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Archive for November 2nd, 2015
New York Prepares for Up to 6 Feet of Sea Level Rise
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on November 2nd, 2015
Climate Central: LaGuardia Airport is about to be rebuilt in New York City, but by the end of the century, fish could be swimming where airplanes once parked at the terminal. That's because sea levels in the area could rise by as much as 6 feet over the next 75 years, according to new predictions released by the state of New York.
New York State environment officials announced Friday that they're creating new sea level rise regulations that will help coastal communities build more resilient homes and other buildings...
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TransCanada to US: Please stop scrutinizing pipeline
Posted by Reuters: Bruce Wallace on November 2nd, 2015
Reuters: The company battling to build the Keystone XL pipeline made a plea for a ceasefire on Monday, asking the Obama administration to suspend its review of the controversial infrastructure project that would bring heavy oil from Alberta to U.S. refineries.
If granted by the U.S. State Department, the delay would almost certainly hand the decision for the $8 billion project to a future president rather than Barack Obama, a Democrat.
Calgary-based TransCanada Corp said it had sent a letter to the...
Transcanada asks for delay in review of Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 2nd, 2015
LA Times: The company that hopes to build the Keystone XL pipeline to carry crude oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast asked the Obama administration Monday to delay its review of the proposal - a striking turn that adds further uncertainty to a project that has generated bitter debate since it was proposed seven years ago.
The company, TransCanada, made its request in a three-paragraph letter to Secretary of State John F. Kerry, citing legal challenges it said had prompted it to change tactics. The State...
TransCanada asks US to suspend pipeline application
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 2nd, 2015
associated Press: TransCanada, the company behind the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to the U.S Gulf Coast, has asked the U.S. State Department to pause its review of the project.
TransCanada said Monday it had sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry requesting that the State Department suspend its review of the pipeline application. The pipeline company said such a suspension would be appropriate while it works with Nebraska authorities for approval of its preferred route through the state...
Rice was domesticated three times across Asia, not once in China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 2nd, 2015
New Scientist: So good, they tamed it thrice? New evidence suggests that sticky rice hails from southern China, but that other modern types like basmati can trace their history back to two other domestication events, one in the shadow of the Himalayas and the other in the Indian subcontinent. The claim challenges the favoured theory of Asian rice’s origins – that it was domesticated in China’s Yangtze Valley. It was thought that this gave rise to all the modern varieties of Oryza sativa we eat today. Now Peter...
India Drought 2015: Climate Change Biggest Threat India Economy, Modi Finance Aide Says
Posted by Business Times: None Given on November 2nd, 2015
Business Times: Climate change is threatening to derail India’s fast-growing economy, a top aide to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this week. Erratic monsoon rain patterns have left crops parched, jeopardizing India’s nearly $370 billion agricultural sector and hundreds of millions of jobs.
“The No. 1 risk we face is global climate change, because we are still very dependent on the monsoon,” Jayant Sinha, the country’s junior finance minister and a Harvard Business School graduate, told Bloomberg News. “The...
Pacific Leaders Get Blunt About Unfolding Calamity of Climate Change
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on November 2nd, 2015
Guardian: At a summit in Fiji last week, the last major gathering of Pacific island nations before crunch UN climate talks in Paris next month, islanders thrashed out their collective plea to the world to help address the health impacts of climate change, particularly upon women, infants and adolescents.
Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, Fiji’s foreign minister, said the country was dealing with the re-emergence of climate-influenced diseases such as typhoid, dengue fever, leptospirosis and diarrhoeal illnesses. Last...
Senators urge Obama administration to include carbon costs in coal program
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 2nd, 2015
Reuters: Democratic U.S. senators on Monday urged the Obama administration to reform the federal coal mine program to include costs of the fuel's carbon emissions and potentially raise royalties paid by companies that mine the fuel on public lands.
Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the senate energy panel, and seven other senators asked Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in a letter to use the agency's existing powers to develop a plan on federal coal mining.
The federal leasing...
Why the world needs a new diet
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 2nd, 2015
SciDevNet: Until not so long ago, the perceived solution to global hunger was to produce more food, mostly through intensive agriculture. But the dietary needs of a growing global population are now changing so we need to focus on producing food that is not only abundant, but also nutritious and grown sustainably, says Frank Rijsberman, CEO of agricultural consortium CGIAR, in this audio interview. New studies on food security show that, while many people in poor countries are still hungry, many more are...
Raging Amazon Forest Fire Menaces Uncontacted Tribe
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on November 2nd, 2015
Environment News Service: A stubborn forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon is threatening to consume the forest home of one of the last remaining uncontacted tribes on Earth – the awá-Awá.
Despite the efforts of 200 volunteers from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, IBAMA, the flames have devastated at least 35 percent of the 1,594 square mile area in Brazil’s northeastern state of Maranhao.
About 12,000 ethnic indigenous Guajajara and some 80 awá-Awá, also known as Awá-Guaja, call...