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Archive for June 15th, 2015
Pope calls for action on climate change in draft encyclical
Posted by Reuters: Philip Pullella on June 15th, 2015
Reuters: Pope Francis makes an urgent call for protection of the planet and repeats his view that global warming is mostly man-made in his keenly awaited encyclical, according to a draft published by an Italian magazine on Monday.
The Vatican said the document, leaked in its Italian edition by the magazine l'Espresso, was not the final version, which would remain under embargo until its release on Thursday.
It was not clear how advanced in the writing process the leaked document was or how similar it...
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Shell Arctic drilling rig departs Seattle surrounded by protesters
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2015
Reuters: A Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling rig that will search for oil in the Arctic left its temporary base in Seattle on Monday for the trip north to Alaska as dozens of activists in kayaks tried to stop it, authorities said.
Live television showed the rig being towed out of its terminal at the Port of Seattle with kayakers fanning out in an arc as it moved into the Puget Sound.
Twenty-five people were detained by the Coast Guard for violating a safety zone around the vessel and were fined $500 each,...
Beyond the Perfect Drought: California Real Water Crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: The current drought afflicting California is indeed historic, but not because of the low precipitation totals. In fact, in terms of overall precipitation and spring snowpack, the past three years are not record-breakers, according to weather data for the past century. Similarly, paleoclimate studies show that the current drought is not exceptional given the natural variations in precipitation of the past seven centuries. Nor can it be confidently said that the current drought bears the unequivocal...