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Archive for March 24th, 2013
Australia: Investors warned to put climate change on the books
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Simon Lauder on March 24th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: TONY EASTLEY: It's not just the Defence Forces coming under pressure from climate change.
A group which represents investment and superannuation funds says Australia's major industries need to do a better job of protecting themselves.
The Investor Group on Climate Change, which says it represents Australian and New Zealand investment with combined funds of $900 billion, has released a series of reports showing climate change is already posing new risks for investors.
The reports were conducted...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Investors warned to put climate change on the booksESSAY: The Green Liberty Party
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on March 24th, 2013
The "Earth is dying if we let it. Without ecology there can be no economy. Stop burning and cutting, work less and live more. Live free and green, or die" Political Philosophy.
Human growth in population and industry, at the expense of ecosystems is destroying the natural world, causing mass extinction, abrupt climate change, and economic as well as biosphere collapse. The challenge facing humanity, the greatest challenge of all time, is to foster a political, social, and economic transformation that realigns the human project with its ecosystem habitat.
The corporate-owned American two-party duopoly has proven to be corrupt, unethical, and profoundly ecologically unsustainable. It is time for a political agenda that values all species and ecosystems and plans for the long-term well-being of humanity and all life. It is time for global political Earth revolution to sustain land, water, and air and to achieve universal human rights and economic fairness.
Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
Personal essays from Earth's Newsdesk with Ecological Internet
ECOLOGY CENTRAL
Earth is collapsing and dying. Humanity is systematically destroying the biodiversity, ecosystems, climate, and biosphere upon which all life depends. Earth's ecosystems continue to be plundered for profit as if air, land, water and oceans have no intrinsic ...
Powerful storm blankets parts of U.S. Midwest with snow
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2013
Reuters: There was little sign of spring across a large swath of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday as a powerful storm dumped heavy snow across a widespread area and threatened to bring more.
The storm was part of the same system that blanketed parts of Colorado and northwest Kansas with heavy snowfall on Saturday, said Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. That included accumulations of nearly 19 inches of snow in Boulder County, Colorado, Cohen said.
The storm was moving across...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Powerful storm blankets parts of U.S. Midwest with snowUnited Kingdom: Cold weather leaves thousands without power
Posted by Guardian: Maev Kennedy and Henry McDonald on March 24th, 2013
Guardian: Severe weather warnings covering most of England, Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland remain in place as the blast of unseasonally cold air shows no sign of relenting.
Thousands of homes are without power in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cumbria , many roads are blocked by snow or abandoned vehicles, flights have been cancelled, particularly in Yorkshire and the East Midlands, and rail travel has been disrupted across much of Britain.
More snow fell in many places and the Met Office warned...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Cold weather leaves thousands without powerDrought contributes to Neb. climate change debate
Posted by Associated Press: Grant Schulte on March 24th, 2013
Associated Press: A harsh summer drought that threatened Nebraska farms and ranches has prompted lawmakers to take a fresh look at climate change, an issue that has gotten little traction in the Legislature.
A bill that would launch a state review of climate change and its possible impact on life in Nebraska advanced out of a committee last week and is on pace to be debated this year.
Sen. Ken Haar's proposal would direct the state's climate-assessment commission to draft a report for lawmakers and the governor....
What drought? Just don’t tread on our green grass
Posted by New York Times: Ross Ramsey on March 24th, 2013
New York Times: In big Texas cities, the state’s water shortage can seem like someone else’s problem. Drought has been in the news a long time, but rates haven’t gone up. Water still comes out when you turn on the tap. The golf courses are still green, and so are the lawns. Some places do have restrictions; the state keeps a long list of them. El Paso residents pay fines if the sprinklers in their front yards accidentally water the streets. Austin restricts watering to one or two days per week, depending on the...
Ancient aqueducts give Iraq a trickle of hope
Posted by Al Jazeera: Charles McDermid on March 24th, 2013
Al Jazeera: A millennia-old labyrinth of underground canals may help solve the Middle East's water crisis, say experts. Charles McDermid Last Modified: 23 Mar 2013 20:13 Email Print Share Send Feedback The ancient karez in Kunaflusa trickles into this pool, on which villagers rely [Sebastian Meyer/Al Jazeera]
In the windswept plateaus of northern Iraq, unseen aqueducts which have channelled water to arid settlements for centuries are running dry. Experts say the wide-scale demise of these ancient water...
Gov. Hickenlooper seizing high ground on fracking
Posted by Denver Post: Vincent Carroll on March 24th, 2013
Denver Post: Josh Fox, director of the documentary "Gasland," protests against hydraulic fracturing outside an office of Gov. Tom Corbett in Philadelphia in September. Fox's documentary has become the manifesto of the anti-fracking movement. (Matt Rourke, AP)
"I'm willing to push the political reality as hard as I can," Gov. John Hickenlooper told an audience in Durango in December, "but I think it's morally reckless to not embrace something like natural gas as a short-term transition fuel."
Morally reckless...
Phoenix is doomed — to be a target for doomsayers
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 24th, 2013
Grist: William deBuys, author of A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest, wrote the latest screed about why Phoenix is doomed, this time in an op-ed article in Grist, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications. The best-known previous blast was Andrew Ross’ 2011 book Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City. As a lifelong resident of Phoenix, author of the book Phoenix in Perspective, and a frequent commentator on our desert city, I have had the...
Drawn-out winter may have caused thousands of extra deaths
Posted by Telegraph: Sam Marsden on March 24th, 2013
Telegraph: As the country was subjected to the worst March snowfall in over 30 years, official figures showed that there were more than 4,000 extra deaths in just five weeks as the wintry conditions persisted. Over 43,700 deaths were registered in England and Wales in February, an increase of 2,891 compared to the average for the same period over the past five years. In the first week of March alone there were 1,265 extra deaths, provisional figures released by the Office of National Statistics show. Age...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drawn-out winter may have caused thousands of extra deaths