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Archive for March, 2015
Pakistan: Women Turn Drought into Lesson on Sustainability
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2015
Inter Press Service: When a group of women in the remote village of Sadhuraks in Pakistan's Thar Desert, some 800 km from the port city of Karachi, were asked if they would want to be born a woman in their next life, the answer from each was a resounding "˜no'. They have every reason to be unhappy with their gender, mostly because of the unequal division of labour between men and women in this vast and arid region that forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. "South Asian countries need to realise the tremendous...
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Comments Off on Pakistan: Women Turn Drought into Lesson on SustainabilityA second giant blob of Antarctic ice is getting ready drown us
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 17th, 2015
Grist: Remember when we found out last year that the West Antarctic ice sheet had started to collapse, that the collapse more or less can’t be stopped, and that it will eventually result in 10 to 15 feet of sea-level rise? Now we have some more bad news of that caliber.
An enormous glacier, one on the other side of the continent from the ailing ice sheet, is doing pretty much the same thing, researchers have discovered. Chris Mooney reports for The Washington Post:
The findings about East Antarctica...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A second giant blob of Antarctic ice is getting ready drown usPermaculture Film Offers Bold New Solution in Regenerative Agriculture
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 17th, 2015
EcoWatch: Everywhere you hear that we need to minimize our footprint and reduce our impact. But what if we turned that kind of thinking on its head? What if, as Bill McDonough says, instead of trying to be “less bad,” we try to be “more good.” What if our footprints became beneficial? What if we could meet human needs while increasing the health and well-being of our planet? This is the premise of a new movie Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective, which will have its worldwide digital premiere on Earth Day,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Permaculture Film Offers Bold New Solution in Regenerative AgricultureObama gets real about climate deniers with Vice
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 17th, 2015
Grist: President Barack Obama told Vice in an interview released on Monday that it was "disturbing" that the chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works denied the existence of climate change.
Obama was referring to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who threw a snowball on the Senate floor earlier this month to make his case that climate change isn`t real. Even though Inhofe cited record-low temperatures across the country as evidence that climate change was overplayed, the country has actually...
How the oceans have dried Texas out
Posted by National Public Radio: Philip Issa on March 17th, 2015
National Public Radio: Over the last several years, climate patterns from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans have exacerbated the historic Texas drought. A reverse in those patterns could bring Texas abundant rains over the next couple decades, according to State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon.
But, Nielsen-Gammon says, long term trends give Texans no reason to break out the champagne. Global climate change means the next major drought could be even worse than this one.
The Texas climate is sensitive to weather cycles...
Earth exceed four of nine limits hospitable life
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2015
Independent: Humanity has raced past four of the boundaries keeping it hospitable to life, and we're inching close to the remaining five, an Earth resilience strategist has found. In a paper published in Science in January 2015, Johan Rockström argues that we've already screwed up with regards to climate change, extinction of species, addition of phosphorus and nitrogen to the world's ecosystems and deforestation. We are well within the boundaries for ocean acidification and freshwater use meanwhile, but cutting...
Start managing disaster threat or risk development gains: Experts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2015
Reuters: When Typhoon Haiyan sent storm surges and high winds across the islands of the central Philippines in November 2013, it wrecked homes, schools, hospitals and roads, as well as killing more than 6,000 people.
"The investment that was put into the community - from the point of view of the families that were affected - was all gone, and we have to rebuild again," said Dinky Soliman, Secretary of the Philippines' Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Her country has since learned the importance...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Start managing disaster threat or risk development gains: ExpertsThirty years of consecutive warmth: The heat really is on
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on March 17th, 2015
Sydney Morning Herald: Back in February 1985, The Heat Is On by US rock legend Glenn Frey was near the top of the music charts and unwittingly becoming something of an anthem for the global climate ever since.
Last month capped 30 years in which average monthly temperatures worldwide have been warmer than the average for the 20th century. That's 360 consecutive months.
And that warming trend, which scientists say is mostly the result of a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, remains strong - although there...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Thirty years of consecutive warmth: The heat really is onDry Minnesota at risk of more, hotter fires this spring
Posted by Star Tribune: Josephine Marcotty on March 17th, 2015
Star Tribune: As spring follows winter in Minnesota, early fire warnings follow a year with little snow and record warmth in March.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Monday issued an unusually early alert, saying conditions across the state are ripe for more frequent and more intense fires this spring, thanks to an abnormally dry winter and record-breaking temperatures this month.
"We are moving into a drought period,' said William Glesener, DNR fire specialist. "It's going to intensify...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dry Minnesota at risk of more, hotter fires this springFarming absorbs 22 percent of cost disasters in developing countries
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 17th, 2015
Guardian: Nearly a quarter of the damages caused by natural disasters in the developing world affect the agricultural sector, exacting a heavy cost on poor farmers who do not have insurance or the resources to rebuild their lives after floods, droughts or other extreme events, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has said. The initial findings of a new report on the impact of natural disasters on agriculture and food security were released by the FAO at the third world conference on disaster...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Farming absorbs 22 percent of cost disasters in developing countries