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Archive for April, 2013
Climate Change Not At Fault For Record US Drought In 2012
Posted by redOrbit: Brett Smith on April 12th, 2013
RedOrbit: In pushing for his green agenda, President Barack Obama has repeatedly cited last year’s massive drought, which cost the US $35 billion, as evidence of climate change.
However, a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that a bizarre confluence of natural variations was responsible for the precipitous drop in rainfall levels across the United States last summer.
"This is one of those events that comes along once every couple hundreds of years," lead...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate Change Not At Fault For Record US Drought In 2012Suncor water spill no threat to health, test says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Reuters: A spill of contaminated water in the Athabasca River from Suncor Energy Inc's oil sands operations last month was not a threat to human health, Alberta's Environment Department said on Friday, though the water did contain higher-than-allowed amounts of some metals and other compounds.
The department said the water, which spilled into the river after a pipe froze and broke on March 25, was fatal to rainbow trout in a 96-hour test because of high concentrations of naphthenic acid.
While it is...
More Canadians believe in man-made climate change than Americans, Brits
Posted by Yahoo: Andy Radia on April 12th, 2013
Yahoo: Maybe we all are a bunch of tree huggers in Canada.
According to a survey, released by Angus Reid on Friday, Canadians are more environmentally conscious than our British and American cousins.
Specifically:
- 58 per cent of Canadians, 47 per cent of Americans and 45 per cent of Brits believe that "global warming is a fact and is mostly caused by emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities."
- Only 13 per cent of Canadians believe climate change has yet to be proven; 20 per cent...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on More Canadians believe in man-made climate change than Americans, BritsChevron says Ecuador environmental claims now in question
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Reuters: A consulting firm whose work helped lead to a $19 billion award against Chevron Corp for rainforest pollution in Ecuador has disavowed environmental claims used by local residents to obtain the 2011 court judgment, court documents show.
Chevron on Friday released affidavits from two officials at Stratus Consulting Inc saying they believed damages assessments used against the oil company were "tainted." Those assessments relied in part on the consulting firm's work.
The affidavits were released...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chevron says Ecuador environmental claims now in questionResearch Recanted in Oil Pollution Case in Ecuador
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
New York Times: An environmental case that has pitted Chevron against Ecuadorean Amazon villagers for two decades has taken another bizarre twist, with an American consulting firm now recanting research favorable to the villagers’ claims of pollution in remote tracts of jungle. The consulting firm, Stratus Consulting of Boulder, Colo., announced late Thursday that it had originally been misled by Steven R. Donziger, a lead lawyer for the Ecuadorean villagers, and had decided to disavow its contributions to scientific...
California needs to bolster regulation of fracking, report says
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on April 12th, 2013
LA Times: California needs to strengthen regulation of hydraulic fracturing, according to a UC Berkeley Law School report that identified a number of shortcomings in state oversight of the controversial practice.
Although not new to California, fracking has come under increasing scrutiny recently as states such as Pennsylvania and New York experience a boom in the technique, which involves the high-pressure injection of chemical-laced fluids into the ground to crack rock formations and extract oil and gas....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California needs to bolster regulation of fracking, report saysCleaning up Nigeria’s toxic playgrounds
Posted by BBC: Tomi Oladipo on April 12th, 2013
BBC: In a remote region of northern Nigeria the signs of a lead poisoning crisis caused by small-scale gold mining are still visible especially among children, despite a four-year clean-up project.
Four-year-old Umaima stares into space, seeming detached from all that is going on around her in the small village of Sumke.
She has not been able to talk or hear since she was two. For some months she was unable to walk until she received medical treatment.
"I feel lucky, because a child next door...
Market figures out that geckos don’t cure AIDS, but killing continues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Mongabay: Millions of tokay geckos continue to be traded for traditional medicine, despite waning belief that the colorful lizards are a cure for AIDS, reports a new study from TRAFFIC.
The study found that a spike in tokay gecko demand due to rumors that it could cure HIV/AIDS was relatively short-lived, lasting from 2009 and early 2011. Nonetheless geckos are still traded in large numbers, with over-collection impacting wild populations across much of the reptile's range, especially in Thailand and Java....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Market figures out that geckos don’t cure AIDS, but killing continuesStudy: Natural causes, not human activity, behind last summer’s Plains drought
Posted by CNN: Michael Martinez on April 12th, 2013
CNN: Extreme natural events, not man-made climate change, led to last summer's historic drought in the Great Plains, a new federal study said Friday. Drought occurred in six Plains states between last May and August because moist Gulf of Mexico air "failed to stream northward in late spring," and summer storms were few and stingy with rainfall, said a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Neither ocean states nor human-induced climate change, factors that can provide long-lead...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Study: Natural causes, not human activity, behind last summer’s Plains droughtIn Haiti, April Showers Don’t Always Bring Flowers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 12th, 2013
Inter Press Service: In Haiti, a simple spring shower that would barely be noticed in most countries can cause devastating floods, due to the severe deforestation and erosion that impedes the absorption of rain.
And the increasing frequency and intensity of rainfall and other meteorological phenomena, which scientists say are affected by climate change, are aggravating this country's already severe food security problems.
These risks are among the biggest challenges in developing sustainable agriculture, said Philippe...