RSS Feed
Archive for April, 2015
California Cities Struggle To Enforce Mandatory Water Restrictions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 16th, 2015
National Public Radio: ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
This month, California's governor ordered water use in the state to be cut by 25 percent overall. Specific targets were put in place for each city as well. Many of them already had their own conservation rules but will now have to do more to avoid hefty fines. San Diego imposed water restrictions in November, and Claire Trageser of member station KPBS reports the city is struggling to enforce them.
CLAIRE TRAGESER, BYLINE: It's a few minutes after sunrise and Travis Pritchard...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on California Cities Struggle To Enforce Mandatory Water RestrictionsFracking Bills Move Forward in Florida
Posted by Tallahassee Democrat: Jeff Burlew on April 16th, 2015
Tallahassee Democrat: Controversial bills that would create a regulatory framework for fracking in Florida passed committee hurdles on Tuesday over the objections of environmental groups and concerned citizens.
Members of the House State Affairs Committee signed off on HB 1205, which would set regulations for fracking, in a 12-5 party-line vote, with Republicans supporting it. They voted 11-6 in favor of HB 1209, which would create an exemption in public-records law for proprietary chemicals used in the process.
Later...
World Water Future Demands Action Today
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on April 16th, 2015
Environment News Service: In 2050 there will be enough water to produce food for a global population of nine billion, but over-consumption and climate change will increase water scarcity in the planet`s neediest regions, finds a new report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Water Council.
The report, "Towards a water and food secure future" was released Tuesday at the Seventh World Water Forum now underway at the Daegu EXCO. Held every three years since 1997, this year`s forum is jointly organized...
Scientists Pore Over Warm West, Cold East Divide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2015
Climate Central: From blooming flowers to twittering birds, the signs of spring are popping up and the miseries of winter are becoming a distant memory for many. But not for some climate scientists. The curiosity of a growing group of researchers has been piqued by the tenacious temperature divide that has separated East from West over the past two winters as a wild zigzag of the jet stream has brought repeated bouts of Arctic air and snow to the East and kept the drought-plagued West baking under a record-breaking...
Is PuttingTelescope Mauna Kea Short-Sighted?
Posted by Huffington Post: Jacob Devaney on April 15th, 2015
Huffington Post: Natives ask, "Why Threaten the Ground We Stand on to Reach for the Stars?" In late March, Kanaka Maoli warriors representing several islands in the Hawaiian Islands, along with a diverse group of supporters, formed a blockade at 9,000 feet above sea level against a proposed $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. The peaceful protest escalated in early April, with 31 protectors arrested at the site of the blockade.
The issues surrounding this blockade raise important questions for all...
Native Hawaiians are fighting off invasion of astronomers
Posted by Quartz: None Given on April 15th, 2015
Quartz: If completed, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), to be built atop Hawaii's dormant Mauna Kea volcano, will be one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the world. According to the project's organizers, the TMT "will enable astronomers to study objects in our own solar system and stars throughout our Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies, and forming galaxies at the very edge of the observable universe, near the beginning of time.'
It will be quite the scientific feat, and undoubtedly...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Native Hawaiians are fighting off invasion of astronomersTreaty Council Calls for US and International Support for Mauna Kea
Posted by Indian Country: None Given on April 15th, 2015
Indian Country: The International Indian Treaty Council has issued a statement calling for international support to stop the desecration of Native Hawaiians’ sacred Mauna Kea Mountain. The statement also calls on the United States to abide by its international obligation to protect human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ sacred sites.
The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC) is a 41-year-old non-governmental organization of Indigenous Peoples from North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Treaty Council Calls for US and International Support for Mauna KeaConverting DNR board to advisory council dealt blow, removed from Walker budget
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2015
Associated Press: Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to make the Department of Natural Resources Board advisory only has been removed from his budget, signaling that that Gov. Scott Walker's proposal is unlikely to pass the Legislature this year.
The Republican co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee on Wednesday announced that they were removing the proposal from the budget. That means it must be introduced as a separate bill, making it more difficult to pass than if it were included as part of the larger state budget....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Converting DNR board to advisory council dealt blow, removed from Walker budgetWatch: Not Even the FDA Knows What’s in Your Food
Posted by EcoWatch: Cole Mellino on April 15th, 2015
EcoWatch: The Center for the Public Integrity made a video this week about a legal loophole that allows food companies to add new ingredients to foods with no government safety review. Using a 57-year-old law, companies can “declare their ingredients are ‘generally recognized as safe’ and add them to foods without ever even telling federal regulators,” according to the Center for Public Integrity. The biggest concern comes from new food additives. “People are consuming foods with added flavors, preservatives...
Permafrost holds key to release of trapped carbon
Posted by Daily Climate: Tim Radford on April 15th, 2015
Daily Climate: Three sets of scientists in the same week have helped narrow the uncertainties about how the natural world will respond to extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon locked in the frozen earth will escape gradually as the Arctic permafrost melts – but the scientists say the process could accelerate. As greenhouse gas levels soar, and soils warm, and plant roots tap down into the carbon stored there by centuries of ancient growth, they will release potent...