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Archive for June, 2013
China’s environmental problems are grim, admits ministry report
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Duggan on June 7th, 2013
Guardian: China's environmental situation has been described as "grim" in an annual update on the country's environment released this week.
The update by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said that overall pollution problems were serious last year and reporting on the update, the state-controlled newspaper China Daily said there has been a "marked deterioration in China's air, water and land quality".
The 2012 Environmental Conditions Report addressed water and air pollution, the two types...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on China’s environmental problems are grim, admits ministry reportPeak soil: industrial civilisation is on the verge of eating itself
Posted by Guardian: Nafeez Ahmed on June 7th, 2013
Guardian: A new report says that the world will need to more than double food production over the next 40 years to feed an expanding global population. But as the world's food needs are rapidly increasing, the planet's capacity to produce food confronts increasing constraints from overlapping crises that, if left unchecked, could lead to billions facing hunger.
The UN projects that global population will grow from today's 7 billion to 9.3 billion by mid-century. According to the report released last week...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Peak soil: industrial civilisation is on the verge of eating itselfL.A. Now Live: Poll shows Californians concerned about fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2013
LA Times: As energy companies seek to plumb vast reserves of underground oil in California through the controversial drilling technique known as fracking, voters are concerned about its safety and uneasy with the state's lack of oversight, according to a new poll.
Join us at 9 a.m. as we discuss the findings with Times Sacramento Bureau Chief Evan Halper.
More than half of voters -- 58% -- say they favor a moratorium on the process of injecting chemicals deep into the ground to tap oil and natural gas...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on L.A. Now Live: Poll shows Californians concerned about frackingBritish Gas owner Centrica in talks to buy shale fracking stake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 7th, 2013
Guardian: The British Gas owner Centrica is in talks with Britain's leading fracking company about buying a stake in its most promising acreage just months after playing down the prospects for shale gas.
Sources have confirmed to the Guardian that discussions are ongoing between Cuadrilla Resources and Centrica over the sale of a stake in the Bowland shale in the north-west of England.
A second shale operator, IGas, said earlier this week that estimates of its resources were considerably higher than...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on British Gas owner Centrica in talks to buy shale fracking stakeCalifornians uneasy about fracking’s safety, lack of oversight
Posted by LA Times: Evan Halper on June 7th, 2013
LA Times: As energy companies seek to plumb vast reserves of underground oil in California through the controversial drilling technique known as fracking, voters are concerned about its safety and uneasy with the state's lack of oversight, according to a new poll.
More than half of voters -- 58% -- say they favor a moratorium on the process of injecting chemicals deep into the ground to tap oil and natural gas deposits embedded in rock until an independent commission has studied its environmental effects....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Californians uneasy about fracking’s safety, lack of oversightDrought, river fragmentation forcing endangered fish out of water, biologist finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 6th, 2013
ScienceDaily: A Kansas State University researcher is discovering that the North American drought has caused dramatic changes in native fish communities.
"A couple of key species that we have been studying have virtually disappeared where they historically were abundant," said Keith Gido, professor of biology who researches fish ecology and conservation of aquatic systems.
Gido and his team study state and federal endangered and threatened fish species in river ecosystems, including the Arkansas, Kansas,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought, river fragmentation forcing endangered fish out of water, biologist findsAlpine lakes reflect climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 6th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Increases in temperature as a result of climate change are mirrored in lake waters where temperatures are also on the rise. A new study, by Dr. Martin Dokulil, retired researcher from the Institute for Limnology at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, forecasts surface water temperatures in large Austrian lakes for 2050 and discusses the impact on the lakes' structure, function and water quality.
The research is published online in Springer's journal Hydrobiologia.
Austria has a multitude...
Arkansas pipeline spill casts shadow over Keystone XL
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on June 6th, 2013
LA Times: On warm spring evenings, North Starlite Drive buzzed with children. They cycled around the cul-de-sac at the end of the wide, block-long road, shot baskets in driveways and inevitably wound up on the swing set and trampoline behind the Bartletts' large brick house.
These days, there are no children. Yellow police tape stretches across the turns from the main road onto the street. All 22 families who lived there are gone.
About 2:45 p.m. on March 29, an underground ExxonMobil oil pipeline ruptured...
Floods in Germany may be a sign of climate change
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on June 6th, 2013
Deutsche Welle: Germany copes with flooding Déjà vu for Grimma's soaked citizens Floods in Germany - a sign of climate change? Campaigning in rubber boots Merkel pledges immediate support as floods travel north Austrian flood handling successful but exhausting Floods hit Germany at economic low point Complaints arise over Germany's flood preparedness
Many regions of Germany, and other parts of Central Europe, have been hit severely by flooding in the wake of unusually heavy rain. Climate scientists say climate...
As Extreme Weather Increases, Bangladesh Braces for the Worst
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Brian Fagan on June 6th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Melting ice sheets, calving glaciers and rising sea levels: scenarios of impending inundation fill the news, while climate change skeptics assure us that these are long-term problems, part of the natural cycle of things. One thing is certain: These are multi-decade changes in a warming world, which we’re tempted to leave to future generations.
But as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy forcibly reminded us here in the United States, warming brings more extreme weather events -- and the catastrophic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As Extreme Weather Increases, Bangladesh Braces for the Worst