RSS Feed
Archive for November 8th, 2011
Climate Change Disasters Cost US $14 Billion In Past Decade
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2011
redOrbit: Researchers said on Monday that deaths and health problems from floods, drought and other U.S. disasters related to climate change cost $14 billion in the past decade.
The study looked at the cost of human suffering and loss of life due to six disasters from 2000 through 2009.
"When extreme weather hits, we hear about the property damage and insurance costs," Kim Knowlton, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. "The healthcare...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate Change Disasters Cost US $14 Billion In Past DecadeMont. oil-fouled debris from Exxon being torched
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2011
Associated Press: State workers set fire to an oil-tainted logjam on an island along the Yellowstone River on Tuesday, the last of dozens of debris piles smeared with crude from an Exxon Mobil pipeline break that dumped 42,000 gallons of oil into the waterway.
Two employees of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Derek Yeager and Matt Wolcott, used drip torches to ignite the woody debris as Exxon Mobil contractors looked on.
With a blast of heat and a spiral of smoke, the fire spread...
Keystone Pipeline bad for the U.S. and the Earth
Posted by Missoulian: None Given on November 8th, 2011
Missoulian: Are projects that make climate change worse - like the Keystone XL Pipeline - in the national interest? Not if short-term expedience creates long-term disaster.
The 1,711-mile-long, yard-wide KXL would transport oil from underneath Alberta's boreal forests to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. The oil would most likely be exported from there.
One long-term cost of KXL is its contribution to raising the Earth's temperature. Burning fossil fuel carried in the pipeline produces carbon dioxide....
Algae helps power flight to Chicago
Posted by Houston Chronicle: Jenalia Moreno, on November 8th, 2011
Houston Chronicle: Airplane fueler Monte Hawkins filled the tank in the wing of a United Continental Holdings jet Monday morning with fuel derived partly from algae as the plane prepared to take off into history.
The Boeing 737-800's flight from Houston was the first by a U.S. carrier to include passengers on a plane powered by a blend that included algae-based biofuel along with conventional petroleum-based jet fuel.
The flight left Bush Intercontinental Airport bound for Chicago O'Hare International Airport....
Activists fired up against coal plants
Posted by IOL: Kristen van Schie on November 8th, 2011
IOL: A Greenpeace activist takes the opportunity, at the Ogies police station, to get the message across regarding the pollution that coal plants generate, after being arrested for climbing a crane inside the Kusile power plant. Photo: Shayne Robinson
The activists arrived at the construction site at dawn, and chained themselves to the front gate.
But as police and security guards got to work with a bolt cutter, a smaller group had made its way through a back entrance.
The crane was unguarded....
Health cost of 6 US climate disasters: $14 billion
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2011
Reuters: Deaths and health problems from floods, drought and other U.S. disasters related to climate change cost an estimated $14 billion over the last decade, researchers said on Monday.
"When extreme weather hits, we hear about the property damage and insurance costs," said Kim Knowlton, a senior scientist at Natural Resources Defense Council and a co-author of the study. "The healthcare costs never end up on the tab."
The study in the journal Health Affairs looked at the cost of human suffering and...
Water quality meets EU standards at 90% of UK beaches, figures show
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2011
Guardian: Nine out of 10 beaches and bathing spots in England and Wales met EU standards for water quality in 2011, new government figures show. But campaigners claimed "meeting an outdated and inadequate standard is nothing to shout about".
Statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh government show that just 10 out of 502 beaches and inland bathing sites in the two countries failed basic water quality standards. A record 89% of the bathing waters, a total...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Water quality meets EU standards at 90% of UK beaches, figures showFracking go-ahead despite new fears
Posted by Independent: Tom Bawden on November 8th, 2011
Independent: Plans to extract gas using a controversial method linked to an increase in earthquakes have been given the go-ahead in Scotland for the first time.
The practice of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale rock, to release the gas it holds.
An independent geological report recently found that fracking had triggered two minor earthquakes on the Lancashire coast earlier this year.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency has...
It’s not just the ozone layer at stake: Natural disasters create billions in health costs
Posted by Mail Online: Nadia Gilani on November 8th, 2011
Mail Online: Natural disasters linked to climate change not only result in physical damage but create significant health costs in terms of medical treatment and lives lost, according to a new study.
The study compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published yesterday looked at six of the most recent natural disasters in the U.S.
The study in the Health Affairs journal used case studies including the West Nile virus outbreak in Louisiana in 2002, the California heat wave in 2006 and the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on It’s not just the ozone layer at stake: Natural disasters create billions in health costsKeystone pipeline: State Department agrees to investigate charges
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2011
Guardian: The State Department has agreed to an independent investigation of its handling of the Keystone XL pipeline, after charges of influence peddling and conflict of interest from environmental groups and members of Congress.
In a memo, the State Department inspector general's office appointed a senior official to review charges that the oil industry exerted too much weight over decisions about the pipeline project.
Opponents of the pipeline say the State Department rushed through an environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone pipeline: State Department agrees to investigate charges