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Archive for December 1st, 2015
Brazilian environmental NGOs depend heavily on corporate money
Posted by Mongabay: Ruxandra Guidi on December 1st, 2015
Mongabay: Is it a conflict-of-interest for environmental NGOs -- which, in principle, fight for the preservation of nature -- to receive contributions from mining companies, which by their very nature, can cause negative impacts on the environment?
Between 2009 and 2014 Fundo Vale invested more than $30 million in environmental projects by 25 organizations in seven Amazonian states throughout Brazil.
Environmental NGOs in Brazil should now focus on helping prevent new disasters, since there's a risk...
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Indonesia forest fires: how the year’s worst environmental disaster unfolded
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
Guardian: As world leaders gather in Paris to discuss the global response to climate change, we assess the impact of the widespread forest fires in Indonesia. Set to clear land for paper and palm oil production, the fires have not only destroyed forest and peatland, but also severely affected public health and released massive amounts of carbon
Condemning attacks, leaders Paris make careful leap to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
Reuters: For world leaders attending a long-planned climate summit in Paris just weeks after 130 people were killed by Islamic State militants in the French capital, addressing the coincidental convergence of global warming and terrorism was unavoidable.
In a series of some 150 opening speeches at the heavily guarded facility on the outskirts of Paris, most heads of state and prime ministers offered condolences to their French hosts, pivoting quickly, sometimes awkwardly, to the climate talks.
Many...
Obama Defends Presence at Climate Change Talks While Syria War Rages
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
New York Times: President Obama said on Tuesday that the United States was obligated to undertake climate talks in the midst of a war in Syria “because this one trend, climate change, affects all trends.” Speaking at a news conference in Paris, where he was attending the climate talks, Mr. Obama said that much of the United States’ spending on the military and other matters would have to be devoted to dealing with rising sea levels and changing weather patterns if nothing was done to address those challenges. ...
Scientists are looking indicators to measure climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
Washington Post: Scientists say the planet is hurtling toward a global-warming danger zone, and humans deserve much of the blame. But how exactly does burning coal or clearing forests lead to glaciers melting, seas rising and oceans overheating? Here's how experts describe the system.
It all starts with greenhouse gases
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere insulate Earth like a cozy comforter. They allow the sun to warm the planet, then hold in some of the heat that would otherwise radiate back into space. Human...
Unloved city rivers around the world – your pictures and stories
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
Guardian: LA’s river is not your average city river, and is iconic for very different reasons to the picturesque Seine of Paris, or historic Thames of London. It is a mostly dry abandoned concrete channel, used for car chase movie scenes and home to a growing homeless population – though, as Olly Wainwright reports, there are ambitious plans to “revitalise” it.
Although rivers often become celebrated focal points of cities around the world, many others are buried, neglected, underused or mistreated. We...
Brazil sues BHP, Vale for $5 billion damages for mine disaster
Posted by Reuters: Anthony Boadle on December 1st, 2015
Reuters: Brazil filed a lawsuit on Monday against two of the world's largest mining companies for 20 billion Brazilian reais ($5.2 billion) to clean up what it says was its worst environmental disaster, caused by the collapse of a tailings dam.
The governments of Brazil and those of two states hit by the damburst sued iron ore operator Samarco and its co-owners, the world's largest miner BHP Billiton Ltd and the biggest iron ore miner Vale SA.
Earlier on Monday, President Dilma Rousseff blamed the disaster...
Climate can grind mountains faster than they can be rebuilt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
ScienceDaily: Researchers for the first time have attempted to measure all the material leaving and entering a mountain range over more than a million years and discovered that erosion caused by glaciation during ice ages can, in the right circumstances, wear down mountains faster than plate tectonics can build them. The international study conducted by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and led by scientists from the University of Florida, The University of Texas at Austin and Oregon State University, adds...
Climate change likely to increase black carbon input to the Arctic Ocean
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
ScienceDaily: University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Aron Stubbins led a team of researchers to determine the levels of black carbon in Arctic rivers and found that the input of black carbon to the Arctic Ocean is likely to increase with global warming. The results of their study were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science. Black carbon, or biochar, is formed when vegetation and other organic matter burns. Today black carbon is a massive store of carbon in global...
No more ‘business as usual’ for Australia as climate change hits economy $8bn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 1st, 2015
Guardian: This week, world leaders are meeting in Paris to reach a new climate agreement to keep global temperature rise to no more than 2C above pre-industrial levels. Yet the responsibility for tackling climate change, and sustainability issues more broadly, does not rest on the shoulders of politicians and diplomats alone.
Australian business also has an important role to play and there are two reasons they should care: risk and opportunity. Climate change is a massive risk to the business community....