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Archive for February, 2015
Obama blocks Keystone pipeline in rare veto of Republican bill
Posted by Guardian: Dan Roberts on February 24th, 2015
Guardian: Barack Obama has blocked a Republican bill that would allow a contentious extension of the Keystone oil pipeline, in a rare veto that arrived in low-key fashion but leaves open a long road to the end of his presidency.
Though long expected and downplayed by the White House, the symbolic clash over a pipeline from Canadian tar sands to US refineries on the Gulf coast is the first time the president has refused to sign legislation in his second term, and only the third veto of his presidency.
Obama...
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Keystone XL Bill Heads Obama Desk Today, Pipeline Opponents Urge Veto
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 24th, 2015
EcoWatch: Congress plans to send the Keystone XL pipeline bill to President Obama’s desk today. The president is “poised to reject” the GOP-backed legislation “with a swift veto,” according to The Hill.
“I would anticipate, as we’ve been saying for years, that the president will veto that legislation, and he will, so I would not anticipate a lot of drama or fanfare around it,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told The Hill.
Republicans say a veto will not be the end. “The allure of appeasing environmental...
Report: UK will need to import half of food to meet 2040 demand
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on February 24th, 2015
Blue and Green: Farming leaders have warned that by 2040 the UK will need to import almost half of its food to meet demand as the population rises. A report from the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warns of “serious implications” for the economy and food security if the country does not improve productivity. The union predicts that by 2040 there will be an extra 13 million people living in the UK, putting pressure on food resources. If farming continues at current rates, the UK will only produce enough food to meet...
UN climate panel head steps down amid sex claims
Posted by Agence France Press: Tristan McConnell With Mariette Le Roux on February 24th, 2015
Agence France Press: The head of the UN's climate science panel, Rajendra Pachauri, stepped down Tuesday in the wake of sexual harassment claims against him that have surfaced at a crucial time on the climate agenda.
Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming his email account and mobile phone were hacked.
But the 74-year-old Indian tendered his resignation with immediate effect on Tuesday in a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
"The...
Outgoing government wipes hard drives, slowing environmental progress in Peru
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2015
Mongabay: Non-profit organizations are working with the regional government of Loreto, in northeastern Peru, to replace documents and data reportedly lost or destroyed before newly-elected officials took office.
Some hard disks had been removed from computers. Others had been deleted, password protected, or infected with viruses, according to regional government officials who took office at the beginning of the year.
The lack of data, combined with massive personnel turnover in some offices, will set...
Most critical months for snowpack loom
Posted by Coloradoan: None Given on February 23rd, 2015
Coloradoan: The coming months will make or break snowpack levels on the Cache la Poudre River Basin and determine all important water supplies for families and farmers.
As of Feb. 1, the Poudre basin was at 92 percent of the median, seeing a rise in snowpack levels during the first part of February while levels in much of the Colorado declined. The same time last year, the Poudre Basin's snowpack was 112 percent.
But February, March and April are historically the snowiest months on the Poudre basin and...
At last, proof of a climate scientist getting rich pedaling science
Posted by Daily Climate: Peter Dykstra on February 23rd, 2015
Daily Climate: We`ve heard the charges leveled for years: Unlike oil and coal multinationals, climate scientists are only in it for the money. This week, researchers found the smoking gun. At least for one.
But there`s a catch.
I have known this, and I have warned of this. I've not been able to prove it, however.
- Rush Limbaugh
Wei-Hock "Willie" Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has been a go-to voice for climate deniers and a frequent flier in contrarian media. Documents obtained...
European grain yield stagnation related to climate change, says researcher
Posted by PhysOrg: Leslie Willoughby on February 23rd, 2015
PhysOrg: The European Union led the world in wheat production and exports in 2014-15. Yet Europe is also the region where productivity has slowed the most. Yields of major crops have not increased as much as would be expected over the past 20 years, based on past productivity increases and innovations in agriculture.
Finding the causes of that stagnation is key to understanding the trajectory of the global food supply.
Logically, it would seem that climate change would affect crops. But in the overall...
Indigenous Food Systems Should Be on the Development Menu
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2015
Inter Press Service: Overcoming hunger and malnutrition in the 21st century no longer means simply increasing the quantity of available food but also the quality.
Despite numerous achievements in the world's food systems, approximately 805 million people suffer from chronic hunger and roughly two billion peoples suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies while, at the same time, over 2.8 billion people are obese.
Unfortunately, the debate over how to address this challenge has polarised, pitting agriculture...
Cutting Through India Smog
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2015
New York Times: Proof of the grave air pollution problem confronting India is seen not just in the suffocating smog that on many days crowds out the sun in New Delhi, the world’s most polluted city. It can be measured as well in the fact that the country has the world’s highest death rate from chronic respiratory diseases, which kill an estimated 1.5 million Indians every year. A 2014 World Health Organization report concluded of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, India has 13.
After years of denial and...