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Archive for April, 2013
Land o’ lakes: Melting glaciers transform Alpine landscape
Posted by Spiegel: Axel Bojanowski on April 27th, 2013
Spiegel: Climate change is dramatically altering the Swiss Alps, where hundreds of bodies of water are being created by melting glaciers. Though the lakes can attract tourists and even generate electricity, local residents also fear catastrophic tidal waves.
In the 1990s, the first cracks began to appear in the mighty tongue of the Trift Glacier in the central Swiss canton of Bern. In 2002, the peak of the ice mass burst into thousands of pieces. Since it lay in a hollow, the water swelled into a lake...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Land o’ lakes: Melting glaciers transform Alpine landscapeClimate change scientist calls Conservatives ‘Neanderthal’
Posted by CBC: None Given on April 27th, 2013
CBC: The former NASA scientist criticized by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver earlier this week for his views on the Keystone XL pipeline is responding by calling the Conservatives a desperate and "Neanderthal" government.
In an interview with Evan Solomon airing Saturday on CBC Radio's The House, James Hansen defended his position that approving the proposed pipeline would be disastrous for the environment.
During a stop in Washington, D.C., to shore up support for Keystone XL, Oliver said...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change scientist calls Conservatives ‘Neanderthal’Greeks Fight Canadian Gold-Diggers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Any sense of tranquility that hangs around the mountain of Skouries in northern Greece, 80 km east of Greece's second largest city Thessaloniki, is a façade. Home to some of the oldest forests in Greece, the pristine region is now a battleground, as the local population takes on the Canadian mining giant Eldorado Gold Corporation and its local subsidiary, Hellas Gold.
At the intersection between the road that leads to the village of Ierissos and another going up to the only operational mine in...
Keystone XL: Oil Sands Health Concerns Rise Downstream Of Expanding Extraction
Posted by Huffington Post: Lynne Peeples on April 27th, 2013
Huffington Post: Raymond Ladouceur remembers when he could dip a cup into the Athabasca River for a drink. He remembers when the trout and muskrats were plentiful -- and when his community was healthy.
Despite recent heart surgery, Ladouceur, 72, still fishes and traps, as he has his whole life at Big Point in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. He snared his first fox at age 6 and recalled waddling home with the animal around his neck, its body dragging between his legs.
But times have changed, said Ladouceur, an elder...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL: Oil Sands Health Concerns Rise Downstream Of Expanding ExtractionAlaska mine would damage streams and wetlands: EPA report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2013
Reuters: Digging a large mine in southwest Alaska would inflict widespread ecological damage, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a report on Friday that could hurt the chances of a proposed project in that region winning regulatory approval.
A large scale open-pit mine in Alaska's unspoiled Bristol Bay region would destroy up to 90 miles of salmon and trout spawning streams, harm thousands of acres of wetlands that support fish and subject local waters to chemical spills and releases of untreated...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alaska mine would damage streams and wetlands: EPA reportUnited Kingdom: New grass ‘flood reduction hope’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 27th, 2013
BBC: A hybrid farmland grass, developed by a team of UK researchers, could help reduce flooding, a study has shown.
A team of plant and soil scientists said tests showed the new cultivar reduced run-off by 51%, compared with a variety widely used to feed livestock.
They added that rapid growth and well developed root systems meant that more moisture was retained within the soil rather than running into river systems.
The findings appear in the journal Scientific Reports.
The novel grass is...
Homeowners in Flood Zones Opt to Rebuild, Not Move
Posted by New York Times: Thomas Kaplan on April 26th, 2013
New York Times: A proposal to buy the damaged homes of New Yorkers who want to relocate after Hurricane Sandy is finding few takers, as most residents opt to rebuild, state officials said on Friday. “It’s up to the homeowner, and the vast bulk of homeowners are deciding to stay right where they are and rebuild,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference in Albany. The state has allocated an initial sum of $171 million to buy homes in low-lying areas, part of an ambitious effort by Mr. Cuomo to reshape coastal...
You’ve Got A Facebook Request From Mark Zuckerberg: Support Keystone XL!
Posted by Rainforest Action Network: None Given on April 26th, 2013
Rainforest Action Network: Today, Think Progress outed Mark Zuckerberg`s new political group as a shill for the fossil fuel industry. The Facebook mogul, along with the founders of Dropbox, LinkedIn and Microsoft (that would be Bill Gates) founded a new political group called FWD.US that has spent considerable resources on ads promoting the Keystone XL Pipeline and Arctic oil drilling. All in the name of "jobs," of course.
While the world faces extreme weather events like super-hurricanes, wildfires, droughts and rising...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on You’ve Got A Facebook Request From Mark Zuckerberg: Support Keystone XL!Europe needs genetically engineered crops, scientists say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The European Union cannot meet its goals in agricultural policy without embracing genetically engineered crops (GMOs). That's the conclusion of scientists who write in Trends in Plant Science, a Cell Press publication, based on case studies showing that the EU is undermining its own competitiveness in the agricultural sector to its own detriment and that of its humanitarian activities in the developing world.
"Failing such a change, ultimately the EU will become almost entirely dependent on the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Europe needs genetically engineered crops, scientists sayGene-Spliced Salmon, Coming Soon to a Plate Near You?
Posted by OnEarth: None Given on April 26th, 2013
OnEarth: Today marks the deadline for public comments on a genetically modified salmon currently under review by the Food and Drug Administration. If approved, the fish will be the first transgenic animal ever to enter the human food supply. Some say it’s about time. In an op-ed that appeared last month in the New York Times under the title “Don’t Be Afraid of Genetic Modification,” science writer Emily Anthes explained that the company behind the fish, Massachusetts-based AquaBounty Technologies, has been...