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Archive for March 15th, 2016
Clean Water, Sanitation & Hygiene For All by 2030
Posted by Inter Press Service: Sanjay Wijesekera on March 15th, 2016
Inter Press Service: Last year we watched with cautious optimism as UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the new Sustainable Development Goals, and called upon the world to meet them. Cautious, because we’d been here before. In 2000, the Millennium Development Goals were set – to try to lift people out of poverty, improve their health, protect the environment, and so on. They focused the attention of the world on clear, achievable targets. In the area of water, sanitation and hygiene, however, the MDGs did not try to reach...
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United Kingdom: Supermarkets pledge to cut food waste 20% by 2025
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2016
Guardian: Britain’s leading supermarkets have pledged to drive down food and drink waste by a fifth within the next decade.
Retailers including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Morrisons are backing a voluntary agreement, which also targets a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions created by the food and drink industry.
Some 24 local authorities, including the London Water and Recycling Board, and major brands and manufacturers such as Coca-Cola, Nestle and Pizza Hut have also committed to the agreement...
EPA Chief To Testify Before Congressional Panel On Flint’s Water Crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2016
National Public Radio: Renee Montagne talks to Gina McCarthy, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, about the federal government's role in the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
Tougher pollution laws put forward in wake of Palmer Queensland Nickel saga
Posted by Guardian: Joshua Robertson on March 15th, 2016
Guardian: Clive Palmer could be forced to shoulder the $100m cost of cleaning up his Queensland Nickel operation under proposed state laws that would expand the chain of corporate responsibility for pollution.
The Palaszczuk government has introduced a bill that would let environmental authorities pursue parent companies, executives or ultimate owners for the cost of rehabilitating industrial sites after the operator collapsed.
The environment minister, Steven Miles, in a speech to parliament on Tuesday,...
Tribute to a Slain Environment Activist
Posted by Inter Press Service: Amantha Perera on March 15th, 2016
Inter Press Service: Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, was in her early 20s when she co-founded the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (Cophin), a group that campaigned for the rights of indigenous communities in the South American nation.
Influenced by a mother, who took in fleeing El Salvadorian refugees, Cáceres was fully committed to her cause. She told friends and colleagues that her struggle was against ‘deadly powers’ that put profit before the rights of her people. In the last two decades,...
Zimbabwe says up to 4 million need food aid after drought: state paper
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2016
Reuters: The number of Zimbabweans requiring food aid has risen to 4 million, up from 3 million initially, a state-owned newspaper said on Tuesday, as the southern African nation grapples with its worst drought in more than two decades.
An El Nino induced-drought has hit Zimbabwe hard and last month it appealed for $1.6 billion in aid to help pay for grain and other food.
"Indications are that the figure of vulnerable households requiring food assistance could be as high as four million people," Public...
Environmental risks killing 12.6 million people, WHO study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2016
Guardian: Nearly one in four deaths are linked to unhealthy environments and are avoidable, a new World Health Organisation study – the first major assessment of environmental risk since 2006 – has shown.
It suggests environmental risks now contribute to more than 100 of the world’s most dangerous diseases, injuries, and kills 12.6 million people a year – nearly one in four or 23% of all deaths.
Of these, two-thirds or 8.2m deaths are from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as strokes, cancers and...
Fertilizer applied to fields today will pollute water for decades
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Dangerous nitrate levels in drinking water could persist for decades, increasing the risk for blue baby syndrome and other serious health concerns, according to a new study published by researchers at the University of Waterloo. Nitrogen fertilizer applied to farmers' fields has been contaminating rivers and lakes and leaching into drinking water wells for more than 80 years. The study, published this week in a special issue of the journal Environmental Research Letters, reveals that elevated nitrate...