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Archive for November 25th, 2015
Too Toxic: EPA Rejects Dow’s Herbicide Enlist Duo
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on November 25th, 2015
Environment News Service: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it will vacate its approval of the Dow AgroSciences herbicide Enlist Duo after determining that its combination of chemicals could be more harmful than initially believed.
Responding to a lawsuit by conservation groups, in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the EPA moved for voluntary vacatur and remand of EPA's registration of Dow AgroSciences' Enlist Duo herbicide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, FIFRA. ...
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Australia bushfires leave trail of destruction, death toll could rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2015
Reuters: Fourteen bushfires burning across southern Australia have killed two people, thousands of animals, and destroyed 16 homes, and authorities on Thursday said they feared the toll could rise. The fires, which stretch across 210 kms (130 miles), broke out on Wednesday in heatwave conditions and quickly burnt across farmlands, forcing residents to flee and others to frantically try and save their homes and livestock. “It was just the intensity of the fire and the speed. We tried to put it out. You just...
UN weather agency delivers ‘bad news’ for planet, record heat
Posted by India Blooms: None Given on November 25th, 2015
India Blooms: In the last major report before world leaders meet in Paris to draft measures to counter global warming, the United Nations weather agency on Wednesday delivered "bad news for the planet," warning that 2015 is likely to be the warmest year on record, breaching the symbolic and significant milestone of 1 degree Celsius above the pre-industrial era.
The 2011-2015 five-year period has also been the warmest, with many extreme weather events, especially heatwaves, substantially exacerbated by human-induced...
World facing ‘grave environmental crisis’, pope warns
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Hazel Ward on November 25th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Pope Francis said the world was facing a "grave environmental crisis" as he arrived in Kenya on Wednesday on a landmark Africa trip just days before a crucial UN summit aimed at curbing climate change.
"The grave environmental crisis facing our world demands an ever greater sensitivity to the relationship between human beings and nature," he told Kenyan political leaders in the capital Nairobi, shortly after arriving in the east African country.
"There is a clear link between the protection...
2015 Likely to Be Warmest Year on Record, Says WMO
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on November 25th, 2015
BBC: Global average temperatures in 2015 are likely to be the warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
Data until the end of October showed this year's temperatures running "well above" any previous 12 month period.
The researchers say the five year period from 2011 to 2015 was also the warmest on record.
The rise, they state, was due to a combination of a strong El Nino and human-induced global warming.
The WMO said their preliminary estimate, based on...
Study: Fossil Fuel Investors Could Lose Trillions Due Climate Action
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2015
Guardian: Fossil fuel companies risk wasting up to $2tn (£1.3tn) of investors’ money in the next decade on projects left worthless by global action on climate change and the surge in clean energy, according to a new report.
The world’s nations aim to seal a UN deal in Paris in December to keep global warming below the danger limit of 2C. The heavy cuts in carbon emissions needed to achieve this would mean no new coal mines at all are needed and oil demand peaking in 2020, according to the influential thinktank...
Researchers are inducing a drought in an Australian rainforest to study its effects
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on November 25th, 2015
Mongabay: Susan Laurance and colleagues at James Cook University in Australia wanted to study how different groups of plants in tropical forests are affected by drought. So a few months ago, the researchers used 3,000 clear plastic panels to create what they call a “raincoat for a rainforest,” artificially inducing a drought in several thousand square meters of the Daintree Rainforest on the northeast coast of Queensland. The drought experiment allows the team to study a wide range of plant life, from trees...
World headed for hottest year on record – WMO
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on November 25th, 2015
Climate Home: This year is poised to be the warmest in recorded history the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday.
Man-made climate change and a strengthening El Nino are set to ensure world surface temperatures reach 1C above pre-industrial levels in 2015.
“2015 is likely to be the hottest year on record, with ocean surface temperatures at the highest level since measurements began," said Michel Jarraud, head of the Geneva-based agency in a statement. "This is all bad news for the planet."...