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Archive for March, 2014
Intensive farming won’t solve meat problem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 3rd, 2014
Guardian: The scale of growth in China’s meat production over the past three decades is staggering.
Today, one-third of the world’s meat is produced in the country and half of all pigs live there. While per capita annual consumption may still be below the US and Europe – for now at least – China still managed to jump from 4kg to 61kg per person between 1961 and 2010.
Unlike the US though, it must produce this meat with a comparative scarcity of resources. Its water availability per capita is around 2,000...
Europe-wide flood losses to ‘increase four fold’ by 2050
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on March 3rd, 2014
BBC: According to the most accurate model yet developed, flood damage losses across Europe are expected to increase four fold by 2050.
The scientists believe that the continent's annual flood costs may be 23.5bn euros by the middle of the century.
Two-thirds of the projected increase in flood damage will be caused by human development, not climate change.
The study has been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
One of the big problems for European flood disaster research has been...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Europe-wide flood losses to ‘increase four fold’ by 2050Court Upholds Imposing Fracking Ban in Colorado City
Posted by Bloomberg: Tripp Baltz on March 3rd, 2014
Bloomberg: A Colorado judge has approved the results of a November 2013 vote approving a five-year ban on hydraulic fracturing in Broomfield, Colo.
The Feb. 27 ruling by Colorado District Court Judge Chris Melonakis of the 17th Judicial District means Broomfield's five-year ban on fracking remains in effect, the city said in a statement.
Following a recount in which the initiative was deemed to have passed by 20 votes, opponents of the ban challenged the election results. An earlier court ruling had enjoined...
Hundreds Arrested Protesting Keystone XL at The White House
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on March 3rd, 2014
Environment News Service: Police arrested more than 370 young people who tied themselves to the White House fence on Sunday to protest the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.
Called XL Dissent, the protest was organized by college and university students to urge President Barack Obama to reject the northern leg of TransCanada`s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which needs presidential approval because it would cross an international border on its way from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Texas.
Organizers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Hundreds Arrested Protesting Keystone XL at The White HouseOver 1,200 Youth March to the White House to Protest Keystone XL
Posted by Softpedia: Laura Sinpetru on March 3rd, 2014
Softpedia: Hundreds gather at the White House to protest Keystone XL This past Sunday, over 1,200 youth marched to the White House and staged a protest against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
The protest was organized just as President Barack Obama is getting ready to announce his final decision concerning this controversial project.
Media reports say that the young people who took part in the march and then gathered in front of the White House were representatives of over 50 colleges and universities...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Over 1,200 Youth March to the White House to Protest Keystone XLKeystone XL protesters arrested after strapping selves to White House fence
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2014
Associated Press: Police on Sunday arrested around 200 people who strapped themselves to the White House fence to protest the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The protesters were mostly college students who participated in a peaceful march that began at Georgetown University and ended outside the White House. The marchers chanted “climate justice now” and carried signs such as “don’t tarnish the Earth” in their efforts to convince President Barack Obama to reject the pipeline. They say it will contribute to global...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL protesters arrested after strapping selves to White House fenceEven In A Desert, Drought Spells Trouble For Ranchers
Posted by National Public Radio: Kirk Siegler on March 2nd, 2014
National Public Radio: In northern Nevada, a place famous for its wide, open spaces and expansive cattle operations, ranchers are in a bind due to the historic drought.
Much of the state is desert, so when people talk about drought, they're really talking about the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. It's at barely 20 percent of average.
This is a huge concern for farmers and ranchers like Julie Wolf, because the mountains store the snow that melts and feeds rivers and reservoirs. These bodies of water then allow the...
Oil From the Exxon Valdez Spill Lingers on Alaska Beaches
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2014
National Geographic: The Exxon Valdez oil spill is not just an awful memory. Oil from one of the most devastating environmental disasters in U.S. history still clings to boulder-strewn beaches in the Gulf of Alaska-and could stick around for decades. Researchers presented evidence of a lingering, foamy, mousse-like emulsion this week at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Chemical analyses find that this 25-year-old oil is from the Exxon Valdez spill, when the tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Oil From the Exxon Valdez Spill Lingers on Alaska BeachesDouble flood trouble for Europe in the next 40 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2014
New Scientist: Europe's politicians should bulk-buy waterproof boots. By 2050 extreme floods will swamp Europe twice as often as they do now, and the annual costs of flood damage could increase fivefold.
A new analysis of peak river flows provides some of the best evidence yet that climate change will make floods worse. However, other factors such as building in flood zones have a bigger effect on costs, because more buildings are in harm's way.
Unlike earlier studies, this study incorporates patterns of...
Frequency of severe flooding across Europe ‘to double by 2050’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2014
Independent: The frequency of severe flooding across Europe is set to double by 2050 and over the same period there could be a nearly fivefold increase in the annual economic losses resulting from floods, a study has found.
Climate change and an increase in rainfall will account for about a third of the losses by mid-century, with the rest of the increase being due to more properties and infrastructure falling within flood risk areas, scientists said.
An analysis of how rainfall patterns are likely to change...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Frequency of severe flooding across Europe ‘to double by 2050’