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Archive for August, 2014
No One Wants You to Know How Bad Fukushima Might Still Be
Posted by Vice: Johnny Magdaleno on August 24th, 2014
Vice: In July, when the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced it would move forward with its plan to construct an "ice wall" around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's failed reactors, it seemed like a step backwards. In June, the utility company in charge of decommissioning the plant--which was ravaged by a tsunami in March 2011--indicated that its initial attempt at installing a similar structure had flopped. Its pipes were apparently unable to freeze the ground, despite being filled...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on No One Wants You to Know How Bad Fukushima Might Still BeTallying the environmental cost of meat
Posted by Japan Times: Stephen Hesse on August 24th, 2014
Japan Times: What are the costs of the meat we eat — the hamburgers, pork chops and chicken breasts? Not the price we pay for ground beef and so on, but the full costs of meats: the environmental and societal impacts, from birth to burger, and beyond. Some impacts of raising, slaughtering and eating beef come to mind quickly, while others are far less obvious. This summer, while in the United States, I quickly gained a couple of kilograms. This happens every time I visit and spend a lot of time eating and drinking...
Climate Change and Dust Increase Respiratory Disease
Posted by Liberty Voice: None Given on August 24th, 2014
Liberty Voice: The connection between dust, allergies, and asthma is clear, but the link between the increasing problem of respiratory disease and climate change is not. The confusing lack of clarity around this issue is exacerbated by mixed messages from the very sources that should be helping to clarify it-- the U.S. government.
The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a Climate and Health Program (CHP), which, according to the CDC Web site, was designed to help “prevent and adapt...
Lebanon sceptical of ‘save water’ effort
Posted by Al Jazeera: Sophie Cousins on August 24th, 2014
Al Jazeera: Plastered across billboards, flashing across television screens, and splashed on pamphlets and stickers, a new message is suddenly everywhere you look in Lebanon: "If you love me, save me some water."
This year, in an attempt to mitigate a growing water crisis, the Ministry of Energy and Water has encouraged people to turn off their taps and conserve precious drops. But according to Lebanon's National Water Sector Strategy (NWSS), which was adopted by the government in 2012, only approximately...
Desert residents fear fracking dangers might outweigh the benefits
Posted by Vox: None Given on August 24th, 2014
Vox: Arnold Escobar leaves his apartment under the hot sun of Odessa, Texas, a desert region abundant in oil nicknamed the Texas Petroplex, drives past oil derricks and pumpjacks, to a remote well site where heavy machinery whirs loudly.
He slowly walks along the plant to get to the two-ton blender he operates and starts his work day, a long shift that can last 48 hours--not worried about any dangers.
“I feel like my job is an important one,” said Escobar, 24.
Escobar is a Senior Equipment Operator...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Desert residents fear fracking dangers might outweigh the benefits‘Incredible’ rate of polar ice loss alarms scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 23rd, 2014
Guardian: A European satellite has shown ice sheets shrinking at 120 cubic miles a year in Antarctica and Greenland Share Tweet this Email Robin McKie The Observer, Saturday 23 August 2014 Jump to comments (...) An artist’s impression of CryoSat-2, the European satellite which has revealed dramatic ice loss. Photograph: ESA
The planet's two largest ice sheets – in Greenland and Antarctica – are now being depleted at an astonishing rate...
Let’s make a deal: How Colorado came to a fracking compromise
Posted by Denver Post: Lynn Bartels on August 23rd, 2014
Denver Post: On the second day of his vacation, surrounded by science fiction and comic book fans at Comic Con, Alan Salazar looked around the San Diego Convention Center for a quiet place so he could take a phone call from his boss.
It was July 25, and Gov. John Hickenlooper wanted to talk to his trusted staffer about yet another compromise attempt on fracking measures headed to the November ballot. Other deals had fallen apart, but Hickenlooper wanted to try again to get Congressman Jared Polis, the state's...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Let’s make a deal: How Colorado came to a fracking compromiseSerengeti Wildlife to access Lake Victoria’s water as climate change looms large
Posted by eTurbo News: None Given on August 23rd, 2014
eTurbo News: However, Bunda Legislator and a cabinet minister, Mr. Stephen Wasira, doesn’t buy this idea, maintaining that the people were legitimate inhabitants in the area and should not be evicted.
Mr. Wassira, who is a Minister of State in the President's Office (Social Relations and Coordination), proposed that TANAPA in collaboration with the ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources to establish a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Ghuba Speke.
"What is necessary is free movement of wildlife, and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Serengeti Wildlife to access Lake Victoria’s water as climate change looms largeWildfires Threaten Lake Tahoe
Posted by Liberty Voice: Laura Simmons on August 23rd, 2014
Liberty Voice: Lake Tahoe, the usually peaceful, serene oasis nestled on the California-Nevada border, has recently played host to invasive species, threatening wildfires, climate change and a potentially catastrophic drought, officials warned on Tuesday. The announcement came during the annual summit meeting about protecting the quintessential lake.
The conference had opposing federal lawmakers finding common ground by agreeing on at least one point throughout the meeting, which was that an increase in logging...
Climate change and the methane crisis: Q & A with Harold Hensel
Posted by Examiner: None Given on August 23rd, 2014
Examiner: With climate change rearing its ugly head with extreme weather disasters pounding the globe, some people have been connecting the dots to the horrifying conclusion that there is yet another catastrophe underway with implications far exceeding what most of us could ever dream of: an unfolding methane crisis of epic proportions. Capable of causing a planetary extinction, record high amounts of methane are insidiously being released into the oceans and going into our atmosphere. Methane, a colorless...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change and the methane crisis: Q & A with Harold Hensel