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Archive for October 16th, 2012
Coal Plant Scrubbers Increase Water Contamination in Local Waterways
Posted by Waterkeeper Alliance: None Given on October 16th, 2012
Waterkeeper Alliance: On Sunday, Oct. 14, 70 people gathered on Lake Julian in front of the Asheville coal-fired power plant to protest increased levels of water pollution from the scrubbers at the facility and launch a multi-year campaign to move Asheville Beyond Coal. Photo by Jeff Rich
North Carolina has become the poster child for toxic wastewater pollution from coal fired power plants. In the last 30 days, a staggering array of new information released by environmental groups and a massive Duke University study...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Coal Plant Scrubbers Increase Water Contamination in Local WaterwaysFracking California
Posted by Earthjustice: None Given on October 16th, 2012
Earthjustice: As hundreds of California oil and gas wells undergo dangerous hydraulic fracturing without government oversight, environmental advocates went to court today to force the agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry to abide by the state’s foremost law that protects public health and the environment.
The lawsuit filed today in Alameda County Superior Court charges that the California Department of Conservation, Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) has failed to consider...
Increasingly Severe Droughts Could Transform U.S. Forests, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Severe drought conditions in the southwestern U.S. in recent years could become normal in the years to come, a shift that could trigger increased tree mortality and ultimately transform the region’s forests, a new study says. In an analysis of tree-ring data from conifer trees dating back to A.D. 1000, a team of scientists concluded that while the region endured several “mega-droughts” over the last 1,000 years, the long-term drought that began in the late-1990s could end up being the worst yet and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Increasingly Severe Droughts Could Transform U.S. Forests, Study SaysIs David Axelrod Responsible for Climate Change Ennui?
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on October 16th, 2012
Climate Desk: "It was always going to be the case that whenever the visible reality of climate change became so painfully obvious that you couldn`t deny it any more, that it was going to flip over to a winning issue. The question was: When was that going to happen?"
So spoke Joseph Romm, the former Clinton energy official and popular blogger behind Climate Progress, at the first Climate Desk Live briefing at the Mott House on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Romm and his fellow panelists--strategist Betsy Taylor...
Billions needed to slow loss, report warns
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on October 16th, 2012
Guardian: Hundreds of billions of pounds will need to be spent on preserving the world's biodiversity, if the destruction of habitats, species and natural resources is to be slowed, a new report for the United Nations has found.
But the amounts needed are insignificant compared with the costs of allowing the destruction to continue, according to the study. These costs include water scarcity, declining agricultural productivity, climate change and the exhaustion of fish stocks. Taken together, the perils...
Chasing Ice: Ground Zero of Climate Change
Posted by EcoWatch: Paul E McGinniss on October 16th, 2012
EcoWatch: I have seen ground zero of climate change thanks to the beautiful and disturbing film, Chasing Ice. See a wall of ice taller than any existing building and greater in size than one third of the entire island of Manhattan falling off a 100,000 year old glacier into the sea. Hear a thunderous roar so overwhelming, even on film, that it will leave you utterly speechless. Bear witness to what acclaimed National Geographic photographer, James Balog, the poetic, daredevil explorer subject of Chasing Ice,...
Increased Rainfall Causes Drop in Sea Level?
Posted by Environmental News Network: Allison Winter on October 16th, 2012
Environmental News Network: Current perception of climate change leads us to believe that sea levels are constantly rising due to thermal expansion and melting ice caps. However, from the beginning of 2010 until mid-2011, the average level of the world's oceans dropped by 0.2 inches.
According to a recent study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, this sea level decline was due to an increase in the amount of rainfall in Australia, northern South America and Southeast Asia.
This increase in rainfall led to La...
Record number of SA rhinos killed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2012
BBC: Poachers have already killed a record number of rhinos in South Africa this year, with 455 slaughtered so far, the government has said.
Only 13 rhinos were killed in 2007 but this rose sharply to 448 in 2011 - more than in any previous year.
Poaching is being driven by the soaring price of rhino horn, which is used in traditional medicine in Asian countries such as China and Vietnam.
South Africa has about 20,000 rhinos, or 90% of all the rhinos in Africa.
Most of the rhinos - 272 of...
Keystone XL Pipeline Historic Standoff Continues
Posted by EcoWatch: Candice Bernd, TruthOut on October 16th, 2012
EcoWatch: More than 50 blockaders on Monday tried to enter the site where activists have been holding a historic standoff to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, to expand and support the ongoing Tar Sands Blockade tree village in east Texas.
Several managed to break through police lines to attempt to re-supply activists who have been occupying trees in the pathway of the Keystone XL pipeline since Sept. 24. The rest of the blockaders rallied nearby, blocked by police and TransCanada`s hired security, who had...
Is Obama Really Waging a War on Coal?
Posted by Inside Climate News: Jason Plautz on October 16th, 2012
Inside Climate News: Power plant operators are shuttering aging coal facilities at record rates [3]—a trend presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his supporters pin squarely on EPA air pollution rules. "People in the coal industry feel like it's getting crushed by your policies," Romney told Obama during the first debate. "Stop the War on Coal. Fire Obama [4]" signs dot lawns in coal-producing swing states, and Twitter is full of posts commenting on the "war on coal" refrain [5]. But analysts contend the issue is...