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Archive for November 22nd, 2015
Prince Charles: Climate change failure is a factor behind Syrian crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2015
Telegraph: Prince Charles has suggested the cause of conflict in Syria is climate change, in a wide-ranging interview.
Drought and competition for increasingly scarce resources caused by manmade activities also played a role in the refugee crisis which has seen thousands of people leave the Middle East and cross Europe in recent months, the Prince of Wales said.
The remarks were made in an interview with Sky News recorded before the latest wave of terror attacks in Paris, which will be broadcast on Monday....
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Canada Alberta to introduce economy-wide carbon tax in 2017
Posted by Reuters: Mike De Souza on November 22nd, 2015
Reuters: The Canadian province of Alberta, home to the country's controversial oil sands, said on Sunday it will implement an economy-wide tax on carbon emissions in 2017, addressing long-standing criticism it is not doing enough to combat climate change.
The provincial government estimated the plan, including a pledge to phase out pollution from coal-fired electricity generation by 2030 and a limit on emissions from the province's oil sands industry, would generate C$3 billion ($2.25 billion) in annual...
Oil-rich Canadian province to impose tax carbon emissions
Posted by Reuters: Mike De Souza on November 22nd, 2015
Reuters: Alberta, home to Canada’s controversial oil sands, said on Sunday it will implement an economywide tax on carbon emissions in 2017, addressing long-standing criticism that it is not doing enough to combat climate change.
The provincial government estimated that the plan, including a pledge to phase out pollution from coal-fired electricity generation by 2030 and limit emissions from the oil-sands industry, would generate $2.25 billion in annual revenue.
Backed by prominent representatives from...
Ethiopia Seeks Help to Survive Drought
Posted by Voice of America: Marthe van Der Wolf on November 22nd, 2015
Voice of America: Drought has ruined this year's harvest for many Ethiopian farmers. In a country where 85 percent of the people are farmers, millions are in need of aid. The government has purchased nearly 1 million metric tons of wheat at a cost of about $280 million to get through the next three to four months. Government spokesman Getachew Redda said the government is in control of the crisis, but is also focused on measures that will reduce the impact of future droughts. “From a strategic point of view," Redda...
Anger rises as Brazilian mine disaster threatens river and sea with toxic mud
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2015
Guardian: Seven years ago, Luciana Cunha paid her first visit to the fishing village of Regência, in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo, to surf the famous waves near the mouth of the Rio Doce.
She fell in love twice – with the place and her husband, Fabio Gama – and together they set up an eco-tourism business, renting out kayaks by day and offering guided tours to the nesting sites of marine turtles at night.
But after the brown tide of mud and iron-ore residue oozing down the Rio Doce from a mine...
Record-crushing October keeps Earth on track for hottest year in 2015
Posted by Post: Jason Samenow on November 22nd, 2015
Post: It was Earth’s warmest October ever recorded and it wasn’t even close. The record-shattering month was right in step with most of the preceding months in 2015 -- which is positioned to easily rank as the warmest year on record.
New data from the Japan Meteorological Agency and NASA show that the planet obliterated October records established just last year. October 2015 out-baked October 2014 by 0.34 degrees (0.19 Celsius) and 0.32 degrees (0.18 Celsius) in JMA and NASA’s analyses, respectively....
Conflict Makes Nations Vulnerable to Climate Impacts
Posted by Reuters: Megan Rowling on November 22nd, 2015
Reuters: Syria, Libya and Yemen are among the countries whose ability to withstand climate change shocks and stresses has deteriorated most in the past five years, suggesting conflict makes people more vulnerable to climate impacts, researchers said.
The University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN) uses 46 indicators to measure climate change risks to 180 countries and how ready they are to accept investment that could help them cope with more extreme weather and rising seas.
The main...
As Brazil’s Largest City Struggles With Drought, Residents Are Leaving
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2015
National Public Radio: It happened slowly at first. The reservoir's water level dropped, so the resort extended the boat launch ramp.
Then they had to add another extension.
Eventually, the water dropped so much that business dried up - along with the lake.
"For this coming weekend, there's not one reservation. This business was 98 percent dependent on the water. Now that the water's gone, the customers are gone as well," says Francisco Carlos Fonseca, the manager of Marina Confiança.
The resort is located...
For protection from the rising sea, look to Europe’s example
Posted by Boston Globe: Daniel Grossman on November 22nd, 2015
Boston Globe: Last summer, Peter van Veelen led me on a hydraulic tour of Rotterdam, an excursion along the canals, dikes, sluice gates, and cisterns that keep residents dry in an island of a city that's mostly below sea level. Under a leaden sky, van Veelen, an urban planner, pedaled his battered three-speed. I trailed behind on a rental bike. He pointed at the red stones paving a plaza by the new central train station. A chamber below stores storm water gushing from the building's 7-acre roof, delaying drainage...
New documentary recounts bizarre climate changes seen by Inuit elders
Posted by Globe and Mail: Guy Dixon on November 22nd, 2015
Globe and Mail: Even stranger is the fact that the sun now appears to set many kilometres off its usual point on the horizon, and the stars are no longer where they should be. Is the Earth shifting on its axis, causing the very look of the sun and stars to change?
These are the drastic conditions Northern Canadians, whose lives depend from childhood on their knowledge of the most minute details of the Arctic land and skies, say they see all around them. These observations by Inuit elders are detailed in a groundbreaking...