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Archive for October, 2013
Romanian farmers choose subsistence over shale gas
Posted by Reuters: Luiza Ilie on October 27th, 2013
Reuters: The small hilly town of Pungesti in eastern Romania could be sitting on vast reserves of shale gas and U.S. energy major Chevron wants to find it.
But the people of Pungesti want nothing to do with it.
Though most of them live off subsistence farming, social aid and cash from relatives working abroad, they would rather stay poor than run what they say is the risk of ruining their environment.
Villagers have set up camp outside the empty lot where Chevron aims to install its first exploratory...
In The Long Run, Rebuilding Coastlines Could Prove Too Costly
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2013
National Public Radio: One year ago Tuesday, Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast, devastating shoreline communities from Florida to Maine. Many of these areas have been rebuilt, including the Long Beach boardwalk, about 30 miles outside New York City. Officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new boardwalk Friday. Ninety percent of the funding for the restoration came from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid $44 million to repair the devastation. Jack and Roseanne Vanderbeck...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on In The Long Run, Rebuilding Coastlines Could Prove Too CostlyRomania split over Europe’s biggest gold mine
Posted by Aljazeera: @jamesreinl on October 27th, 2013
Aljazeera: Andrei Gruber lights a cigarette and points through his kitchen window to where a Canadian mining firm wants to set up Europe's biggest open cast gold mine and change the face of this sleepy Romanian town forever. The 28-year-old knows mining well. Gruber's ancestors came to Rosia Montana hundreds of years ago to scour the hills for precious metals. But a scheme by Gabriel Resources is bigger and more destructive than anything this community has seen before. "Mining is what created Rosia Montana,...
Wisconsin GOP Aims tLimit Mining Rules & Silence Opposition
Posted by Progressive: None Given on October 27th, 2013
Progressive: The frac sand mining industry faced off with dozens of Wisconsin citizens on Thursday as the Senate Committee on Workforce Development, Forestry, Mining and Revenue held a public hearing on a bill that would severely limit local governments' abilities to protect their communities against the harmful health and environmental effects of frac sand and other non-metallic mining activities.
Mining for sand used to extract natural gas and oil in the hydraulic fracturing process has become a serious...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wisconsin GOP Aims tLimit Mining Rules & Silence OppositionEstuaries in Puerto Rico’s capital get ‘mega clean up’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 27th, 2013
Reuters: A flotilla of fishing skiffs and kayaks plied through the channels and lagoons that comprise the San Juan estuary system Saturday, as volunteers dove beneath bridges and trudged through the thick mangrove forest lining its coasts. With egrets, herons and terns circling overhead and large tarpon breaking through the lagoon's surface, the estuary system evokes a tropical paradise. A closer look shows its green waters are ripe with an algae bloom, the result of sewer and storm water runoff that hide...
Australia: Fires incite political debate over climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: As bushfires devastated parts of New South Wales, the political sphere was heating up over whether global warming is behind the ferocity of the Australian fire season.
(Song plays throughout: Change - Flume)
(Footage of the bushfires is shown)
TRACY BOWDEN, ABC REPORTER, 7.30: Is this climate change in action?
ANNABELLE CRABB, 7.30 PRESENTER: Behind the fire-front a secondary battle is underway
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONENT, CNN: Is there a link between climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Fires incite political debate over climate changeGlobal Ban on Mercury Exempts Mascara and Eye Makeup
Posted by EcoWatch: Kaye Spector on October 26th, 2013
EcoWatch: Mercury was banned in cosmetics and soaps by a recently signed global treaty at the Minamata Convention. But mascara and other eye makeup were exempted.
Mercury is used in trace amounts in eye makeup as a preservative. The treaty exempts eye area cosmetics from the list because “no effective, safe substitute alternatives are available,” according to the signed treaty.
The Minamata Convention for Mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects...
Wildfire smoke can drift for hundreds of miles, hurting health
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 26th, 2013
United Press International: Smoke from U.S. wildfires can drift for hundreds of miles and hurt the health of millions, an environmental group says.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, based on smoke data from the 2011 wildfire season -- one of the worst in recent decades -- found the area affected by smoke was 50 times greater than the area burned by fire.
About two-thirds of Americans -- nearly 212 million people -- live in counties affected by smoke conditions in 2011. Many states had large wildfires...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildfire smoke can drift for hundreds of miles, hurting healthAustralian bushfires fan global warming debate
Posted by BBC: Jon Donnison on October 26th, 2013
BBC: Australia has been battling unseasonably bad bushfires for weeks. The flames have destroyed hundreds of homes - and have also intensified a political debate about whether there is a link with global warming.
Australia's Blue Mountains get their name from the eucalyptus trees that coat their slopes.
On a warm day the sun heats up the oils in the trees' vibrant green leaves. As those oils evaporate into the atmosphere it gives the range a shimmering blue hue.
For much of this week though the...
Flooding worse than Sandy could hit Jersey Shore because of sea-level rise
Posted by Asbury Park Press: Todd B. Bates on October 26th, 2013
Asbury Park Press: Look for more extreme coastal flooding locally — even worse than during superstorm Sandy — in upcoming decades, a climate expert said Friday.
Ocean and Monmouth counties are “on the front lines of risk from sea level rise, from coastal storms and coastal flooding,” said Ben Strauss, vice president for climate impacts and director of the Program on Sea Level Rise at Climate Central in Princeton.
“I think nationally, they’re among the hot spots at risk nationwide,” Strauss said.
“I think sea...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flooding worse than Sandy could hit Jersey Shore because of sea-level rise