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Archive for June 18th, 2015
Pope demands ‘action now’ save planet from environmental ruin
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
Reuters: Pope Francis demanded swift action on Thursday to save the planet from environmental ruin, urging world leaders to hear "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" and plunging the Catholic Church into political controversy over climate change.
In the first papal document dedicated to the environment, he called for "decisive action, here and now," to stop environmental degradation and global warming, squarely backing scientists who say it is mostly man-made.
In the encyclical "Laudato Si...
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Pope Francis Uses Encyclical Deliver Moral Message On Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
National Public Radio: MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
The words from Pope Francis today are urgent and direct. He released his much-anticipated encyclical on the environment and climate change. Francis says our common home is sick, burdened and laid waste, and he's calling for an active response to a global crisis. The pope is directing this encyclical not just to Catholics, but as he puts it, to every person living on this planet. To talk more about Pope Francis's message, we called on John Carr. He directs Georgetown University's...
England, Europe at Risk of Major Sea Level Rise
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on June 18th, 2015
Nature World News: According to the results published in the journal Climate Research, the seas around Scandinavia, England, the Netherlands and northern Germany will rise by up to about 1.5 meters (~5 feet) in this century.
"Even though the oceans are rising, they do not rise evenly across the globe. This is partly due to regional changes in the gravitational field and land uplift," researcher Aslak Grinsted, with the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement.
Gravity over the...
US mid-continent seismicity linked to high-rate injection wells
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
ScienceDaily: A dramatic increase in the rate of earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. since 2009 is associated with fluid injection wells used in oil and gas development, says a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The number of earthquakes associated with injection wells has skyrocketed from a handful per year in the 1970s to more than 650 in 2014, according to CU-Boulder doctoral student Matthew Weingarten, who led the study. The increase included several...
Pope Francis Calls For Urgent Action On Climate Change In Encyclical
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
National Public Radio: MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
Pope Francis has delivered a scathing indictment of the global economy. In his long-awaited encyclical on the environment, officially released today, he blames consumerism for the degradation of the planet. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli says the document is both a call for immediate action to stop global warming and a cry for justice for the poor.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI, BYLINE: Taking his cue from his namesake, Saint Francis, the pope refers poetically to the planet as, our sister, Mother...
Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si” encyclical expresses moral obligation fight climate change
Posted by Huffington Post: Jaweed Kaleem on June 18th, 2015
Huffington Post: In a highly anticipated papal letter released June 18, Pope Francis called on Catholics worldwide to make safeguarding the environment and battling climate change an urgent and top priority of the 21st century. In the lengthy treatise, more broadly addressed to “every person” who lives on Earth, the pope lays out a moral case for supporting sustainable economic and population growth as part of the church’s mission and humanity’s responsibility to protect God’s creation for future generations. While...
New Approaches to Managing Disaster Focus on Resilience
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
Inter Press Service: Natural disasters have become a fact of life for millions around the world, and the future forecast is only getting worse.
From super typhoons to floods, droughts and landslides, these events tend to widen existing inequalities between and within nations, often leaving the poorest with quite literally nothing."The biggest mistake is that we wait for something to happen before responding to it." -- Chloe Demrovsky
In 2013 alone, three times as many people lost their homes to natural disasters...
Pope Francis: Humans Are Turning the Earth Into an “Immense Pile of Filth”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 18th, 2015
Guardian: This is an excerpt from Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si.
The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. Industrial waste and chemical products utilized in cities and agricultural areas can lead to bio-accumulation in the organisms of the local population, even when levels of toxins in those places are low. Frequently no measures...
We’re running out of water, NASA images show
Posted by Mother Nature Network: None Given on June 18th, 2015
Mother Nature Network: The Earth’s largest aquifers, a source of water for more than 60 million people, are depleting fast, likely due to a growing world population and industries such as agriculture, according to a new study. Scientists at the University of California, Irvine led the research that used NASA’s GRACE satellite to find out just how much groundwater we’re losing and how quickly. The detailed images show that 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers are “past sustainability tipping points,” meaning that those...
Toxic Algae Bloom on West Coast May be Largest Ever
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurc on June 18th, 2015
Nature World: A toxic algae bloom is spreading along the West Coast, and it may be the largest one scientists have ever seen.
Federal biologists onboard a NOAA research vessel have begun a survey of the bloom - which stretches from Central California to British Columbia, and possibly as far north as Alaska - to figure out its extent and severity.
Of particular concern is the fact that the bloom contains a single-celled algae called Pseudo-nitzschia, which produces dangerous levels of domoic acid, a powerful...