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Archive for February 4th, 2013
Oklahoma Resident Locks Herself to Equipment to Protest Tar Sands Pipeline
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: Early this morning, Norman, Oklahoma resident Elizabeth Leja locked her neck to equipment used in constructing the Keystone XL pipeline. Citing concerns for Oklahoma’s waterways and their importance for the health of future generations, her actions have halted construction at the site on Highway 62, just North of the North Canadian River, for the day.
The Gulf Coast Project is the Southern segment of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a $7 billion project by multinational TransCanada. It is slated...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Oklahoma Resident Locks Herself to Equipment to Protest Tar Sands PipelineWill Climate Change Become a Top Priority with John Kerry as Sec. of State?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan swears in Secretary of State John Kerry on Feb. 1.
Sen. John Kerry was sworn in as Secretary of State on Friday, Feb. 1. We join many in congratulating Sen. Kerry and hope his choice is a sign from President Obama that he is working on a plan to push climate change during his second term.
As a U.S. Senator for five terms, and a decorated Vietnam veteran, Kerry knows a thing or two about national security issues. He’s also been called a ‘"climate hawk." During...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Will Climate Change Become a Top Priority with John Kerry as Sec. of State?A Clash in Pennsylvania Over Fracking and Water Tests
Posted by New York Times: Jon Hurdle on February 4th, 2013
New York Times: A war of words has broken out between environmentalists and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over the cancellation of a meeting on the state`s testing of water from water wells near natural-gas drilling sites.
A meeting of 25 environmentally themed groups, the department’s oil and gas division and the state Department of Health`s Bureau of Laboratories had been set for Jan. 24 after the disclosure last November last year that department scientists had omitted data on some...
Vatican condemns elephant poaching, pledges steps
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2013
Mongabay: Responding to an investigative report by National Geographic, the Vatican has condemned elephant poaching for ivory and pledged three steps to help in the battle to save the world's elephants. The National Geographic article Ivory Worship by Bryan Christy, looked at how religions-specifically religious items for Christians and Buddhists-were playing in the growing demand for black-market ivory, which is currently resulting in the violent deaths of tens-of-thousands of endangered elephants every year....
‘Sinking’ Jakarta pins hopes on rising star
Posted by Al Jazeera: Melati Kaye on February 4th, 2013
Al Jazeera: As a mega-storm flooded Jakarta last week and stranded half the city, its new governor Joko Widodo stood by his vision for the Indonesian capital.
"No traffic jam. No flooding. No poor."
With a population of 10 million, Jakarta ranks as one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing and most-congested cities.
Thousands fled inundated homes, the central business district was paralysed, and drenched commuter rail tracks left half the city stranded. The new governor had to declare a 10-day emergency...
Climate change in Vermont: The struggle to adapt
Posted by Burlington Free Press: Matt Sutkoski on February 4th, 2013
Burlington Free Press: The three Vermont legislative committees picked the right day last week to hold a joint hearing on the effects of climate change on businesses. • Some people were late after having to pick their way through the remnants of overnight freezing rain. As the hearing progressed, temperatures outdoors rose toward record heights. Weather forecasters talked of flood and wind alerts, and warned of plunging temperatures the next day. • The consensus among the 40 or so people who testified at Wednesday’s hearing...
Delhi sustainable development summit highlights need for urgent action
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2013
Guardian: Global development summits are rare and usually lead nowhere. But coming up on the inside track as a talkshop to rival Rio and the annual Davos meeting is the annual Delhi sustainable development summit (DSDS), which packs in prime ministers, Nobel prize winners and development thinkers, mostly from Asia.
Rajendra Pachauri has been called the UN's "world climate chief" because he chairs the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But his background is in grassroots...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Delhi sustainable development summit highlights need for urgent actionIncrease in Deadly Rains Linked to Climate Change
Posted by Discovery News: Tim Wall on February 4th, 2013
Discovery News: Don’t let the drought in the U.S. fool you, intense rainfall around the world has been causing deadly floods in the past few years. Several have died in the current flooding in Queensland, Australia. In July 2012, the heaviest rain in decades left 37 dead in Beijing, China. More than 400 Pakistanis died in floods in September 2012. The now shriveled Mississippi River was a raging flood in 2011, killing 24 Americans in associated flash floods.
Recent extreme rains may have been intensified by the...
Australia: Climate change is the existential crisis with us right now
Posted by Canberra Times: None Given on February 4th, 2013
Canberra Times: Australia was once again devastated by bushfires over the summer.
When Parliament resumes on Tuesday after the Christmas break, it's presented with a stark choice. It can seize the opportunity to discuss the fires and the floods; the devastation and the losses and pluck up the courage to deal with the reality of climate change. This remains the biggest and most immediate danger facing the nation. The evidence of the threat lies all around us.
Even if you still believe there is doubt about the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Climate change is the existential crisis with us right nowUnited Kingdom: The battle for Combe Haven
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 4th, 2013
Ecologist: It’s a huge waste of public money and an environmental disaster
A luta continua!: the struggle continues. After battling with security, bailiffs and the police, this remains the message of activist group Combe Haven Defenders.
Combe Haven Defenders have been fighting the hugely controversial Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) by literally attempting to stop it in its path. In spite of tree houses, tunnels and lock-ons to trees in one of the most beautiful areas of Sussex, their third and final...