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Archive for February 19th, 2015
New York City Set for Major Sea Level Rise By 2050s, Report Concludes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: The waters surrounding New York City are on track to rise 11 to 21 inches by the 2050s, according to an analysis based on NASA climate change models. The city's average temperature, which has increased by 3.4 degrees F since 1900, is set to rise another 5 degrees F by the 2050s, the report says, and annual precipitation is also likely to rise significantly over that period. New York City has already seen sea levels rise by over 1 foot since 1900 — nearly twice the average global rate, according to...
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Natural gas drilling is causing earthquakes in Europe too
Posted by Grist: John Light on February 19th, 2015
Grist: Shell and ExxonMobil, as well as the Dutch government, ignored for decades that drilling in Europe’s largest gas field was causing earthquakes that put human lives and property at risk. That’s the takeaway of a new report out this week from an independent group advising the Dutch government.
As the natural gas beneath the Netherlands has dwindled in recent years, residents of Groningen County have experienced an increasing number of earthquakes. Last year, the area was hit with 84. The New York...
Funai confirms land threatened dam projects belongs indigenous tribe
Posted by Mongabay: Tiffany Roufs on February 19th, 2015
Mongabay: The Brazilian government opposes granting traditional land to the Munduruku people since it would jeopardize seven proposed hydroelectric dams on the Tapajós River. For this reason, a year-old report by Funai that supports the Munduruku claim has not been officially published, but a copy of this report was obtained by Brazilian news outlet Pública.
Considered a historic territory by the Munduruku, the land of Sawré Muybu in the Amazon state of Pará has never been officially recognized as an Indigenous...
Leaked Document Shows Mounties View Anti-Oil Activists as Security Threat
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 19th, 2015
EcoWatch: Fascism is alive and well in Canada. What else would you expect from a government that sanctions the seal slaughter? Canada likes to think of itself as "good", but it is just as "good" as the US. Both nations place money above all else because their citizens don`t give a damn about anything but themselves.
Yet representatives from Canada’s broad environmental movement say the document is another example of the Harper government’s efforts to criminalize legitimate civil dissent such as peaceful...
Millions at risk from rapid sea rise in swampy Sundarbans
Posted by Associated Press: Katy Daigle on February 19th, 2015
Associated Press: The tiny hut sculpted out of mud at the edge of the sea is barely large enough for Bokul Mondol and his family to lie down. The water has taken everything else from them, and one day it almost certainly will take this, too.
Saltwater long ago engulfed the 5 acres where Mondol once grew rice and tended fish ponds, as his ancestors had on Bali Island for some 200 years. His thatch-covered hut, built on public land, is the fifth he has had to build in the last five years as the sea creeps in.
"Every...
California water becomes scarce and energy hungry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2015
Climate Central: In drought-stricken California, ensuring water flows from faucets is nearly as much about energy as it is about the water's source.
Water needs more than gravity to flow from its sources, often hundreds of miles away. It is pumped through aqueducts and pipelines from mountain sources, reservoirs and the Colorado River, often far from Los Angeles, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley, where most of the water is consumed.
With California in the throes of one of the worst...
TransCanada seeks U.S. approval for US$600M northbound pipeline from North Dakota
Posted by Financial Post: None Given on February 19th, 2015
Financial Post: The Canadian company behind the long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline will seek U.S. government approval for another pipeline -- this one going north.
Industry officials in North Dakota say the proposed Upland Pipeline could reduce reliance on the railroads to ship crude following recent concerns about safety.
TransCanada Corp.’s proposed $600 million Upland Pipeline would begin near the northwestern North Dakota oil hub of Williston and go north into Canada about 200 miles. At peak operation...
Agency Lobbying for Keystone Pipeline Is a Major Donor Clinton Foundation
Posted by Salon: None Given on February 19th, 2015
Salon: A Canadian government agency lobbying for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline contributed nearly half a million dollars to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation last year, part of a surge in foreign donations ahead of Hillary Clinton`s expected 2016 campaign for the presidency.
The revelation comes in a new Wall Street Journal report on the foundation`s fundraising from such donors as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany. The foundation resumed...
High risk for future U.S. megadroughts
Posted by EarthSky: None Given on February 19th, 2015
EarthSky: The U.S. Southwest and Central Plains are at high risk for a megadrought later this century if greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, says a new study.
Megadroughts are persistent droughts that last for a decade or longer--they can be devastating to both natural ecosystems and human societies. Now, a new study has found that the southwestern and central plains regions of the United States are at high risk for a megadrought in the latter half of the 21st century if greenhouse gas concentrations...
Fighting decline of pollinators in Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2015
PhysOrg: Pollination is crucial to providing food security with 84% of European crops benefitting, at least in part, from insect pollination and 78% of temperate wildflowers needing biotic pollination. An estimated ~10% of the total economic value of European agricultural output for human food amounted to €22 billion in 2005 (€14.2 for the EU) was dependent upon insect pollination.
However, due to a cocktail of environmental stressors some pollinator species are declining and and the pollination services...