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Archive for September, 2015
Australia: Federal environmental oversight costs ‘vastly overstated’, analysis finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2015
Guardian: The Coalition’s bid to speed up environmental approvals for developments such as mines and ports will not save businesses as much money as claimed and will weaken protection for vulnerable species and ecosystems, according to a new report.
The analysis, by WWF-Australia and the Australia Institute, comes as the federal government presses ahead with plans to devolve environmental oversight of projects to the states, despite the move being blocked in the Senate last year.
The House of Representatives...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Federal environmental oversight costs ‘vastly overstated’, analysis findsNorthern California wildfire destroys hundreds of structures
Posted by Reuters: Noah Berger on September 14th, 2015
Reuters: A wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of residents to flee as it roared unchecked through the northern California village of Middletown and several nearby communities, fire officials said on Sunday. The so-called Valley Fire, now ranked as the most destructive among scores of blazes that have ravaged the drought-stricken U.S. west this summer, came amid what California fire officials described as "unheard of fire behavior" this season. A separate fire raging since Wednesday...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Northern California wildfire destroys hundreds of structuresClimate change and mass migration
Posted by Irish Times: None Given on September 14th, 2015
Irish Times: Sir, – As the world watches, debates and, hopefully, responds to the refugee crisis unfolding in the Mediterranean, it may be worthwhile reflecting that this current wave of migration is simply a taste of things likely to come within the next few decades. Over 50 per cent of humanity now lives within a few kilometres of the sea, and most of the world’s major cities are on the coast and already liable to flooding. It is now overwhelmingly accepted that, as global climate change continues, many coastal...
Canada: B.C. needs think globally on climate change, group warns
Posted by Globe and Mail: Mark Hume on September 13th, 2015
Globe and Mail: In the grips of a record drought, with our forests burning and our salmon rivers running as warm as tap water, British Columbians are acutely aware that climate change is a big problem.
It could be argued the province is doing more than most about it, having implemented a carbon tax as early as 2008, and with Premier Christy Clark last spring appointing a climate leadership team to provide advice on "how to maintain B.C.'s climate leadership."
But a new paper by the Environmental Law Centre...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: B.C. needs think globally on climate change, group warnsIn the tropics, warmest August in the satellite temperature record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Driven by a growing El Niño Pacific Ocean warming event, temperatures around the globe continued to rise through August, setting a new August record in the tropics for the satellite record, said Dr. John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Temperatures in the tropics averaged 0.52 C (about 0.94° F) warmer than seasonal norms in August, surpassing the previous record of +0.46 C set in August 1998. Globally it was the third warmest August...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In the tropics, warmest August in the satellite temperature recordMaking pharmaceuticals that degrade before they can contaminate drinking water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2015
ScienceDaily: In recent years, researchers have realized that many products, including pharmaceuticals, have ended up where they're not supposed to be -- in our drinking water. But now scientists have developed a way to make drugs that break down into harmless compounds before they contaminate our taps. Their report appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology. A wide range of active ingredients originating from pesticides, shampoos, lotions, cosmetics, disinfectants and drugs get washed into sewage...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Making pharmaceuticals that degrade before they can contaminate drinking waterClimate Change Morphs Ecosystems In ‘Blink’ Of Geologic Time
Posted by St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Paul Ebeling on September 13th, 2015
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: As atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels continue to rise, enormous tree-planting campaigns are often touted among ways humans can try and limit climate change. In Africa, where some regions have been seen as ideal for this type of project, Guy Midgley has a message: “Hang on.” The botany and zoology professor at Stellenbosch University in South Africa explained that trees are already moving into African grasslands. Higher levels of carbon dioxide are beginning to change those ecosystems into...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change Morphs Ecosystems In ‘Blink’ Of Geologic TimeClimate research: Where is the world’s permafrost thawing?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2015
ScienceDaily: This Saturday at a conference in Quebec, Canada an international research team will present the first online data portal on global permafrost. In the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost (http://gtnp.arcticportal.org/) researchers first collect all the existing permafrost temperature and active thickness layer data from Arctic, Antarctic and mountain permafrost regions and then make it freely available for download. This new portal can serve as an early warning system for researchers and decision-makers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate research: Where is the world’s permafrost thawing?How to survive the end of the world
Posted by News.com.au: None Given on September 13th, 2015
News.com.au: TSUNAMIS, cyclones, raging fires and epidemics. We keep hearing about all the ways the world could implode at any second.
But most of us haven`t even thought about preparing for the worst.
With natural disasters an inevitability, environmental experts say being ready isn`t just for the paranoid.
Melbourne authors Jane Rawson and James Whitmore have co-written The Handbook, a practical guide for surviving the apocalypse, or something close. They say we need to think seriously about these...
Sierra wildfire destroys homes, threatens 6,400 California residences
Posted by Reuters: Alex Dobuzinskis on September 13th, 2015
Reuters: Four firefighters were injured on Saturday in a fast-moving wildfire in Northern California that forced the evacuation of thousands of people, officials said. The firefighters suffered second-degree burns as they battled the so-called Valley Fire, in Lake County, north of San Francisco, said Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant. The Valley Fire broke out on Saturday afternoon and quickly spread to 10,000 acres (4,047 hectares), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sierra wildfire destroys homes, threatens 6,400 California residences