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Archive for June, 2015
Death Toll Soars in Climate Change-Related Pakistan Heat Wave
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on June 24th, 2015
EcoWatch: A deadly heat wave spreading through southern Pakistan has killed nearly 800 people in just a few days--a number that threatens to rise as temperatures remain unusually high this week.
More than 600 people have died in Pakistan`s heatwave http://t.co/bsc8q7NZ2H pic.twitter.com/gtEBFxqR5P
-- Sky News (@SkyNews) June 24, 2015
At least 740 people have died of dehydration, heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses in Karachi, the country`s largest city, since Saturday, with various sources...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Death Toll Soars in Climate Change-Related Pakistan Heat WaveHurricane Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan tied to global warming, scientists argue
Posted by Mashable: None Given on June 24th, 2015
Mashable: Humans are not just loading the dice in favor of extreme weather events, as many scientific studies have shown. They are also changing the characteristics and impacts of those events, be it in the form of an unprecedentedly strong and extremely deadly Typhoon Haiyan or the damaging Boulder, Colorado, floods of 2013.
The way that scientists have been probing extreme events for human fingerprints is flawed, however, because it underestimates the influence that global warming is playing, argues a...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Hurricane Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan tied to global warming, scientists argueWill humans survive the sixth great extinction?
Posted by Naitonal Geographic: None Given on June 24th, 2015
Naitonal Geographic: In the last half-billion years, life on Earth has been nearly wiped out five times-by such things as climate change, an intense ice age, volcanoes, and that space rock that smashed into the Gulf of Mexico 65 million years ago, obliterating the dinosaurs and a bunch of other species. These events are known as the Big Five mass extinctions, and all signs suggest we are now on the precipice of a sixth.
Except this time, we have no one but ourselves to blame. According to a study published last week...
U.S. Judge Temporarily Blocks New Fracking Rules on Public Lands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2015
Reuters: A U.S. judge in Wyoming on Tuesday granted a request by four states and several energy industry groups to temporarily stop new federal rules on hydraulic fracturing on public lands from taking effect on Wednesday.
The Interior Department rules would require companies to provide data on chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and to take steps to prevent leakage from oil and gas wells on federally owned land.
U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl granted a stay to the new rules until...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Judge Temporarily Blocks New Fracking Rules on Public LandsTroubled Delta System California Water Battleground
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 24th, 2015
New York Times: Fighting over water is a tradition in California, but nowhere are the lines of dispute more sharply drawn than here in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a 720,000-acre network of islands and canals that is the hub of the state's water system.
Giant pumps pull in water flowing to the delta from the mountainous north of the state, where the majority of precipitation falls, and send it to farms, towns and cities in the Central Valley and Southern California, where the demand for water is greatest....
ICUN Red List: over 22,000 species threatened extinction
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on June 24th, 2015
Blue and Green: The latest update from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals that over 22,000 species around the world are now threatened with extinction, from the Lion to the New Zealand Sea Lion, one of the rarest sea lions in the world.
The Red List now contains 77,340 assessed species, of which 22,784 are threatened with extinction. The list highlights that over-collection and habitat destruction are placing enormous pressures on animal and plant species.
The update comes shortly after a study...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ICUN Red List: over 22,000 species threatened extinction11 arrested as TMT crews fail get to Mauna Kea summit
Posted by KITV: None Given on June 24th, 2015
KITV: Construction crews for the Thirty Meter Telescope advanced roughly 300 yards up Mauna Kea before they were met by protesters Wednesday morning.
The TMT crews were crossing onto a portion of the road managed by the state. That's where Department of Land and Natural Resources officers were waiting to take over the escort.
There were hundreds more protesters lining the mountain in front of them and multiple people were arrested.
In total, 11 people were arrested, according to West Hawaii Today....
Protecting Mauna Kea: This Is a War
Posted by SD Free Press: None Given on June 24th, 2015
SD Free Press: Sitting outside the 10 by 20 foot makeshift tent that has served as my home for the last 34 days on Mauna Kea, I watch the tent poles shudder to the concussion of US Army howitzer cannons firing live shells at their training grounds below. When the wind blows just right, from the south, the rattle of automatic rifle fire reaches the occupation. There’s no denying it: A war rages in Hawai’i. It’s a war on native peoples, a war on women, a war on the land, a war on life itself. The war did not start...
Giant telescope construction set to resume on Hawaii mountain, but battle continues
Posted by Associated Press: Jennifer Sinco Kelleher on June 24th, 2015
Associated Press: A battle is poised to unfold on a Hawaii mountain where one of the world's largest telescopes is set to be built.
As work resumes Wednesday on the Thirty Meter Telescope atop the Big Island's Mauna Kea, protesters will try to peacefully stop the construction because they say it tramples on land that is sacred to Native Hawaiians.
"We're bracing ourselves mentally, spiritually for the battle ahead," said Kahookahi Kanuha, one of the protesters camped out near the visitor centre at a 9,200-foot...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Giant telescope construction set to resume on Hawaii mountain, but battle continuesProtesters gather before Thirty Meter Telescope construction resumes on Mauna Kea
Posted by KHON: None Given on June 24th, 2015
KHON: Dozens of people are sleeping on Mauna Kea Tuesday night. Many are calling themselves the protectors of the mountain, and dozens more are expected by Wednesday morning.
That`s when TMT partners says it will resume construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
By sunset, about 50 people gathered at Mauna Kea`s Hale Pohaku or the visitor center area in the last two days.
Many had built ahu`s or altars at the summit, at the site of the Thirty Meter Telescope project.
It`s all to honor a place...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Protesters gather before Thirty Meter Telescope construction resumes on Mauna Kea