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Archive for January, 2015
More rains, more deaths as floods across southern Africa set to worsen
Posted by Reuters: Katy Migiro on January 19th, 2015
Reuters: Aid agencies raced on Monday to reach tens of thousands of people displaced by catastrophic floods across southern Africa, as more heavy rain was forecast in the coming days. More than 200 people have died in Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in one of the worst disasters to hit the region in years. Rivers have burst their banks, flooding vast areas and destroying homes, bridges and crops. "After surveying the flooded districts from the air, we know that the scale of flooding is immense, and with...
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Comments Off on More rains, more deaths as floods across southern Africa set to worsenRichest 1% on track own more than all the rest 2016
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on January 19th, 2015
Blue and Green: Global inequality has been labelled as “simply staggering” after it was revealed that the wealthiest 1% is set to own more than the rest of the population combined by 2016.
A report published by charity Oxfam, entitled Wealth: Having it all and wanting more, found that the wealth gap is continuing to widen, despite the issue rising up the global agenda.
Between 2009 and 2014 the richest 1% have seen their share of global wealth increase from 44% to 48%, with members of this global elite now...
Pope weighs in on climate change, saying man “continuously slaps nature in the face”
Posted by Quartz: None Given on January 19th, 2015
Quartz: Wrapping up his visit to the Philippines this week, Pope Francis stirred up controversy by taking an unequivocal stance on climate change and calling on the international community to step up during United Nations climate talks in November.
"I don`t know if it is all (man`s fault) but the majority is, for the most part, it is man who continuously slaps nature in the face," he told reporters. "We have in a sense taken over nature." Scripted remarks that the Pope did not read out go on to say, "As...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pope weighs in on climate change, saying man “continuously slaps nature in the face”Francis moving Church from pale green to deep green
Posted by Global Pulse: Paul Collins on January 19th, 2015
Global Pulse: There is one area where the last three popes have been right on the ball: the issue of care for the environment. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have been far ahead of most politicians on this issue. It's widely expected that Pope Francis will issue an encyclical on the environment and climate change early this year in time to influence the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Paris in late 2015. He is already being hailed in the The Guardian, Bloomberg and Fairfax Media as "rattling' and "upsetting'...
Falling Oil Prices Pose Another Delay B.C. Pipelines
Posted by Globe and Mail: Mike Hager on January 19th, 2015
Globe and Mail: Analysts say that kind of instability hasn't yet changed the economic imperative for Canada's oil industry to open up its first major conduit to Pacific markets, but most agree that a months-long downturn in oil prices could slow investment in oil sands expansion, which in turn could decrease the supply of oil available to any future pipelines.
Werner Antweiler, an energy economics professor at the University of B.C.'s Sauder School of Business, said the gap of "almost $30" a barrel that existed...
TransCanada Again Sued by Nebraska Landowners Over Keystone Path
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2015
Bloomberg: TransCanada Corp. (TRP) was sued by Nebraska landowners in a new bid to block the Keystone XL pipeline a week after the state’s highest court rebuffed an attempt to void the approved path across the state, a leg that would complete the route from Alberta tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
Dual complaints were filed Friday against the Calgary-based company in state courts in York and O’Neill, Nebraska, by David Domina, the lawyer whose prior effort to halt construction of the 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometer)...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on TransCanada Again Sued by Nebraska Landowners Over Keystone PathU.K.’s Shale Gas Revolution Falls Flat Just 11 New Wells Planned 2015
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2015
Guardian: The UK government’s planned shale gas revolution has barely got out of the starting blocks with just 11 new exploratory wells for shale gas and oil due to be drilled this year even before the impact of plunging oil prices has fully begun to impact on the industry.
David Cameron has said the government is going “all out for shale” but just a handful of new wells are in line to be created in 2015 and just nine wells – eight new and one existing – have been announced as candidates for fracking. ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.K.’s Shale Gas Revolution Falls Flat Just 11 New Wells Planned 2015Earth Heating Up: 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 18th, 2015
Environment News Service: The year 2014 ranks as Earth's warmest since record keeping began in 1880, according to two separate analyses by scientists with two U.S. agencies -- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.
The 10 warmest years on record, with the exception of 1998, have now occurred since 2000. This trend continues a long-term warming of the planet, according to an analysis of surface temperature measurements by scientists at NASA's Goddard...
Even with no El Nino, 2014 warmest year on record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2015
Mongabay: It was no surprise, but on Friday both NASA and NOAA announced that last year-2014-was the warmest on record. The year bested out both previous record holders, 2005 and 2010. According to NOAA, 2014 was 0.69 degrees Celsius (1.24 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th century average. The Earth is warming rapidly due to greenhouse gas emissions, mostly from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, but also from deforestation and industrialized agriculture. In just over a hundred years, the planet...
United Kingdom: A county divided: is Lancashire ready for its fracking revolution?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 17th, 2015
Guardian: Robert Sanderson, a strapping dairy farmer, is standing in his muddy yard. He is in tears. Sanderson’s family and his Lancashire farm have, thanks to geological chance, ended up on the frontline of fracking in the UK.
“I’ve never wanted to do anything but farm,” says Sanderson, part of the third generation of his family to farm near Kirkham. “All my young lad dreams about is farming. Last night he said to me, ‘When I grow up I want to have the biggest tractor in the world’. How can they just take...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: A county divided: is Lancashire ready for its fracking revolution?