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Archive for March, 2015
NSW government suggests entire village be relocated Rio Tinto coalmine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2015
Guardian: The relocation of the entire village of Bulga due to the expansion of a nearby coalmine should be given “serious consideration”, according to a New South Wales government review.
The NSW Planning Assessment Commission, an independent statutory body, recommended on Thursday that Rio Tinto’s controversial Mount Thorley-Warkworth mine extension should go ahead.
The PAC’s report, however, found that the expansion would have a “range of adverse impacts” upon the nearby village of Bulga, home to...
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Comments Off on NSW government suggests entire village be relocated Rio Tinto coalmineHow climate change contributed to Syria’s civil war
Posted by MPR: None Given on March 6th, 2015
MPR: A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science draws a connection between climate change and the civil war in Syria.
A devastating drought in the region from 2007 to 2010 forced a mass migration to the cities. That dramatic social change fomented a rebel movement and government backlash that has killed more than 200,000 people since 2011, according to the United Nations.
The Pentagon has listed climate change as a national security thread since 2010. Last...
Floods could affect nearly 2.7m people in Pakistan by 2030: Study
Posted by Tribune: None Given on March 5th, 2015
Tribune: As many as 2.7 million people could be affected yearly by river-floods in Pakistan by 2030; while the number of people globally affected by the floods every year could reach 54 million, a study said on Thursday.
According to the report, prepared by the US-based World Resources Institute think-tank and four Dutch research groups, it estimated that people being affected by the river-floods could reach up to 2.7 million people by 2013. Currently, an estimated 715,000 people in Pakistan are affected...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Floods could affect nearly 2.7m people in Pakistan by 2030: StudyFirewood fervor may turn Zimbabwe into ‘outright desert’
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on March 5th, 2015
Mongabay: Zimbabwe, home to more than 14 million people, is currently facing a severe economic crisis. Under President Robert Mugabe’s land distribution reforms, in the year 2000 all white-owned commercial farms were forcibly seized for redistribution to landless native Zimbabweans. In February this year, the BBC reported Mugabe had finally admitted his land reforms amounted to badly thought-out land policies. These reforms are thought to be the driving force behind Zimbabwe’s agriculture-based economy’s thunderous...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Firewood fervor may turn Zimbabwe into ‘outright desert’Eco-efficient Crop & Livestock Production for Nicaraguan Farmers
Posted by Inter Press Service: Kitty Stapp on March 5th, 2015
Inter Press Service: For Roberto Pineda, a smallholder farmer in the Somotillo municipality of Nicaragua, his traditional practice after each harvest was to cut down and burn all crop residues on his land, a practice known as "slash-and-burn" agriculture.
A widespread practice on these sub-humid hillsides of Central America, it was nonetheless causing many negative environmental implications, including poor soil quality, erosion, nutrient leaching, and the loss of ecosystem diversity. Slash-and-burn allows farmers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Eco-efficient Crop & Livestock Production for Nicaraguan FarmersAn El Niño is Upon Us! But What Does That Mean?
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 5th, 2015
Nature World: Remember that El Niño that experts were predicting? Well, it's finally here, but the NOAA is warning that that might not mean more rain for America's thirsty southwest coast, despite traditional weather patterning.
El Niño southern oscillations (ENSO) are largely characterized by north-eastward shifts of warm water across the globe, with water often harmful to tropical corals gradually shifting away from Australia's northern coast and towards the Americas, affecting even the United States' southwest...
Chile eyes new push on a glacier protection law
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2015
Reuters: The Chilean government and congressional lawmakers agreed this week to work together to try to pass legislation to protect the country's glaciers, a move that could hinder development of mining projects in the world's No. 1 copper exporter. The proposed bill would prohibit commercial activity on glaciers in national parks. The parks contain about 80 percent of the glaciers in the Andean country. Environmentalists argue that glaciers should be protected for future generations. Most glaciers in South...
El Niño finally arrives but is weaker than expected, says US agency
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2015
Guardian: The US National Weather Service on Thursday proclaimed the phenomenon is now in place. It? involves a warming of a certain patch of the central Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide, associated with flooding in some places, droughts elsewhere, a generally warmer globe, and fewer Atlantic hurricanes.
El Niños are usually so important that economists even track them because of how they affect commodities.
But this is a weak, weird and late version of El Niño, so do not? expect too many...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on El Niño finally arrives but is weaker than expected, says US agencyEurope blazes trail against climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2015
New Scientist: AS CHAOS from climate change ramps up in the coming decades, making floods, droughts and heatwaves commonplace, Europe will be ready. So says the European Environment Agency, which launched its five-year assessment of the state of Europe's environment in Copenhagen, Denmark, this week. A key message is that we must prepare now for the catastrophes that will become more frequent if the world warms up as predicted. "Many of the decisions we make today will determine how we are going to live in 2050,"...
Senate fails to override Obama’s veto of Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by LA Times: Lisa Mascaro on March 5th, 2015
LA Times: The Senate failed Wednesday to override President Obama's veto of Keystone XL pipeline legislation, ending for now attempts by Congress to speed up approval of the controversial energy project. Falling short of the two-thirds majority needed, Republicans backers of the pipeline could not peel off enough Democratic supporters to join them. The vote was 62-37, with all Republicans and eight Democrats in favor. The outcome was the latest setback for the GOP-led Congress, which made passage of Keystone...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Senate fails to override Obama’s veto of Keystone XL pipeline