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Archive for November 28th, 2015
Central Valley is sinking: drought forces farmers to ponder abyss
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
Guardian: On a day when the skies were ashen from the smoke of distant wildfires, Chase Hurley kept his eyes trained on the slower-moving disaster at ground level: collapsing levees, buckling irrigation canals, water rising up over bridges and sloshing over roads.
This is the hidden disaster of California’s drought. So much water has been pumped out of the ground that vast areas of the Central Valley are sinking, destroying millions of dollars in infrastructure in the gradual collapse.
Four years of...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Central Valley is sinking: drought forces farmers to ponder abyssRacing Extinction: “Half of all species will be gone in 100 years”
Posted by Telegraph: India Sturgis on November 28th, 2015
Telegraph: Thirty years ago, Louie Psihoyos watched in horror as two young children were killed a few steps in front of him. On a blue-sky day near a market in Perkiomen, Pennsylvania, he noticed a family walking hand-in-hand beside the road ahead of him.
A large van swept past and he saw that one of its giant wing mirrors was going to hit one of the children as it headed towards them. Psihoyos shouted, but it was too little too late. Both children were dragged beneath the van’s wheels and crushed.
“They...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Racing Extinction: “Half of all species will be gone in 100 years”California may be a leader on climate change, but it still has plenty of work to do
Posted by Grist: Kate Galbraith on November 28th, 2015
Grist: When Gov. Jerry Brown arrives in Paris next week for a major international conference on climate change, he will showcase one of the world’s most sweeping programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
California has perhaps the most comprehensive cap-and-trade program in the world, setting a limit and a price for pollution from factories, utilities, and transportation fuels. The state’s 2030 goals of getting half of its electricity from renewable sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California may be a leader on climate change, but it still has plenty of work to doFlorida counties fight fracking push
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
Associated Press: Dozens of Florida cities and counties oppose a plan to give the state control over the oil and gas exploration process known as fracking. The Tallahassee Democrat (http://on.tdo.com/1Hv8W9C ) reported on Saturday that 20 counties and nearly 40 cities in Florida have passed regulations banning fracking. The cities and counties represent about 8 million people or 43 percent of the state's population. Two Republican legislators, Rep. Ray Rodrigues of Estero and Sen. Garrett Richter of Naples, have...
African Countries Feeling Exposed Extreme Weather Changes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
Inter Press Service: Extreme weather conditions, an impact of climate change faced by African countries despite contributing the least global emissions, is attracting the attention of many as the clock ticks towards the start of the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21).
Severe weather events are causing significant loss of life and livelihoods among communities in Africa. The situation is a major challenge to African governments given that the probability of occurrence of events is continuously...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on African Countries Feeling Exposed Extreme Weather ChangesEating less meat isn’t just good for you, it could save the planet
Posted by Guardian: Adam Briggs on November 28th, 2015
Guardian: National dietary guidelines are being reviewed on both sides of the Atlantic in the light of new evidence on food and health. The timing of the announcements presents a unique opportunity to also consider the impact of diet on climate change, coinciding, as they do, with the climate change summit in Paris.
Food and climate change are inextricably linked: global warming and changes in rainfall have a major impact on our food security, and our diets are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Eating less meat isn’t just good for you, it could save the planetBrazil to sue mining companies BHP & Vale for $5bn over dam disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 28th, 2015
Guardian: Brazil’s government has announced it will sue mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale for $US5.2bn after the deadly collapse of a dam at an iron ore mine sent 60 million cubic meters of mud and mine waste cascading into the Atlantic ocean and left more than 13 people dead.
Environment minister Izabella Teixeira said a lawsuit would be filed demanding that the companies and the mine operator Samarco, which they co-own, create a fund of 20 billion reais to pay for environmental recovery and compensation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil to sue mining companies BHP & Vale for $5bn over dam disasterGrassroots leader’s murder in Peru signal to opponents of mining, son says
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on November 28th, 2015
Mongabay: The son of the president of a reforestation association who was murdered on November 19 vowed to continue his father’s work in Peru’s southern Amazonian forest.
Alfredo Vracko had settled on the land in the Amazonian lowlands, not far from the Madre de Dios River, in 1975.
Vracko’s property is across the Interoceanic Highway from the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve, in an area known as La Pampa, which has been a hot spot for illegal mining for nearly a decade.
The son of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Grassroots leader’s murder in Peru signal to opponents of mining, son says