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Archive for April, 2015
Study forecasts 70 percent loss of West Canada’s glaciers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2015
New York Times: The glaciers of the Canadian West could shrink by 70 percent by 2100, according to new research that has implications for predicting glacier loss around the world. The loss of mountain glaciers contributes to the rise in sea levels. As glaciers dwindle there could be also be pronounced effects on availability of water for aquatic creatures and for agriculture as well as water quality issues. The report, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, combines scientific disciplines to develop...
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Comments Off on Study forecasts 70 percent loss of West Canada’s glaciersBarclays ends financing of controversial mountaintop removal mining
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2015
Guardian: Barclays has ended its financing of a controversial coal mining method known as mountaintop removal and said time is running out for the practice.
The bank was the world’s biggest financier of mountain top removal (MTR) in 2013, when it loaned MTR companies $550m, according to one analysis.
But in a policy document, released without publicity during March, Barclays reversed its position. Companies that engage in MTR coal mining will no longer receive support from the bank unless they commit...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Barclays ends financing of controversial mountaintop removal miningFrustrated Tar Sands Industry Looks Arctic Export Route
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: The Alberta tar sands industry -- and the governments that depend on tar sands tax revenues -- are facing an increasingly pressing problem: How to get the growing flow of oil sands bitumen to market. And with proposed pipelines to the south, east, and west facing stiff opposition, tar sands interests are now investigating another controversial option -- heading north and shipping their product via the Arctic.
To the south, the proposed $10 billion Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport Alberta...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Frustrated Tar Sands Industry Looks Arctic Export RouteLong list of new development goals, indicators is valuable: WaterAid
Posted by Reuters: Magdalena Mis on April 7th, 2015
Reuters: There is no need for concern over the long list of new U.N. development goals and the even longer list of indicators as they are essential for measuring progress, international charity WaterAid said.
The current draft document, produced after formal discussions, panels and U.N. working group meetings, includes 17 goals and 169 targets such as ending hunger, combating climate change and ensuring access to safe water.
Critics say the list, designed to replace the eight Millennium Development...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Long list of new development goals, indicators is valuable: WaterAidStudy Suggests Chemical Used in BP Spill Cleanup Capable of Injuring People, Wildlife
Posted by Washington Post: Michael E. Miller on April 7th, 2015
Washington Post: Study suggests chemical used in BP oil spill cleanup capable of injuring people and wildlife
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google Plus Share via Email More Options Share via Email Share on Whatsapp Share on Pinterest Share on Google Plus Share on LinkedIn Share on Tumblr Resize Text Print Article Comments By Michael E. Miller April 7 at 2:58 AM
When the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, 2010, the immediate victims were clear enough. Eleven employees died in the blaze....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Study Suggests Chemical Used in BP Spill Cleanup Capable of Injuring People, WildlifeWilderness Society’s ‘Grand Compromise’ is a fossil-fuelled sell out
Posted by Ecologist: Alexander Reid Ross on April 7th, 2015
Ecologist: A deal to give up 500,000 acres of public lands in Utah to the tar sands industry in return for 1.5 million acres of industry is a sacrifice too far, writes Alexander Reid Ross, as it disclaims the wider costs of massive water use and contamination in the headwaters of the Colorado River, already seriously stressed by drought. Lying 8,000 feet elevation, where the Green River and White River feed into the Colorado, the land forms a crucial watershed locale for the 30 million people who rely...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wilderness Society’s ‘Grand Compromise’ is a fossil-fuelled sell out2000 police quell pollution protest in China one dead
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2015
Guardian: One person died and 50 were arrested after some 2,000 police, using rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons, put down a protest by villagers against pollution from a chemical plant in China’s Inner Mongolia, an overseas human rights group said.
Inner Mongolia has seen sporadic unrest since 2011 when the vast northern region was rocked by protests after an ethnic Mongol herder was killed by a truck after taking part in demonstrations against pollution caused by a coal mine.
Ethnic Mongols,...
Canada glaciers to shrink 70% by 2100
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 7th, 2015
Guardian: The glaciers of western Canada, one of the world’s most picturesque mountain regions, are likely to largely melt away over just three generations, scientists have warned.
By 2100, the glaciers of Alberta and British Columbia are set to shrink by 75% in area compared to 2005 levels, and by 70% in volume, according to their predictions.
But in two out of the three regions that were studied, the decline could be even more dramatic – over 90%.
The loss will hit many sectors, from agriculture,...
Obama presents climate change as hazard to your health
Posted by Associated Press: Josh Lederman on April 7th, 2015
Associated Press: President Barack Obama will ask Americans to think of climate change as a threat not just to the environment, but also to their health.
Obama on Tuesday was to announce a series of steps that private entities like Google and Microsoft are taking to better prepare the nation's health systems for the inevitable effects of a warmer, more erratic climate. He was to be joined at Howard University Medical School by Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina...
Restoration of artificial swamps could be a key to restoring rainforest health in Sumatra
Posted by Mongabay: Brittany Stewart on April 6th, 2015
Mongabay: The term "artificial" has acquired negative connotations in recent years. However, a recent study in Sumatra's Harapan rainforest details not only the ecological benefits, but rather the necessity, of improving artificial wetlands found along waterways in this rainforest ecosystem.
Tropical forest streams across Southeast Asia are in a degraded state, especially where obstructed by logging roads, creating artificial ponds and swamps. The improvement of the quality of those artificial wetlands...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Restoration of artificial swamps could be a key to restoring rainforest health in Sumatra