RSS Feed
Archive for September, 2011
Ottawa’s ‘ethical’ oil sands campaign heats up
Posted by Globe & Mail: Campbell Clark AND Nathan Vanderklippe on September 27th, 2011
Globe & Mail: A global battle over the reputation of Alberta's oil sands is coming to a head. Ottawa is deploying heavy diplomatic guns, on both sides of the Atlantic, to the debate over whether it will be treated as an ethical source for a world that needs oil, or a polluting pariah.
Stephen Harper's chummy relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron has begun to yield a friendlier view toward the oil sands, a potential influence in the fight over European standards that could label Alberta oil...
India: Kashmiris Hail Hague Stay on Dam
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Inter Press Service: A ruling by the International Court of Arbitration (ICA) at The Hague, staying construction of a dam across a river that flows into Pakistan, has brought cheer to the tribal people who live around the site.
"If the ruling of the international court actually stops construction activity I would be the happiest man alive," Abdul Majeed Najar, a farmer, told IPS. "We do not want to be relocated from our ancestral lands."
Few would want to move out of this idyllic, alpine valley - that stretches...
United Kingdom: Canada geese, an invasive species soon to be culled
Posted by Guardian: Catherine Vincent on September 27th, 2011
Guardian: Once a protected species, Canada geese (Branta canadensis) may soon become a target for hunters. There are certainly so many of them in France that they are beginning to pose a threat to wetland biodiversity. On 6 September, the day before the shooting season opened in France, the National Hunters Federation (FNC) repeated its determination to have the geese put back on the list of waterfowl that can be hunted. But is this the right answer?
The Canada goose is the largest goose found in Europe....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: Canada geese, an invasive species soon to be culledThe Pioneers of Our Climate, Water and Food Security
Posted by Common Dreams: Peter Bosshard on September 27th, 2011
Common Dreams: When the World Commission on Dams reviewed the development effectiveness of dams, multipurpose projects with large dams, power plants and irrigation schemes had the worst social, environmental and economic track record. As the world is grappling for appropriate answers to climate change, influential actors such as the World Bank want to give these complex schemes a second chance. They are wrong. While we need to integrate the concerns of climate change, water, energy and food security, we don't need...
Changing Kenyan climate threatens traditional rainmakers
Posted by AlertNet: Gitonga Njeru on September 27th, 2011
AlertNet: In the face of erratic rainfall patterns, persistent droughts and poor food production, many Kenyan farmers are struggling to maintain their livelihoods.
But another group is also finding itself a casualty of the country's unpredictable weather -rainmakers.
A traditional and familiar part of agricultural life in western Kenya, rainmakers have long been called upon to predict the coming of rain so farmers will know when to sow their crops.
But many are finding their skills short-circuited...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Changing Kenyan climate threatens traditional rainmakersKeystone XL pipeline: US state department floated two-year delay
Posted by InsideClimate News: David Sassoon on September 27th, 2011
InsideClimate News: In June of 2010, in the midst of the BP Gulf oil disaster, someone deep in the bowels of the U.S. State Department was considering a two-year delay in the Keystone XL pipeline project, according to documents released last week. Public concerns about the oil industry were peaking, and the $7 billion Canada-to-Texas oil sands pipeline, which had looked like a shoo-in at the beginning of 2010, was getting a closer look. At one point, the State Department even asked a lawyer for TransCanada, the Alberta-based...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL pipeline: US state department floated two-year delaySigns of Climate Change: Arctic Ice Is Vanishing Fast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Time Magazine: If you want to witness climate change, just head north - and keep going until you run out of globe. Of course, that's easier said than done; the Arctic is a forbidding, isolated area, short of people and encased in ice much of the year. But those who make their way to places like Barrow, Ala. - the northernmost point of the U.S. - or the icy seas of the Arctic Ocean will witness a part of the planet that is warming and changing faster than anywhere else. While the world as a whole warmed by about...
Keystone pipeline hearing draws supporters, few critics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Reuters: Supporters outnumbered critics at a government-sponsored hearing on the proposed TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline that would ship oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.
Monday's hearing in Port Arthur was the first of several public hearings to be held regarding the pipeline, which has already raised large protests in Canada and the United States.
Opponents say the $7 billion project will threaten an important U.S. water supply, while supporters say it will bring needed jobs and lessen...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone pipeline hearing draws supporters, few criticsUK accused of ignoring crisis in the Arctic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Independent: Britain needs to pay far more attention to the Arctic and the "new world" of the Far North, a group of experts warned yesterday.
Government ministers are showing no interest in the region David Cameron chose to define his image -- on his celebrated sled-and-husky trip after he became Conservative leader -- even though it is now one of the most rapidly changing areas of the world. It presents many opportunities but also looming environmental and diplomatic difficulties, the conference in London,...
River basins could double food production: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 27th, 2011
Reuters: Major river basins in Africa, Asia and Latin America could sustainably double food production in some of the poorest parts of the globe in the next few decades, water experts reported on Monday. But myriad competing claims on the water -- from industry, cities and power producers among others -- may stand in the way of a big increase in food production. Scientists in 30 countries spent five years analyzing river basins that cover a total of 5.2 million square miles (13.5 million square km) and...