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Archive for April 21st, 2015
As climate talks belch hot air, activists putting their lives on line
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2015
Guardian: How is it that in a year stuffed with conferences on environment and human development, from climate talks in Paris and on new development goals in New York, those actually trying to save the environment are at best dismissed as enemies of progress, and at worst are being killed at an increasing rate and with almost complete impunity?
There is a recognisable theatrical form at UN summits where environmental agreements get negotiated and signed. It starts with general anticipation, the unreasonable...
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Big Insurance Companies Warning US To Prepare For Climate Change
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on April 21st, 2015
ThinkProgress: A coalition of big insurance companies, consumer groups, and environmental advocates are urging the United States to overhaul its disaster policies in the face of increasingly extreme weather due to human-caused climate change.
According to a report released Tuesday by the SmarterSafer coalition, the U.S. needs to increase how much it spends on pre-disaster mitigation efforts and infrastructure protection. That way, it asserts, the U.S. can stop wasting so much money on cleaning up after a disaster...
Global warming more moderate than worst-case models, empirical data suggest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2015
ScienceDaily: We are seeing "middle of the road" warming. Natural variability in surface temperatures -- caused by interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, and other natural factors -- can account for observed changes in the recent rates of warming from decade to decade, new data suggests. Credit: NASA image by Robert Simmon, based on data from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies
A new study based on 1,000 years of temperature records suggests global warming is not progressing as fast as it would...
Illegal trade in endangered wildlife thriving on eBay despite controls
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2015
Guardian: Illegal online trafficking in imperiled wildlife is rampant, and attempted controls are few and largely ineffective. Log on to most any international internet store that deals in wildlife or wildlife parts, and you’ll find a charnel house of endangered and protected species hawked openly or under phony names and in violation of US law and international agreements.
The world’s largest online marketplace by far, eBay, is one of the few that makes a serious effort to control wildlife smuggling by...
Keeping up climate: efforts reduce African crop losses face extra hurdle of climate change
Posted by Mongabay: Rebecca Kessler on April 21st, 2015
Mongabay: Farmers in tropical areas have long struggled to maximize their crop yields, but the strikes against them just continue to mount. To start with, they tend to lack storage and processing tools that industrialized countries take for granted -- things like refrigeration, ovens, and grain elevators. On top of that, they're working the land in places where climate change may already be wielding its effects, making disease, rainfall patterns, and crop yields less predictable.
Africa, Latin America,...
Three major canal schemes criticised over use science
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on April 21st, 2015
SciDevNet: Three water management projects involving canals in separate parts of the world have been criticised for how they incorporate scientific evidence -- albeit for varying reasons.
The ambitious projects are being marketed as an opportunity to improve the fortunes of the regions surrounding them. Yet perhaps due to their great geopolitical significance, each is treating the scientific analysis of the canals' potential risks and benefits very differently.
All three projects reached turning points...
New mass extinction event proposed
Posted by BBC: Alex Berezow on April 21st, 2015
BBC: Over the past 450 million years, life on Earth has been devastated by five mass extinction events that are widely recognised by geologists. Now, an international team of researchers proposes adding a sixth mass extinction to the list. The team believes it has accumulated sufficient evidence to promote the Capitanian event to the rank of mass extinction. The extinction occurred approximately 262 million years ago. Their proposal would elevate the Capitanian, which occurred during the Middle Permian...
Restoring delta must be part of tunnels plan
Posted by Fresno Bee: None Given on April 21st, 2015
Fresno Bee: As Gov. Jerry Brown tries to salvage the $25 billion project to build twin tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, he should keep in mind that it won’t be acceptable to give up its environmental goals.
His new tack is understandable; federal agencies have signaled that they probably won’t issue the 50-year environmental permits that were a key element of the old plan. But if he wants to persuade the public that his approach won’t degenerate into a water grab for Southern California...
William Shatner: Solve Calif drought Seattle pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2015
LA Times: For generations, water-hungry Southern California has jealously eyed the rainy Pacific Northwest as a potential source of the precious resource.
And time after time, it has been rebuffed.
When Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn in 1990 proposed digging aqueducts that would grab water from the Columbia and Snake rivers, Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt responded: "I have the distinct impression that you are trying to steal my water."
Now actor William Shatner has waded in with his own...
California drought causes cattle and elk to lock horns over pasture
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 21st, 2015
Reuters: A herd of tule elk move warily along a California coastal hill as a herd of Black Angus cattle graze nearby. Despite the apparent peaceful coexistence, the animals are at the center of a battle for precious grasslands reduced by the state's drought.
Ranchers and farmers who live and work within the 71,000-acre (287-square km) Point Reyes National Seashore, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of San Francisco, want the free-roaming elk fenced in so their livestock do not have to compete for grass.
Wildlife...