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Archive for June 8th, 2015
Keystone protesters tracked at border after FBI spied on ‘extremists’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Guardian: An activist was placed on a US government watchlist for domestic flights after being swept up in an FBI investigation into protests of the Keystone XL pipeline, linking a breach of intelligence protocol with accounts of continued tracking that environmentalists fear could follow them for life.
Twenty-five-year-old Bradley Stroot is one of several campaigners to go public, after the Guardian revealed an FBI investigation that labeled them “environmental extremists”, with new allegations of a continued...
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Protesters, telescope proponents still impasse over construction atop Mauna Kea
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Associated Press: The standoff continues between Thirty Meter Telescope and those trying to stop construction atop the sacred Hawaiian mountain. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1BSXvjR ) that it's been more than 70 days since trailers loaded with heavy equipment ascended Mauna Kea to build one of the world's largest telescopes, an event that was shortly followed by protests that brought the $1.4 billion project to a halt. A small group of protesters maintains a presence outside the Mauna Kea visitor...
Ku Kia’i Mauna Statement On Subaru Telescope Damage
Posted by Big Island News: None Given on June 8th, 2015
Big Island News: The Mauna Kea protectors have issued a statement following news that a "bullet hole" was reported discovered on a door of Japan`s Subaru Telescope on the summit.
Kaho?okahi Kanuha says he received a phone call from Hilo Police Captain Richard Sherlock "to explain that there is an ongoing investigation about a bullet hole that was found in the door of the Subaru Telescope atop Mauna a Wakea."
Kanuha said police believe the bullet was shot anytime between Friday and Saturday night.
The protectors...
Fate TMT To Be Decided Shortly
Posted by Silver Ink: None Given on June 8th, 2015
Silver Ink: The legal issue of the Thirty Meter Telescope being built on the Mauna Kea Summit is nearing a conclusion, as the Hawaiian Supreme Court granted the case an application that will transfer the legal issue from the Intermediate Court of Appeals to the highest court in the state and settle the matter for good.
Both the opponents of the TMT as well as its supporters are delighted by the Supreme Court`s decision. The opponents of the TMT view the gesture as recognition of the fact that the placement...
Supreme Court In Hawaii Grants Application To Hear Telescope Case
Posted by Tech Times: Rhodi Lee on June 8th, 2015
Tech Times: The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an 18-story astronomical observatory planned to be built on top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea, could allow astronomers to better study and learn more about the universe.
If construction pushes through, the telescope would be one of the biggest telescopes in the world. Unfortunately, the promise of scientific breakthroughs clash with cultural heritage as people protest the $1.4 billion project because they want to protect what they consider as a sacred land from development....
G.O.P. Assault on Environmental Laws
Posted by New York Times: Editorial on June 8th, 2015
New York Times: President Obama has announced or will soon propose important protections for clean water, clean air, threatened species and threatened landscapes. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and other Republicans in Congress are trying hard not to let that happen — counterattacking with a legislative blitz not seen since Newt Gingrich and his “Contract With America” Republicans swept into office after the 1994 midterm elections bent on crippling many of the environmental statutes enacted under Presidents...
Poll: over a quarter of Brits don’t believe climate change is a serious problem
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on June 8th, 2015
Blue and Green: A new survey has revealed that China’s population is most likely to support strong action on climate change, while the US and Britain are at the bottom of the list. The findings suggest that over a quarter of Brits think climate change is not a serious problem. The poll has been conducted ahead of country representatives meeting in Paris in December. At the UN meeting, it is hoped that an international treaty on climate change can be agreed that will limit global temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial...
Think we can end California’s drought by eating differently? Think again
Posted by Grist: None Given on June 8th, 2015
Grist: There`s so much confusion about California`s drought, and a lot of my colleagues in the media, I`m sorry to say, have been amplifying that confusion. The proliferation of stories showing how much water various food products use implies that people should be eating water-thrifty foods - but that would do precisely nothing to fix the problem. The real solutions are within reach (I`ll get to those), but they will require the hard work of politics to achieve, rather than simplistic, consumer-focused...
California keeps talking climate change, but who?s listening?
Posted by Sacramento Bee: David Siders on June 8th, 2015
Sacramento Bee: The outcome was never in doubt when California’s Democratic-controlled Senate last week took up – and passed – the latest package of environmental bills to come out of California.
Still, lawmakers argued a familiar litany of points for their cause.
Legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the state’s reliance on renewable energy, they said, will create green technology jobs, reduce the health effects of pollution and guard against fluctuations in the price of oil.
For...
Forest communities map their land using data loggers
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on June 8th, 2015
SciDevNet: Simple data logging devices can help forest communities map their land and monitor environmental change, according to researchers running a trial.
An ongoing project by NGO the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) encourages indigenous people in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, to use portable, satellite-linked data loggers to create maps of areas that have not been mapped in great detail, or where existing maps are out of date.
These devices help communities visualise their...