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Archive for July, 2014
California Drought Proves Laws of Nature Absolute
Posted by EcoWatch: Tim Palmer on July 9th, 2014
EcoWatch: One peril of being human is that we often respond poorly to crises. I`m sure we all have examples--personal to global--where the heat of the moment pushed us in the wrong direction. Because we now face one of the worst droughts in California history, the stage is set to flirt with error on a scale as colossal as the crisis itself.
The House of Representatives, for example, passed H.R. 3964 in February to indiscriminately move additional northern California water southward, to abandon restoration...
Fracking Wastewater Injection Wells Blamed for Oklahoma’s Recent String of Earthquakes
Posted by EcoWatch: Susan Cosier, OnEarth on July 9th, 2014
EcoWatch: Oklahoma has had a whole lot of shaking going on during the last six years. Seismic activity in the state has risen dramatically, from just more than a dozen earthquakes recorded back in 2008 to more than 100 in 2013. And here we are only halfway through 2014, and already the number of Oklahoma quakes with a magnitude of 3.0 or higher has surpassed the number of such earthquakes in California--a state famous for its big temblors.
What on Earth (or under it) could be causing the Sooner State to...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Fracking Wastewater Injection Wells Blamed for Oklahoma’s Recent String of EarthquakesYou Can’t Have a Tea Party Without Clean Water
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 9th, 2014
EcoWatch: People like to breathe. Rich people, poor people, Tea Party Republicans, progressive Democrats, old people, young people, Americans, people from other countries--all are united in the biological necessities of being human. Water, food and air are all better when they are not filled with toxic substances. The political support for environmental protection is derived from this fundamental fact, along with the equally-fundamental awareness that all of these resources are at risk on a crowded and increasingly...
Drought Drains Lake Mead to Lowest Level as Nevada Senator Calls for Govt Audit
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on July 9th, 2014
EcoWatch: As the largest reservoir in the U.S. falls to its lowest water level in history, Nevada State Sen. Tick Segerblom introduced a bill title and issued a press release on July 8 calling for an “independent scientific and economic audit of the Bureau of Reclamation’s strategies for Colorado River management.”
Sen. Segerblom’s position represents the growing political impatience with the current management system for the river. He takes hard aim at the Bureau of Reclamation as being responsible for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought Drains Lake Mead to Lowest Level as Nevada Senator Calls for Govt AuditConserving water and climate change
Posted by ScienceDaily: ScienceDaily on July 8th, 2014
ScienceDaily: There's more to trying to slow down climate change than just cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Technology, policies or plans that aim to do so should also take environmental factors such as water usage into account. A more integrated approach might make some options considerably more attractive than others, especially when implemented in arid countries such as Australia, advise Philip Wallis of Monash University in Australia and colleagues, in an article in Springer's journal Climatic Change. The...
California Governor Is Big on Talk, Weak on Climate Action
Posted by EcoWatch: Adam Scow, Food and Water Watch on July 8th, 2014
EcoWatch: When it comes to fighting pollution, global warming and our climate crisis, California Gov. Jerry Brown is big on talk and weak on action. Gov. Brown frequently warns us that climate change is a major threat we must solve, citing the ongoing drought and recent fires as indicators of global warming’s threat to our economy and standard of living. Yet when it comes to governance and real action the Governor is letting the oil and gas industry expand fracking and refineries that pollute our climate with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Governor Is Big on Talk, Weak on Climate ActionWill Germany Ban Fracking?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 8th, 2014
EcoWatch: German Ministers laid out plans to ban hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas on Friday, although anti-fracking campaigners believe plans for the new law should go much further.
In a press briefing, the Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks announced that the government will begin drawing up legislation on the issue and have it approved in the final half of this year, with a review taking place in 2021, saying: “There won’t be fracking of shale-gas and...
Australia is going backwards on climate change
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Emma Alberici on July 8th, 2014
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: The politics of climate action is well understood in Australia, with the Coalition intent on scrapping the carbon tax and Labor and the Greens suggesting this is evidence that the Abbott Government isn't committed to reducing the country's greenhouse gas emissions. Now Britain's longest-serving Environment minister, Lord Deben, has entered the Australian debate. He's a Tory and he's on Labor's side. Lord Deben is the former chairman of the Conservative Party and he now heads...
Changing climate at root of Canada’s ‘utterly unprecedented’ summer flood
Posted by Postmedia: Margaret Munro on July 8th, 2014
Postmedia: Smith Creek in southeastern Saskatchewan normally runs dry in July. Last week it hit an all-time high and the stream gauge that scientists have been monitoring for decades is now under water.
So are countless homes and farms in Saskatchewan and Manitoba where the province has declared a state of emergency and called in the military to help deal with the stunning summer flood.
“It’s utterly unprecedented,” says John Pomeroy, director of the centre for hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Changing climate at root of Canada’s ‘utterly unprecedented’ summer floodDrainage contributing to Canada flooding, expert says
Posted by Leader-Post: None Given on July 8th, 2014
Leader-Post: An expert on hydrology and climate change believes the recent flooding in Saskatchewan and Manitoba has been exacerbated by the widespread drainage of agricultural lands that have increased water volumes that flow downstream into Manitoba.
“The short answer is, yes I do,’’ said John Pomeroy, Canada research chair in water resources and climate change and director of the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan.
Pomeroy, who has studied water volumes on the Smith Creek watershed...