RSS Feed
Archive for July, 2011
Saving owls and salmon also stores carbon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2011
Associated Press: Study: Saving owls and salmon also stores carbon
A new study finds that court-ordered logging cutbacks to save spotted owls and salmon from extinction have also helped the climate by storing more carbon. A new study finds that court-ordered logging cutbacks to save spotted owls and salmon from extinction have also helped the climate by storing more carbon.
Researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University found that reducing timber production by more than 80 percent on national...
Contaminated river in China sparks panic buying of water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2011
Reuters: Residue from a manganese plant has flooded a river in a city in the southwestern province of Sichuan, contaminating the main source of drinking water and sparking panic-buying of bottled water, state media said on Wednesday.
Residue from the Xichuan Minjiang Electrolytic Manganese Plant in Aba prefecture -- a heavily ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province next to the Tibet Autonomous Region -- was washed into the Fujiang river by heavy rain last Thursday.
The river is the source of drinking...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Contaminated river in China sparks panic buying of waterAustralia: Police arrest Greenpeace protesters
Posted by Brisbane Times: Chi Tranter and Isabel Hayes on July 27th, 2011
Brisbane Times: A developer has promised to audit and remove any illegally logged timber from a worksite after a protest at a Sydney building site ended in several arrests.
Seven Greenpeace activists scaled a 50-metre crane at the No 1 Central Park development site at Chippendale at 7am (AEST) on Wednesday and unfurled a large banner reading "Stop Illegal Timber".
They were protesting against the use of plywood allegedly made from trees illegally cut down in the rainforests of Malaysian Borneo.
Greenpeace...
Climate change threatens world security
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2011
Agence France-Presse: Climate change is generating an "unholy brew" of extreme weather events that threaten global security, the UN chief said as the Security Council recognized the issue's potential effect on world peace.
But the 15-member council apparently failed to agree on whether climate change itself was a direct threat to international peace and security, even after a rebuke by the United States which described the lack of consensus as "pathetic."
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged concerted action and...
Bolivian president denounces water privatisation
Posted by Inter Press Service: Haider Rizvi on July 27th, 2011
Inter Press Service: "Water is life. Water is humanity. How could it be part of the private business?" asked Bolivian President Evo Morales Wednesday, stressing the social and economic consequences of the growing trend of private ownership over water supply and delivery systems in many parts of the world.
Morales, the first-ever indigenous president of Bolivia and an outspoken advocate of the rights of "Mother Earth", also criticised capitalist countries of the North for failing to adopt a rights-based approach towards...
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...