RSS Feed
Archive for April 13th, 2015
Hidden Threats Imperil Quest for Sustainable Societies Worldwide, Report Finds
Posted by Worldwatch: None Given on April 13th, 2015
Worldwatch: The world’s economies and people face hidden dangers to sustainability that demand immediate action. According to State of the World 2015: Confronting Hidden Threats to Sustainability, the latest edition of the annual series from the Worldwatch Institute, these threats, driven directly or indirectly by growing stress on the planet’s resources, have the potential to upend social systems, environmental balance, and even entire economies (www.worldwatch.org). “These threats are hidden in the sense...
Posted in 
What’s the best way to trim California’s water use?
Posted by Mother Nature: Lloyd Alter on April 13th, 2015
Mother Nature: In 1957, author C. Northcote Parkinson wrote "Parkinson's Law," a study of bureaucracy and business. It included the lesser known Parkinson's Law of Triviality, which argued that organizations give disproportionate weight to trivial issues and ignore the big picture. Today in California, water rationing has been imposed to deal with the ongoing drought, with the intent of reducing consumption by 25 percent. Gov. Jerry Brown says “People should realize we are in a new era. The idea of your nice...
Harvard Students Block Campus Building Push Fossil Fuel Divestment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 13th, 2015
National Public Radio: A group of Harvard University students is calling for the school to sell its investments in fossil fuel companies. Protesters began blocking the entrance to the main administration building Sunday.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Student activists are demonstrating in Harvard Yard, demanding that the world's wealthiest university sell its shares in big oil and coal companies. From member station WGBH, Kirk Carapezza reports.
KIRK CARAPEZZA, BYLINE: Students are blocking the entrance to Massachusetts...
Pacific Winds Tied to Warming Slowdown, Dry West
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 13th, 2015
Climate Central: To understand why the West has been so dry since the turn of the century, cast your eye further west -- to the natural waxing and waning of Pacific Ocean winds.
Strong trade winds have been forcing heat into ocean depths, contributing to a temporary slowdown in land surface warming over the past 15 to 20 years that some have called a warming hiatus, pause or false pause. New research published in the Journal of Climate has gone further -- implicating those winds in stubborn droughts afflicting...
Construction stops, but protests continues atop Mauna Kea
Posted by KITV: None Given on April 13th, 2015
KITV: Construction may be delayed, but the movement to stop the 30 meter telescope atop Mauna Kea continues this weekend, with thousands rallying on the Big Island.
For Wyoming, Climate Change Is Now
Posted by Slate: Phil Plait on April 13th, 2015
Slate: In 2014, I wrote about the Wyoming state Legislature actively moving to suppress real science education when it came to global warming. As I said,
Science itself has many laws, but it doesn't give a damn about ours. Advertisement
Those words still echo loudly when it comes to Wyoming. A new research paper has come out showing that snow melt in the northwest region of that state is occurring earlier all the time, exactly as you'd expect with warmer winters and spring.
The scientists used...
Mauna Kea defenders protest against 18-storey telescope
Posted by BBC: Olivia Crellin on April 13th, 2015
BBC: A controversial telescope project on the top of the Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii has sparked peaceful protests on and off social media across the United States.
Opponents of the telescope, including celebrities, say the structure desecrates sacred land.
They also say the land in question is designated as a conservation area.
Supporters of the project point out that there are already 13 telescopes built within that conservation zone.
But none are as large as the latest planned structure,...
Drought or not, water has long reigned in the Imperial Valley
Posted by LA Times: Tony Perry on April 13th, 2015
LA Times: The newspaper's motto says boldly: "Water Is King, Here Is Its Kingdom." The lead story details the latest of what proved to be many advances in bringing water from the Colorado River to make the desert bloom.
Modern irrigation - aided by the Hoover Dam and the All-American Canal - transformed the Imperial Valley from a hostile desert into an agricultural marvel: a testament to generations of farmers and their use of cheap and plentiful water. Crops bring an annual harvest of more than $2 billion....
San Diego County farmers warn water reduction rules ‘devastating’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 13th, 2015
LA Times: A water district serving farmers in northern San Diego County has asked state water officials who are devising cutback regulations for the same exemption given to farmers in the Central Valley.
"Not All California Agriculture Is Found Between Bakersfield and Redding," Gary Arant, general manager of the Valley Center Municipal Water District, wrote to the chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, using capital letters and bold print for emphasis.
Arant was protesting the proposed...
Fracking is about to change, and almost no one is happy about it
Posted by PRI: None Given on April 13th, 2015
PRI: The Obama administration recently announced new rules to regulate fracking. But no one, it seems, is entirely happy with them.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling and injecting fluids into the ground at high pressure to break up shale rock formations and release natural gas that's trapped inside. The practice has helped make the United States the world’s top producer of oil and gas, and has spurred an economic boom in places like North Dakota. But it’s also become a prime...