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Archive for March 31st, 2015
Here comes progress: what will planned megaprojects mean Amazon city?
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on March 31st, 2015
Mongabay: The city of Itaituba, in western Pará state, is home to several construction projects of strategic interest for the Brazilian government. However, with local infrastructure fragile, residents are worried they will not share in the spoils.
A dirt road divides the neighborhoods of Vila Nova and Vila Caçula. Houses are raised on stilts here, along the bank of the Tapajós River, which skirts the edge of the city of Itaituba, in the west of Pará state. A team from Pública attempted to interview some...
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Major Wildlife Impacts Still Felt 5 Years After Gulf Oil Spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Nearly five years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico continue to die at unprecedented rates, endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are experiencing diminished nesting success, and many species of fish are suffering from abnormal development among some juveniles after exposure to oil. Those are the conclusions of a new study from the National Wildlife Federation, released three weeks before the fifth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon spill, which began on April...
US makes climate pledge to UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2015
BBC: he US has pledged to tackle climate change by cutting its carbon emissions 26-28% by 2025.
It made the formal offer to the UN as a step towards a global deal in Paris in December.
The EU has already promised to cut its emissions by a roughly similar proportion.
Tuesday was the deadline for wealthy nations to make their offers - but some, such as Canada, have failed to submit in time.
The announcement was made on Twitter with the words: "America is taking steps to #ActOnClimate, and the...
Texas House Committee Passes Compromise on Drilling Rules
Posted by Texas Tribune: Jim Malewitz on March 31st, 2015
Texas Tribune: A House committee on Monday approved legislation that would limit local control over oil and gas activities -- a committee substitute for a bill that initially stirred anger in city halls across Texas.
In a 10-1 vote, the House Committee on Energy Resources approved an updated version of House Bill 40, among the most prominent of nearly a dozen bills filed in the aftermath of Denton's vote in November to ban hydraulic fracturing within the North Texas city's limits.
Intended to clarify where...
EPA chief says Keystone Pipeline wouldn’t climate ‘disaster’
Posted by Mashable: None Given on March 31st, 2015
Mashable: The chief of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told a Washington audience on Monday that building the contentious Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico would not, by itself, constitute a "climate disaster."
Many opponents of the pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico for export, argue that it would lead to the emissions of enough planet-warming greenhouse gases that it would be game over for efforts to constrain the amount...
Indian monsoon’s past analysed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 31st, 2015
BBC: Fossils from the ocean floor are yielding clues to the Indian monsoon millions of years ago.
Samples drilled from beneath the Indian Ocean are being used to reconstruct past rainfall and temperature records.
Scientists are studying how the Indian monsoon behaved in the past, to shed light on the impact of climate change.
The research will lead to a better understanding of how the monsoon over India might change, said Dr Kate Littler of the University of Exeter.
As part of the larger-scale...