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Archive for May 16th, 2015
Ecuador breaks Guinness reforestation record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Ecuador broke a world record for reforestation Saturday, as thousands of people pitched in to plant 647,250 trees of more than 200 species, President Rafael Correa said. "I have just been informed that we have broken the Guinness record for reforestation," the president said in his weekly address. Correa said the seedlings were planted all over Ecuador, which boasts varied geography from its Pacific coast, high Andean peaks and low Amazon basin areas. Environment Minister Lorena Tapia said on...
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Link between unseasonal rains, disasters & climate change: Is India playing ostrich?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2015
Economic Times: Soon after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal in end-April , geologists based in Europe asserted that the tragedy was caused by climate change.
These experts were of the opinion that the pressure that falls upon the underlying tectonic plates on account of excess rainfall and its ebb and flow in the river deltas of India and Bangladesh could have triggered the earthquake in the neighbouring country or at the least hastened its occurrence.
Speaking to Newsweek, University College London's...
How Debate Over TMT Prompt Problematic Email
Posted by Hawaii Public Radio: None Given on May 16th, 2015
Hawaii Public Radio: The controversial Thirty Meter Telescope has sparked debate in astronomy departments across the country. Apart from the discussion about the protest itself, questions are being raised about diversity within the astronomy community. HPR’s Molly Solomon takes us to one university.
Last month Professor Alexei Filippenko, of the University of California Berkeley, sent out a link to a petition in support of the TMT. It included a note from Professor Sandra Faber at UC Santa Cruz and it landed in the...
Seattle flotilla protests Shell’s Arctic drilling plans
Posted by Reuters: Bryan Cohen and Victoria Cavaliere on May 16th, 2015
Reuters: Hundreds of activists in kayaks and small boats fanned out on a Seattle bay on Saturday to protest plans by Royal Dutch Shell to resume oil exploration in the Arctic and keep two of its drilling rigs stored in the city's port. Environmental groups have vowed to disrupt the Anglo-Dutch oil company's efforts to use the Seattle as a home base as it outfits the rigs to return to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecological catastrophe. Demonstrators...
Canada: New climate change targets don’t address oilsands
Posted by CBC: None Given on May 16th, 2015
CBC: Kathleen Wynne calling for more than Ottawa's 'nebulous notion' of emissions targets Canada sets carbon emissions reduction target of 30% by 2030 How Canada's provinces are tackling greenhouse gas emissions Rachel Notley and Alberta NDP offer few details on environmental plans
Canada announced new greenhouse gas reduction targets on Friday, pledging to cut emissions by 30 per cent over the next 15 years, but the plan says nothing about reining in the pollution from Alberta's oilsands.
"What...
Pope Francis endorses climate action petition to world leaders
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2015
Ecologist: The Pope has urged Catholics around the world to sign a new faith-inspired petition calling on world leaders to limit global warming to 1.5C, shortly after declaring that there is 'clear, definitive and ineluctable ethical imperative to act' on climate change.
Climate change hits the poorest first and hardest, and will leave an unnecessarily dire legacy for future generations. We Catholics need to step up against climate change and raise a strong voice asking political leaders to take action urgently....
Washington state governor declares drought emergency
Posted by Reuters: Victoria Cavaliere on May 16th, 2015
Reuters: Washington state Governor Jay Inslee declared a statewide drought emergency on Friday, saying drought conditions due to a lack of snowpack are some of the worst on record in a region normally known for its drizzly weather.
In an announcement in the state capital of Olympia, Inslee said the drought had "deepened dramatically in the past few weeks," with conditions expected to worsen as the hot summer months approach.
The emergency declaration will free up funds and water rights to help counties...
Pipeline moves Mississippi River sand create 12-mile land bridge across three parishes
Posted by Times-Picayune: None Given on May 16th, 2015
Times-Picayune: Jefferson Parish Councilman Ricky Templet and President John Young pounded an American flag into the sand at a lonely spot about five miles southwest of the town of Jean Lafitte on Friday (May 15), symbolically claiming new land created by a long distance pipeline in the name of the parish.
The photo op was part of a field trip arranged by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to update local officials and the media on the status of one of the state's most successful coastal restoration...
Oil-drilling controversy in Seattle stirs old bitterness Alaska
Posted by Seattle Times: Hal Bernton on May 16th, 2015
Seattle Times: A month ago, the Alaska House of Representatives took time out from struggling to forge a state budget in the face of plummeting oil prices to talk about Washington state.
For nearly an hour, they debated the wording of a five-page resolution that blasted Evergreen State politicians for their opposition to Shell’s offshore oil exploration in the Arctic and mockingly called for a different tack on combating climate change.
Rather than try to block offshore oil development in the Arctic, the...
NASA: 10,000-Year-Old Ice Shelf in Antarctica Soon Be Completely Gone
Posted by Slate: None Given on May 16th, 2015
Slate: Earth's polar regions are in the midst of a stunning transformation. As global warming accelerates, evidence of change is perhaps most obvious in our planet's ice.
More than a decade ago, scientists watched in awe as Antarctica's Larsen B Ice Shelf shattered almost completely in just six weeks. No one had ever seen such a large mass of ice vanish so quickly.
Now, a new study from NASA, released this week, predicts that what remains of Larsen B will be totally gone in less than five years. Since...