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Archive for October, 2012
Greens blast Romney, Obama on climate as Sandy hits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: The White House hopeful of the Green Party on Monday accused President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney of failing to address climate change as Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast.
"The Republicans and Democrats each talk about the election of the other party as the end of the world; maybe they're right," the Green candidate, physician Jill Stein, said in a statement.
"Hurricane Sandy is not the first warning we've had; let's not let there be another such warning before we...
China to raise environmental bar for mining projects: association
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2012
Reuters: China is expected to issue new guidelines by the end of the year to encourage metals miners to conserve domestic resources and protect the environment, a director at the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association said on Tuesday.
Hu Changping, director of heavy metals at the association, said Beijing aims to tighten the requirements on firms allowed to mine metals and will announce the guidelines before the end of this year.
"Copper, lead and zinc mines will be included," Hu told Reuters...
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Posted by MSNBC: Ian Johnston and M. Alex Johnson on October 30th, 2012
MSNBC: President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in parts of New York state Tuesday as superstorm Sandy pounded the Northeast coast, sweeping homes out into the ocean, flooding New York City subway tunnels and leaving millions without power.
In New Jersey, rising waters sparked an alert at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant while Geanne Baratta, chief of the Bergen County Executive, told Reuters that the towns of Moonachie, Little Ferry and Carlstadt had been "devastated" by the sudden arrival...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sandy Slams Northeast: NJ Levee Topped and Homes Swept AwayU.S. Nuclear Plant Declares ‘Alert’ After Sandy Storm Surge: NRC
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2012
Reuters: Exelon Corp declared an "alert" at its New Jersey Oyster Creek nuclear power plant due to a record storm surge, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said, warning that a further water rise could force the country's oldest working plant to use emergency water supplies to cool spent uranium fuel rods.
The alert -- the second lowest of four NRC action levels -- came after water levels at the plant rose by more than 6.5 feet, potentially affecting the pumps that circulate water through the plant, an...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Nuclear Plant Declares ‘Alert’ After Sandy Storm Surge: NRCUnited States: Hurricane Sandy has drowned the New York I love
Posted by Guardian: Bill McKibben on October 30th, 2012
Guardian: New York is the city I love best, and I'm trying to imagine it from a distance tonight. The lurid, flash-lit instagram images of floating cars in Alphabet City or water pouring out of the East River into Dumbo, the reports of bridges to the Howard Beach submerging and facades falling off apartment houses – it all stings. It's as horrible in its very different way as watching 9/11.
But it's the subways I keep coming back to, trying to see in my mind's eye what must be a dark, scary struggle to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Hurricane Sandy has drowned the New York I loveNew York City floods as Sandy slams into eastern U.S.
Posted by Reuters: Anna Louie Sussman and Michael Erman on October 30th, 2012
Reuters: Millions of people across the eastern United States awoke on Tuesday to scenes of destruction wrought by monster storm Sandy, which knocked out power to huge swathes of the nation's most densely populated region, swamped New York's subway system and submerged streets in Manhattan's financial district.
At least 15 people were reported killed in the United States by Sandy, one of the biggest storms to ever hit the country, which dropped just below hurricane status before making landfall on Monday...
Hurricane Sandy Pummels East Coast
Posted by New York Times: James Barron and Brian Stelter on October 29th, 2012
New York Times: Hurricane Sandy churned relentlessly through the Atlantic Ocean on Monday on the way to carving what forecasters agreed would be a devastating path on land that is expected to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states, with extensive evacuations, once-in-a-generation flooding, widespread power failures and disruptions of mass transit. The huge storm, which picked up speed over the water on Monday morning, was producing sustained winds of 90 miles per hour, up from 75...
‘Frankenstorm’: Why climate change will not be denied in this election
Posted by Washington Post: Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite on October 29th, 2012
Washington Post: The false controversy created by climate change deniers has stymied government action on environmental issues and is a contributing factor to the deafening silence on climate change in the presidential election debates for "the first time in a generation.'
A Halloween week hurricane, dubbed a "Frankenstorm' by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has just changed that.
Deny it or not, violent, erratic climate events are happening and they are destroying lives and property. Climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘Frankenstorm’: Why climate change will not be denied in this electionSouthern U.S. States Inch Towards Renewable Energy
Posted by Inter Press Service: Matthew Cardinale on October 29th, 2012
Inter Press Service: - With the U.S. East Coast virtually shutting down Monday with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, the broader debate over transitioning to cleaner energy sources and slowing, if not halting, climate change is taking on ever greater urgency.
While some parts of the U.S. have been made significant strides towards such a shift, the south has generally lagged behind. That remains the case, but recent signs suggest that utility companies and even Republican officials are beginning to change their tune....
Yes, Hurricane Sandy is a good reason to worry about climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Brad Plumer on October 29th, 2012
Washington Post: Every time a major natural disaster barrels along, people want to know whether it has anything to do with global warming. Is climate change causing this storm? That drought? Will we see more disasters like it if the planet keeps warming?
When it comes to tropical cyclones like Hurricane Sandy, the climate links can be somewhat difficult to pin down. On the one hand, humans have warmed the planet about 0.8°C since the Industrial Revolution. As Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric...
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