RSS Feed
Archive for October 25th, 2013
Canada: Alberta Wildrose leader now says she believes in climate change
Posted by CTV: None Given on October 25th, 2013
CTV: Alberta Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, under fire by critics as a weak leader and climate change denier, announced Friday she now believes climate change exists and that mankind is at least partially to blame.
"I accept that climate change is a reality, as do our members. I accept that there's a human influence on it," Smith told reporters as her party delegates opened a weekend policy convention.
"I leave the debate about the details to the science about (to) what extent it is and how fast...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Canada: Alberta Wildrose leader now says she believes in climate changeEcology: Life’s Connections
Posted by Ecologist: Dr. Glen Barry on October 25th, 2013
Ecologist: Ultimately, all humanity and all life have is the biosphere, the thin layer of life just above and below Earth’s surface, composed of ancient, miraculously evolved natural ecosystems. The natural Earth is a marvel - a complex coupling of species within ecosystems, whereby life begets life. Ecology is far more than the study of life and its environment. The word is used here as a synonym for ecosystems - the vibrant connections that emerge between species across scales, which cumulatively make life...
Wildfire Smoke Affecting Millions of Americans, Report Warns
Posted by Nature World: Tamarra Kemsley on October 25th, 2013
Nature World: Wildfires are putting more and more Americans at risk, and not just those in the path of the blaze. In 2011, more than 200 million were affected by harmful wildfire smoke as it drifted across state and county lines, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) warns in a new report entitled "Where There's Fire, There's Smoke."
The study determined that the area affected by smoke is roughly 50 times greater than the area burned by fire, with about two-thirds of Americans affected in 2011, one of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildfire Smoke Affecting Millions of Americans, Report WarnsJapan issues tsunami warning after earthquake at sea
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2013
Guardian: A small tsunami was due to reach the Japanese coast at Fukushima, site of a wrecked nuclear power plant, on Saturday morning local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
There were no immediate reports of damage on land from an earthquake, classified as magnitude 6.8 by Japanese authorities, which struck 230 miles off Japan's eastern coast. The tremor was felt in Tokyo, about 300 miles (480km) away.
The agency issued a yellow warning, which indicates the tsunami is not expected...
North Dakota recorded 300 oil spills in two years without notifying public
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2013
Associated Press: North Dakota, the nation's No2 oil producer behind Texas, recorded nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in less than two years, state documents show. None was reported to the public, officials said.
According to records obtained by the Associated Press, the pipeline spills, many of them small, are among some 750 "oil field incidents" that have occurred since January 2012 without public notification.
"That's news to us," said Don Morrison, director of the Dakota Resource Council, an environmental-minded...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on North Dakota recorded 300 oil spills in two years without notifying publicGE drops legal fight over running tar sands megaloads on Idaho highway
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2013
Reuters: A General Electric Co subsidiary has dropped its appeal of a federal court order barring a massive shipment of tar sands oil-field equipment from being trucked along a scenic Idaho roadway that cuts through the Indian homelands of the Nez Perce Tribe.
The company's legal capitulation was hailed by tribal officials and environmental groups as a major victory in their three-year struggle against so-called megaload transports, a dispute at the forefront of a larger battle over oil and gas development...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on GE drops legal fight over running tar sands megaloads on Idaho highwayCarcinogens emitted from Canada’s main fossil fuel hub, study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2013
LA Times: A new study has detected air pollutants, including carcinogens, in areas downwind of Canada's main fossil fuel hub in Alberta at levels rivaling those of major metropolises such as Beijing and Mexico City.
The study by researchers from UC Irvine and the University of Michigan also found a high incidence of blood cancers such as leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among men in the area, compared with the rest of Alberta and Canada.
"When you get cancers that can be caused by the carcinogens...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Carcinogens emitted from Canada’s main fossil fuel hub, study saysObama Former Climate Czar Predicts President Will Reject Keystone XL
Posted by Hill: None Given on October 25th, 2013
Hill: Former White House energy and climate czar Carol Browner on Thursday predicted President Obama will say no to building the controversial Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.
"Whether or not he will say no -- well, you know how the White House functions," Browner said at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) anniversary meeting in Washington. "At the end of the day he is going to say no but there will be some more twists and turns before we get there."
Browner is now a senior...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Former Climate Czar Predicts President Will Reject Keystone XLNorthwest researcher says toxic algae have a competitive edge
Posted by OPB: None Given on October 25th, 2013
OPB: Pollution and climate change may be making freshwater algae blooms more toxic, according to a Northwest scientist`s newly published analysis.
Oregon State University researcher Tim Otten`s article in the journal Science concludes that fertilizer pollution, wastewater, and a warming climate are fueling the growth of huge mats of green scum in lakes and reservoirs.
“For instance in Lake Erie, it’s been plagued with toxic blooms that are so large you can see them from outer space,” he said.
Algae...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Northwest researcher says toxic algae have a competitive edgeSuperstorm Sandy: How storm morphed from “boring” to killer superstorm
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2013
Associated Press: It was the moment a run-of-the-mill hurricane mutated into a monster named Sandy. Paradoxically, it was the same time Sandy lost much of its wind power, dropping from a hurricane to a tropical storm. It was a Friday night and Sandy had just passed the Bahamas and was being enveloped by an ordinary cold front coming off the Southeast. It was changing how it got its power, where its highest winds were and even what it looked like. But mostly it was getting bigger. Dangerously large. And then it merged...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Superstorm Sandy: How storm morphed from “boring” to killer superstorm