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Archive for April 2nd, 2013
Kenya: As extreme weather drives rustling, pastoralists turn to farming
Posted by AlertNet: Isaiah Esipisu on April 2nd, 2013
AlertNet: In Nambeyo village in Kenya's semi-arid Isiolo County, former pastoralist Joseph Elila and his wife Pauline are busy threshing sorghum to remove the grain from the stalks. The couple has been converted into smallholder dry-land farmers after they lost their entire animal stock to cattle rustlers two years ago.
The area is well known for pastoralism. But this kind of livelihood is threatened by worsening banditry, something experts say is a result of more extreme weather.
Herders living in areas...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Kenya: As extreme weather drives rustling, pastoralists turn to farmingAt Oil Spill Clean-Up in Arkansas, Exxon Running the Show, Not Federal Agencies
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song on April 2nd, 2013
InsideClimate: A warehouse next to highway I-40 here at the edge of Mayflower, Ark., houses the command center for the ongoing cleanup of thousands of barrels of spilled Canadian heavy oil [3], but it is inaccessible to media. Tightly controlled by ExxonMobil, which was responsible for the spill, access to even the parking lot is not permitted. A security guard now stops anyone without a red lanyard and ID badge from passing into the gated compound. Thousands of barrels of oil from Alberta's tar sands region—similar...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on At Oil Spill Clean-Up in Arkansas, Exxon Running the Show, Not Federal AgenciesA Close Look at Fugitive Methane Emissions from Natural Gas
Posted by World Resources Institute: Michael Obeiter and James Bradbury on April 2nd, 2013
World Resources Institute: Natural gas is booming in the United States. Production has increased by 20 percent in the last five years, fueled largely by technological advances in shale gas extraction. Other countries--including China--are now studying our experience with this abundant new resource.
But the growing role of natural gas in the U.S. energy mix hasn’t come without controversy. Natural gas development poses a variety of environmental risks. In addition to habitat disruption and impacts on local water and air...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A Close Look at Fugitive Methane Emissions from Natural GasAnalysis: Spills flame Canadian oil debate, but won’t curb flows to U.S
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 2nd, 2013
Reuters: Two high-profile oil spills won't stem the now-record flow of Canadian oil into the United States, despite the frenzy that the spills triggered among friends and foes of the Keystone XL pipeline to the main U.S. refineries.
The fate of Keystone remains undecided, yet Canadian crude will become an increasing part of the U.S. energy mix, despite growing competition from new U.S. production.
U.S. thirst for Canadian crude has shot up nearly 30 percent over the past five years as refiners opt to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Analysis: Spills flame Canadian oil debate, but won’t curb flows to U.SGlobal warming has INCREASED ice around Antarctica
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 2nd, 2013
Daily Mail: Climate change experts have been trying for years to explain why the sea ice in Antarctica is expanding.
Now scientists claim to have found the answer -- global warming.
They believe the paradoxical shift is caused by water melting from beneath the Antarctic ice shelves and re-freezing back on the surface.
A Pod of orcas amongst the breaking sea ice, Ross Sea, Antarctica 2009. Researchers now believe the ice is increasing
The frozen sea around the South Pole has been steadily growing,...
Hickenlooper defends Colorado drilling regulations during debate
Posted by Denver Post: Mark Jaffe on April 2nd, 2013
Denver Post: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones took part in a University of Denver sponsored debate on hydraulic fracturing in the Frederick H. Ricketson Jr. Law Building on the DU campus on April 1, 2013. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
Gov. John Hickenlooper defended the state's authority over local communities in regulating oil and gas drilling Monday during a debate that echoed the battle unfolding in lawsuits and legislation.
Squaring off against...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Hickenlooper defends Colorado drilling regulations during debateArkansas Tar Sands Spill Amps Up Keystone XL Debate
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on April 2nd, 2013
Environment News Service: An ExxonMobil pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada broke open in Arkansas on Friday, spilling thousands of gallons of black diluted bitumen into residential streets outside Little Rock and forcing the evacuation of 22 homes.
The City of Mayflower recommended that 22 homes on Starlite Road and Shade Tree Lane be evacuated; all residents evacuated following notifications by the Mayflower Police Department. Sunday they were told the evacuation could last at least six days.
The Pegasus pipeline...