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Archive for May 31st, 2015
Atop sacred mountain skirmish science & religion
Posted by Boston Globe: Thomas Levenson on May 31st, 2015
Boston Globe: At 13,796 feet, Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii is the tallest point in the Pacific Ocean. It's a confounding place. Like the Grand Canyon, it takes a surprising amount of time simply to believe your eyes. The summit and the valley immediately below the top are barren stretches of red-black rock. It's hard not to think of Mars.
But then -- at least for me, on my first visit in 1991 -- the view opens up. Look north across the strait between the Big Island and Maui and there's Haleakala, the...
Australia to be quizzed on climate policy at UN meetings in Germany
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 31st, 2015
Guardian: Australia will be quizzed on its carbon emission reduction policies during United Nations climate change meetings in Germany this week.
The 10-day meetings in Bonn are part of negotiations in the lead-up to December’s climate change conference in Paris, where all countries are hoping to sign an agreement to cut carbon pollution.
The international community has agreed to limit global warming to two degrees and countries have begun submitting their emissions reduction plans post-2020.
Under...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia to be quizzed on climate policy at UN meetings in Germany‘It’s Shameful’: Scientists Slam Ted Cruz Dodging Climate Question After Texas Floods
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on May 31st, 2015
ThinkProgress: After literally 35 trillion gallons of water fell on Texas this month, washing away homes and killing at least 28 people, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz still would not talk about climate change. "At a time of tragedy, I think it`s wrong to try to politicize a natural disaster," the 2016 Republican presidential candidate said last week when asked about the role of climate change in the floods.
In a way, the "let`s not politicize this" response is similar to the familiar "I`m not a scientist" dodge - a way...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘It’s Shameful’: Scientists Slam Ted Cruz Dodging Climate Question After Texas FloodsDrought-hit North Korea seen able to avoid food crisis
Posted by Reuters: Jack Kim and James Pearson on May 31st, 2015
Reuters: SEOUL North Korea has updated farming methods and switched crops that could help soften the blow of drought and avert a disastrous food shortage, an aid worker and an analyst said on Sunday, after a U.N. official warned of another "huge food deficit".
Impoverished North Korea, which suffered a deadly famine in the 1990s, has seen international food aid fall sharply because of its restrictions on humanitarian workers and reluctance to allow monitoring of food distribution.
Food supplies had...
Holding Your Breath in India
Posted by New York Times: Gardiner Harris on May 31st, 2015
New York Times: FOR weeks the breathing of my 8-year-old son, Bram, had become more labored, his medicinal inhaler increasingly vital. And then, one terrifying night nine months after we moved to this megacity, Bram’s inhaler stopped working and his gasping became panicked. My wife called a friend, who recommended a private hospital miles away. I carried Bram to the car while my wife brought his older brother. India’s traffic is among the world’s most chaotic, and New Delhi’s streets are crammed with trucks at...
Global Transition movement conference to come to the UK in September
Posted by Blue and Green: Ilaria Bertini on May 31st, 2015
Blue and Green: Totnes in Devon is expected to welcome hundreds of Transitioners from all over the world in September to share ideas and progress about reduction of energy consumption and waste, food growing and other core issues for the Transition Movement.
The event will take place in Totnes, Devon on September 18-20, where the Transition Movement was born in 2005. Since then, it spread to more than 1,200 communities in 47 countries, with the goal to make people’s lives more sustainable and resilient in order...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global Transition movement conference to come to the UK in SeptemberWith Global Warming, a future of Pacific Superstorms
Posted by Conversation: Wei Mei on May 31st, 2015
Conversation: Every year, typhoons over the western North Pacific – the equivalent to hurricanes in the North Atlantic – cause considerable damage in East and Southeast Asia.
Super Typhoon Haiyan of 2013, one of the strongest ocean storms ever recorded, devastated large portions of the Philippines and killed at least 6,300 people. It set records for the strongest storm at landfall and for the highest sustained wind speed over one minute, hitting 315 kilometers (194 miles) per hour when it reached the province...
Caltech will shut down Mauna Kea observatory early
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 31st, 2015
Associated Press: One observatory atop Mauna Kea will shut down ahead of schedule, falling short of 30 years exploring the skies. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that the California Institute of Technology announced Friday that it will close the facility in September. It was initially slated for closure next year. Caltech Submillimeter Observatory technical operations manager Simon Radford says the telescope has a successful history and has been part of many discoveries, including some related to the formation...
More flooding in Texas after storms, two dozen dead
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 31st, 2015
Reuters: Rain caused flooding on roads in parts of Texas on Saturday, an official said, after severe weather killed at least 24 people during the week and prompted U.S. President Barack Obama to declare a disaster in the state.
Texas has endured record rainfall in May. This week, flooding turned streets into rivers, ripped homes off foundations, swept over thousands of vehicles and trapped people in cars and houses.
Obama signed a disaster declaration late on Friday to free up federal funds to help...