RSS Feed
Archive for February 16th, 2016
Interactive Map Shows Where Monsanto’s Roundup Is Sprayed in NYC
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 16th, 2016
EcoWatch: New York City residents can now find out if Monsanto’s Roundup is sprayed on their corners, parks, playgrounds and picnic areas.
The interactive map below will be presented to Mitchell J. Silver, commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation at a meeting Tuesday by the the Black Institute, Reverend Billy and The Stop Shopping Choir, Stop The Spray and other members of the Coalition Against Poison Parks. The groups will demand an end to the use of Roundup and glyphosate,...
Posted in 
Global Water Shortages May Be Far Worse than We Thought
Posted by Safe Bee: Marianne Wait on February 16th, 2016
Safe Bee: A new study found that about two-thirds of the world’s population, or some 4 billion people, face severe water shortages during at least one month of every year. Half of the 4 billion are in India and China, but people in other countries, including the United States and Mexico, are also affected.
“Most water is used for food, so water scarcity primarily translates to decreasing or failing crop yields,” wrote study co-author Mesfin Mekonnen in an email to SafeBee. Mekonnena is postdoctoral researcher...
Four Billion People Suffer From Severe Water Scarcity World Wide
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on February 16th, 2016
Nature World News: Nearly 66 percent of the world's human population suffers from insufficient access to fresh water for at least one month out of the year. This estimate, which equates to about four billion people, is far greater than scientists thought.
Previously it was believed that that between 1.7 and 3.1 billion people lived with moderate to severe water scarcity for at least one month of year. However, in the latest study, led by Dr. Arjen Hoekstra of the Netherlands' University of Twente, researchers used...
January Smashed Another Global Temperature Record
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on February 16th, 2016
Climate Central: The calendar may have turned to 2016, but temperatures are picking up where 2015 left off. January was record warm, according to data released this week by NASA.
You may recall that last year was the hottest on record for the globe. And by NASA's accounting, it ended with a bang. This past December was the warmest December on record and the most abnormally warm month on record, too.
That is until now.
This January was the warmest January on record by a large margin while also claiming the...
Europe places bets on natural gas to secure energy future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
Guardian: The future of Europe’s energy supply is to rely heavily on natural gas for the coming two decades and beyond, according to a new strategy set out on Tuesday by the European commission.
The plans were immediately attacked by green campaigners, who contrasted the continued role of fossil fuels with commitments to cut carbon dioxide made by the EU at the Paris climate summit two months ago.
Gas will have to be imported, from sources including Russia, Norway, Qatar and other Gulf states, under...
Cambodia Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change, Says Official
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
Voice of America: Cambodia is beginning to coordinate efforts to respond to climate change, a government official said ahead of high-level talks in California at which the environment is set to be on the agenda.
Recent years have already seen hotter weather and more irregular rainfall in Cambodia, which is predicted to be badly hit when global temperatures change further.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and leaders from the other nine Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are currently at the Sunnylands estate...
Green anger as EU prepares to subsidise dash for gas
Posted by Climate Home: Megan Darby on February 16th, 2016
Climate Home: The EU emphasised gas supply in its “energy union” strategy unveiled on Tuesday, raising doubts about its commitment to climate goals.
Diversifying gas supply routes is Brussels’ main answer to concerns parts of Europe are overly reliant on imports from an aggressive Russia.
In the European Commission’s first big energy initiative since agreeing a UN climate pact in Paris, it proposed subsidies for new pipelines and LNG terminals.
“EU funds can help to make up for the weak commercial viability...
Ice sheet modeling of Greenland, Antarctica helps predict sea-level rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets will make a dominant contribution to 21st century sea-level rise if current climate trends continue. However, predicting the expected loss of ice sheet mass is difficult due to the complexity of modeling ice sheet behavior. To better understand this loss, a team of Sandia National Laboratories researchers has been improving the reliability and efficiency of computational models that describe ice sheet behavior and dynamics. The team includes researchers Irina...
3 Reasons Flint’s Water Is Poisoned
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 16th, 2016
EcoWatch: The catastrophic lead poisoning of the water supply in Flint, Michigan is, obviously, an appalling condemnation of the vigilance exercised by the state appointed Emergency Financial Manager, the State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the regional officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But it is also a shocking reminder of how shoddy American infrastructure has become in the last 20 years and how fragile the gap between shoddy and lethal has become.
Let`s begin...
Guatemala’s La Pasión River is still poisoned, nine months after an ecological disaster
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on February 16th, 2016
Mongabay: Nine months ago, the water of La Pasión River showed up smelling foul and covered with dead and poisoned fish. Soon after, hundreds of fishermen of Sayaxché —the largest nearby river community– learned two new terms coined by environmentalists and by the Guatemalan government: “ecocide” and “closed season.” Many of those fishermen are now deep in debt and embroiled in conflict. There isn’t even a general consensus over what to do about the cause of the ecological disaster: REPSA (Reforestadora de...