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Archive for March 4th, 2016
Mud shortage eroding California’s climate defenses
Posted by Climate Central: John Upton on March 4th, 2016
Climate Central: As the birdwatchers of Arrowhead Marsh strain through binoculars for glimpses of California clapper rails, they could easily miss the warning signs of an obscure threat to the species' survival.
Grassy banks at the heart of the marsh are sloughing at the edges. With a spike in sea levels looming, chunks of mud are already dissolving into the tidal waterway, shrinking one of the few remaining homes of a species that once nested throughout the marshes that ringed San Francisco Bay's sweeping watershed....
Pursuit of clean energy will restrict water availability
Posted by Bangalore Mirror: Nirad Mudur on March 4th, 2016
Bangalore Mirror: At a time when a major push is being given to nuclear and solar energy as clean energy initiatives in India and across the world, a new study has posed a major roadblock in the efforts to develop clean energy for the future, even threatening to adversely affect agriculture in the future.
The research conducted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)-led 2012 Global Energy Assessment, has found - and warned - that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Pursuit of clean energy will restrict water availabilityUS top court denies bid to block mercury air pollution rule
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 4th, 2016
Reuters: The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Obama administration on Thursday in rebuffing a bid by 20 states to halt an Environmental Protection Agency rule to curb emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants.
The action came about a month after the high court put on hold federal regulations to curb carbon dioxide emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's strategy to combat climate change.
Chief Justice John Roberts denied a petition...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US top court denies bid to block mercury air pollution ruleStraight talking calms rural water conflicts in Tanzania
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 4th, 2016
Reuters: Daudi Nangole sits under a huge baobab tree, watching his herd of cattle drink from a dam in Ikolongo village - a place that until recently was a no-go area for pastoralists. The 56-year-old herder, his family and their 73 cattle, sheep and goats traveled several kilometers to reach the reservoir. “I was very afraid to come here before because angry farmers were killing our animals,” Nangole said, as dry leaves swirled around him. “But now cattle can roam freely.” Ikolongo is one of several villages...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Straight talking calms rural water conflicts in TanzaniaFBI Evaluating Criminal Investigation of ExxonMobil
Posted by Democracy Now: None Given on March 4th, 2016
Democracy Now: The Justice Department has asked the FBI to evaluate whether oil giant ExxonMobil broke federal laws by lying to investors and the public about climate change. The move comes in response to a request from California Congressmembers Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier. They are seeking a federal investigation of Exxon following exposés by InsideClimate News and the Los Angeles Times revealing Exxon knew that fossil fuels cause global warming as early as the 1970s but hid that information from the public...
Goldman Prize Winner Murdered in Honduras
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on March 4th, 2016
Environment News Service: A indigenous Lenca woman who was honored with a 2015 Goldman Prize last year for her fight against a destructive dam, was killed by gunmen last night in her home in La Esperanza, Honduras. Berta Cáceres won a $175,000 Goldman Environmental Prize for her work to defend the Gualcarque River, its environment and people from the Agua Zarca Dam. If built, the dam would cut off the supply of water, food and medicine for hundreds of Lenca people and violate their right to sustainably manage and live off...
Climate change could cause an extra 500000 deaths in 2050
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 4th, 2016
Reuters: Climate change could cause significant changes to global diets, leading to more than half a million extra deaths in 2050 from illnesses such as stroke, cancer, and heart disease, experts said on Wednesday.
As extreme weather such as floods and heat waves wreaks havoc with harvests and crop yields, estimated increases in food availability could be cut by a third by 2050, according to the experts' study published in The Lancet medical journal.
This would lead to a reduction of 99 calories available...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change could cause an extra 500000 deaths in 2050Berta Cáceres the most recent environmental activist to be killed trying to protect her home
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 4th, 2016
Grist: In the middle of last night, Berta Cáceres, leader of the indigenous environmental activist group National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) and winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, was assassinated in her home.
Perhaps that sentence does not mean much to you on its own - after all it`s just a sentence, about a woman you`ve never met, in a country you`ve likely never been to, fighting for something you understand in theory but do not relate to. Berta...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Berta Cáceres the most recent environmental activist to be killed trying to protect her home