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Archive for February, 2015
Agency Lobbying for Keystone Pipeline Is a Major Donor Clinton Foundation
Posted by Salon: None Given on February 19th, 2015
Salon: A Canadian government agency lobbying for the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline contributed nearly half a million dollars to the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation last year, part of a surge in foreign donations ahead of Hillary Clinton`s expected 2016 campaign for the presidency.
The revelation comes in a new Wall Street Journal report on the foundation`s fundraising from such donors as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany. The foundation resumed...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Agency Lobbying for Keystone Pipeline Is a Major Donor Clinton FoundationHigh risk for future U.S. megadroughts
Posted by EarthSky: None Given on February 19th, 2015
EarthSky: The U.S. Southwest and Central Plains are at high risk for a megadrought later this century if greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, says a new study.
Megadroughts are persistent droughts that last for a decade or longer--they can be devastating to both natural ecosystems and human societies. Now, a new study has found that the southwestern and central plains regions of the United States are at high risk for a megadrought in the latter half of the 21st century if greenhouse gas concentrations...
Fighting decline of pollinators in Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2015
PhysOrg: Pollination is crucial to providing food security with 84% of European crops benefitting, at least in part, from insect pollination and 78% of temperate wildflowers needing biotic pollination. An estimated ~10% of the total economic value of European agricultural output for human food amounted to €22 billion in 2005 (€14.2 for the EU) was dependent upon insect pollination.
However, due to a cocktail of environmental stressors some pollinator species are declining and and the pollination services...
Can the Planet Sustain 7 Billion People Eating a Paleo Diet?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 18th, 2015
EcoWatch: After decades of obscurity, Paleo is now one of the fastest-growing diet trends. A 2013 survey found that one percent of Americans eat Paleo, which is based on the premise that our diets should be based on animals and plants, the way we ate when we were hunter-gatherers. Bestselling books like Grain Brain have redeemed meat’s nutritional profile and convinced many people that their high-carb diets promote unhealthy levels of brain and gut inflammation. I count myself among the throngs of Paleolistas...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Can the Planet Sustain 7 Billion People Eating a Paleo Diet?Miami already sinking under rising sea level
Posted by Grist: None Given on February 18th, 2015
Grist: You don’t have to look 85 years into the future to see what a sinking world looks like - you only need to look as far as Miami.
Climate scientists have been warning the world about sea-level rise for years, pleading with governments to cut back on carbon lest all our coastal cities go the way of Venice. In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its fifth Assessment Report, predicting that oceans would rise more than three feet by 2100. Those projections make for some alarming...
Marcellus Shale Production Numbers Break Another Record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2015
National Public Radio: Drilling companies in Pennsylvania have broken yet another record, as shale gas production jumped 30 percent last year, according to new data released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Marcellus Shale drillers produced more than 2 trillion cubic feet of gas in the second half of 2014. Throughout all of last year, they produced 4 trillion cubic feet– or about 16 percent of what the entire United States consumes on an annual basis.
“Economic growth from natural gas production...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Marcellus Shale Production Numbers Break Another RecordCanada federal police warn of growing anti-oil threats
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 18th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: Canadian police warned in a leaked document of growing threats to the country's oil industry by militant climate activists opposed to the use of fossil fuels (AFP Photo/David Boily)
Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian police warned in a leaked document Wednesday of growing threats to the country's oil industry by militant climate activists opposed to the use of fossil fuels.
Greenpeace called the year-old report obtained by AFP "chilling," because of its broad-brush depiction of climate-change activists...
Climate change hampering world food production
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: The acceleration climate change and its impact on agricultural production means that profound societal changes will be needed in coming decades to feed the world's growing population, researchers at an annual science conference said.
According to scientists, food production will have to be doubled over the next 35 years to feed a global population of nine billion people in 2050, compared with seven billion today.
Feeding the world "is going to take some changes in terms of minimizing climate...
Western forecast has megadrought on the horizon
Posted by Elko Daily Free Press: Editorial on February 17th, 2015
Elko Daily Free Press: In just the first six weeks of the new year, we’ve already seen nine record high temperatures. The weather has been unusually warm and dry across the West, while the folks back East are seeing one of their worst winters in history.
The pattern is pretty much a repeat of last winter, only more extreme. And extremes are what “climate change” is all about. That’s the accepted term for what used to be called “global warming,” a phenomenon most scientists believe is caused by human activity such as...
Could these big data projects fix climate change?
Posted by Fortune: None Given on February 17th, 2015
Fortune: Something’s up with the environment. Sea levels have risen nearly seven inches in the past 100 years, and Arctic ice sheets are shrinking at about 13% a decade, according to NASA. Meanwhile the earth’s surface temperature has been climbing steadily upward, says the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. But it’s also the era of using big data to find ways to solve environmental problems. Crunching data already helps with reducing traffic jams and lowering crime rates. So why not climate...