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Archive for January, 2015
Racing Extinction: A Must-See Documentary of 2015, World Premier at Sundance
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 30th, 2015
EcoWatch: Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah is one of the largest independent film festivals in the world, attracting some 50,000 attendees. This year’s festival, its 31st anniversary, runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1. Robert Redford, founder of Sundance and a longtime environmental activist, sat down with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman yesterday to discuss this year’s festival and pressing environmental issues, including the Keystone XL pipeline. The festival always has a solid showing of environmental films...
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Flame Retardant Chemicals Linked to Preterm Births
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 30th, 2015
EcoWatch: A new study finds expecting mothers who were exposed to a flame retardant chemical may have been more likely to have a premature birth. That’s a concern because premature babies may have more health problems and may need to stay in the hospital longer than babies born later. They also may have long-term health problems that can affect their whole lives.
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have determined that maternal exposure to high levels of flame-retardants may be a contributing...
Vertical Gardens Beat Soil Made Salty by Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Scientific American: The soil in Knolkhol village in southwest Bangladesh has become increasingly salty because of incursions of seawater. The situation became particularly acute in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila in 2009, which brought storm surges that broke embankments and flooded farmland. After 2009 vegetable crops planted in the ground there yielded only meager returns--if they didn't fail completely.
But for the past three years hundreds of villagers have enjoyed the bounty of so-called vertical gardens--essentially...
Scientists rediscover endangered Andean toad in Ecuador
Posted by Mongabay: Joanna Parkman on January 30th, 2015
Mongabay: In 1970 researchers uncovered the Tandayapa Andean toad (Andinophryne olallai), previously unknown to science, in the Pichincha Province of Ecuador. Given that only a single individual was discovered, even after further exploration in the following years, the toad was soon presumed to be extinct. Forty-two years later, however, a research team rediscovered the species in Manduriacu, Ecuador. Their recently published study in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation describes new knowledge of the cryptic...
Frequency heatwaves in urban areas on rise
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on January 30th, 2015
Blue and Green: A new study has found that the world’s urban areas are increasingly experiencing heatwaves, potentially leading to huge issues for public health and infrastructure.
The research, which has been published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that prolonged periods of extreme hot days have significantly increased in over 200 urban areas across the world in the last 40 years. Researchers from institutions in the US and India conducted the study.
The findings show that there were...
How these two women guided Keystone bill through a divided Senate
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Francine Kiefer on January 30th, 2015
Christian Science Monitor: In a rare moment for the US Senate, the two lawmakers who had just spent three weeks steering the Keystone pipeline bill through choppy waters were chatting amiably on the floor during the final vote. One was dressed in a teal-colored jacket and skirt. The other wore a silver pendant with her sky-blue blazer.
Senators can remember only a handful of times when two women have acted as “floor managers” of bills in the Senate – and certainly not in such a high-profile circumstance as this one.
In...
Earthquakes Rattling Glaciers, Boosting Sea Level Rise
Posted by Glacier Hub: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Glacier Hub: Talk of earthquakes likely calls to mind giant fissures opening up along the earth’s crust, the trembling of rock, buildings crumbling to their knees and, depending on your age and cast of mind, the love of Superman for Lois Lane. But it does not likely conjure up images of giant tongues of sliding ice or the splash of calving icebergs. And yet it should.
Most earthquakes are generated by the friction produced by two bodies of rock rapidly sliding past each other on a fault in the Earth’s crust,...
Canada: Beyond petroleum
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Economist: “THE oil industry isn’t remotely the entire Canadian economy,” declared the prime minister, Stephen Harper, on January 22nd. That is not a startling statement. Production of crude oil represents just 3% of Canada’s GDP. The surprise is that Mr Harper felt he has to state the obvious. In an economy dominated by services, Mr Harper and his Conservative Party have cast themselves as champions of the oil industry, which is centred in Alberta, his adopted home province.
He pulled Canada out of the...
Global warming: atmosphere will adapt to hotter, wetter climate
Posted by Business Times: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Business Times: Strong storms will become stronger while weak storms become weaker, and the cumulative result of all the storms will remain unchanged under global warming, says a study led by atmospheric physicists at the University of Toronto.
The team quantified the way in which increase in water vapour from global warming influences the strength of atmospheric air circulation.
The atmosphere it turns out will adapt to hotter, wetter climate.
"We know that with global warming we'll get more evaporation...
Senate Republicans pass Keystone bill as White House vows veto
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Bloomberg: The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, setting up a conflict with President Barack Obama who has promised a veto.
The Senate voted 62-36 Thursday for the measure that would circumvent the administration review in progress for six years. Nine Democrats joined Republicans who backed the measure. Obama has said he wants to wait until the review is completed before deciding on whether to approve construction of the pipeline.
Differences with a version...