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Archive for November, 2012
Straw poll finds in favour of western Kenya’s water and carbon solution
Posted by Guardian: Clar Ni Chonghaile on November 29th, 2012
Guardian: Judy Sitati is going to a funeral. She is dressed in her best clothes and in her black handbag she carries a bottle of water. It is clear and safe – the product of a unique project financed by carbon credits.
"I used to buy firewood to boil water. I would spend 150 shillings [about £1] a week. Now, I use the money to buy books, or sugar for tea, or soap," says Sitati, who stops to chat to volunteers from the carbon for water project on a rutted road in Kenya's Western Province.
In April and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Straw poll finds in favour of western Kenya’s water and carbon solutionSmall sachets are big help for clean water in developing world
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 29th, 2012
Reuters: Greg Allgood tears open a small sachet and dumps the powder into a large plastic container filled with brown, murky water. After about five minutes of stirring, clumps of sludge form and sink to the bottom as the water starts to clear.
"You let it settle, pour it through a cotton cloth and then you wait 20 minutes and it's ready to drink," said Allgood, the U.S.-based director of Procter & Gamble Co's not-for-profit programme to provide clean water in developing nations and disaster zones.
"We...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Small sachets are big help for clean water in developing worldRainfall shifts pushing rural poor to migrate – study
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on November 29th, 2012
AlertNet: Migration driven by changing rainfall patterns is on the rise in poor rural communities, as farming families struggle to grow enough food amid worsening droughts and floods. And unless they are helped to cope, governments may face large-scale movements of destitute people in the future, new research says.
To prevent this, the study by CARE International and the U.N. University recommends adjusting agriculture to new climate conditions and to finding alternative ways for rural communities to make...
Fracking Public Lands—Proposed Rules Threaten Drinking Water for Millions
Posted by EcoWatch: Amy Mall, Natural Resources Defense Council on November 28th, 2012
EcoWatch: The George Washington National Forest in Virginia is currently a target for natural gas leasing, yet this area is home to the headwaters of the Potomac and James Rivers. The Department of the Interior`s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of developing new rules for fracking on more than 750 million acres of public and private land across the country. A final rule could be released as early as December. The current rules are woefully inadequate and need to be dramatically strengthened...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking Public Lands—Proposed Rules Threaten Drinking Water for MillionsUnited Kingdom: Energy secretary says shale exploration won’t lead to era of cheap gas
Posted by Guardian: Patrick Wintour on November 28th, 2012
Guardian: Ed Davey, the energy and climate change secretary, has warned supporters of shale gas that it may take many years for substantial exploration in the UK, and predicted it would not lead to an era of cheap gas.
Davey was speaking to the Guardian ahead of publication of the energy bill on Thursday and promised that he had weapons he could use if there was a danger his policies were locking too much gas into the energy mix.
It is expected that the chancellor, George Osborne, will publish a strategy...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Energy secretary says shale exploration won’t lead to era of cheap gasSea level rose 60 percent faster than UN projections, study finds
Posted by NBC: Miguel Llanos on November 28th, 2012
NBC: Projections for sea level rise in coming decades could be too conservative, experts warned Wednesday, saying they found that the rise over the last two decades is much more than predicted by the U.N. scientific body tracking climate signals.
In a peer-reviewed study, the experts said satellite data show sea levels rose by 3.2 millimeters (0.1 inch) a year from 1993 to 2011 -- 60 percent faster than the 2 mm annual rise projected by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sea level rose 60 percent faster than UN projections, study findsArctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted
Posted by New Scientist: Michael Slezak on November 28th, 2012
New Scientist: We may be closer to a major climate tipping point than we knew. Earth's permafrost – frozen soil that covers nearly a quarter of the northern hemisphere and traps vast amounts of carbon – may be melting faster than thought and releasing more potent greenhouse gasses. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report yesterday reviewing the most up-to-date research on Arctic permafrost. It claims temperature projections due in 2014 from the International Panel on Climate Change are...
Watery world: sea level rising 60 percent faster than predicted
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2012
Mongabay: Sea levels are rising 60 percent faster than Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated, according to a new study in the open access Environmental Research Letters. In addition to imperiling coastal regions and islands, global sea level rise is worsening the damage inflicted by extreme weather such as Hurricane Sandy, which recently brought catastrophic flooding to the New Jersey coast and New York City.
"This study shows once again that the IPCC is far from alarmist, but in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Watery world: sea level rising 60 percent faster than predictedOrganic farming keeps carbon out of the atmosphere
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2012
Mongabay: With the worst effects of climate change, we are seeing how pollution hurts both human health and the environment but there is good news: a new study shows that organic farming stores more greenhouse gases in the soil than non-organic farming. By switching to organic methods, many farmers across the globe may be helping to solve the climate crisis at the same time as they improve soil quality and avoid the use of pesticides.
"Organic agriculture is more than just producing good and healthy food....
Australia: Emissions from permafrost not taken into account
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Eleanor Hall on November 28th, 2012
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: ELEANOR HALL: Climate change could be happening more rapidly than forecast with new research revealing that the impact of the melting permafrost is not included in the estimates.
The UN Environment Programme study finds that the impact of melting permafrost could significantly amplify the process of global warming.
One Australian expert warns that addressing the problem could be hugely expensive.
Timothy McDonald has our report.
TIMOTHY MCDONALD: Permafrost is made up of two layers. ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Emissions from permafrost not taken into account