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Archive for May, 2014
California: Where 13 Billion Barrels of Oil Simply Vanish
Posted by Motley Fuel: Matt DiLallo on May 25th, 2014
Motley Fuel: California was supposed to be heading toward a new gold rush. Although, this time it was for black gold. The Monterey Shale underneath the state was estimated to hold about 13.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil making it the country's largest shale oil deposit. That black gold rush is a lot less likely after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reportedly will slash its estimates of recoverable oil in the state by 96%.
According to the report in the LA Times, the EIA is set to announce...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on California: Where 13 Billion Barrels of Oil Simply VanishPope Francis Pleas For Environment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 25th, 2014
Scientific American: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. That's what God told Adam and Eve in the King James Bible. Do Christians therefore have an obligation to tame the Earth and exercise "dominion' over all its plants and animals?
Not according to Pope Francis. In a speech on May 21, he noted that our planet is a great gift to humanity. Nature and the cosmos beyond are objects for wonder and awe--an awe that the Christian deity also shared after creating it.
That experience of...
CA Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Fracking Moratorium Bill
Posted by Daily Kos: Dan Bacher on May 25th, 2014
Daily Kos: "The costs to people, homes and the environment remain unacceptably high, but we now also know that the projected economic benefits are only a small fraction of what the oil industry has been touting."
In spite of the millions spent by Big Oil on lobbying in Sacramento every year, the California Senate Appropriations Committee on Friday voted 4 to 2 to approve a bill, SB 1132, to place a moratorium on fracking (hydraulic fracturing) in the state.
SB 1132, authored by Senators Holly Mitchell...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on CA Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Fracking Moratorium BillAntarctic Ice Collapse Could Devastate Global Food Supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 25th, 2014
Guardian: The ongoing collapse of a large part of the Antarctica ice sheet could devastate global food supply, drowning vast areas of crop lands across the Middle East and Asia, according to new research.
A new report urges the Obama Administration to step up research funding -- especially in developing countries -- to help make up a projected gap in future food supply.
The report, Advancing Global Food Supply in the Face of a Changing Climate, urges the Obama Administration to step up research funding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Antarctic Ice Collapse Could Devastate Global Food SupplyClimate change needs urgent action
Posted by New York Times: Thomas Friedman on May 25th, 2014
New York Times: Of the many things being said about climate change lately, none was more eloquent than the point made by Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state in the Showtime series "Years of Living Dangerously," when he observed: "We're the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it." The question is how do we motivate people to do something about it at the scale required, when many remain skeptical or preoccupied with the demands of daily life —...
Babbling brooks adding to climate change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 25th, 2014
ScienceDaily: Methane bubbles rising to the surface of fresh water. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison [Click to enlarge image]
Studying stream bubbles isn't exactly a walk in the park. What, with the mud and ticks, the long days hiking and swimming through mucky streams, the sun exposure and scratching brush.
But in the end, it may prove to be insightful. The bubbles coming from freshwater sources, new research suggests, may be a key and currently unaccounted for source of methane,...
On World Fish Migration Day, Recalling When America’s Rivers Ran Silver
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on May 24th, 2014
New York Times: John Waldman is a Queens College biology professor and author focused on the bountiful past and potential restoration of the waters of the Northeast. I loved “Heartbeats in the Muck,” his history of the changing biology of the 1,500 square miles of New York Harbor, and am enjoying his new book, “Running Silver: Restoring Atlantic Rivers and Their Great Fish Migrations,” which achingly describes the bygone biological bounty of eastern waterways and lays out strategies for bringing back at least a...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on On World Fish Migration Day, Recalling When America’s Rivers Ran SilverBritain Proposes Easier Access to Tap Shale Rock Energy
Posted by New York Times: Stanley Reed on May 24th, 2014
New York Times: While most western European governments are opposed to developing oil and gas from shale rock through hydraulic fracturing, the British government continues to plug away at the obstacles inhibiting the country’s fledgling shale industry. The government on Friday proposed giving companies the right to drill laterally under land without seeking the consent of each landowner as long as the wells were at least 300 meters, or about 985 feet, deep. It also endorsed industry proposals that operators make...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Britain Proposes Easier Access to Tap Shale Rock EnergyClimate Blues: How Environmentalists Chill Out in Warming World
Posted by NBC: Miguel Llanos on May 24th, 2014
NBC: Studies warning of an Antarctic ice sheet collapse. A wildfire season that could shatter records. Shellfish eaten away by oceans turned more acidic due to greenhouse gases. U.N. and U.S. reports stating that climate change is advancing more quickly.
Everyone gets down about their work from time to time, but for environmentalists, they can sometimes quite literally be dealing with the end of the world as we know it. For some, the answer is obvious: work harder. For others, it's about accepting...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Blues: How Environmentalists Chill Out in Warming WorldCalifornia Assembly Passes Historic Law Remove Plastic Microbeads
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 24th, 2014
EcoWatch: In a historic vote yesterday, the California Assembly passed the Microplastic Nuisance Prevention Law to ban the sale and manufacturing of personal care products containing tiny, synthetic plastic microbeads. Thanks to 5 Gyres Institute, the group that authored the bill sponsored by Assembly Member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), California sets a national precedent for holding companies liable for products that harm aquatic species and pollutes our water.
“The passage of our bill by the California...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Assembly Passes Historic Law Remove Plastic Microbeads