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Archive for May, 2013
UN panel calls for end to extreme poverty by 2030
Posted by Associated Press: Edith M. Lederer on May 31st, 2013
Associated Press: A high-level U.N. panel recommended an ambitious roadmap Thursday to tackle the world's major challenges, from climate change to equality for women, with a key goal of ending extreme poverty everywhere by 2030.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed the panel last year to recommend a new development agenda after the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, expire in 2015. World leaders agreed in 2000 on anti-poverty goals including cutting extreme poverty by half, halting the HIV/AIDS...
Most Americans don’t give a frack about fracking
Posted by Grist: None Given on May 30th, 2013
Grist: You might think fracking is a highly divisive, heatedly contested issue, but most Americans don`t give a damn about it either way.
The latest Climate Change in the American Mind survey found that 39 percent of respondents had never heard of fracking, while another 13 percent didn`t know whether they had heard of it.
So it`s not too much of a surprise, then, to learn that 58 percent of survey respondents held no opinion on whether fracking is a good thing or a bad thing.
Those who did have...
Global Warming Caused by CFCs, Not Carbon Dioxide, Researcher Claims in Controversial Study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 30th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are to blame for global warming since the 1970s and not carbon dioxide, according to a researcher from the University of Waterloo in a controversial new study published in the International Journal of Modern Physics B this week.
CFCs are already known to deplete ozone, but in-depth statistical analysis now suggests that CFCs are also the key driver in global climate change, rather than carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the researcher argues.
"Conventional thinking says...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Global Warming Caused by CFCs, Not Carbon Dioxide, Researcher Claims in Controversial StudyMillennium Development Goals falling short on environmental ambitions
Posted by Mongabay: Fred Boltz on May 30th, 2013
Mongabay: This week in New York City, the 27 members of the high-level panel of eminent persons appointed by the U.N. Secretary General will deliver a report providing recommendations on the post-2015 development agenda. This is a critical opportunity to address the inadequacies of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to chart a new course for sustainable development.
The post-2015 “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) must break from failed convention by integrating environmental and social dimensions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Millennium Development Goals falling short on environmental ambitions‘Marcellus Shale,’ a Look at Fracking, at La MaMa
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 30th, 2013
New York Times: In Paul Zimet's "Marcellus Shale," when the church ladies get together to pray for "those who are sick and suffering," the list of names goes on and on and on. Auggie (Joel Leffert), whose cows all died, has been in a wheelchair since his stroke and spends his days watching television and reading Ayn Rand. Eugene (Harlan J. Alford) has to use an oxygen tank to breathe but insists that fracking (hydraulic fracturing) has had no effect on the drinking water; his ill health, doctors assure him, is...
Big firms should report environmental impact : UN panel
Posted by Reuters: Michelle Nichols and Alister Doyle on May 30th, 2013
Reuters: Big companies should report their impact on the environment in addition to their earnings under a U.N. plan to boost economic growth and ease poverty by 2030, according to recommendations by a panel of world leaders released on Thursday. Slowing climate change and protecting the environment should be at the core of global development, said the 27-member panel, led by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Big firms should report environmental impact : UN panelAs Glaciers Melt, Alpine Mountains Lose Their Glue, Threatening Swiss Village
Posted by New York Times: John Tagliabue on May 30th, 2013
New York Times: Marco Bomio recalls that bright Sunday morning in June 2006 as if it were yesterday. Mr. Bomio, 59, a school principal and mountain guide, attended a religious service on a high mountain meadow to mark the founding of a local guide group. “Suddenly we saw this immense cloud,” he said over coffee in a wood chalet typical of this Alpine village. “Normally, it might have been snow. But in June?” “Then we saw that it wasn’t snow,” he went on. “It was rock dust: part of the mountain had come down.”...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Glaciers Melt, Alpine Mountains Lose Their Glue, Threatening Swiss VillageMount Everest region glaciers retreating as climate warms
Posted by Washington Post: Adam Rainear on May 30th, 2013
Washington Post: he world’s tallest mountain -- first conquered by man 60 years ago today -- cannot escape climate change.
A recent study led by a graduate student at the University of Milan in Italy reveals declining snow amounts and retreating glaciers in the Mount Everest region, reaffirming fears that many scientists hold -- increasing global temperatures could cause irreversible damage.
The research presented at an American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in Mexico earlier this month, shows that the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mount Everest region glaciers retreating as climate warmsThe real, and dirty, Obama scandal
Posted by CNN: Van Jones on May 30th, 2013
CNN: Last week, members of the House of Representatives turned their attention to the biggest Obama scandal yet.
No, I do not mean the IRS or Benghazi. Those are more partisan witch hunt than true scandal, a point backed up by recent CNN polling that shows independents and moderates trust the White House's take.
I also do not mean the investigations of The Associated Press or Fox News reporter James Rosen. Both are worrying cases of the national security state trumping freedom of the press, but...
Threat of hunger in oil-rich Niger Delta
Posted by BBC: Will Ross on May 30th, 2013
BBC: A pristine paradise - these are not words you often hear to describe the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria.
But you get to appreciate the area's natural beauty whilst wading across lily covered creeks and trekking deep into the forest, accompanied by birdsong.
Welcome to the Niger Delta before the oil.
"I'm on the plank now so walk right behind me," a guide said as we squelched across a muddy swamp trying not to sink in too deep.
After walking for about an hour and a half from the village...