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Archive for December 23rd, 2015
How will Midwest farmers prepare for the impact of climate change?
Posted by Grist: Kate Yoder on December 23rd, 2015
Grist: You can bet the farm that climate change is happening — and that it will change the way we approach agriculture. For example, here’s the climate science forecast for Illinois 20 to 40 years from now: temperatures akin to today’s mid-South and rainfall patterns comparable to present-day East Texas. That may sound OK to you right now — all bundled up in blankets in the middle of winter — but you might feel differently when the summers start getting toastier. And according to a study recently published...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on How will Midwest farmers prepare for the impact of climate change?Congress agrees on microbeads ban. Wait, what?
Posted by Grist: Suzanne Jacobs on December 23rd, 2015
Grist: Here`s how environmental news stories usually play out: Corporations do something bad to the environment, and people say, "Hey, stop that!" But they don`t stop because they are making boatloads of money doing it, so people go to the government and say, "Hey, can you make them stop that?" But the government doesn`t do anything because it`s in the pocket of some big company. Or maybe it does do something, but it takes forever because it`s so busy arguing with itself, ignoring crumbling infrastructure,...
Puerto Rico, U.S. settle storm water issues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2015
Reuters: Puerto Rico will spend $77 million to upgrade its water infrastructure in a settlement with the federal government, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday. Three of the U.S. territorial island's agencies reached the settlement affecting storm water systems in San Juan that are currently releasing, daily, an estimated 6 million gallons of untreated sewage into waterways in and around San Juan in violation of the Clean Water Act. "These structural and operational improvements to the...
EU doubles aid to drought-hit Papua New Guinea to tackle food, water shortages
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2015
Reuters: An El Niño-related drought and frost have triggered severe food and water shortages in Papua New Guinea's highlands, prompting the European Commission to more than double its assistance to the Pacific island nation. The warming of the Pacific Ocean due to the El Nino weather system is causing drought and other extreme weather, affecting millions of people across parts of the world. Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in August said El Niño may bring on the worst drought in 20 years in Papua New Guinea,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EU doubles aid to drought-hit Papua New Guinea to tackle food, water shortagesSouthern Africa faces food shortages as El Nino drought worsens: FAO
Posted by Reuters: Ed Stoddard on December 23rd, 2015
Reuters: Southern Africa faces food shortages as drought, exacerbated by the El Nino weather pattern, delays planting and stunts crops across the region, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said in an alert. "The presence of a strong El Nino episode in 2015/16 raises serious concerns regarding the impact on food insecurity," the FAO said in the alert, issued late on Tuesday. Regional harvests last season were also badly affected by drought conditions, raising the specter of back-to-back...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Southern Africa faces food shortages as El Nino drought worsens: FAOFracking foes unveil 11 proposed ballot initiatives including ban
Posted by Denver Post: Joey Bunch on December 23rd, 2015
Denver Post: A Boulder County-based citizens group opposed to fracking filed a package of ballot initiatives Tuesday that would circumvent a compromise sought by Gov. John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Jared Polis of Boulder.
Coloradans Resisting Extreme Energy Development submitted paperwork for 11 potential ballot questions to provide mandatory setbacks for wells from homes and schools, more local control on drilling decisions or an outright ban on the process of hydraulic fracturing.
Eight of the 11 are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking foes unveil 11 proposed ballot initiatives including banUK gives Ethiopia £30m to fight drought similar in scale 1984 crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2015
Guardian: The UK will provide an extra £30m in aid for Ethiopia, where a prolonged drought means that more than 18 million people will need urgent relief in the next year, according to the Department for International Development (DfID).
Half of the cash is earmarked for the UN’S World Food Programme to supply emergency food supplies to around 1.9 million people, while £14m will go to a pooled fund that can be accessed by UN agencies and NGOs providing emergency water and healthcare.
The funding was...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UK gives Ethiopia £30m to fight drought similar in scale 1984 crisis