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Archive for June 19th, 2012
Rio+20: mañana, mañana | Editorial
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 19th, 2012
Guardian: How to be fair to the future could be the subheading for most of the critical debates that are keeping the thinking world awake at night. The difficulties of action today and the unknown possibilities of tomorrow both militate against positive action now. And if that is true of the euro crisis, how much truer is it of the global environment? On Wednesday the UN's sustainable development summit in Rio reaches its climax, after two years of negotiation, still mired in the moral and practical difficulties...
‘Earth Summit II’ diplomats agree on ‘weak’ text
Posted by Reuters: Nina Chestney and Valerie Volcovici on June 19th, 2012
Reuters: Diplomats from over 190 countries agreed on a draft text on green global development on Tuesday to be approved this week at a summit in Rio de Janeiro, but environmentalists said the agreement was too weak.
The summit, known as Rio+20 because it comes 20 years after the first Rio environmental summit, is aimed at providing clarity on proposed "sustainable development goals," a loose tripod of economic, environmental and social objectives that proponents believe could help guide global development....
Brazilian dam controversy spills over into ‘Earth Summit II’
Posted by MSNBC: Miguel Llanos on June 19th, 2012
MSNBC: Brazil's biggest infrastructure project -- the $11 billion Belo Monte dam -- is also its most controversial, and one showcased at the international summit on June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro held 20 years after the Earth Summit.
Striking a balance between economic drive and environmental protection is the challenge nations are pondering this week in Brazil at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the U.N.-backed Earth Summit.
Brazil faces that issue in its own backyard -- the Amazon. Deforestation...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Brazilian dam controversy spills over into ‘Earth Summit II’Thomas Lovejoy on Looking for Solutions in the Fight to Preserve Biodiversity
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Roger Cohn on June 19th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: For decades, conservation biologist Thomas Lovejoy has repeatedly warned -- sometimes in dire terms -- about the loss of biodiversity. But Lovejoy, who this week was awarded the prestigious Blue Planet Prize, remains an optimist.
Thomas Lovejoy “There is no point in being unduly pessimistic, because that just guarantees all the bad things will happen,” says Lovejoy, who received the international environmental prize at the Rio+20 summit. Currently a professor at George Mason University, Lovejoy...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Thomas Lovejoy on Looking for Solutions in the Fight to Preserve BiodiversityScientists give world leaders ‘Fs’ on climate change, biodiversity, and desertification
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 19th, 2012
Mongabay: It seems world leaders may need to retake environmental studies. As the Rio+20 Summit on Sustainable Development opens, the scientific journal, Nature, has evaluated the progress made on three treaties signed at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992: climate change, biodiversity decline, and desertification. Unfortunately the publication gives progress on all three treaties an 'F', highlighting how little progress has been made on the global environmental crisis.
Nature point out that world leaders have...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists give world leaders ‘Fs’ on climate change, biodiversity, and desertificationShortages: Water supplies in crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 19th, 2012
BBC: Over the past 40 years the world's population has doubled. Our use of water has quadrupled. Yet the amount of water on Earth has stayed the same.
Less than 1% of the water on planet blue is for humans to drink.
About 2% is locked up in ice. The rest is for the fish.
Seawater is only good to drink for humans who live near the sea and can afford the cash and the energy to take out the salt.
For most of the population this is not an option.
Desalinated water costs maybe 15 times more...
UN sees natural gas a key to forests, helping poor
Posted by Reuters: Jeb Blount on June 19th, 2012
Reuters: Natural gas, including non-traditional shale gas, should play a major role in cutting greenhouse gases, protecting forests and improving the health and living standards of the world's poor, the co-head of a U.N. sustainable energy program said on Monday.
Without it, the U.N.'s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative will have difficulty meeting goals of ensuring universal energy access, doubling the world's share of renewable energy and doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030,...