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Archive for June, 2014
If Keystone gets nixed, Canadian pipeline operators have Plan B
Posted by Toronto Star: David Olive on June 14th, 2014
Toronto Star: It might be that the U.S. environmentalists’ long campaign against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is about to backfire. Canadian pipeline operators are poised to implement an all-Canadian Plan B network of pipelines in place of the ill-fated Keystone XL that was to run the length of the U.S. heartland to the Texas Gulf Coast.
With the hearty good wishes of an Alberta heavy-oil industry desperate to see a return on its multibillion-dollar investment, Calgary-based pipeline operators already...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on If Keystone gets nixed, Canadian pipeline operators have Plan BAbandoned oil wells spouting significant levels of methane, study finds
Posted by Tyee: Andrew Nikiforuk on June 14th, 2014
Tyee: A Princeton University study has found that leaks from abandoned oil and gas wellbores pose not only a risk to groundwater, but represent a growing threat to the climate.
Between 200,000 and 970,000 abandoned wells in the state of Pennsylvania likely account for four to seven per cent of estimated man-made methane emissions in that jurisdiction, a source previously not accounted for, the study says.
Pennsylvania, much like Alberta in Canada, is the oldest oil and gas producer in the United...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Abandoned oil wells spouting significant levels of methane, study findsMelting glaciers a ‘climate tipping point,’ Bonn meeting told
Posted by Irish Times: None Given on June 14th, 2014
Irish Times: World leaders need to ensure that global warming is kept low enough to avoid “pulling the plug” on vast ice shelves in Antarctica, thereby causing a catastrophic sea level rise across the globe, a leading scientist warned yesterday.
Dr Anders Levermann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, noted last month’s major scientific report warning that a collapse of large sections of the west Antarctica ice shelf had already begun and was now “unstoppable”.
“We have entered a new era...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Melting glaciers a ‘climate tipping point,’ Bonn meeting toldEl Niño could make U.S. weather more extreme during 2014
Posted by Scientific American: Kevin Schultz on June 14th, 2014
Scientific American: Unusual weather across the U.S. and other parts of the world just became more likely for this summer and autumn. That's because the chances have gone up that El Niño--an atmospheric pattern driven by water temperature changes in the Pacific Ocean--will develop during that time, according to the nation's leading climate experts. When El Niño settles in, it has major effects on weather conditions nationally and globally.
Scientists speaking at a press conference yesterday afternoon said the odds...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on El Niño could make U.S. weather more extreme during 2014Melbourne, Australia, aims to become carbon-neutral leader
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2014
Age: A digital image by Angelica Rojas Gracia prepared for the Visions and Pathways 200 project. It shows a bicycle highway built above train lines at North Melbourne station.
As the conversation turns to the death of Melbourne's trees the city's influential head planner, Professor Rob Adams, chokes up. He takes a moment, then continues.
"The evidence is so obvious," he declares, "You don't have to go to the scientists, you just have to look at the trees in Melbourne."
Adams is talking about...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Melbourne, Australia, aims to become carbon-neutral leaderResearchers Identify Deepwater Horizon Oil on Shore Years Later
Posted by Nature World: None Given on June 14th, 2014
Nature World: Oil soaked "sand patties" continue to wash ashore years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The study shows that the amount of oil deposited on the seafloor might have been underestimated by other scientists.
The research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences could also help scientists understand how oil degrades over time.
The Gulf oil spill was one of the worst oil spills in the history of the U.S.: the accident killed 11 people and poured...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Researchers Identify Deepwater Horizon Oil on Shore Years LaterDrilling for Oil and Gas Found to Have Contaminated the Amazon
Posted by Softpedia: None Given on June 14th, 2014
Softpedia: Chiefly because of climate change and global warming, environmentalists do not hold the oil and gas industry very close at heart. Courtesy of a new study, greenheads are likely to criticize this industry even more than they have until now. Long story short, media reports say that, during this year's Goldschmidt geochemistry conference, it has been announced that drilling activities need be blamed for the fact that part of the Amazon is now contaminated. Thus, environmental chemist Antoni Rosell-Melé...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drilling for Oil and Gas Found to Have Contaminated the AmazonWe’re losing faith in global change as local causes boom
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2014
Guardian: Localism is all in the interpretation. So to Eric Pickles, it's decentralising planning. In surfing culture, it's the right, assumed by local surfers, to chase non-locals off their wave breaks. And now environmental localism is beginning to mean something too. Something big. Might it even refresh the parts other green movements can't reach, and take them mainstream?
Certainly, the London venue where I hosted the Observer Ethical Awards last week was bursting with eco talent from grassroots organisations....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on We’re losing faith in global change as local causes boomIllinois: Anti-fracking activists make call for action
Posted by Southern Maryland Newspapers: Becky Malkovich on June 14th, 2014
Southern Maryland Newspapers: Activists are calling for a statewide “day of action” Monday in support of renewable energy and against fracking.
The self-described “fracktivists” are asking people to take action to demand renewable sources of energy and say no to fracking by meeting with legislators, writing letters, hanging banners and educating the public on the issues.
Locally, a direct action is planned with a protest at the Marion office of state Rep. John Bradley. A news conference and one-hour protest begins at 11...
Deforestation leaves fish hungry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2014
BBC: Deforestation is reducing the amount of leaf litter falling into rivers and lakes, resulting in less food being available to fish, a study suggests.
Researchers found the amount of food available affected the size of young fish and influenced the number that went on to reach adulthood.
The team said the results illustrated a link between watershed protection and healthy freshwater fish populations.
The findings have been published in Nature Communications.
"We found fish that had almost...