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Archive for November, 2010
Tories play down accusation of ‘con job’ on oilsands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2010
Postmedia News: The Harper government played down opposition accusations Monday that it was running a "con job" to lobby against climate change policies abroad affecting the oilsands industry. Instead, the government said it is trying to "work with industry."
"The stupidest thing you can do is to run against an industry that is providing employment for hundreds of thousands of Canadians, not just in Alberta, but right across the country," said Environment Minister John Baird in the House of Commons in response...
‘War on coal’ pits miners against environmentalists
Posted by on November 22nd, 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A constellation of 508 red dots stretches across a wall map in the office of Bruce Nilles, one for every power plant now burning coal in the United States. It is his job to make these stars go dark, one by one.
The director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign is a skinny Wisconsinite who bikes to work at the environmental group's warren of offices in adjoining Capitol Hill townhouses. He has no illusions that America can stop burning coal tomorrow, or even 10 years from now, and still generate...
Haiti’s cholera epidemic caused by weather, say scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2010
Guardian: Haiti's cholera epidemic caused by weather, say scientists
SciDev.Net: The La Niña weather phenomenon plus the plunge in water and sanitation quality following January's earthquake may be to blame for the outbreak
Weather conditions -- not UN soldiers -- may have triggered Haiti's cholera epidemic, which has killed more than 1,000 people in less than a month, three leading researchers have told SciDevNet.
A coincidence of several catastrophic events -- from climatic changes caused by the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Haiti’s cholera epidemic caused by weather, say scientistsPakistan floods wake-up call to growing disasters
Posted by Washington Post: Sebastian Abbot on November 22nd, 2010
Washington Post: The U.S. and other countries must recognize the threat represented by the massive floods that hit Pakistan earlier this year and increase preparation for a growing number of natural disasters caused by climate change, a new report said Monday.
It is estimated that as many as 200 million people will be displaced by natural disasters and climate change around the world by 2050, said the report by Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International. The world's poorest and most crisis-prone countries will...
Pakistan floods wake-up call to growing disasters
Posted by Associated Press: Sebastian Abbot on November 22nd, 2010
Associated Press: The U.S. and other countries must recognize the threat represented by the massive floods that hit Pakistan earlier this year and increase preparation for a growing number of natural disasters caused by climate change, a new report said Monday.
It is estimated that as many as 200 million people will be displaced by natural disasters and climate change around the world by 2050, said the report by Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International. The world's poorest and most crisis-prone countries will...
Pakistan floods wake-up call to growing disasters
Posted by Associated Press: Sebastian Abbot on November 22nd, 2010
Associated Press: The U.S. and other countries must recognize the threat represented by the massive floods that hit Pakistan earlier this year and increase preparation for a growing number of natural disasters caused by climate change, a new report said Monday.
It is estimated that as many as 200 million people will be displaced by natural disasters and climate change around the world by 2050, said the report by Washington, D.C.-based Refugees International. The world's poorest and most crisis-prone countries will...
Environmental justice issues take center stage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2010
Washington Post: The winding Mataponi Creek looks clear in the sunlight, with marsh grasses lining its banks. But some of the coal ash waste from a nearby power plant is also coursing through its waters, and residents are worried it is contaminating their well water.
The area around the Brandywine ash storage site - where waste from Mirant Mid-Atlantic's Chalk Point plant containing carcinogens and heavy metals ends up - is a fairly rural community, with residents who are far from politically active and have little...
Siberia’s Climate Time Bomb: Thawing Permafrost Could Spell Disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2010
Associated Press: The Russian scientist shuffles across the frozen lake, scuffing aside ankle-deep snow until he finds a cluster of bubbles trapped under the ice. With a cigarette lighter in one hand and a knife in the other, he lances the ice like a blister. Methane whooshes out and bursts into a thin blue flame.
Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Siberia’s Climate Time Bomb: Thawing Permafrost Could Spell DisasterSouth Dakota’s blizzard of bad weather
Posted by New York Times: A. G. Sulzberger on November 21st, 2010
New York Times: The storm slammed into this dusty prairie town with the clatter of falling bricks. Hail shattered windows, punched holes in roofs and mangled cars. The clumps of ice were left to melt, but one, an unusual spiked orb the size of a cantaloupe, was preserved in the freezer of an old ranch hand. Locals later claimed that it was not even the largest hailstone to fall that day, and added that it had shrunk a bit while in the freezer before electricity was restored. But when the official measurements were...
Illinois’ first clean coal project faces judgement day
Posted by St. Louis Today: Jeffrey Tomich on November 21st, 2010
St. Louis Today: Backers and critics of the proposed Taylorville Energy Center are ratcheting up campaigns to win legislative support as Illinois' first clean-coal project faces judgment day in Springfield.
Planning for the $3.5 billion clean-coal plant in Christian County has been ongoing for years, and work is finally scheduled to begin in mid-2011. First, the Legislature must give its OK - for a second time.
The Legislature is being asked to approve above-market prices for electricity produced at Taylorville,...