed 2,858-mile pipeline that would transport crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to the east coast of Canada. The company...
Keystone XL pipeline opposition forges ‘Cowboys and Indians’ alliance
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2014
Guardian: As she watches the red sun dip past the window of her home deep in a South Dakota valley, Beth Lone Eagle says she isn’t prepared to see a tar sands pipeline tarnish any bit of “God’s country”. With the US Senate scheduled to hold a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, the Lakota woman says ranchers, landowners and tribal nations throughout the midwest are girding for a fight regardless of how the process in Washington plays out. The debate over the controversial pipeline, which would run...
Supporters of Keystone XL pipeline bill likely to fall just short in Senate vote
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2014
Guardian: The great-grandson of the oil tycoon John D Rockefeller has appeared to dash hopes of passing legislation backing the Keystone XL energy pipeline, as he became the final waverer to indicate he would vote no in a high-profile Senate showdown on Tuesday evening.
The last-minute opposition indicated by Jay Rockefeller, the outgoing senator for West Virginia, leaves backers of the bill one short of the 60 senators it needs to pass, and scrambling to change minds before a vote due at about 6.15pm....
Bangladesh: Farming on Water to Prevent the Effects of Climate Change
Posted by New York Times: AMY YEE on November 18th, 2014
New York Times: Each year the brown waters of the Gumani river swell during the summer monsoon, creeping over the surrounding fields to flood Charbhangura, a village of 2,500 people in the Pabna district of northwest Bangladesh.
From July to October the waters can rise at least 10 feet. The trunks of trees more than 30 feet away from the dry season riverbed show watermarks waist high. When the fields flood, the village’s farmers have no work.
“There is water all around,” said Hafiza Khatun, 25, a mother of...
Canada: TransCanada Plots Dirty PR Campaign to Push New Pipeline
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 18th, 2014
EcoWatch: Burned by the public opposition to its Keystone XL pipeline, which has held up the project for six years, Alberta tar sands company TransCanada has laid out plans to prevent the same thing from happening as it clears the way to build its even longer and larger capacity cross-continental Energy East pipeline.
Greenpeace has leaked documents which reveal the company’s secret strategy, much of which hinges on the same astroturf and dirty tricks tactics used by Rick Berman, whose smear campaign against...
Neil Young Boycotts Starbucks Over Its Opposition to GMO Labeling
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 18th, 2014
EcoWatch: Neil Young has long been known for his involvement in environmental and social justice issues. Now Young has extended his longtime activism to another area: taking on Starbucks and its association with the anti-GMO labeling Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA). The GMA has spent heavily in states where GMO labeling has been on the ballot, working to defeat it, usually coming in just behind Monsanto in the size of its donations. “Goodbye Starbucks!” Young announces on his website. “I used to...
President Obama’s climate leadership faces the Keystone XL challenge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 18th, 2014
Guardian: What a change a few years makes. For those of us concerned about climate change, seven years ago marked a low-point. It was a time where no meaningful actions had been taken to reduce carbon pollution and prepare our nation and the world for the threat of global warming. Now, we celebrate a series of major plans and actions that have the potential for helping us avoid the worst climate risks.
These past years have cemented Obama’s legacy as a climate-aware president. They have also cemented the...