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Archive for January, 2016
Two Canadian Pipeline Projects Face New Delays
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2016
Reuters: Canada announced new interim rules on Wednesday for environmental reviews that will impose delays on two projects - TransCanada Corp's Energy East pipeline and Kinder Morgan Inc's expansion of its Trans Mountain Pipeline.
The Liberal government issued the rules on the grounds that public trust needed to be restored in the process for assessing big energy projects.
Proponents say that after U.S. President Barack Obama's denial of the Keystone XL pipeline, all-Canadian projects are needed so...
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Severe Drought is Killing Crops and Livestock in Panama
Posted by Costa Rica Star: Maria M. Mur on January 28th, 2016
Costa Rica Star: A stretch of the Mensabe River near the village of Peñablanca was a popular swimming spot for Panamanian families just one year ago, but a devastating drought has changed the situation dramatically and transformed that waterway into a rocky path to nowhere. Like the Guarare and the Perales, which also are completely dry, the Mensabe is one of the major rivers in Los Santos, an agricultural province 300 kilometers (185 miles) west of Panama City that accounts for 80 percent of the nation’s corn production....
Leonardo DiCaprio meets pope to talk about environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2016
Reuters: There have been 13 popes named Leo in the history of the Roman Catholic Church but perhaps none of them was as famous as the Leo who entered the Vatican on Thursday: Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio, who is known as Leo, was received by Pope Francis, the Vatican said, without giving details. But the one-line announcement was enough to send photographers and television crews scrambling to stake out the Vatican's gates to try to catch him coming out. Footage issued later from Vatican television...
Human activities to blame for unprecedented climate changes and global warming
Posted by Delhi Daily News: None Given on January 27th, 2016
Delhi Daily News: A report by United Nation's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says that 2015 was the hottest year since 2000 and the researchers are blaming the greenhouse gases and the man-made activities for the fuelling heat waves and downpours.
About fifteen of the 16 hottest years on record belonged to this century, the exceptionally strong El Nino and the greenhouse gases together had the effect on the climate system in 2015. The influence of El Nino will weaken in the upcoming time, but the effect...
Would it be wrong to eradicate mosquitoes?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
BBC: The mosquito is the most dangerous animal in the world, carrying diseases that kill one million people a year. Now the Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitoes, has been linked with thousands of babies born with brain defects in South America. Should the insects be wiped out?
There are 3,500 known species of mosquito but most of those don't bother humans at all, living off plant and fruit nectar.
It's only the females from just 6% of species that draw blood from humans - to help them develop...
Canada to consider CO2 emissions in approving new pipelines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 27th, 2016
Agence France-Presse: Canada's environment and resources ministers announced Wednesday a new framework for approving the construction of pipelines that must consider the direct and upstream greenhouse gas emissions linked to the projects.
The new requirements will be tacked on to Canada's existing environmental assessment process, and will apply to projects currently being scrutinized by the national energy regulator.
This will also allow the government to also consult more broadly with indigenous peoples about...
Australia: Wildfires Are Burning Some of the World’s Oldest Trees
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on January 27th, 2016
Climate Central: Northwest Tasmania is home to part of the Gondwana forest. It's a stretch of primeval-looking temperate rainforest, much like the one found in the Pacific Northwest's Olympic National Park. Trees more than 1,000 years old tower above ancient ferns, forming a connection to the distant past. It's why the region has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But that connection is being broken by climate change. Fueled by extremely dry conditions that stretch back two years, major bushfires have...
Flint, Michigan: Did race and poverty factor into water crisis?
Posted by CNN: Michael Martinez on January 27th, 2016
CNN: The contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan, has so outraged community advocates that they now pose a powerful question: Was the city neglected because it is mostly black and about 40% poor?
Several advocates say yes. They charge that Flint residents are victims of "environmental racism" -- that is, race and poverty factored into how Flint wasn't adequately protected and how its water became contaminated with lead, making the tap water undrinkable.
Flint water crisis: AG seeks to...
Seattle Sues Monsanto Over PCB Contamination, Becomes 6th City to Do So
Posted by EcoWatch: Lorraine Chow on January 27th, 2016
EcoWatch: Seattle joins the growing list of cities in the American West that has slapped Monsanto with a PCB lawsuit. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, is a highly toxic chemical that the company manufactured decades ago.
The complaint, filed on Monday with the U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges that Monsanto knew that the chemicals were polluting the environment and causing harm to people and wildlife, as Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes explained to The Seattle Times.
“When the profit motive...
Another Lead Water Poisoning Scandal Has Erupted, This Time in Ohio
Posted by EcoWatch: Cole Mellino on January 27th, 2016
EcoWatch: Amid the Flint, Michigan water crisis, experts warned that what`s happening in Flint could happen elsewhere. And now it appears it already has. The town of Sebring, Ohio outside of Youngstown learned Thursday that high levels of lead were detected in some residents` water last summer.
Residents are now demanding to know why they have been left in the dark for months. According to the AP, schools have been closed for three days, children are being tested for lead poisoning, bottled water is being...