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Archive for November, 2014
NASA findings show no excessive methane emissions from Alaska
Posted by Anchorage Dispatch: Yereth Rosen on November 19th, 2014
Anchorage Dispatch: Though Arctic Alaska is warming and permafrost is thawing, the area so far has been spared from the scourge of excessive methane emissions, according to data collected by a NASA-managed research project.
Concentrations of methane measured in the atmosphere over Alaska from May to September 2012 -- the first of five seasons for NASA’s Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment, or CARVE -- turned out to be about equal to the global average for a similar-sized area.
The findings, gleaned...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on NASA findings show no excessive methane emissions from AlaskaUnited Kingdom: Local authority flood defence funding cut by third next year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 19th, 2014
Guardian: Funding for councils to deal with flooding has been slashed by a third by ministers, prompting community groups and Labour to say the government is going backwards on managing flood risk.
Last winter, the wettest on record, saw devastating flooding across the country and forced David Cameron to reverse earlier cuts to flood defence budgets.
The revelation of the new cuts to council flood budgets in England comes as the Met Office’s three-month outlook indicates this winter is likely to be wetter...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Local authority flood defence funding cut by third next yearFrackers are terrorizing school kids in California
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Grist: Rodrigo Romo’s daughter is afraid because of the oil and gas drilling activity happening around her school, Sequoia Elementary School in Kern County, Calif. She has trouble sleeping at night and has difficulty focusing in class because she doesn’t know what the industry`s pollution might be doing to her and her classmates. Romo doesn’t know how to answer when she asks him if they’re going to be OK.
This is what happens when companies don’t care about the lives of young people of color.
The...
U.S. Senate votes no on Keystone oil project
Posted by Calgary Herald: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Calgary Herald: After a vigorous six-hour debate, the U.S. Senate failed, by one vote, to pass a bill authorizing the immediate construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
The negative vote - just shy of the required 60 - comes five days after the House of Representatives voted to approve the pipeline. Final authorization now rests solely with U.S President Barack Obama, who has said he will make his decision following the resolution of a court case in Nevada. The $8-billion pipeline has been under...
Urban sustainability starts by bridging divides
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 19th, 2014
SciDevNet: Integrating tech and planning, urban with rural and formal with informal development can help transform cities.
For the first time in human history, more of us live in cities than in rural areas: 54 per cent of the world's population is now urban, a figure expected to increase to about 70 per cent by 2050.
It's easy to see why migration drives this trend -- cities offer economic opportunities that entice people in search of a better life. But growth and urbanisation bring with them a host of...
Urban planning will fail without integrating local action
Posted by SciDevNet: Marcus Moench on November 19th, 2014
SciDevNet: Informal adaptation transforms cities. It also challenges a growing emphasis on formal planning, says Marcus Moench.
The science is clear: the future holds more extreme climatic conditions. But what that means for people's lives in specific locations, or for the globalised systems we all depend on, is uncertain. This is particularly true in the world's growing urban areas, which also face rapid socio-economic and technological change.
To understand and to catalyse responses to the challenges...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Urban planning will fail without integrating local actionEnvironmental movement not the Tea Party of the left
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Grist: Perhaps it was inevitable, in the current Tea Party era, that a noisy progressive movement would draw comparisons to the right-wing insurgents who have taken over the Republican Party. And so - with climate change in the headlines, thanks to historic pledges from President Obama and Congress voting on Keystone XL - The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank has asserted that environmentalists are taking the same uncompromising attitude toward moderate Democrats that Glenn Beck fans in tricornered hats have...
Senate Defeats Keystone XL Pipeline Bill By One Vote
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Environment News Service: A measure to force approval of the Keystone tar sands pipeline was defeated in the U.S. Senate today by a vote of 59-41. Sixty votes were needed for passage of the bill.
All the Republican Senators and 11 Democrats voted for the bill. A similar measure sailed through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives last week.
When the new Congress convenes in January, with Republicans in control of both houses, the issue is certain to again be put up for a vote.
The bill, S. 2280, was...
Could Obama cut deal on Keystone pipeline? Don’t rule it out
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 19th, 2014
Reuters: President Barack Obama might be open to using the Keystone pipeline as leverage with Republicans if they cooperate on other aspects of his long-stalled domestic agenda, such as investing in infrastructure, closing tax loopholes or reducing carbon emissions.
After years of fighting over TransCanada's crude oil pipeline from Canada, a Keystone deal is not entirely out of the question, sources inside the administration and others close to the White House told Reuters on Tuesday.
With the Senate's...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Could Obama cut deal on Keystone pipeline? Don’t rule it outKentucky Coal Company Falsified Water Pollution Reports, Environmental Group Alleges
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on November 19th, 2014
ThinkProgress: A major Kentucky coal company falsified its pollution reports in the first quarter of 2014, according to multiple environmental groups that filed an intent to sue notice against the company this week.
Appalachian Voices, Kentucky Riverkeeper, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, and the Waterkeeper Alliance sent a notice of intent to sue to Frasure Creek Mining Monday, alleging that the company failed to report water pollution to Kentucky regulators in late summer and early fall of 2014, instead...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kentucky Coal Company Falsified Water Pollution Reports, Environmental Group Alleges