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Archive for July 14th, 2015
Mauna Kea and a BLNR Member’s Conflict of Interest
Posted by Civil Beat: Zuri Aki, Chad Ahia and Davin Vicente on July 14th, 2015
Civil Beat: This past Friday, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), the governing body of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), approved emergency rules restricting access to Mauna Kea. This BLNR decision arises amid a conflict between Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) organizations and the Thirty Meter-Telescope (TMT) organization (and its affiliates including the University of Hawaii), which has been extensively covered by local, national, and international news for the past few months....
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Hawaiian Authorities Vote To Limit Access To Mauna Kea
Posted by Tech Times: Rhodi Lee on July 14th, 2015
Tech Times: Hawaiian authorities have voted to impose an emergency rule that would restrict access to Mauna Kea following protests blocking the construction of a giant telescope. The Board of Land and Natural Resource voted 5-2 on Friday on the 120-day rule that would restrict people from being within one mile of Mauna Kea's access road from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. except in cases when a person is in a moving vehicle. It also prohibits the use of camping gear within a mile of the Holy Mountain. Protesters, however,...
State of Hawaii Considers TMT Protesters ‘Trouble Makers’
Posted by Weekly Observer: None Given on July 14th, 2015
Weekly Observer: In an election on Friday that yielded a 5-2 voting result, the Board of Land and Natural Resources decided to prohibit people from “getting within 1 mile from the mountain access road” on specified hours at night unless driving on a vehicle, as well as camping for 120 days, says the Honolulu Star Adviser.
Chris Yuen, one of the board members, defends their decision: “We need the tools to keep order on the mountain. It’s sad it has come to this point,” he explains the board’s move in response to...
Mauna Kea summit road reopened
Posted by Star-Advertiser: None Given on July 14th, 2015
Star Advertiser: David Ige on Monday said he planned to sign off on a 120-day emergency rule restricting access to the area.
The access road to the Mauna Kea summit area was reopened Monday afternoon after damage caused by protesters forced its closure for more than two weeks.
The University of Hawaii, which manages the summit area, said the road was reopened at 3 p.m. after repairs were made to the roadway. Protesters on June 24 had blocked the road with rocks and boulders.
The university said vehicular...
Scott Walker’s Stance On The Environment Is Pretty Anti-Green & Here’s Proof
Posted by Bustle: None Given on July 14th, 2015
Bustle: Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker officially announced his 2016 presidential campaign, making him the 15th Republican candidate in the race. In a tweet Monday morning, he declared, “I’m in. I’m running for president because Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them.” But Scott Walker’s stance on the environment shows how anti-green this guy actually is. Some politicians don’t prioritize the environment and just don’t seem to care. But not too long ago, climate change and environmentalism...
Could agave hold the secret to more drought-resistant farming?
Posted by ClimateWire: Niina Heikkinen on July 14th, 2015
ClimateWire: Agave may be most associated with tequila, but this plant has a less familiar use -- it's teaching scientists about how to craft more drought-resistant plants. The hardy succulent, along with species like prickly pear (an edible cactus), pineapple and vanilla orchids, has evolved over millions of years to perform a different kind of photosynthesis that allows the plants to survive in semiarid environments where water isn't always readily available. The process is called crassulacean acid metabolism,...
Warming waters fueled intense Russian rainstorm
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on July 14th, 2015
Climate Central: The torrential rains that fell on the coastal Black Sea town of Krymsk, Russia, in July 2012 shouldn’t have been possible. In the historical records, there is nothing like the 6.7 inches of rain that fell in the area in less than a day, causing catastrophic flash floods that led to the deaths of more than 170 people. One team of scientists says that it has an explanation for the unprecedented event: the clear rise in Black Sea water temperatures in recent decades fueled the explosive convection...
UK study projects severe and costly downside if Paris climate talks fail
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2015
ClimateWire: As diplomats try to piece together a complicated new global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a sweeping new study out by the U.K. government today takes a hard look at what could happen if they fail.
The worst-case scenario assessment of what a world in which global average temperatures climb far above the threshold considered safe warns of crop deterioration to in the midwestern United States, chronic water shortage along the Tigris-Euphrates River Basin, and 100-year flood events...
Climate change caused Russian flood
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 14th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Scientists presented rare evidence on Monday linking climate change to a specific weather disaster: flooding that killed more than 170 people in Russia in 2012. Increasingly, global warming is invoked by climate campaigners when the world is hit by a new drought, tropical storm or heatwave. But scientists are generally cautious about blaming climate change for a given event, which may simply have been the result of natural variability. In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers...
Warming ‘worst case’ must be studied
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on July 14th, 2015
BBC: Climate change risks should be assessed in the same way as threats to national security or public health according to a new report. For too long the world has seen rising temperatures as a problem of predicting long range weather forecasts. The authors says that that leaders must focus on the 'worst case scenarios' and how likely they are to occur. The report has been compiled by an international group of scientists and experts in risk. In a foreword to the new study, UK foreign minister Baroness...