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Archive for June, 2012
Killing Capitalism in the Name of Self-Defense
Posted by Salty Eggs: Stephanie McMillan on June 27th, 2012
Salty Eggs: Global capitalism is killing the planet. It is turning the living world into dead commodities by exploiting the many for the profit of a few.
Ecocide is the most urgent and immediate problem we face. If we don’t solve it, nothing else will matter. Economic troubles (not to mention our personal issues) will seem trivial. The ability of the planet to sustain life of any kind is becoming increasingly threatened.
It may already be too late to avoid runaway global warming; and it’s certainly too...
Colorado wildfire worsens, forcing 7,000 more from homes
Posted by Reuters: Keith Coffman on June 27th, 2012
Reuters: A monster Colorado wildfire raging near some of the most visited tourist areas in the state took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as hot winds pushed flames north, prompting the evacuation of 7,000 more people, officials said.
Colorado's so-called Waldo Canyon fire sent a mushroom cloud of smoke nearly 20,000 feet into the air over Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak, whose breathtaking vistas from the summit helped inspire the song "America the Beautiful".
Closer to the blaze, which has been fanned...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Colorado wildfire worsens, forcing 7,000 more from homesActivists in Texas organizing blockade against Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Truthout: Candice Bernd on June 26th, 2012
Truthout: The deadline for the review of TransCanada's permits for the Gulf Coast portion of the Keystone XL pipeline was Monday, June 25, at the Texas Army Corp of Engineers Galveston office and without any finalization of review, those permits will be automatically granted to the corporation - thanks to President Obama's announcement that he would expedite the southern leg of the pipeline in Cushing, Oklahoma, back in March. That's why Texas climate justice activists, including myself, are officially announcing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Activists in Texas organizing blockade against Keystone XL pipelineBrazil’s environmental leadership at risk, warn scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 26th, 2012
Mongabay: The Brazilian government is putting its global environmental leadership at risk by ignoring scientific concern on large infrastructure projects and changes in the country's forest laws, warned an association of more than 1,200 tropical scientists gathering last week in Bonito, Brazil on the heels of the disappointing Rio+20 Earth Summit.
While world leaders convened in Rio de Janeiro for the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development scientists from 48 countries met at the 49th annual meeting...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil’s environmental leadership at risk, warn scientistsFighting Western wildfires: Does Forest Service have enough air power?
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Gloria Goodale on June 26th, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: As large fires scorch vast tracts of land from Alaska to Colorado and Arkansas, the debate over the nation’s fire-fighting preparedness is also heating up.
The air tanker fleet tasked with the most dangerous mega-fire tasks – think dropping tons of fire-retardant into remote and steep canyons – is under particular scrutiny. Pointing to the fleet’s decade-long decline from some 44 tankers in 2002 to nine at the start of the 2012 fire season, one critic is calling the current situation an “air tanker...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fighting Western wildfires: Does Forest Service have enough air power?Australia: Climate change taking hold, summit hears
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 26th, 2012
AAP: NATIONAL Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) director Jean Palutikof says mankind has a lot of work to do to ensure it copes with the turbulence of a shifting climate.
"(Climate change) is insidious and essentially non-linear, and has the capacity to deliver shocks and surprises which we are currently not well protected against," Professor Palutikof told the Climate Adaption in Action conference in Melbourne on Tuesday.
"Decision makers in government, business and the community...
New Jersey Senate Bans Treatment of Fracking Waste
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2012
New York Times: New Jersey legislators approved legislation on Monday banning the treatment or storage of fracking waste in the state.
The natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is not taking place in New Jersey. But legislators and environmentalists are concerned about the state’s proximity to Pennsylvania, a shale gas fracking hot spot that sends some drill cuttings and waste water to nearby states, including New York, for processing and treatment. New York is also currently...
Dams are ‘centerpiece of greenwashing’ in the Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2012
Mongabay: Brazil's ambitious plans to build 30 dams in the Amazon basin could trump the country's efforts to protect the world's largest rainforest, said a leading Amazon scientist speaking at the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) in Bonito, Brazil.
Philip Fearnside of Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia in Manaus, warned that contrary to claims put forth by proponents, dams in the Amazon aren't a source of green energy. Nor do they offer good returns...
Climate Change: Waiting for a Catastrophic Wake-Up Call
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Disasters are the new midwives of history. But in order to play this role, they need to be catastrophic, like the accidents in Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 that led governments to suspend and even abolish their nuclear energy programs.
Awareness of environmental deterioration is awakened by major disasters like the one caused in Cuba by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Credit: Patricia Grogg/IPS
To spur real action on climate change, a disaster would have to be serious enough to change people's...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change: Waiting for a Catastrophic Wake-Up CallSan Onofre nuclear plant’s uncertain future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 25th, 2012
LA Times: These are dark days at the San Onofre nuclear plant just south of Orange County. Both of its reactors have been shut down for more than four months, when abnormal "thinning" was discovered in the tubes of recently installed steam generators. Neither reactor will come back on line this summer, and after that, it's still unclear whether one or both will be switched on again and if so, at full power or partial -- or whether they'll stay shut for the foreseeable future.
On Monday, the Nuclear Regulatory...