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Archive for November, 2013
Bill de Blasio’s biggest challenge is climate change
Posted by Guardian: Ben Adler on November 7th, 2013
Guardian: Bill de Blasio, New York City's new mayor-elect, didn't spend much time during the campaign talking about climate change, but he'll likely spend a lot of his time at City Hall dealing with it.
New York finds itself these days with an unusual conundrum: Its biggest problems are largely the byproduct of its biggest successes. Just 20 years ago, New York was, like American cities generally, blighted by rampant crime and less populated than at its mid-century heyday.
Today, New York City's central...
Leaked IPCC report links climate change to global food scarcity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 7th, 2013
Guardian: It's a human-centric approach, but the prospect of a food scare should be one way to get people--believers and deniers alike--to seriously evaluate the effects of climate change.
Last week, a source leaked a draft report, drawn up by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and due to be released next March. It's the second of three reports, following the first that came out in September this year. Among other things, the text clearly outlines the threats climate change poses...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Leaked IPCC report links climate change to global food scarcityClimate change conference aims at how best to adapt
Posted by MPR: Elizabeth Dunbar on November 7th, 2013
MPR: Minnesota's climate is changing -- so much so that the state is seeing more record-breaking temperatures, higher dew points and more extreme weather events.
The changes are affecting everything from how doctors treat allergies to how cities rebuild storm sewers. With that in mind, transportation planners, public health officials and others will meet in St. Paul today to talk about how best to adapt.
Organizers expect more than 200 people at the sold-out conference, which they say is the first...
Colorado Rejects Fracking: The Money’s Not Talking; Social Media Is
Posted by Forbes: Richard Levick on November 7th, 2013
Forbes: Colorado was ground zero in the hydraulic fracturing debate on Tuesday, as four local municipalities voted on moratoriums or outright bans. In Boulder, 76 percent of voters favored extending a moratorium already in place. In Fort Collins, 55 percent supported a freeze on the practice. In Lafayette, 58 percent voted for a charter amendment that will ban fracking permanently. Only in Broomfield, an area that traditionally trends Republican, did voters reject the environmentalist agenda. It’s five-year...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado Rejects Fracking: The Money’s Not Talking; Social Media IsShell made false claims about Niger delta oil pollution, says Amnesty
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 7th, 2013
Guardian: Amnesty International accuses Shell of false claims about its environmental impact in the Niger delta, saying that the oil company cannot be trusted and that there are "serious discrepancies" between the evidence of pollution and what Shell claims.
"[Its] claims about its environmental impact in the Niger delta are frequently untrue. Shell has claimed that the oil spill investigations are sound when they are not, that sites are cleaned up when they are not, and that the company is transparent...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shell made false claims about Niger delta oil pollution, says AmnestyFossil fuel subsidies costing rich countries $112 per person
Posted by BusinessGreen: Will Nichols on November 7th, 2013
BusinessGreen: Average fossil fuel subsidies in the world's richest countries have reached $112 per person, draining national treasuries while undermining international efforts to avert dangerous climate change, according to an influential think tank.
The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) will today publish a new report arguing that fossil fuel subsidies are costing the 34 OECD countries between $55bn and $90bn a year, with the highest level of subsidies in Russia, the United States, Australia, Germany and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fossil fuel subsidies costing rich countries $112 per personRainwater harvesting: dismissed by Texas voters but embraced by business
Posted by Guardian: Greg Harman on November 6th, 2013
Guardian: Texas voters last night approved the creation of a water bank expected to fund nearly $30bn in water infrastructure projects in the coming decades. The passage of Proposition 6 means the state will begin putting its 2012 State Water Plan – which calls for more than $50b in spending on new water infrastructure by 2060 – into action.
The project list is heavy on big new pipelines and reservoirs (including a controversial $3.3bn reservoir in East Texas to service the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex 170...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rainwater harvesting: dismissed by Texas voters but embraced by businessResults Mixed on Colorado and Ohio Fracking Ban Initiatives
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 6th, 2013
National Geographic: Voters in three Colorado cities and one in Ohio on Tuesday passed ballot measures banning or temporarily halting fracking within their borders.
But in the Denver suburb of Broomfield-a location viewed as an active prospect for exploration-a decision hangs in the balance, as the unofficial tally has voters rejecting a moratorium by a razor-thin margin. Broomfield spokeswoman Rosann Doran said a recount is likely, but the results will not be certified for at least a week after overseas ballots are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Results Mixed on Colorado and Ohio Fracking Ban InitiativesWhile New Brunswick Fracking Protests Continue, Neighboring Newfoundland Enacts Moratorium
Posted by EcoWatch: Andy Rowell on November 6th, 2013
EcoWatch: As First Nations continue to fight fracking in New Brunswick, the neighboring provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador has halted the controversial drilling technique.
The government is arguing that more research is needed to see if it is safe for both people and the environment.
Gros Morne National Park is a world heritage site located on the west coast of Newfoundland. The tourist destination lies above Western Newfoundland`s shale oil reserves.
Western Newfoundland’s shale-oil...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on While New Brunswick Fracking Protests Continue, Neighboring Newfoundland Enacts MoratoriumColorado voters tell fracking industry frack off
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 6th, 2013
Grist: Maybe it`s the polluted groundwater, river water, and air. Perhaps it`s the toxic stew that gushed over Colorado when it flooded. Or it could be the abject lies. Whatever the fracking industry has done to earn the hostility of voters in at least three Colorado cities, it couldn`t be undone by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a pro-fracking ad blitz in recent weeks. On Tuesday, voters in Boulder, Fort Collins, and Lafayette all approved measures that either banned or placed a moratorium...