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Archive for February, 2016
Queensland gives Adani environmental permit Carmichael coalmine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2016
Guardian: Adani has secured an environmental permit from the Queensland government to build Australia’s largest coal mine.
The Indian conglomerate was issued an environmental authority for its Carmichael mine, west of Bowen in north Queensland, by the department of environment and heritage on Tuesday.
It is one less hurdle for Adani’s highly contested plans, after its Australian chief complained last week that delays in government approvals were “incentivising” green activists to plot further legal challenges...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Queensland gives Adani environmental permit Carmichael coalmineImperiled Amazon freshwater ecosystems urgently need basin-wide study, management
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on February 1st, 2016
Mongabay: The Amazon’s freshwater ecosystems are at risk because current policy and existing protected areas fail to protect the connectivity of the water cycle, scientists warn. The new study, published in Global Change Biology, examines the factors degrading the Amazon basin’s hydrological connectivity: the movement of water — and with it the life-giving matter, nutrients and organisms it carries — between the vast system’s headwaters and the Atlantic Ocean, between the rivers and the forest, and the earth...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Imperiled Amazon freshwater ecosystems urgently need basin-wide study, managementFlint water crisis could squeeze Michigan’s finances: S&P
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
Reuters: Costs related to the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, could pressure the state's finances and derail recent efforts to build budget reserves, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Monday.
"At the state level, political costs for Michigan have been greater than financial costs at this point. However, we could see financial pressures on the state deepen as answers to the financing of infrastructure replacement and social services, coupled with potential legal settlements, unfold,"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint water crisis could squeeze Michigan’s finances: S&PClimate change the chief culprit for stormy winter weather
Posted by Irish Times: Dick Ahlstrom on February 1st, 2016
Irish Times: If the weather this winter seems stormier than usual, that is because it is.
It is every bit as bad as the storm-ridden winter of 2013-14, according to climate data from Met Éireann.
And climate change can now be blamed for the stormy conditions we have had to endure, at least during 2013-14. New research out of Oxford shows the extreme rainfalls that flooded the UK during that winter were associated with global warming.
Storm Henry, which cleared our shores this morning, counts as the eighth...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change the chief culprit for stormy winter weatherTasmania bushfires leave World Heritage Area devastated in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
Guardian: Pictures from Tasmania’s central plateau, shot by wilderness photographer Dan Broun, show the extraordinary damage wrought by more than a week of bushfires following lightning strikes in Australia’s southernmost state on 13 January. The world heritage area was home to a range of unique alpine flora including pencil pines, king billy pines and cushion plants, some more than 1,000 years old. Now more than 10,000ha of land has been incinerated, and ecologist say that, unlike eucalyptus trees, the ancient...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tasmania bushfires leave World Heritage Area devastated in picturesFlint Begins The Long Process Of Fixing Its Water Problem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
National Public Radio: In Flint, Mich., families are using bottled water to do everything - from cooking to bathing.
The tap water is still unsafe to drink after government officials allowed corroded lead pipes to poison the water.
People in Flint have lots of questions for those officials. Perhaps the biggest is the one Hattie Collins has.
"When are you gonna fix it? And I mean fix it right," she says.
On a recent day, Collins is distributing bottled water at Triumph Church in Flint. A massive 18-wheeler is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint Begins The Long Process Of Fixing Its Water ProblemWhen Will Australia’s GHG Emissions Peak?
Posted by Age: Tom Arup on February 1st, 2016
Age: Australia's national greenhouse gas emissions are set to keep rising well beyond 2020 on current trends, with the projected growth rate one of the worst in the developed world, a new analysis has found. An assessment of recent government emissions data, carried out by the carbon consultancy firm RepuTex, says that in the 2014-15 financial year Australia's carbon pollution rose for the first time in almost a decade when compared to the previous year. From there they say separate government forecasts,...
Kenya: Climate change is drying up one of the world’s largest lakes
Posted by Mashable: Emily Johnson on February 1st, 2016
Mashable: The two men have been working their way through the nets for more than 30 minutes before they catch a fish.
Ekaale Ewoi pauses in the bow of the boat, silhouetted against the pink morning sky. He glances back at Ekai Longolan, who gently disentangles the small prize. It thuds to the floor of the boat at my feet and thrashes around. Without a word they resume their rhythmic motion, going hand over hand for thirty minutes more, until they reach the bobbing jerry can that means they’ve come to the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kenya: Climate change is drying up one of the world’s largest lakes