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Archive for September 23rd, 2013
Scientists should be up on the ramparts
Posted by Guardian: David Suzuki on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: Despite the enormous success of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s, we have fundamentally failed to use each of those battles to broaden the public understanding of why we were battling. It wasn't just the power of environmentalists against developers, environmentalists against the oil industry. It was because we had a different way of looking at the world.
Environmentalism is a way of seeing our place within the biosphere. That's what the battles were fought over. But we have failed...
Alaska fracking rules would boost public notice, disclosure
Posted by Reuters: Yereth Rosen on September 23rd, 2013
Reuters: New regulations to oversee hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells in Alaska could be issued later this year by state regulators, officials said at a public hearing on Monday.
The regulations, proposed by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, would require the approval of regulators before fracturing is conducted, notification of landowners and testing of water wells within a half-mile radius, and the full disclosure of chemicals in the hydraulic-fracturing liquids.
While "fracking"...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Alaska fracking rules would boost public notice, disclosureAustralia: NSW under pressure to water down rules on coal seam gas
Posted by Guardian: Lenore Taylor on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: New South Wales is under intense pressure to water down tough coal seam gas regulations announced before the federal election as the Abbott government vows "anarchist" anti-CSG protesters who disrespect the law will not sway its determination to kick-start the industry.
As protests to proposed new coal seam gas wells escalated before the federal election, the NSW government, with the encouragement of the then federal Coalition resources spokesman, Ian Macfarlane, and to the dismay of the gas industry,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: NSW under pressure to water down rules on coal seam gasUnited Kingdom: Fracking protests restart after Cuadrilla seeks new drilling rights
Posted by Guardian: Ben Quinn on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: The company at the heart of the anti-fracking protests in West Sussex on Monday confirmed that its exploratory drilling outside a village had discovered the presence of hydrocarbons, which can be used for fuel, and said further testing would be needed to ascertain flow rates.
After more than two months of operations at Balcombe, Cuadrilla said that it would be clearing the site by the weekend and would be closing it off for the next few months while it applies for planning permission to measure...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Fracking protests restart after Cuadrilla seeks new drilling rightsRim fire’s effects likely to last for decades to come
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on September 23rd, 2013
LA Times: Tourists stopped at the Rim of the World overlook on California 120 earlier this month to take photos of the panoramic view — just as they always have.
But they stared in silence at the ashen hues of a landscape swept by the largest wildfire to burn in the Sierra Nevada in more than a century of recordkeeping. Steep canyon walls and mountain slopes that had been robed in chaparral and oak were now draped in black, spreading to the horizon in a funereal scene.
To the north, miles and miles of...
Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 23rd, 2013
Reuters: For China, global warming has become something of a convenient truth.
Beijing blames climate change for wreaking havoc on scarce water resources, but critics say the country's headlong drive to build its industrial prowess and huge hydro projects are just as responsible.
On the eve of a global climate change conference in Stockholm, a U.N. climate body says shrinking glaciers in central Asia and the Himalayas would affect water resources in downstream river catchments, which include China....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisisPowerful typhoon kills 20 in southern China, swipes Hong Kong
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 23rd, 2013
Reuters: A powerful typhoon hit Hong Kong and the southern China coast on Monday, killing at least 20 people on the mainland, crippling power lines and causing flooding and gale force winds.
Typhoon Usagi, the strongest storm to hit the Western Pacific this year, began pounding the Asian financial center late on Sunday. More than 370 flights were canceled.
Despite earlier warnings the typhoon could pose a severe risk to Hong Kong, the city suffered only minimal damage, including toppled trees. There...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Powerful typhoon kills 20 in southern China, swipes Hong KongArctic alpine plants may live in ‘micro refuges’
Posted by Guardian: Liz Kalaugher on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: Arctic alpine plants may survive in small pockets of cold, disturbed ground even if rising temperatures drive them from the rest of their habitat, according to researchers.
Typical Arctic alpine species, such as white Arctic mountain heather, mountain avens, and Diapensia lapponica, thrive in cold temperatures. But they're not as competitive or as responsive to changes in their environment as their lowland cousins.
However, Miska Luoto of Finland's University of Helsinki says cold "micro refuges"...
Australia: ‘Mega-mines’ in Queensland’s Galilee basin would guzzle water, report says
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: Nine planned "mega-mines" in the Galilee basin region of Queensland would drain the area of 1,354bn litres of water, equivalent to two-and-a-half times the volume of Sydney harbour, threatening the future of dozens of farming communities, a new report has found.
The study, undertaken by the anti-mining network Lock the Gate and overseen by Tom Crowthers, former general manager of water planning and allocation for the Queensland government, says the mines could cause "unacceptable impacts" on the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: ‘Mega-mines’ in Queensland’s Galilee basin would guzzle water, report says