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Archive for May, 2015
Hawaii controversial Thirty Meter Telescope cleared proceed
Posted by Vox: Joseph Stromberg on May 28th, 2015
Vox: On Tuesday, Hawaii Governor David Ige announced that construction could proceed on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), a controversial telescope planned for Mauna Kea.
In exchange for the approval, Ige said, at least one-quarter of the existing 13 telescopes on Mauna Kea must be decommissioned.
Construction of the telescope has been halted since April due to protests by Native Hawaiians, who object to its placement on a sacred site.
If completed, the TMT would be the world's second-largest...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Hawaii controversial Thirty Meter Telescope cleared proceed‘No wilder place on Earth’ explorers tackle full Okavango Delta
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Guardian: Recently, wildlife news from Africa has been almost universally bleak and frustrating to the point of despair: rhinos with their faces cut off, elephants slaughtered en masse via helicopter, and chimps and gorillas gunned down or snared for bushmeat. A massive onslaught of people, poaching and habitat destruction has led to declines in everything from lions to giraffes and hippos to okapi. But this picture of blood, carcasses and seemingly relentless loss isn’t the only reality on a continent three...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘No wilder place on Earth’ explorers tackle full Okavango DeltaThis inflammatory email has split astronomy community in two
Posted by Business Insider: Kelly Dickerson on May 28th, 2015
Business Insider: A remote piece of land 14,000 feet above sea level, Mauna Kea, is one of native Hawaiians' most sacred sites. It also happens to be one of the best places in the world to build a telescope capable of spotting parts of the universe no one has seen before.
And that's exactly what the plan is: build a $1.4 billion telescope, called the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), on the sacred summit. Native protesters threw a wrench into that plan however, and brought the construction of the telescope to a grinding...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on This inflammatory email has split astronomy community in twoLeave cancelled for India’s doctors as heat wave kills 1,300
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Reuters: A heat wave in India has killed at least 1,371 people this week as temperatures soar above 47 Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit), and doctors' leave has been cancelled to help cope with the sick.
May and June are India's hottest months, with temperatures regularly pushing above 40 Celsius. But meteorologists say the number of days when temperatures approach 45 Celsius has increased in the past 15 years.
The death toll in the worst affected states of Andhra Pradesh in the southeast and nearby Telangana...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Leave cancelled for India’s doctors as heat wave kills 1,300Telescope Construction Cont atop Hawaiian Volcano
Posted by Science Times: Rachel K Wentz on May 28th, 2015
Science Times: The best place to view space is from a locale far from the glaring lights of human habitation. And what better spot than the isolated Hawaiian islands, in the middle of the northern Pacific? Unfortunately, the residents of Hawaii abhor the idea of another telescope marring their sacred mountain. So they have banned together to bid the giant scope a hearty "Aloha!"
The $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), which its nonprofit company claims will transform the fields of astronomy, astrophysics,...
Federal government orders pipeline company clean California oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Reuters: The federal government on Wednesday ordered a company at the center of a Southern California oil spill to continue its efforts to clean up the pipeline breach that dumped crude onto a pristine stretch of shoreline and into the Pacific Ocean.
The order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Coast Guard also requires Texas-based Plains All American Pipeline to submit a written plan by June 6 that will outline measures for analyzing the spill's effects on the environment.
The...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Federal government orders pipeline company clean California oil spillHundreds evacuated in Texas after storms leave least 15 dead
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Reuters: Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate flood-threatened areas of Texas on Wednesday as torrential rains battered the state, where at least 15 people have been killed in weather-related incidents this week, including six in Houston.
People were told to stay away from more than 200 homes in Parker County where the Brazos River was poised to overflow its banks about 30 miles (50 km) west of Fort Worth on Wednesday night, county officials said.
"The river is coming up fast and flowing at dangerous...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Hundreds evacuated in Texas after storms leave least 15 deadScientists Warn to Expect More Weather Extremes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
New York Times: Torrential rains and widespread flooding in Texas have brought relief from a yearslong drought to many parts of the state. Such unpredictable and heavy rains are a big part of what climate scientists say that many Texans can expect in years to come. The relief has come at a great cost. The death toll from storms across the state and Oklahoma has reached at least 19, by some estimates, and the property damage is so extensive that Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has declared some 40 counties disaster areas....
Climate Change a Factor in Texas Floods, Largely Ignored
Posted by Texas Tribune: Neena Satija and Jim Malewitz on May 28th, 2015
Texas Tribune: Climate change is taking a toll on Texas, and the devastating floods that have killed at least 15 people and left 12 others missing across the state are some of the best evidence yet of that phenomenon, state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said in an interview Wednesday. "We have observed an increase of heavy rain events, at least in the South-Central United States, including Texas," said Nielsen-Gammon, who was appointed by former Gov. George W. Bush in 2000. "And it's consistent with what...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change a Factor in Texas Floods, Largely IgnoredMount Everest Glaciers May Disappear by 2100 Rising Emissions
Posted by Nature World News: None Given on May 27th, 2015
Nature World News: Mount Everest's glaciers may disappear almost entirely by the year 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, a new study warns.
"The signal of future glacier change in the region is clear: continued and possibly accelerated mass loss from glaciers is likely given the projected increase in temperatures," Joseph Shea, a glacier hydrologist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal, who led the study, said in a statement.
Specifically,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mount Everest Glaciers May Disappear by 2100 Rising Emissions