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Archive for July 26th, 2011
U.S. cities face water-related climate change dangers: study
Posted by Reuters: Lauren Keiper on July 26th, 2011
Reuters: Rising sea waters may threaten U.S. coastal cities later this century, while the Midwest and East Coast are at high risk for intense storms, and the West could see compromised water supplies.
These are among the expected water-related effects of climate change on 12 cities across the nation over the remainder of the century, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
"A lot of people think of climate change in the global context, but they don't think...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on U.S. cities face water-related climate change dangers: studyAfrican land grab threatens food security: study
Posted by Reuters: Christine Stebbins on July 26th, 2011
Reuters: Rich countries grabbing farmland in Africa to feed their growing populations can leave rural populations there without land or jobs and make the continent's hunger problem more severe, an environmental think tank said on Tuesday.
The trend is accelerating as wealthier countries in the Middle East and Asia, particularly China, seek new land to plant crops, lacking enough fertile ground to meet their own food needs, Washington DC-based Worldwatch Institute said.
Worldwatch said its researchers...
Is Your City Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change on Its Water Resources?
Posted by Huffington Post: Steve Fleischli on July 26th, 2011
Huffington Post: As conservation planners in Oregon like to say, there's a slow-moving tsunami headed our way.
In some cities, this could come in the form of rising seas that might take decades to flood our shores. In other cities, it could come from rivers overflowing their banks because of more intense storms. For others, it may come not as a torrent of water at all -- but as waves of more frequent and prolonged drought, as rains decrease and rivers dry up. This year we've seen an onslaught of such disasters,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Is Your City Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change on Its Water Resources?Climate Change Could Release Toxins Trapped In Arctic Ice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2011
Huffington Post: Despite a global decrease in the production of certain toxic chemicals, we may be in for an onslaught.
That’s because rising global temperatures are causing the release of persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT and PCBs, which have been locked in arctic ice for more than half a century.
Although the chemicals were created to provide societal benefits, such as killing mosquitoes and protecting crops, it didn’t take long for scientists to see they were having devastating effects on the environment....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change Could Release Toxins Trapped In Arctic IceEthics policy quantifies oil industry-gov’t ties
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2011
Associated Press: The number of individuals in Gulf coast district offices of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement who requested to be recused from duties, and who were granted recusals, because of conflicts of interest or previous employment. To be recused because of prior employment the person would have had to work for the company within 2 years of the date they were hired by the government.
Lake Jackson, Texas
No. of individuals: 18
Recused based on past employment: 1
Recused...
United Kingdom: Planning changes could lead to tearing up of countryside, National Trust warns
Posted by Guardian: Robert Booth and John Vidal on July 26th, 2011
Guardian: London's green belt could be sacrificed to Los Angeles-style urban sprawl in the name of economic growth under sweeping reforms to the planning system unveiled by the government this week, the National Trust has warned.
The 3.6 million-member organisation voiced "grave concerns" on Tuesday over government proposals to slash 1,000 pages of planning policy to just 52 pages in a move that has won the ringing endorsement of property developers.
Opponents claim the new draft policy effectively removes...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Planning changes could lead to tearing up of countryside, National Trust warnsDepartment of Energy Prepares to Take the Floor in the Nation’s ‘Fracking’ Debate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2011
ClimateWire: When talking about his department's role in steering U.S. energy policy, Energy Secretary Steven Chu likes to recall its role in last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's true that we had no jurisdictional or regulatory authority in the deepwater spill," Chu said in an interview with ClimateWire late last week. "We played a different role. We helped stop the leak."
Chu's behind-the-scenes war room is widely credited with bringing order to chaos in the aftermath of the BP PLC Macondo...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Department of Energy Prepares to Take the Floor in the Nation’s ‘Fracking’ DebateDroughts do not happen overnight
Posted by Indepth News: Ramesh Jaura on July 26th, 2011
Indepth News: As the international community struggles to provide all possible assistance to more than 11 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya – adversely affected by the lack of food and long spell of drought – Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Luc Gnacadja, has drawn attention to an often ignored fact that "droughts do not happen overnight."
UNCCD emerged from the Earth Summit in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, along with the UN Framework Convention...
Planning overhaul ‘damage’ feared
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2011
BBC: A proposed planning system overhaul in England could lead to "unchecked and damaging development", campaigners say.
The draft National Planning Policy Framework introduces a "presumption in favour of sustainable development".
The Campaign to Protect Rural England said it feared "grave" consequences. The National Trust said the government was "putting short term financial gain ahead of everything else".
Planning minister Greg Clark has said a "simpler, swifter" system is needed.
The framework...
Australia: Report warns of climate change devastation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2011
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Australian Climate Commission says the Illawarra region, on the New South Wales south coast, is facing devastating bushfires, floods and loss of biodiversity by the year 2100 if it does not act on climate change.
The commission has released its report today into the impact of climate change in the region, titled The Critical Decade: Illawarra and South Coast Impacts.
The report highlights the key impacts by increased rainfall, rising temperatures and sea levels over the next century.
The...