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Archive for January 28th, 2013
Popular pesticides kill frogs outright
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2013
Mongabay: Commonly used agrochemicals (insecticides, fungicides and herbicides) kill frogs outright when sprayed on fields even when used at recommended dosages, according to new research in Scientific Reports. Testing seven chemicals on European common frogs (Rana temporaria), the scientists found that all of them were potentially lethal to amphibians. In fact, two fungicides-Headline and Captain Omya-wiped out the entire population of frogs at the recommended dosage. The study warns that agricultural chemicals...
A chat with the Sierra Club’s Michael Brune about civil disobedience
Posted by Grist: None Given on January 28th, 2013
Grist: Earlier this month, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune announced that the Club would, for the first time in its long and storied history, officially participate in an act of civil disobedience - i.e., break the law. The target? The Keystone XL pipeline. "For civil disobedience to be justified, something must be so wrong that it compels the strongest defensible protest," he wrote. "Such a protest, if rendered thoughtfully and peacefully, is in fact a profound act of patriotism."
I called...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on A chat with the Sierra Club’s Michael Brune about civil disobedienceOn battered Jersey shore, Sandy victims struggle with costs of climate change
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Daniella Cheslow on January 28th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: Nearly three months after superstorm Sandy inundated their house with five feet of water, retirees Brian and Dorothy Beebe went to the town hall here, clutching a survey of their home stuffed into a brown envelope, eager to repair their split-level home along New Jersey's shore. When they left, their best-laid plans – for their home, as well as for their life going forward – had been thrown into doubt. At town hall, clerks told them they may have to elevate their house as high as 11 feet above sea...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on On battered Jersey shore, Sandy victims struggle with costs of climate changeNew Video Explains Climate Threat from Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Posted by EcoWatch: Danielle Droitsch, Natural Resources Defense Council on January 28th, 2013
EcoWatch: A new video released by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and 350.org explains how the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a lynchpin enabling the climate intensive tar sands industry to grow unimpeded. The video discusses cutting edge research from Oil Change International showing how tar sands oil causes more carbon pollution than originally estimated.
Recently, four energy experts and climate scientists from Canada and the U.S. traveled to Washington DC with an urgent message: if we are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Video Explains Climate Threat from Keystone XL Tar Sands PipelineOver $8 billion invested in watersheds in 2011
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2013
Mongabay: Unlike cars, hamburgers, and computers, clean drinking water is a requirement for human survival. In a bid to safeguard this essential resource, more and more nations are moving toward protecting ecosystems, such as forests, wetlands, and streams. In fact, according to a new report by Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace, nations spent $8.17 billion in 2011 to secure freshwater by conserving watersheds.
"80 percent of the world is now facing significant threats to water security. We are witnessing...
United Kingdom: Blacklist used by construction firms to disrupt environmental protests
Posted by Guardian: Matthew Taylor on January 28th, 2013
Guardian: Hundreds of environmental activists were on a secret "blacklist" used by construction firms in an attempt to disrupt high-profile protests against road building and other developments.
Files on more than 200 campaigners were held alongside a list of more than 3,000 construction workers who had raised legitimate health and safety concerns or belonged to a trade union.
Last week MPs said the list had deprived thousands of people of work and driven some families to destitution. Evidence of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Blacklist used by construction firms to disrupt environmental protestsArgentina: Buenos Aires Mayor Slammed for Slow Pace on “Zero Waste” Targets
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2013
Inter Press Service: The garbage strewn across many streets and sidewalks in the Argentine capital reflects the inefficiency of a waste collection and treatment system that, paradoxically, has become increasingly costly for the city’s residents, say civil society groups and opposition parties. The garbage crisis in Buenos Aires is a result of the saturation of the city’s landfills, due to increased levels of consumption over the last decade, and substandard collection service, with compactor trucks that tend to leave...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Argentina: Buenos Aires Mayor Slammed for Slow Pace on “Zero Waste” TargetsUnited States should lead on climate change
Posted by Kansas City Star: Editorial on January 28th, 2013
Kansas City Star: President Barack Obama called on Americans last week to renew the battle against climate change.
This line from his inaugural address garnered deserved attention: "We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations."
But pause the tape right there.
First, Obama in his four years as president already has taken several actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions, primarily through increased fuel efficiency rules...
Scientists could name every species on Earth in 50 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 28th, 2013
Mongabay: A bold new paper in Science argues that the world's species could be named and described before they vanish into extinction, though the threat of eventual extinction will remain for many, especially as climate change worsens. The scientists say that contrary to popular belief, there are more taxonomists working than ever before and there are likely less species on Earth than often reported, making finding and naming the world's species within reach this century.
"Our findings are potentially good...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists could name every species on Earth in 50 yearsOn Cape Cod, climate change casts a wide shadow
Posted by Daily Climate: Jennifer Weeks on January 28th, 2013
Daily Climate: Near the outer tip of Cape Cod, a small cottage faces west across the bay toward the mainland. Built in 1950, it measures 776 square feet – smaller than many one-bedroom apartments. It has no garage and sits on less than an acre of land at the end of a dirt road.
The house is for sale. List price: $1.5 million.
The price tag is extra-high because this is one of a few hundred private properties within the Cape Cod National Seashore, a 40-mile stretch of undeveloped coast that runs up Cape Cod's...