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Archive for February, 2013
Fort Collins Bans Fracking as Democracy Comes Alive in Colorado
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on February 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: “If you don’t fight for what you want, you deserve what you get.” --Van Jones
Almost exactly nine months ago on May 22, 2012, I wrote an editorial in the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper, Fort Colllins Should Ban Fracking. And yesterday, on Feb. 19, a sharply divided Fort Collins City Council voted 5-2 to ban fracking in the City of Fort Collins.
Nine months ago the conversation around fracking was relatively new in Colorado and few people and environmental groups were directly addressing...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Fort Collins Bans Fracking as Democracy Comes Alive in ColoradoEPA Official Quits Amid E-Mail Scrutiny
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2013
Washington Post: A senior Environmental Protection Agency official overseeing states in the West and Great Plains resigned Friday, amid intense congressional scrutiny over how EPA appointees have used personal e-mail addresses to conduct official business.
Region 8 administrator James Martin, whose office has jurisdiction over Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming and 27 tribal nations, resigned "for personal reasons' according to EPA spokeswoman Alisha Johnson.
Former EPA administrator...
United States: Climate change a concern, not a priority to coastal leaders, survey finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2013
PhysOrg: Many Oregon coast public officials and community leaders believe their local climate is changing and that the change will affect their communities. But overall, they say, addressing the changing climate is not an urgent concern. These are among the findings of a survey by Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University. During 2012, Sea Grant surveyed coastal professionals such as city managers and planners, elected officials such as city council members and county commissioners, and other leaders...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Climate change a concern, not a priority to coastal leaders, survey findsCanada: Keystone XL will have ‘no impact on climate change’, TransCanada boss says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2013
Associated Press: The company that wants to build a controversial oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas said on Tuesday said that shutting down the oil sands at its source would have no measurable effect on global warming.
"You could shut down oil sands production tomorrow and it would have absolutely no measurable impact on climate change," he said.
Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have grossly inflated the likely impact...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Keystone XL will have ‘no impact on climate change’, TransCanada boss says‘Sand dams’ bank water for dry season in semi-arid Kenya
Posted by AlertNet: Isaiah Esipisu on February 20th, 2013
AlertNet: Barely a month after heavy rains pounded Kenya, many seasonal rivers in the country's semi-arid east are already drying up, and residents are preparing for the months-long dry season.
But some, like Paul Masila and other members of the Woni Wa Mbee self-help group, are not worried about the looming dry spell. Instead, they are preparing to plant crops or are harvesting fields they planted before the rains.
The group -- the name means "progressive vision' in Kamba, the local langage -- have...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘Sand dams’ bank water for dry season in semi-arid KenyaArctic Ice Melt Disrupts Balance Of Greenhouse Gases
Posted by RedOrbit: Michael Harper on February 20th, 2013
RedOrbit: Last year, so much sea ice in the Arctic had melted away that it beat the prior record amount set in the summer of 2007. By the end of the 2012 summer, the Arctic Ocean had lost about 2.1 million square miles of ice, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado. Experts began to predict the kinds of trouble such a speedy and significant melt could have on the earth’s ecosystems as a whole. Now, one of these effects has already been seen.
According to research from...
No-till Farming Holds the Key to Food Security
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2013
Inter Press Service: No-till farming is a response to climate change that fits well with the needs of the Caribbean: it increases the ability to capture water, while withstanding both drought and excessive rains, says expert Theodor Friedrich, representative of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Cuba.
The Caribbean islands are in dire need of new techniques that can ensure food security amid the threats of climate change.
"I do not see why these islands cannot produce enough for their...
Snowstorm Headed For Heart of Drought Region
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 19th, 2013
Climate Central: A major snowstorm is poised to deliver much-needed precipitation to areas from central and southern California to the Rockies and Plains states during the next several days. Parts of Kansas and Nebraska -- ground zero for the worst drought conditions in the U.S. -- may pick up more than a foot of snow by the time the storm ends there late Thursday.
While the storm is not expected to deliver blockbuster snow totals, any precipitation -- be it in the form of rain, snow, or the often dreaded "wintry...
Canada: TransCanada: Pipeline would not affect climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2013
Associated Press: In a shift in strategy, the company that wants to build an oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas said Tuesday that the project will have no measurable effect on global warming.
Alex Pourbaix, TransCanada's president for energy and oil pipelines, said opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline have grossly inflated its likely impact on emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
Canada represents just 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Pourbaix said at...
Groundbreaking Reports Show Fracking is a Risky Short-Term Bubble
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 19th, 2013
EcoWatch: Energy Policy Forum and Post Carbon Institute have released two groundbreaking reports that belie energy industry claims of U.S. energy independence as a result of newly accessible shale gas and shale (tight) oil.
The report findings are based on an unprecedented analysis of more than 60,000 U.S. shale oil and gas wells and an investigation of the role of Wall Street investment banks in the explosive growth of fracking for natural gas.
Drill Baby Drill: Can Unconventional Fuels Usher in a New...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Groundbreaking Reports Show Fracking is a Risky Short-Term Bubble