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Archive for June 17th, 2014
Climate change takes toll on Mount Kilimanjaro ice cap
Posted by Daily News: None Given on June 17th, 2014
Daily News: DEPUTY Minister in the Vice-President’s Office (Environment), Ms Ummy Mwalimu, has said that Mount Kilimanjaro has from 1912 to date lost almost 30 per cent of its ice.
Ms Mwalimu told the National Assembly that ice melting at the cap of the mountain was attributed to global warming, according to a research conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
She was answering a question from Rajab Mbarouk Mohamed (Ole-CUF) who wanted to know about efforts taken by the government...
Delaware gets millions to help beaches, wetlands
Posted by Deleware Online: Molly Murray on June 17th, 2014
Deleware Online: Three wetlands, Bombay Hook, Mispillion Harbor and the marshes near Little Creek, will be part of a $102.7 million federal initiative to build storm and sea-level-rise resilience by using green infrastructure - such as beaches and wetlands - to minimize the impact of flooding, coastal destruction and storm surge.
Each of the grants, announced Monday, includes matching dollars to bring the total spending in Delaware to $11.4 million.
The Delaware projects include:
"¢ $4.5 million to restore...
How much America spends putting out wildfires
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2014
Mother Jones: The central California wildfire that yesterday destroyed three homes and forced hundreds of evacuations is just the latest blaze to strain the nation's overburdened federal firefighting system. According to the latest official update, by Monday evening the Shirley Fire had consumed 2,600 acres near Sequoia National Forest and cost over $4 million, as more than 1,000 firefighters scrambled to contain it.
This year, in the midst of severe drought across the West, top wildfire managers in Washington...
N.J. gets $25M in grants for shore restoration
Posted by Record: James M. O'neill on June 17th, 2014
Record: New Jersey was awarded more than $25 million in federal grants Monday for 13 projects designed to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to storms, rising sea levels, flooding and erosion. The projects were among 54 along the Atlantic Coast that received $100 million in grants for states that had been hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. The largest grant in New Jersey was $4.7 million awarded to the American Littoral Society to restore 50 acres of Delaware Bay wetlands and 6 miles of...
Australia sees chance of El Niño at 70 percent, some signs ease
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2014
Reuters: Australia's weather bureau said on Tuesday the chance of an El Nino forming over the next few months remains at 70 percent, though the agency said some key indicators associated with the weather pattern had eased in recent weeks.
"We still believe an El Nino is likely," Andrew Watkins, Supervisor Climate Prediction at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said.
"The recent observations may suggest a later El Nino and it has perhaps reduced the chance of very strong El Nino like we saw in 1997/1998."...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia sees chance of El Niño at 70 percent, some signs easeUnited Kingdom: MPs condemn exemption of small retailers from plastic bag charge
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on June 17th, 2014
Guardian: Government plans for a 5p charge on single-use plastic bags, aimed at discouraging their use, have been sharply criticised by MPs for not going far enough.
The influential environmental audit select committee published its report on the plans on Tuesday, accusing the government of ignoring calls to force all retailers to apply the charge. Ministers have decided to exempt small retailers, arguing it would be unfair and costly to small businesses such as corner shops.
But the MPs said that excluding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: MPs condemn exemption of small retailers from plastic bag chargeNew York Assembly Overwhelmingly Passes Fracking Moratorium
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 17th, 2014
EcoWatch: New York`s general assembly passed a moratorium on fracking Monday with a sensible question in mind--why rush?
"We have heard from thousands of residents across the state about many issues associated with hydrofracking, and prudent leadership demands that we take our time to address all these concerns," said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. "We do not need to rush into this. The natural gas deposits within the Marcellus Shale are not going to go anywhere."
The assembly passed a three-year...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York Assembly Overwhelmingly Passes Fracking MoratoriumUN development goals must include climate change
Posted by RTCC: Joy Hyvarinen on June 17th, 2014
RTCC: This week the UN working group that is tasked with drafting a proposal for new global sustainable development goals (“SDGs”) is meeting in New York.
It is a critical meeting for global efforts to tackle climate change, in particular when it comes to helping the poor and vulnerable countries and communities that will take the hardest impacts from climate change.
There is a risk that the UN working group will decide that there is no need for a sustainable development goal on climate change and...
Fukushima operator struggles to build ice wall to contain radioactive water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: The operator of Japan's battered Fukushima nuclear power plant has said it is having trouble with the early stages of an ice wall being built under broken reactors to contain radioactive water.
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has begun digging the trenches for a huge network of pipes under the plant through which it intends to pass refrigerant.
This will freeze the soil and form a physical barrier that is intended to prevent clean groundwater flowing down mountainsides from mixing with contaminated...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fukushima operator struggles to build ice wall to contain radioactive waterSaving the world should be based on promise, not fear
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2014
Guardian: If we had set out to alienate and antagonise the people we've been trying to reach, we could scarcely have done it better. This is how I feel, looking back on the past few decades of environmental campaigning, including my own.
This thought is prompted by responses to the column I wrote last week. It examined the psychological illiteracy that's driving leftwing politics into oblivion. It argued that the failure by Labour and Democratic party strategists to listen to psychologists and cognitive...