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Archive for February, 2015
Vatican mulling new department to tackle environmental issues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
Reuters: The Vatican is considering setting up an environmental think tank, a spokesman said on Thursday, which could influence the opinion of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics on such thorny issues as climate change.
Father Federico Lombardi said the proposal was discussed at a closed-door meeting of cardinals from around the world who are at the Vatican to deliberate a reform of the Church's central administration, known as the Curia.
"We see a growth in the awareness (of environmental problems)...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Vatican mulling new department to tackle environmental issuesExtreme weather exposes the vulnerability of our cities to climate change
Posted by Conversation: None Given on February 12th, 2015
Conversation: Despite the Patriots winning the Super Bowl, January and February were not kind months for the people of Boston and New England. By February 10th, more than 60 inches of snow in 30 days fell on the city and parts of the wider region, closing schools, shuttering businesses and offices, interrupting road, rail and air travel, paralyzing the region.
Across the Northeast and down highway I-95 as far as Philadelphia, the massive snowfalls caused disruption and damage totaling millions of dollars. Factor...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Extreme weather exposes the vulnerability of our cities to climate changeSao Paulo water crisis adds to Brazil business woes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
BBC: Renato Soares has seen all sorts of problems in the 33 years he has been running a small laundry in a middle-class neighbourhood in Sao Paulo.
But with Brazil's biggest city facing potential water rationing, he thinks his biggest headache may be about to arrive.
"We have survived recession, hyperinflation, arbitrary changes in legislation and a complex bureaucracy and tax system," Mr Soares says.
"We were also robbed twice. So at this point I didn't think a day would come in which I would...
Nuclear Taboo Under Review in Uranium-Rich Australia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 11th, 2015
Bloomberg: While Australia is home to the world’s largest uranium reserves, it has never had a nuclear power plant. Now, amid growing concerns over climate change, the government is weighing whether to reverse its long-held ban.
The state of South Australia, where BHP Billiton Ltd. operates the Olympic Dam mine, is setting up a royal commission to evaluate nuclear power’s impact on both the region’s economy and its carbon emissions. At the same time, the federal government is set to release within months...
Geoengineering should not be used as a climate fix yet, says US science academy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2015
Guardian: Climate change has advanced so rapidly that the time has come to look at options for a planetary-scale intervention, the National Academy of Science said on Tuesday. But it was categorical that such ‘geoengineering’ should not currently be deployed at scale or considered as an alternative to cutting emissions now.
The much-anticipated report from the country’s top scientists strongly endorsed the idea of further research into a topic it admitted had once been taboo: proposed high-tech fixes for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Geoengineering should not be used as a climate fix yet, says US science academyUS harvest threatened by water-intensive oil and gas boom
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2015
Guardian: The recent World Economic Forum Global Risks report identifies the 10 “biggest threats to the stability of the world” over the next 10 years. These are difficult times, and the catalogue of potential threats includes many that may seem familiar, including high unemployment, war and the spread of infectious disease. It is particularly telling, therefore, given the dangers confronting us, that the report points to water crises as one of the top global risks.
Related: Political will is the biggest...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US harvest threatened by water-intensive oil and gas boomInventive water harvesting helps Kenya balance rain extremes
Posted by Reuters: Kagondu Njagi on February 10th, 2015
Reuters: Samuel Lontogunye has long weathered regular shortages of water and food. But he believes a recent addition to his drought-prone village could change that: a water harvesting plant.
Lontogunye, 69, and other members of his community on the fringes of Kenya's Rift Valley have built a weir at the nearby Ngeng' river to capture and store water which would otherwise drain away during periods of heavy rainfall.
The weir, a concrete barrier that stretches across the river, allows water to pool behind...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Inventive water harvesting helps Kenya balance rain extremesCatastrophic flooding is getting worse and we’re woefully unprepared
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2015
Mother Jones: The Midwest is no stranger to devastating floods. Last summer, the region was inundated with two month's worth of rainfall in just one week, submerging farms and killing crops. Torrential downpours following a drought in Illinois in 2013 led to flooding that cost $1 billion. And Midwest flooding in 2008 caused 24 deaths and $15 billion in losses. Across the country, the United States has suffered from more than $260 billion in flood-related damages between 1980 and 2013--it's the most common natural...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Catastrophic flooding is getting worse and we’re woefully unpreparedForest fires may resurrect radioactive soil near Chernobyl
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2015
United Press International: When the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded in 1986, some 85 petabecquerels of radioactive cesium was released into the atmosphere and surrounding environs. Researchers believe somewhere between 2 and 8 PBq is still lingering in the soil and forest debris that surrounds the disaster site.
Scientists have long feared that forest fires could send leftover radiation back into the atmosphere as radioactive leaves and other dead and dry plant material burn up -- traces of cesium wafting skyward...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Forest fires may resurrect radioactive soil near ChernobylAustralia scorching 2013 heat record was ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 10th, 2015
Washington Post: Afterwards — after the blistering heat and the bushfires – they would call it the “Angry Summer.” But whatever the description, the Australian summer of 2012-2013 provided a terrifying preview of a world under climate change. According to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology, a devastating heat wave in late 2012-early 2013 saw “records set in every State and Territory … the nationally averaged daily temperature rose to levels never previously observed, and did this for an extended period.” What...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia scorching 2013 heat record was ‘virtually impossible’ without global warming