RSS Feed
Archive for March, 2013
Pacific to suffer worst climate change impacts
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Jemima Garrett on March 21st, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The World Bank is urging the international community to heed the plight of Pacific island countries and take action on climate change.
The bank's vice president for Sustainable Development, Rachel Kyte, says Pacific nations will suffer higher sea level rise than other parts of the world.
She says the impact of climate change will threaten the very existence of some countries in the Pacific.
Ms Kyte also warns Australia will see some of the most extreme droughts, with summer temperatures...
Nations urged to combine environmental and development goals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2013
Guardian: Degradation of the natural world is undermining efforts to reduce poverty, warn scientists, who say the only chance of achieving global prosperity is for all countries to combine poverty and environmental targets.
World leaders should set six goals around universal clean energy, an end to water and food shortages, thriving lives and livelihoods, and healthy and productive ecosystems, they say.
Prof David Griggs, director of the Monash Sustainability Institute in Australia, argues in an article...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Nations urged to combine environmental and development goalsNative Groups in Canada and U.S. Vow to Fight Oil Sands Pipelines
Posted by CBC: None Given on March 21st, 2013
CBC: An alliance of First Nations leaders is preparing to fight proposed new pipelines in the courts and through unspecified direct action.
Native leaders from Canada and the United States were on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to underline opposition to both the Northern Gateway and Keystone XL pipelines.
The first would tie the Alberta oil sands to the West Coast, while the second would send bitumen to refineries on the American Gulf Coast.
Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said the federal...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Native Groups in Canada and U.S. Vow to Fight Oil Sands PipelinesSupport for California water bond falls, poll finds
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on March 21st, 2013
LA Times: Judging by a new statewide poll, California lawmakers were smart to pull an $11.1-billion water bond off last fall's ballot.
The Legislature has twice postponed the bond measure's day at the polls, worried that it would go down to defeat at a time of high unemployment and budget woes. Though the economy and budget problems have eased a bit, support for the bond has continued to decline.
A poll released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 42% of likely voters favored...
Natural climate swings contribute more to increased monsoon rainfall than global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 20th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Natural swings in the climate have significantly intensified Northern Hemisphere monsoon rainfall, showing that these swings must be taken into account for climate predictions in the coming decades, a new study finds.
The findings are published in the March 18 online publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Monsoon rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere impacts about 60% of the World population in Southeast Asia, West Africa and North America. Given the possible impacts...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Natural climate swings contribute more to increased monsoon rainfall than global warmingU.S. top court rules for timber industry over road runoff
Posted by Reuters: Lawrence Hurley on March 20th, 2013
Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's long-standing decision not to require Clean Water Act permits for stormwater that runs off logging roads.
The nine-member court ruled on a 7-1 vote, with Justice Stephen Breyer recused, that the EPA's conclusion was a reasonable interpretation of the law.
The dispute - centering on two cases that the court consolidated - has attracted intense interest from the timber industry, which is keen to be exempt...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. top court rules for timber industry over road runoffGas Industry Loses Fight to Keep Fracking Pollution Case Secret
Posted by EcoWatch: Earthjustice on March 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: A judge ruled today in favor of journalists seeking access to information about a fracking pollution court case.
Judge Debbie O’Dell-Seneca reversed an order by a Washington County court sealing the record in a case in which a Pennsylvania family sued several gas companies over property damage and health impacts related to air and water pollution from nearby natural gas operations.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Observer-Reporter had intervened in the case to unseal the records, while...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Gas Industry Loses Fight to Keep Fracking Pollution Case SecretAs Obama Signals Surrender to TransCanada, It’s Time to Focus on Keystone XL’s Southern Leg
Posted by EcoWatch: Tom Weis on March 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: Why aren’t all Keystone XL opponents loudly demanding that President Obama stop construction of the pipeline’s 485-mile southern leg that is destroying the lives of our fellow Americans in Texas and Oklahoma? This is a classic case of something being hidden in plain view.
By approving construction of Keystone XL’s southern leg last spring, our “I’m all for pipelines” president not only sold out the people of Texas and Oklahoma, he is currently lighting the fuse to the tar sands “carbon bomb.”...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Obama Signals Surrender to TransCanada, It’s Time to Focus on Keystone XL’s Southern LegJustices Say Oregon Loggers Don’t Need Permits for Water Runoff
Posted by New York Times: Adam Liptak on March 20th, 2013
New York Times: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that logging companies and forestry officials in Oregon were not required to obtain permits from the Environmental Protection Agency for storm-water runoff from logging roads. The decision was a blow to conservationists who had used the permit process to block the silty runoff from logging, which they said choked forest streams. The ruling also suggested that at least some members of the court may be open to a fundamental re-examination of how federal courts...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Justices Say Oregon Loggers Don’t Need Permits for Water RunoffNew Technology Records Baseline Methane Emissions Prior to Construction of Fracking Infrastructure
Posted by EcoWatch: Damascus Citizens For Sustainability on March 20th, 2013
EcoWatch: Many know fracking`s iconic image: a faucet spewing flaming water, but fewer realize that it`s largely methane, the main constituent of natural gas, burning. Since 90 percent of natural gas is methane, methane levels directly reflect the amount of natural gas in an area.
After gas related activities come to a region, homeowners frequently discover methane (and other materials) in their water and/or air. However, they have little recourse because gas and gas pipeline companies persistently deny...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Technology Records Baseline Methane Emissions Prior to Construction of Fracking Infrastructure