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Protests disrupt Bangladesh power-plant plan
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on March 13th, 2016
Al Jazeera: Protests in the southern Bangladesh province of Khulna have forced the postponement of government plans to build a coal-fired power station near the world's biggest mangrove swamp. Campaigners insist on use of clean energy, arguing that the mangrove swamp, which is a World Heritage site, will be damaged by the smoke, ash and noise from the power plant. Coal is the cheapest option to provide energy to Bangladesh's population of 160 million, a third of which has no access to electricity. Sundarban,...
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Has the climate change deal really averted catastrophe?
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 20th, 2015
Al Jazeera: After years of fruitless negotiations, world leaders finally reached an agreement to combat climate change, agreeing to cap greenhouse gases in an effort to slow down global warming.
It was very interesting to see this mirror between what politicians were saying and what the media were saying. They all echoed a very similar narrative - they were using very, very similar terms, language, frames.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, or COP21, set a target of limiting carbon...
Telescope construction equipment removed from Mauna Kea
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 18th, 2015
Al Jazeera: Construction equipment and vehicles idled since protesters blocked crews from building a giant telescope and the state’s high court revoked its permit are being removed from a mountain that's considered sacred to some Native Hawaiians. The move signals the project faces a potentially significant delay if the team behind the Thirty Meter Telescope ever applies to state officials for a new permit to build at the Mauna Kea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. Protesters who oppose the $1.4 billion project...
Does fracking cause earthquakes?
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 6th, 2015
Al Jazeera: Fracking has revolutionised the US energy market, with oil and gas extraction lowering household gas prices, reducing energy costs, while helping make the country energy self-sufficient.
Considered faster and more efficient than other methods of extraction, the process involves injecting large volumes of water, chemicals, and sand at high pressure deep underground to dislodge oil and gas.
The oil and gas are separated from the water, which is then pumped deep underground for storage in injection...
South India Grapples with Massive Floods
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 4th, 2015
Al Jazeera: The heaviest rainfall in more than 100 years has devastated swaths of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, leaving over 250 people dead and forcing thousands to leave their submerged homes as schools, offices and an airport remained shut for a second day Thursday.
Chennai, the state capital, received more than 13 inches of rain over 24 hours, significantly higher than the average for the entire month of December, said Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
At least 269 people have been killed in...
Protests over giant telescope put concern Native Hawaiians into focus
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on September 15th, 2015
Al Jazeera: The world’s tallest mountain from seafloor to summit is Mauna Kea, a 32,000-foot volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii where ancient Hawaiians believed the gods dwelled at the intersection of sky and peak.
In the last five months this sacred summit has also become a battleground. After plans were announced to build the world’s most powerful telescope atop the mountain, hundreds of protesters calling themselves protectors blocked Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) construction crews and equipment from...
‘Disaster after disaster’ hits Marshall Islands climate change kicks in
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on May 18th, 2015
Al Jazeera: “They came and told us to evacuate to the next house, which is stronger, because there will be a flood. The tide went up to the front porch and I was scared because of the big waves,” said 7-year-old Keslynna Myo Sibok, a resident of Majuro, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands -- a remote chain of 29 low-lying coral atolls and five islands that lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and has found itself on the front lines of climate change.
Keslynna sat in the front yard of her...
Climate change: no room for debate
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on April 6th, 2015
Al Jazeera: Among the most contentious of issues in Washington right now is the issue of climate change. While both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate voted on an Amendment stating the “climate change is not a hoax,” that is pretty much the last thing the majority of both sides agree on.
On this week’s "TechKnow," we’ve looked at some of the disputes involved with the debate on climate change and how at least one city is dealing with the effects now.
Here’s a guide to some of issues involved.
97%...
Extent of Stealth Fracking in Gulf of Mexico Revealed
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on February 17th, 2015
Al Jazeera: While a debate rages over the use of hydraulic fracturing to exploit fossil fuel reserves inland, the practice has quietly taken hold offshore, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Documents obtained by “Fault Lines” reveal that the world’s largest oil firms are now fracking in some of the Gulf’s deepest waters -- raising questions about how it is being regulated.
A list of about 100 well sites offers one of the first snapshots of the practice, which until just a couple years ago was unknown to the public....
Climate-linked insurance help poor farmers offset crop failure risk
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on January 28th, 2015
Al Jazeera: Small-plot farming can be a risky business with livelihoods dependent on increasingly unpredictable weather, but new research suggests that the growth of climate-linked insurance schemes could help protect poor farmers against bad harvests.
A report released Monday by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University and the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR), charts the impact that index insurance -- which differs from traditional...