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Archive for July 16th, 2015
Big Hydro Threatens to Wipe Out Little Hydro in Malaysia
Posted by National Geographic: Christina Nunez on July 16th, 2015
National Geographic: Nestled within the rain forest of Malaysian Borneo, a handful of villages are so remote they don't even have roads. They do, however, have electricity.
The villages draw on the nearby Papar River's current to generate enough power to run lights, refrigerators, and phone-chargers for up to 50 households. The systems, dubbed "microhydro," are small-scale versions of the same hydroelectric dams that help power large cities.
Now, however, a controversial proposal to build a bigger dam threatens...
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Heavier rains mean more toxic blooms for Lake Erie
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 16th, 2015
Climate Central: Come September, Lake Erie might face a toxic algae bloom that could rival the record-setting spread of scum that happened in 2011. And such blooms could become more common as the warming climate fuels more downpours that wash bloom-fueling fertilizers into the lake. The forecasts for a severe bloom this year, made in early July by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and regional partners, was based on the considerable rains that fell in June and washed a large load...
Seven more Alberta counties consider declaring states agricultural disaster
Posted by Edmonton Journal: None Given on July 16th, 2015
Edmonton Journal: Seven more Alberta counties are considering declaring states of agricultural disaster as persistent dry weather threatens the livelihoods of farmers across the province. Leduc, Athabasca, Northern Lights, Northern Sunrise, Barrhead, Westlock and Thorhild counties all have votes planned in the next few weeks on weather to make that step. Tuesday, Parkland County west of Edmonton and McKenzie County in northern Alberta announced they had declared a disaster. A declaration of a state of...
To save water, new Calif homes will have less lawn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 16th, 2015
LA Times: The sprawling suburban lawn - a symbol of the good life in postwar California - moved a step closer Wednesday to being consigned to the history books.
The California Water Commission, responding to a fourth year of drought, approved sharp new limits on the amount of water that can be used on landscapes surrounding newly constructed buildings, such as houses, businesses and schools.
The revised ordinance will limit grass to about 25% of a home's combined front, back and side yards in all new...
After Years of Drought, Wildfires Rage in California
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 16th, 2015
New York Times: The Lake Fire started just before 4 p.m. on June 17. If rain and snow had arrived as scheduled in the winter, it might have been done in a day, at a cost of just a few acres. But with the drought turning soil to dust and trees to tinder, the fire, still smoking, has consumed a swath of national forest roughly the size of San Francisco. It has become the first big wildfire of a California season that threatens to become a terror. Between Jan. 1 and July 11, California fire officials have responded...
Walker wants be ‘polluter in chief’
Posted by Aspen Times: None Given on July 16th, 2015
Aspen Times: Aw, jeez , now Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is running, formally, for the top job in the U.S., a fact that should make everybody, old and young alike, tremble uncontrollably.
Everyone except his Republican buddies, I guess, since they are greeting his candidacy with high-fives and whoops of joy at the idea of his becoming "Polluter In Chief."
After doing everything he could to ruin the State of Wisconsin, he wants to turn his spotlight of destruction on the entire country by somehow fooling...