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Archive for March 16th, 2015
Small Amount of Radioactivity Found in Sample of Green Tea from Japan
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 16th, 2015
EcoWatch: Four years after the multiple explosions and melt-downs at Fukushima, it seems the scary stories have only just begun to surface.
Given that Japan’s authoritarian regime of Shinzo Abe has cracked down on the information flow from Fukushima with a repressive state secrets act, we cannot know for certain what’s happening at the site.
We do know that 300 tons of radioactive water have been pouring into the Pacific every day. And that spent fuel rods are littered around the site. Tokyo Electric...
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Designing Wetlands to Remove Drugs & Chemical Pollutants
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Carina Storrs on March 16th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Rising high in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California, the Santa Ana River flows westward through cities and towns with a total population of nearly 5 million. Along the way, it receives so much sewage that 90 percent of its flow during the dry summer season is effluent, which Carina Storrs A series of ponds helps remove medical drugs and other water contaminants in the Prado Wetlands in Southern California. is cleaned again and again at several dozen wastewater treatment plants.
Near...
In Russia, a drying lake threatens an ‘era of water wars’
Posted by Reuters: Angelina Davydova on March 16th, 2015
Reuters: In Russia's Siberian south, near the border of Mongolia, the world's largest freshwater lake is shrinking. The surrounding communities depend on Lake Baikal, which contains about one-fifth of the earth's unfrozen freshwater reserves, for their power, water and livelihoods. But in the past four months the lake's water level has dropped so low that experts are calling it a crisis - one they warn could lead to conflicts in Russia over water. The lake is now at its lowest level in over 30 years and...
Report’s dire warning for food production as climate becomes warmer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2015
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A report which examines the effect of climate change on some of Australia's most common agricultural products; including fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, seafood and meat, paints a dire prediction of future production in a warming world.
The Appetite for Change study suggests farming will need to relocate to new regions and find new drought-tolerant varieties or face much reduced, or poorer quality yields for many of the country's key agricultural products.
Audio: Professor Richard Eckard...
As Vanuatu suffers more urgency needed on climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Despite ominous predictions of mass devastation in cyclone-wrecked Vanuatu, policymakers at a UN disaster meeting in Japan do not seem to understand the pressing need to tackle climate change, the World Bank warned Sunday.
Handout photo taken on March 14, 2015, by CARE Australia shows a man running away from high waves caused by Cyclone Pam crashing along the coast in the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila
A state of emergency has been declared in the impoverished Pacific nation, where dozens are...
Climate change to result in tasteless, poor-quality food
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 16th, 2015
PhysOrg: Appetite for Change, a report prepared by leading climate scientists David Karoly and Richard Eckard at the University of Melbourne, reveals the impact that shifting rainfall patterns, extreme weather, warming oceans, and climate-related diseases will have on the production, quality and cost of Australia's food in the future. Tasteless carrots, bad pizza dough and poor quality steak are some of the impacts we can expect from Australia's changing climate, according to the new scientific report released...
Legendary Coal Miner Says We Must Stop the Insane Practice of Mountaintop Removal
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 16th, 2015
EcoWatch: With mountaintop removal mining on the ropes, as the last bank financiers ditch lending support amid new scientific research that demonstrates “solid evidence that dust collected from residential areas near mountaintop removal sites causes cancerous changes to human lung cells,” residents from across central Appalachia’s coal country are converging today on the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection headquarters in Charleston to demand an end to new permits.
A day of reckoning is...
NASA Water Scientist: California Has 1 Year of Water Left
Posted by KHQ: Giovanni Yanez on March 16th, 2015
KHQ: The wet season is coming to a close in California but the rain and snowfall totals were far from enough to help alleviate the state's water crisis. In an Op-Ed in the LA Times (http://lat.ms/1wC1Lqs), Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at NASA says California's water supply in its reservoirs will only last about one more year and the strategic backup supply and ground water are disappearing rapidly. January 2015 was the driest since meteorological records began. Groundwater and snowpack levels...
Vanuatu: Cyclone Pam: a sign worse to come
Posted by Blue and Green: Simon Leadbetter on March 16th, 2015
Blue and Green: The tiny archipelago nation of Vanuatu has been devastated by its worst natural disaster. Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam ravaged the islands from March 12 to 15. Their President has called for immediate help and blamed climate change for the severity of the cyclone.
On March 6, Pam formed east of the Solomon Islands, intensifying as it approached Vanuatu rising to the highest category five Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. At its peak, wind speeds reached 155mph and the impact was felt across...
Disaster Risk Reduction Meeting Jolted by Cyclone Pam
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on March 16th, 2015
Environment News Service: Cyclone Pam devastated the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu just as UN officials and insurers gathered in Japan this week for a long-planned conference on disaster risk reduction. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates that the cyclone "tragically underscored" the importance of global efforts on disaster risk reduction.
Thousands are attending the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which runs through Wednesday. They are expected to agree on a new framework for managing...