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Archive for June, 2014
So You Want to Change the World? Better Read This First
Posted by EcoWatch: Richard Heinberg on June 16th, 2014
EcoWatch: History is often made by strong personalities wielding bold new political, economic or religious doctrines. Yet any serious effort to understand how and why societies change requires examination not just of leaders and ideas, but also of environmental circumstances. The ecological context (climate, weather and the presence or absence of water, good soil and other resources) may either present or foreclose opportunities for those wanting to shake up the social world. This suggests that if you want...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on So You Want to Change the World? Better Read This FirstSea Rise Will Bring Severe Floods to Silicon Valley
Posted by Climate Central: Ngoc Nguyen on June 16th, 2014
Climate Central: Thirty-year-old Gustavo Leal remembers the floodwaters reaching the doorstep of his family home in East Palo Alto. "It was bad enough that you couldn't get out of your driveway,' he said.
Next time the floodwaters could swamp the entire house. That's the findings of a new study released today by Climate Central, a research and journalism organization.
In February 1998, an El Niño storm brought high-speed winds combined with abnormally high sea levels that wreaked havoc in the Bay Area. El Niño...
Vast ice structures discovered beneath Greenland ice sheet
Posted by Blue and Green: Tom Revell on June 16th, 2014
Blue and Green: Far beneath the flat, tranquil surface of northern Greenland’s ice sheet, scientists have discovered vast ice structures as tall as skyscrapers and as wide as the island of Manhattan.
The formations are caused when ice at the base of the glacier melts and refreezes over hundreds of years, in a process that may be quickening the glaciers’ slide into the sea.
Using radar from airborne surveys, researchers found that the structures, which cover about a tenth of northern Greenland, are made not...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Vast ice structures discovered beneath Greenland ice sheetPaying to save nature could mean a win for everyone
Posted by Marketplace: Sabri Ben-Achour on June 16th, 2014
Marketplace: Quite possibly, the gentle horseshoe crab has swum ashore during the full and new moons of May and June to spawn for 445 million years. Horseshoe crab like creatures were here when the dinosaurs appeared, and they were here after the dinosaurs disappeared. They survived ancient global warming and ice ages alike. And then people happened. “Over a hundred years ago, they were ground up and put on land as a fertilizer,” says Eric Hallerman, professor of fish conservation at Virginia Tech. In places...
Africa’s climate change “hot spots”
Posted by Southern Times: Peter Kahare on June 16th, 2014
Southern Times: Some areas in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have been identified as part of climate change "hot spots' on the African continent, putting them at risk of numerous climatic challenges over the next two decades.
A group of scientists in Germany say that, for the first time, they have identified the "hotspots of climate change in Africa,' which cover three regions where people should prepare for multiple climatic problems over the next 20 years.
According to scientists from the Potsdam...
Community energy in focus at Australian-first congress in Canberra
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Carl Smith on June 16th, 2014
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The growing number of community-led projects that generate their own power through renewable energy is the focus of Australia's first Community Energy Congress, being held in Canberra this week.
Nicky Ison from the University of Technology Sydney's Institute of Sustainable Futures said self-sufficient energy projects in towns and small communities were becoming more popular as people looked to transition away from fossil fuels.
"Community energy is fundamentally about community members coming...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Community energy in focus at Australian-first congress in CanberraHuge Win in Chile: Dam Permit Revoked Keeping Two Patagonia Rivers Wild
Posted by EcoWatch: Patrick J. Lynch, Futaleufú Riverkeeper on June 16th, 2014
EcoWatch: We are witnessing history in the making in Patagonia. After more than eight years of civil protests, public awareness campaigns and legal challenges—brought by a collective of more than 80 non-governmental organizations who together form the Patagonian Defense Council—Chile’s government has revoked the environmental permit for the $8 billion HidroAysén project. The decision means two of Patagonia’s most pristine rivers will (for the time being) remain wild and scenic.
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Huge Win in Chile: Dam Permit Revoked Keeping Two Patagonia Rivers WildGMO companies are dousing Hawaiian island with toxic pesticides
Posted by Grist: Paul Koberstein on June 16th, 2014
Grist: The island of Kauai, Hawaii, has become Ground Zero in the intense domestic political battle over genetically modified crops. But the fight isn`t just about the merits or downsides of GMO technology. It`s also about regular old pesticides.
The four transnational corporations that are experimenting with genetically engineered crops on Kauai have transformed part of the island into one of most toxic chemical environments in all of American agriculture.
For the better part of two decades, BASF...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on GMO companies are dousing Hawaiian island with toxic pesticidesMore than 150 dead in one of India’s worst heatwaves
Posted by Blue and Green: Ilaria Bertini on June 16th, 2014
Blue and Green: Parts of India are experiencing one of the worst heatwaves to ever hit central and northern regions, due to the late summer monsoon. Temperatures peaked at 44C in some areas, causing the death of many people due to sunstroke.
Temperatures in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan states started to surge last week to 42-43C, with 45 sunstroke deaths registered in Vizianagaram district, an eastern state of Andhra Pradesh.
In East Godavari, another district, it is said that 31 people have died. District...
Fish ‘undernourished and underfed’ due to deforestation, study suggests
Posted by Blue and Green: Richard Heasman on June 16th, 2014
Blue and Green: Deforestation has led to a decrease in falling leaf litter in rivers and lakes – a vital source of food for a wide array of fish species – with implications for human food consumption, a study has revealed.
Researchers have found that increased rates of deforestation, in areas subjected to aggressive commercial tree felling, directly affected the ecosystems based in lakes and rivers nearby.
Water-based ecosystems are reliant on the surrounding area for sources of nourishment. Falling leaves...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fish ‘undernourished and underfed’ due to deforestation, study suggests