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Archive for January 31st, 2012
Record Warmth in Eastern U.S.; Temps Tumble in Alaska
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 31st, 2012
Climate Central: While Alaska continues to to suffer from record cold and snow, much of the rest of the country continues to experience a year without winter.
This week, it's likely that warm temperature records will be broken throughout the eastern U.S., with forecast highs in New York City approaching 60°F on Tuesday and Wednesday, and reaching the mid-60s in Washington, D.C. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), record highs may also be set today in Islip, N.Y., and Bridgeport, CT.
Satellite image...
Brazilian mining company connected to Belo Monte dam voted worst corporation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 31st, 2012
Mongabay: The world's second largest mining company, Vale, has been given the dubious honor of being voted the world's most awful corporation in terms of human rights abuses and environmental destruction by the Public Eye Awards. Vale received over 25,000 votes online, likely prompted in part by its stake in the hugely controversial Brazilian mega-dam, Belo Monte, which is being constructed on the Xingu River. An expert panel gave a second award to British bank Barclay's for speculation on food prices, which...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Brazilian mining company connected to Belo Monte dam voted worst corporationReclaimed Wastewater for Drinking: Safe But Still A Tough Sell
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 31st, 2012
National Geographic: This story is part of a special National Geographic News series on global water issues.
Water filtration technology has advanced to the point where wastewater can be rendered safe for drinking, according to a new report, but legislative and psychological hurdles will need to be overcome before widespread adoption can happen.
"Expanding water reuse could significantly increase the nation's water resource, particularly in coastal communities," said Rhodes Trussell, president of Trussell Technologies...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Reclaimed Wastewater for Drinking: Safe But Still A Tough SellDrought May Cause Shutdown of Texas Rice Production
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 31st, 2012
Climate Central: Although recent rains have put a dent in the Texas drought, a day of reckoning looms for the state's long-grain rice growers, who pump millions into the economy in Southeast Texas each year and account for about 5 percent of America's rice production. Come March 1, if there is less than 850,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, water managers will be forced to take the unprecedented step of withholding water from agricultural users, which will mean severe cuts to Texas...
Canada: Climate change shrinking forests in 3 prairie provinces
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 31st, 2012
Canadian Press: Research shows northern forests in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are drying up and shrinking from drought caused by climate change, while the eastern boreal forest is holding its own.
A paper published Monday suggests the forests in those provinces are already emitting more greenhouse gases than they absorb.
The finding could overturn assumptions that global warming would improve growing conditions for trees in the North.
"We found the boreal east and the boreal west is a totally different...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Climate change shrinking forests in 3 prairie provincesChina’s largest freshwater lake dries up
Posted by Guardian: Harold Thibault on January 31st, 2012
Guardian: For visitors expecting to see China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang is a desolate spectacle. Under normal circumstances it covers 3,500 sq km, but last month only 200 sq km were underwater. A dried-out plain stretches as far as the eye can see, leaving a pagoda perched on top of a hillock that is usually a little island. Wrapped in the mist characteristic of the lower reaches of the Yangtze river, the barges are moored close to the quayside beside a pitiful trickle of water. There is no work for...
Northern Gateway Pipeline review board in focus
Posted by Vancouver Observer: Alexis Stoymenoff on January 31st, 2012
Vancouver Observer: With regulatory hearings underway regarding the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline project, the three individuals on the government-appointed Joint Review Panel are responsible for making the final recommendation. But who are the panelists, and why were they chosen?
With growing worldwide concern over global warming, Enbridge’s controversial oil sands pipeline has now become an international issue. In addition to the oil sands’ contributions to climate change, critics have raised serious...
EARTH MEANDERS: On Violence and Earth Revolution
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on January 31st, 2012
Imagining the human family coming together to take well considered, decisive, and minimally or non-violent action to sustain global ecology
By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet
Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk
Human Familys Ecocidal Death Wish
The ecological foundation of being is unraveling before our very eyes. Without ecosystems there is no life. Fiercely loving Earth is the answer. Let's sustain global ecology together like our shared survival and abundance depends upon it. And while we set out using classic civil disobedience tactics, lets not dismiss out of hand any obstruction, uncivil disobedience, sabotage and targeted insurgency tactics that are non-terrorist and that may be necessary to achieve global ecological sustainability. The human familys shared survival depends upon passionately defending Earth using all means necessary.
Earth's ecosystems are collapsing under the burden of human growth, destroying our one shared biosphere that makes life possible. Industrial growth frantically destroying ecosystems to feed insatiable, ever-growing appetites is an aberration, a mistake, a disease. If left untreated, this will be the end of the human family, all life, and Earth's very being. Infinite economic growth at the expense of ecosystems is impossible, and seeking endless and inequitable growth in consumption and population ...
Salty soils drive Tanzanian farmers into forest reserve
Posted by AlertNet: Kizito Makoye on January 31st, 2012
AlertNet: Thousands of farmers in Tanzania's Rufiji Delta have been accused of destroying mangroves as they search for new land to grow their rice crops, which are being damaged by salt-water intrusion.
The salt water, pushed inland by surging tides from the Indian Ocean, is damaging fields of rice seedlings. Farmers in several villages in the river basin, which sprawls across the east African nation's southern half, have seen yields fall as a result.
With thousands of hectares affected by saline intrusion,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Salty soils drive Tanzanian farmers into forest reserveUnited Kingdom: Flooding: 200,000 house at risk of being uninsurable
Posted by Telegraph: Telegraph Staff on January 31st, 2012
Telegraph: Responding to the Committee's report Flood risk management in England, Simon Douglas, director of broker AA Insurance, said, "Flood protection is a national priority, yet many people in flood-prone areas may find their homes difficult to insure from later this year.
"People want the government to take decisive action now, to ensure that their homes are protected.
"But that's not happening with the Environment Agency's budget cut by 10pc. What's more, the Department for Environment, Food and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Flooding: 200,000 house at risk of being uninsurable