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Archive for March, 2015
Australia: Climate change likely responsible feucalypt dieback in south-east NSW
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 9th, 2015
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: For more than a decade it has been a mystery as to what is causing eucalypt trees to die on the Monaro in south-east, New South Wales.
The dieback is centred around Berridale near Cooma NSW and it spans more than 2000 square kilometres - an area larger than the ACT.
Research by PhD candidate Catherine Ross, from the Australian National University, suggests that climate change has played a role in the spread of the weevils and the stress on the ribbon gum trees.
"The weevils are native to...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Climate change likely responsible feucalypt dieback in south-east NSWMoving photos show climate change destroying the nomadic way of life in Mongolia
Posted by Fast Company: None Given on March 9th, 2015
Fast Company: Just another sad casualty of environmental collapse: These before-and-after shots show how deserts are taking over the pastures where animals once grazed.
Up to a third of Mongolians live as nomads, but that lifestyle is increasingly under threat. Rampant desertification is destroying the grassland where nomads graze their animals, meaning many are being forced to move to cities, where they don't belong.
"Nomadic life has been central to traditional Mongolian culture throughout history," says...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Moving photos show climate change destroying the nomadic way of life in MongoliaRepublican contenders invade Iowa to talk up ethanol – and court rich donors
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 9th, 2015
Guardian: Nine potential presidential contenders came to corn country this weekend to kiss the ring of Bruce Rastetter, the breakthrough Republican donor of the early but very much active 2016 election cycle. But with his pet issue of ethanol subsidies becoming an increasingly charged issue, the Iowa Agriculture Summit was all about paying tribute to the stalk.
Democratic presidential contenders were invited, and advocacy group America’s Renewable Future, one of the summit main sponsors, employed equal...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Republican contenders invade Iowa to talk up ethanol – and court rich donorsFederal Pipeline Regulators Push Back on Enbridge’s Line 9
Posted by Star: Jessica McDiarmid on March 9th, 2015
Star: Federal pipeline regulators are pushing back after Enbridge asked some municipalities along its Line 9 route, which cuts across the GTA, to sign non-disclosure agreements prior to receiving complete copies of emergency plans.
In a February 2015 letter to the pipeline company, National Energy Board chair and CEO Peter Watson wrote that officials representing Quebec municipalities had informed him of the company’s request for confidentiality agreements.
“Both officials expressed concerns about...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Federal Pipeline Regulators Push Back on Enbridge’s Line 9Cambridge, Mass Wants to Cut Ties with TransCanada over KeystoneXL
Posted by Boston Globe: Steve Annear on March 9th, 2015
Boston Globe: Cambridge officials want to cut ties with the company that supplies electricity to its municipal buildings, citing the contractor's controversial KeystoneXL proposal for a crude oil pipeline from Canada through the United States.
TransCanada, which has offices in Boston, keeps the lights on at many Cambridge facilities, but lawmakers last week passed a policy order requesting that City Manager Richard Rossi refrain from entering into contracts with the company after the current deal expires this...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Cambridge, Mass Wants to Cut Ties with TransCanada over KeystoneXLJournal Dedicates Issue Climate Change & Food Safety
Posted by Food Safety News: None Given on March 9th, 2015
Food Safety News: Food Research International has published a special issue dedicated to the impacts of climate change on food safety.
The collection of research examined issues such as pesticide use, parasite transmission, mycotoxin production on tomatoes, paralytic shellfish poisoning, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and the relationship between flooding and leafy greens contamination.
The issue was edited by researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and Ghent University in Belgium and includes several...
On the other side of Australia, a marine wonder to rival the Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 9th, 2015
Guardian: Soon after taking off in our small aircraft, the Kimberley Aviation pilot, Ralph Bancroft, was confronted by a wall of wet season storm clouds. As we got closer, the clouds looked more like a mountain range than severe weather. Bancroft was taking us north from Broome airport over the Dampier Peninsula and, he said over the plane’s intercom, there would be no going directly through a cloud like the one right in our path. Instead he banked the aircraft and aimed for a canyon of clear sky between...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on On the other side of Australia, a marine wonder to rival the Great Barrier ReefFlorida banned state workers from using term ‘climate change’ – report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Guardian: Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency in charge of setting conservation policy and enforcing environmental laws in the state, issued directives in 2011 barring thousands of employees from using the phrases “climate change” and “global warming”, according to a bombshell report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR).
The report ties the alleged policy, which is described as “unwritten”, to the election of Republican governor Rick Scott...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Florida banned state workers from using term ‘climate change’ – reportArctic sea ice near all-time minimum low and could break previous record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Independent: Sea ice in the Arctic is near its all-time minimum for the end of winter and could break the previous record within the next two weeks if it fails to grow, according to the latest satellite data.
The area of the Arctic covered by floating sea ice is already the lowest for this time of year, highlighting the long-term warming trend experienced by the region in both winter and summer months.
Sea ice expands and contracts with the seasons but satellite data collected since the 1970s shows that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Arctic sea ice near all-time minimum low and could break previous recordThere’s a better option than Keystone XL pipeline to create jobs
Posted by Bangor Daily News: Tim Godaire on March 8th, 2015
Bangor Daily News: Since President Barack Obama’s veto of the legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that Congress passed, there has been limited coverage and discussion by the Bangor Daily News and in the opinion pages. There was a Feb. 25 piece by Michael Bloomberg suggesting Obama use the pipeline as leverage to have Canada commit to a carbon emissions reduction plan similar to the agreement between China and the U.S. Jim Fossel provided the only other commentary in his Red207 blog. He referred...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on There’s a better option than Keystone XL pipeline to create jobs