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Archive for July, 2013
Obama’s remarks offer hope to opponents of oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
New York Times: The political ground may be shifting under the Keystone XL pipeline. Just weeks ago, the smart money in Washington had President Obama approving the cross-border oil pipeline later this year, perhaps balanced with a package of unrelated climate change measures. The seemingly inevitable decision would leave the pipeline’s opponents — a group that includes a large number of Mr. Obama’s most ardent supporters and generous donors — dispirited and disillusioned by what one called the president’s half-a-loaf...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Obama’s remarks offer hope to opponents of oil pipelineAlberta must adapt and upgrade in disasters’ wake
Posted by Edmonton Journal: Graham Thomson on July 6th, 2013
Edmonton Journal: On May 29, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) president Don Forgeron gave a speech in Calgary that wrapped up with a few questions: “Are your homes and businesses ready for extreme weather?”
And: “Do you have measures in place to respond when the heavy rains fall?
Eerily, Forgeron’s questions came precisely three weeks before torrential downpours inundated southern Alberta, flooding homes and businesses in downtown Calgary.
As far as I know, Forgeron is neither clairvoyant nor an exceptionally...
Extreme Weather: How will Europe prepare for the next flood?
Posted by ClimateWire: Erica Rex on July 6th, 2013
ClimateWire: German officials reacted with alarm when they found themselves not quite prepared last month for the worst flooding in 400 years. In mid-June, during the third week of the deluge, Germany found itself short of sandbags. Its neighbors -- the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and Denmark -- quickly came to Germany's aid and provided 1.65 million empty sandbags.
According to a report in Der Speigel, government sources would only talk about the crisis on condition of anonymity, as this kind of shortfall...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Extreme Weather: How will Europe prepare for the next flood?Britain basks in sunshine at last. But is it all part of the same global pattern of freak weather?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
Independent: What connects this weekend’s glorious summer weather with the record heatwave in Death Valley California, the devastating floods this spring in Germany, the miserably cold March in Britain, unusually warm temperatures in Alaska this winter and many other examples of extreme weather around the world?
The answer according to some scientists is a high-altitude ribbon of fast-moving air in the northern hemisphere called the jet stream which appears to have changed from travelling in a relatively straight...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Britain basks in sunshine at last. But is it all part of the same global pattern of freak weather?Canadian Cities’ Vulnerability to Climate Change Clear After Alberta Floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
Energy Collective: Flooding swept over Southern Alberta, Canada from Calgary to Canmore in mid-June. Evacuation orders were issued in towns and cities as rivers like the Bow and the Elbow swelled and spilled over their banks. Historic water levels were reached in Medicine Hat, downtown Calgary was emptied and underwater, and towns like High River were completely evacuated for days as police patrolled the flood ravaged streets.
The Alberta flooding is one of the many climate change impacts already being felt around...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canadian Cities’ Vulnerability to Climate Change Clear After Alberta FloodsThe real threat to our future is peak water
Posted by Observer: Lester Brown on July 6th, 2013
Observer: Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water.
We drink on average four quarts (4.5 litres) of water per day, in one form or another, but the food we eat each day requires 2,000 quarts of water to produce, or 500 times as much. Getting enough water to drink is relatively easy, but finding enough to produce the ever-growing quantities of grain...
Global food supply under threat as water wells dry up, analyst warns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
Guardian: Wells are drying up and underwater tables falling so fast in the Middle East and parts of India, China and the US that food supplies are seriously threatened, one of the world's leading resource analysts has warned.
In a major new essay Lester Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, claims that 18 countries, together containing half the world's people, are now overpumping their underground water tables to the point – known as "peak water" – where they are not replenishing and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global food supply under threat as water wells dry up, analyst warnsOne Garden’s Climate Struggle (And How To Save Yours)
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
National Public Radio: At the Hillwood Estate gardens in Washington, D.C., the new norm is: "Expect the unexpected." So says volunteer coordinator Bill Johnson, who has worked on property belonging to the heiress of the Post cereal fortune for 30 years.
Like home gardeners, the horticulturalists and professional gardeners at Hillwood are confronting an unpredictable climate.
"We've been getting mild winters, things start growing sooner, so the bloom time is skewed on everything," Johnson tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer....
How Do You Communicate Action on Climate Change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 6th, 2013
Energy Collective: Anyone trying to get the public or interested parties on board for a project in the energy and environmental industries, or any campaigner working in the area of climate change, at some point has to find a way to 'sell' their project and the reasons for it; in other words, to 'sell' the relevance of renewable energy, energy efficiency, or climate change to particular groups of people.
This is not as easy as it sounds, and this week it was my pleasure to organise and participate in a workshop led...
Illegal palm oil from an Indonesian national park used by Asian Agri, Wilmar, WWF report says
Posted by Mongabay: Diana Parker on July 5th, 2013
Mongabay: Illegal palm oil expansion inside Indonesia’s Tesso Nilo National Park is threatening protected forests and the reputation of two companies who claim to be sources of sustainably-produced palm oil, says a new WWF-Indonesia report.
In its June 26 report, “Palming Off a National Park,” WWF-Indonesia found that over 52,000 hectares of natural forests in the area have already been illegally converted into palm oil plantations. And fruits from the illegal plantations have made their way into the supply...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Illegal palm oil from an Indonesian national park used by Asian Agri, Wilmar, WWF report says