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Archive for March 14th, 2015
1,000 People Needed to End Mountaintop Removal
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 14th, 2015
EcoWatch: A reinvigorated “People’s Foot” movement to end mountaintop removal is ramping up its efforts next week, as the last vestiges of outside support begin to abandon the nation’s most egregious strip mining operations in central Appalachia.
“Mountaintop removal is on the ropes,” said Bob Kincaid, with the Appalachian Community Health Emergency campaign and board president of Coal River Mountain Watch in West Virginia, “but we need 1,000 people to join us in the streets and in our campaign as subscribing...
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When humans go extinct: How life will evolve after we’re gone
Posted by Salon: Lindsay Abrams on March 14th, 2015
Salon: The sixth mass extinction is nearly upon us. Species on Earth are dying out at a rate one thousand times greater than they were before humans began altering the environment. By the end of this century, scientists warn, anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of the species on Earth could be lost forever.
And among those who might not make it out the other side, says science writer Michael Tennesen, are humans.
It`s to be expected: No species lasts forever, and in our relatively short existence, humanity...
Algeria: fracking and the Ain Salah uprising
Posted by Ecologist: Alexander Reid Ross on March 14th, 2015
Ecologist: Deep in the Algerian Sahara, the oasis town of Ain Salah is a focus of opposition to a new wave of fracking, with violent confrontations between police and up to 40,000 protestors, writes Alexander Reid Ross. They have two main concerns: preventing pollution to the aquifer that sustains them, and keeping out foreign oil giants like Total and Halliburton.
The new policy is playing fast and loose with the aquifer that sustains Ain Salah and its precious oasis - and it's the threat of pollution from...
NASA Scientist Claims California Has One Year Of Water Left
Posted by Frisky: None Given on March 14th, 2015
Frisky: Today in apocalyptic sounding headlines, NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti was published in the Los Angeles Times` op-ed section saying that California has about one year left of water. This has been caused by a variety of factors that started well before the droughts.
I remember the `80s and early-`90s as a kid, when the California water problem was spoken about often when Earth Day was trendy. The last 15 years, that kind of chatter has really stopped and most people prefer to just ignore the issue....
Weakening of summer storm intensifies heat extremes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2015
Asian News International: A new study has revealed that summer storm weakening leads to more persistent heat extremes.
Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research suggested that storm activity in large parts of the US, Europe and Russia significantly calmed down during summers over the past decades, but this is no good news.
The weakening of strong winds associated with the jetstream and weather systems prolongs and hence intensifies heat extremes like the one in Russia in 2010 which caused devastating...
Revamped environmental law raises hope for cleanup in China
Posted by Associated Press: Jack Chang on March 14th, 2015
Associated Press: People in China who want to take industries to task for fouling their surroundings have been rushing to file complaints and lawsuits this year in a test of legal reforms that toughen environmental penalties and make clear that many public-interest groups have the right to sue.
Environmental watchdogs say people have filed hundreds of complaints with local governments under the new law launched in January, taking advantage of requirements that authorities respond to environmental complaints or...