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Archive for August, 2015
Hawaii Supreme Court Hears Mauna Kea Telescope Case
Posted by Associated Press: Cathy Bussewitz on August 28th, 2015
Associated Press: Hawaii's Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving building one of the world's largest telescopes on Mauna Kea. Opponents, who are against building the Thirty Meter Telescope on land that many Native Hawaiians consider sacred, are challenging a permit that would allow the telescope to be built on conservation land on Hawaii's Big Island. Lawyers delivered opening arguments in the case Thursday, and justices questioned why the state department that issued the permit did so when there...
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Science and religion fight over Hawaii’s highest point
Posted by CNN: Rachel Crane and Claudia Morales on August 28th, 2015
CNN: Rising more than 6 miles from the seabed floor, Mauna Kea is the tallest summit in the world.
To native Hawaiians, the dormant volcano is the most sacred land in the entire Pacific. It is the point where the sky and earth meet. They believe it is the site of the genesis of their people, and it is the burial ground for their most revered ancestors. Considered a temple and a house of worship, native Hawaiians believed the gods created Mauna Kea for them to ascend to the heavens.
To scientists,...
Supreme court hears TMT arguments
Posted by Hawaii News Now: Jim Mendoza on August 28th, 2015
Hawaii News Now: Attorney Richard Wurdeman told the Hawaii Supreme Court the situation at the summit of Mauna Kea is out of hand, and the Thirty Meter Telescope would further degrade the sacred mountain.
"Mauna Kea has really become an absolute mess." he said. "This is not an industrial district. This is a conservation district where preserving natural resources is significant, and that's what the legislature has found."
On appeal is the Circuit Court's decision upholding the granting of a conservation district...
Senate hearing wildfires urged help bolster firefighting capabilities
Posted by Reuters: Bryan Cohen on August 28th, 2015
Reuters: Lawmakers were urged to boost federal funding for local wildfire prevention efforts at a meeting in Seattle on Thursday during a summer that has seen scores of major blazes across the drought-parched West.
Fire experts were addressing the field hearing of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held in Washington state, which has experienced its largest cluster of deadly fires on record.
Michael Medler, chair of environmental studies at Western Washington University, said increasing...
Why Climate Change Could Make Hurricane Impact Worse
Posted by Times: None Given on August 27th, 2015
Times: Hurricane Katrina surprised disaster preparedness authorities when it made landfall 10 years ago, leveling entire communities and killing more than 1,800 people. The storm caused more than $100 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But for all the damage the storm caused in New Orleans, Katrina was a relatively weak hurricane when it hit the city.
In the academic community, the unexpected disaster prompted climate scientists to consider the link between climate...
Californians cut water without state imposing fines
Posted by Associated Press: Scott Smith on August 27th, 2015
Associated Press: For the second straight month, Californians exceeded hefty water conservation mandates during the relentless drought without the state imposing fines, officials said Thursday. Cities cut water use by a combined 31 percent in July, exceeding the governor's statewide conservation mandate of 25 percent, the State Water Resources Control Board reported. The figure surpassed the June figure of 27 percent savings despite hot summer temperatures. The strong figures show California residents are beginning...
No One Is Ready for Next Katrina
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on August 27th, 2015
Climate Desk: After the storm, after the flooding, after the investigations, the US came to realize that what happened to New Orleans on August 29, 2005 was not a natural disaster. The levee system built by the US Army Corps of Engineers had structural flaws, and those flaws were awaiting the right circumstances. In that way, what happened was all but inevitable.
And just as the storm is not to blame, New Orleans is not unique in its vulnerability. The city endured a lot of tsk-tsking in the aftermath of Katrina,...
Raging Future American Wildfires
Posted by CityLab: John Metcalfe on August 27th, 2015
CityLab: On the one hand, the warming atmosphere is predicted to drench many parts of the U.S. with extreme rain. On the other, for much of the year it`ll likely desiccate vast areas into brittle tinder, setting the stage for more frequent and powerful wildfires.
Increasingly balmy temperatures and a steady lengthening of the wildfire season (peep what`s happening this year in Alaska and Canada) will light a flame under America`s fire potential. By mid-century, large hunks of the country-including the...
The Drought Isn’t Just a California Problem
Posted by Mother Jones: Julia Lurie on August 27th, 2015
Mother Jones: California's been getting a lot of attention for the drought, but it's not alone in its lack of rain: This year is on track to be the driest on record for several western states. As the map below--a recent iteration from the US Drought Monitor--shows, virtually all of Washington, Oregon, and Nevada are covered in swaths of "severe," "extreme," or "exceptional" drought.
Here's a primer of the situation in each state:
OREGON
While Oregon is technically in its fourth year of drought, the state...
In Canadian Peaks, Scientists Track Impacts Vanishing Ice
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Ed Struzik on August 27th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: In the summer of 1955, a floatplane flew a small group of American climbers to the edge of a massive icefield straddling the Continental Divide along the Yukon/Northwest Territories border in northern Ed Struzik is a fellow at Queen’s University’s School of Policy Studies, Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy. Canada. When the group saw the cluster of jagged peaks and sheer rock walls they were searching for, they were stunned: Emerging from the edges of the Brintnell/Bologna icefield...