RSS Feed
Archive for February 16th, 2016
Bangladesh sticks with coal power plant project despite major backlash
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on February 16th, 2016
Mongabay: Bangladesh, regarded by many as the nation most vulnerable to the impacts of global climate change, is on track to construct two coal-fired power plants that critics say are dangerously close to the world’s largest single tract of mangrove forest called the Sundarbans. A major driver behind these new power power plants is to increase electricity resources for Bangladesh’s 157 million people and achieve its goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2021. Currently, the country produces 8,000 megawatts...
Posted in 
Contaminated Flint water among most expensive in the U.S.: report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
Reuters: Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, paid some of the nation's highest water bills even as the city failed to treat drinking water properly, leading to lead contamination, according to a report released on Tuesday. The annual water bill in Flint as of January 2015 was $864.32 for a household using 60,000 gallons a year, said Washington-based advocacy group Food & Water Watch. The rate remained high compared with many other cities even after a judge ordered...
Ocean oases: How islands support more sea-life
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
ScienceDaily: A 60 year-old theory to explain why seas surrounding islands and atolls are particularly productive has just been proven by a marine biologist from Bangor University's School of Ocean Science, working with a colleague at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Open ocean environments don't appear to host vast communities of life, however, approach a coral reef and you'll inevitably come across an abundance of life, from increased levels of plankton to bird and marine life....
Enhanced levels of carbon dioxide are likely cause of global dryland greening, study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Enhanced levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide are a likely key driver of global dryland greening, according to a paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. The positive trend in vegetation greenness has been observed through satellite images, but the reasons for it had been unclear. After analyzing 45 studies from eight countries, Lixin Wang, assistant professor of earth sciences in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and a Ph.D. student in Wang's...
Beavers bring environmental benefits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Beavers are beneficial to the Scottish environment, say academics from The University of Stirling. A study into the ecology and habitat engineering of beavers reintroduced to a site on Tayside in 2002 has found the creatures can improve biodiversity, minimise pollutants and reduce downstream flooding. Examining head water streams which drain water from 13 hectares of Scottish countryside, scientists compared areas where beavers had been active with areas in which they were absent. The study formed...
Study Ties U.S. to Spike Global Methane Emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
Climate Central: There was a huge global spike in one of the most potent greenhouse gases driving climate change over the last decade, and the U.S. may be the biggest culprit, according a new Harvard University study. The United States alone could be responsible for between 30 percent and 60 percent of the global growth in human-caused atmospheric methane emissions since 2002 because of a 30 percent spike in methane emissions across the country, the study says. The research shows that emissions increased the most...
Oklahoma calls for more disposal wells to shut after quake
Posted by Reuters: Heide Brandes on February 16th, 2016
Reuters: Oklahoma's oil and gas regulator released a wide-ranging plan on Tuesday to scale back use of wastewater injection wells in western Oklahoma, just days after a 5.1 magnitude quake rocked the state. Seven counties are affected by the plan, which is the largest push yet in western Oklahoma to curb seismic activity linked to wells to dispose of saltwater, a natural byproduct of oil and gas work. Saltwater disposal needs have grown in tandem with the growth in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing,...
Second Review of EPA’s Fracking Study Urges Revisions to Major Statements in Executive Summary
Posted by EcoWatch: Wenonah Hauter on February 16th, 2016
EcoWatch: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA) independent Scientific Advisory Board Members of the Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel released today a second review of the U.S. EPA’s draft assessment saying that that they still have "concerns" regarding the clarity and adequacy of support for several findings presented in the EPA’s draft Assessment Report of the impacts of fracking on drinking water supplies in the U.S.
This second draft report is still very critical of the EPA’s...
French Ecology Minister Calls for Ban on Glyphosate Formulations
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 16th, 2016
EcoWatch: Ségolène Royal, France’s minister of ecology, sustainable development and energy, has called for a ban on glyphosate mixed with certain adjuvants (additives) due to its perceived risks to human health. On Feb. 12, Royal called for ANSES--France`s food, environment and health agency--to withdraw authorizations on herbicides containing glyphosate mixed with the adjuvant tallow amine, according to French newspaper Le Monde (via Google translate). Although it wasn`t explicitly said, one can only conclude...
The Beetles: Eighty-Nine Million Acres of Abrupt Climate Change
Posted by Truthout: None Given on February 16th, 2016
Truthout: A 100,000-acre spruce beetle kill drapes this alpine mountain park like a heavy wool blanket. Except for a green strip of young trees along the old logging roads that crisscross forested areas like these, 90 percent or more of the rest of the forest has been killed. Groundhog Park, La Garita Range, Rio Grande National Forest, south central Colorado, elevation 11,000 feet. Background: Mesa Mountain, elevation 12,994 feet. (Photo: Bruce Melton)
We were awash for 19 days in a tumultuous sea of mountains...