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Archive for December, 2015
Paris climate agreement latest sign of trouble for Canada’s oil patch
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on December 21st, 2015
Toronto Star: When solar entrepreneur Jeremy Leggett bumped into Suncor Energy boss Steve Williams at the World Economic Forum in 2014, odds were high that tempers would flare.
The two men were among about 40 dinner guests – a mix of CEOs, pension fund managers, economists and government leaders. They had gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to talk about “short-termism” in the financial and corporate worlds and how it undermines efforts to tackle climate change.
At one point during the dinner, Leggett recalls...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Paris climate agreement latest sign of trouble for Canada’s oil patchCosta Rica at 99 percent renewable: Are others on the same path?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2015
Christian Science Monitor: This year, nearly all of Costa Rica’s electricity came from renewable sources, according to the state electricity agency. The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) said in a statement Friday that it achieved "99 percent renewable electricity generation" so far this year, AFP reports. Early this year, the Costa Rican government announced that the country had been running fully on renewable energy for the first 75 days of 2015. At the time, it set a target to run 97.1 percent on geothermal, wind,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Costa Rica at 99 percent renewable: Are others on the same path?Homeless in Los Angeles brace for El Nino rainstorms
Posted by Reuters: Lucy Nicholson on December 21st, 2015
Reuters: As Los Angeles grapples with a huge homelessness problem, El Nino weather patterns are likely to bring torrential downpours in coming months and add to the misery of the thousands of people who sleep on the city's streets.
"It is a crisis in LA, and I don't think people realize the magnitude of it," said John Kump, an outreach program manager at the charity People Assisting the Homeless (PATH).
Los Angeles' homeless population is estimated at about 44,000, with many of them concentrated in...
The Parched West: California Wants to Store Water for Farmers, but Struggles Over How to Do It
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2015
New York Times: Californians suffering through the fourth year of a punishing drought have a new worry. With fierce storms predicted for the winter, they are bracing for floods by stockpiling sandbags and rushing to buy insurance.
Yet those who need water the most, farmers, are in a poor position to take advantage of any deluge. If El Niño floods pour into the Central Valley, the farmers will inevitably watch millions of gallons of water flow to the sea.
This state, forward-looking on other environmental issues,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Parched West: California Wants to Store Water for Farmers, but Struggles Over How to Do ItWorld’s Lakes At Risk Of Continued Algal Blooms Triggered By Warm Waters
Posted by Nature World: Samantha Mathewson on December 21st, 2015
Nature World: The Earth's lakes may take a devastating hit from climate change, researchers report in a new study. Rapidly warming waters in freshwater bodies, including several Great Lakes and many reservoirs, trigger harmful algae blooms that ultimately threaten freshwater supplies for local ecosystems.
A team of researchers led by Catherine O'Reilly from Illinois State University analyzed satellite temperature data and long-term ground measurements taken from a total of 235 lakes, which store half of our...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World’s Lakes At Risk Of Continued Algal Blooms Triggered By Warm WatersFish populations at world’s second largest freshwater lake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2015
ScienceDaily: A University of Wyoming researcher is studying fish populations -- and their relationship with local fishing communities -- in Africa's largest lake. Catherine Wagner, a UW assistant professor in the Department of Botany and the UW Biodiversity Institute, is studying interactions between the biodiversity of East Africa's Lake Tanganyika and the human communities that live around the lake. The work is conducted with the support of The Nature Conservancy and with collaborator Peter McIntyre, an assistant...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fish populations at world’s second largest freshwater lakeBrazil Vale says will appeal ruling block assets for dam burst
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2015
Reuters: Brazil's Vale SA said on Sunday it will appeal a court decision to freeze some of it and BHP Billiton's Brazilian assets, saying the ruling, which declared the two mining companies responsible for a dam burst last month, was "inappropriate."
Vale said it had still not been officially notified of the decision, which was issued late Friday, but understood the ruling banned it from extracting iron ore. It did not, the company said in a statement, prohibit it from performing other activities such...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil Vale says will appeal ruling block assets for dam burstMost polluted US nuclear weapons building site plans influx of tourists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Associated Press: Thousands of people are expected next year to tour the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, home of the world’s first full-sized nuclear reactor and the most polluted US nuclear weapons production site.
Hanford, near Richland, about 200 miles east of Seattle in south-central Washington state, is the newest national park.
Visitors will not, however, be allowed anywhere near the country’s largest collection of toxic radioactive waste.
“Everything is clean and perfectly safe,” said Colleen French,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Most polluted US nuclear weapons building site plans influx of touristsForest fires sweep northern Spain despite winter rain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Reuters: Dozens of forest fires raged across northern Spain on Sunday after strong winds hindered efforts to keep them from spreading, forcing some homes to be evacuated in the worst-affected Asturias region.
More than 100 fires were still burning on Sunday morning in Asturias alone despite rain overnight in some areas, emergency services said.
Television pictures showed several rural houses destroyed by fire but officials said there had been no reports of casualties or damage to villages or towns....
A million years ago, Greenland was ice free
Posted by Environmental News Network: Carolyn Gramling, Science/AAAS on December 20th, 2015
Environmental News Network: As the Arctic warms, Greenland’s fringe of glaciers is thinning and melting—but the future of the Greenland ice sheet remains a giant question mark. Until recently, that was also true of the ice sheet’s past: Scientists have long debated whether it might have shrunk away to nothing during Earth’s warmest periods. Now, a new study suggests that Greenland was entirely ice free at some point in the last 1.25 million years. “We should be worried about the Greenland Ice Sheet,” says Joerg Schaefer, a...