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Canada: Oil sands imports could be banned under EU directive
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on October 4th, 2011
Guardian: Oil from controversial and environmentally destructive tar sands is likely to be all but banned from Europe after a decision on Tuesday. The move also casts doubt on the future of other controversial energy sources such as shale gas.
Tar sands (also known as oil sands) have been a target of green campaigners for several years, as the extraction of low quality oil from sands – chiefly in Canada to date – produces far greater greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil drilling operations, and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Canada: Oil sands imports could be banned under EU directiveMore than 30 million climate migrants in Asia in 2010, report finds
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on September 19th, 2011
Guardian: More than 30 million people were displaced last year by environmental and weather-related disasters across Asia, experts have warned, and the problem is only likely to grow worse as climate change exacerbates such problems.
Tens of millions more people are likely to be similarly displaced in the future by the effects of climate change, including rising sea levels, floods, droughts and reduced agricultural productivity. Such people are likely to migrate in regions across Asia, and governments must...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on More than 30 million climate migrants in Asia in 2010, report findsRivers the healthiest in a generation due to stricter pollution controls
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on August 29th, 2011
Guardian: Fishing for chub and barbel on London's river Wandle may have been the perfect way to pass a gloomy bank holiday weekend, while fans of salmon could have headed to the Dee and the Taff in Wales, which once ran black with coal.
This would have been impossible a few years ago, the Environment Agency notes on Tuesday, as it publishes a list of the 10 most improved rivers in England and Wales, which are now healthier than they have been for decades.
The Wandle was declared a mere sewer in the 1960s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rivers the healthiest in a generation due to stricter pollution controlsUK ecosystem assessment warns of decline in green space
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on June 1st, 2011
Guardian: Only 10% of the UK’s allotments remain, according to Defra's national ecosystem assessment. Photograph: Jeff Morgan /Alamy
Maintaining the UK's green spaces would reap at least £30bn a year in health and welfare benefits, according to the first attempt to put a price on the natural environment.
About a third of the UK's natural assets – including green spaces, rivers, wetlands and important wildlife habitats – is in danger of being lost to development or degraded through neglect, says a report...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UK ecosystem assessment warns of decline in green spaceArctic Ocean freshwater will cause ‘unpredictable changes on climate’
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on April 5th, 2011
Guardian: A vast expanse of freshwater in the midst of the Arctic Ocean is set to wreak unpredictable changes on the climate in Europe and North America, new scientific analysis has shown.
The water – comprising meltwater from the ice cap and run off from rivers – is at least twice the volume of Lake Victoria in Africa, and is continuing to grow. At some point huge quantities of this water are likely to flush out of the Arctic Ocean and into the Atlantic, which could have significant impacts on the climate....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Arctic Ocean freshwater will cause ‘unpredictable changes on climate’United Kingdom: Throwing food away sends world’s scarce water gushing down the plughole
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on March 22nd, 2011
Guardian: As consumers throw millions of tonnes of uneaten food into the bin each year, few give a thought to the hidden cost of such waste – the water that it took to grow the food.
But new research shows that we throw away, on average, twice as much water per year in the form of uneaten food as we use for washing and drinking.
What is worse, increasing amounts of our food comes from countries where water is scarce, meaning the food we discard has a huge hidden impact on the depletion of valuable water...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Throwing food away sends world’s scarce water gushing down the plughole