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Archive for May, 2015
Survey: Climate change ranks surprisingly low among reasons people oppose Keystone XL
Posted by Washington Post: Puneet Kollipara on May 11th, 2015
Washington Post: When it comes to political hot potatoes, there may not be a better example than the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Since Canada-based TransCanada Corp. first proposed the pipeline in 2008, it has served as a litmus test for where President Obama stands on energy, economic and environmental issues. One of those latter issues is climate change, as environmental groups that oppose the pipeline argue that approving it would be bad news for the climate.
Whether the pipeline’s construction would significantly...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Survey: Climate change ranks surprisingly low among reasons people oppose Keystone XLBrazilian firm’s mega-dam plans in Peru spark major social conflict
Posted by Mongabay: Tiffany Roufs on May 11th, 2015
Mongabay: "I don't want to sell my land because I've lived here since I was 17," declared 82 year old María Araujo Silva. "This was where my children were born. I want to die here. That's why I'm not in agreement. I'm not in agreement with the dam." Araujo Silva is outraged at plans by Peru's government and Brazilian company Odebrecht to build a hydroelectric dam just downriver from her village, Huarac, on the Marañón River. She says it would flood her home, her neighbors and the land where she grows coconuts,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazilian firm’s mega-dam plans in Peru spark major social conflictDrought-hit Southern Africa at risk of food shortage: WFP
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
Reuters: Southern Africa faces possible food shortages over the next few months due to a severe drought in the 'maize belt' of South Africa, where a lack of rain had caused crop failure rates of over 50 percent, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday.
In South Africa, the WFP said maize production was estimated to have dropped by a third compared with last year, putting it on track for a harvest of 9.665 million tonnes, its worst in eight years.
Besides South Africa, which produces more than...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought-hit Southern Africa at risk of food shortage: WFPBottled Water Companies vs. California’s Epic Drought
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on May 11th, 2015
EcoWatch: As the drought in California rolls into its fourth year, causing mandatory water cutbacks by cities and private citizens and concern about the state’s enormous agricultural sector, bottled water plants in the state are attracting increasing attention attention and controversy. Bottled water accounts for a tiny fraction of the water consumed in the state but it’s become something of a symbol of who gets access to water for profit and who is being forced to cut back.
Last week, Starbucks announced...
Space technology identifies vulnerable regions in West Africa
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
ScienceDaily: A group of international researchers led by the Centre for Landscape and Climate Research at the University of Leicester have used space satellite technology to identify regions of West Africa which are vulnerable to the effects of land degradation through climate change.
The team studied land degradation in Sub-Saharan West Africa, covering an area of approximately 6,140,000 km2, using statistical residual trend analysis (RESTREND) of vegetation photosynthetic capacity data (GIMMS NDVI3g), soil...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Space technology identifies vulnerable regions in West AfricaCalifornia drought in pictures: US state running out water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
Telegraph: As California's catastrophic drought enters its fourth year, California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant residents to deeper conservation. Reservoir banks that used to be underwater are seen at Millerton Lake, on the top of the Friant Dam in Friant, California. California's snowpack, which generally provides about a third of the state's water, is at its...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California drought in pictures: US state running out waterAlberta voters throw out pro-oil leader may change Canada’s stance on climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
ClimateWire: Stunning provincial election results Tuesday in Alberta -- home to Canada's vast oil sands region and fossil energy reserves -- upended the nation's political landscape, rattling the stock market and establishing a leader who is lukewarm on pipeline projects.
The surprising victory of Rachel Notley, the premier-elect and leader of Alberta's left-of-center New Democratic Party (NDP), raises numerous energy questions critical for the country's emissions trajectory: Will there be any slowdown with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alberta voters throw out pro-oil leader may change Canada’s stance on climateTaiwan aims to rein in water use amid unusual drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
LA Times: As a subtropical Pacific island, Taiwan normally gets a generous 98 inches of rain a year, keeping water prices so low that people seldom think twice about taking a long hot shower, let alone flushing the toilet.
But that relaxed relationship with water has dried up since February as Pacific Ocean temperatures have locked Taiwan into one of its most severe droughts in decades, prompting rationing last month in areas of the heavily populated west coast. In two cities and a county in northern Taiwan,...
England’s water voles in desperate decline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 11th, 2015
Guardian: English waterways could lose one of their most charismatic and once widespread residents as water voles succumb to the invasive American mink, records released by the Canal and River Trust show.
Between 1970 and 1999, water voles were found on 269 of the 2,000 miles of waterways managed by the trust. But since the turn of the century, their range dropped by almost 50% to 141 miles.
Mark Robinson, national ecologist for the Canal and River Trust, said the numbers told of a species in desperate...
Cuomo says New York nuclear plant fire caused oil spill Hudson River
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 10th, 2015
Guardian: Part of a nuclear power plant remained offline on Sunday after a transformer fire created another problem: thousands of gallons of oil leaking into the Hudson River.
At an afternoon briefing, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said emergency crews were out on the water near Buchanan, trying to contain and clean up transformer fluid that leaked from Indian Point 3.
“There’s no doubt that oil was discharged into the Hudson River,” Cuomo said. “Exactly how much, we don’t know.”
The transformer...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Cuomo says New York nuclear plant fire caused oil spill Hudson River