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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
Shallow fracking wells contaminate drinking water, warns US scientist
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on February 15th, 2016
Climate Home: A kitchen tap catching fire in 2010 documentary Gasland highlighted the risks of the US shale boom, and energised a movement of anti-fracking activists.
Amid the controversy, does living near a gas or oil well really affect your drinking water?
"The answer to that question is usually 'no,` but there are exceptions," said Rob Jackson as the Stanford professor presented his research on groundwater quality on Sunday to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The US pumped out...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Shallow fracking wells contaminate drinking water, warns US scientistFootprints of primitive reptiles and amphibians from 280 million years ago
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The ichnites or fossilised footprints of the Manyanet Valley (within the municipality of Sarroca de Bellera) are in two areas that differ in their environments: meandering fluvial systems in one and unconfined waters in the other. These two palaeoenvironments would have been inhabited by groups of different tetrapods during the Permian Period. The early tetrapods (from the Ancient Greek word meaning "four-footed") were the first vertebrates to tread terra firma, developing lungs to capture atmospheric...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Footprints of primitive reptiles and amphibians from 280 million years agoPennsylvania Dems squabble over fracking – and guess who’s for it?
Posted by ClimateWire: Jennifer Yachnin on February 15th, 2016
ClimateWire: In the battle for Pennsylvania's competitive Senate seat this fall, candidates have spent recent weeks squabbling about the future of hydraulic fracturing in the state as well as taking aim at each other over campaign contributions tied to the energy industry.
But this isn't a fight between Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and his challenger; it's just the Democratic primary taking shape.
A trio of Democrats are vying in an April 26 primary for the right to take on Toomey in the Keystone State: former...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pennsylvania Dems squabble over fracking – and guess who’s for it?Is urban farming only for rich hipsters?
Posted by Guardian: Gina Lovett on February 15th, 2016
Guardian: Spending on ethical food and drink products – including organic, Fairtrade, free range and freedom foods – hit £8.4bn in the UK in 2013, making up 8.5% of all household food sales.
By leveraging environmental credentials, such as local, sustainable and transparent production, a new wave of urban agriculture enterprises are justifying a premium price. But while a higher price point might better reflect the true cost of food production and help build a viable business, it can also exclude lower...
Want to fight climate change? Eat more beans
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Mahmoud Solh on February 14th, 2016
Christian Science Monitor: Climate change may seem to many of us a challenge too daunting to tackle directly through our own actions. But there is one small change each of us can do to play our part – shifting our diets to be healthier and more environmentally sustainable.
The type of food we choose to eat makes up a big part of our personal carbon footprint. The meat and dairy that make up 22 percent of developed world diets are responsible for emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly methane and nitrous...
Flint isn’t alone: America has a coast-to-coast toxic crisis
Posted by Grist: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz on February 14th, 2016
Grist: “I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids’ health could be at risk,” said President Obama on a recent trip to Michigan. “Up there” was Flint, a rusting industrial city in the grip of a “water crisis” brought on by a government austerity scheme. To save a couple of million dollars, that city switched its source of water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a long-time industrial dumping ground for the toxic industries that had once made their home along its banks. Now,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint isn’t alone: America has a coast-to-coast toxic crisisThe eco guide to eating meat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2016
Guardian: Instead of the steaks and pork chops in our fridges, should we be investing in clean, green protein? Well, yes. Methane from livestock is responsible for 14% of global warming, and the gas is 25 times more potent than CO2. The more meat and dairy you eat from ruminants, particularly cows, the more burping and farting you are responsible for. The 2014 documentary Cowspiracy focuses on the idea that this is the great neglected greenhouse gas source.
By 2050, experts predict, the demand for meat...
New methane rule has support in northern New Mexico
Posted by Durango Herald: Edward Graham on February 13th, 2016
Durango Herald: A proposed rule from the U.S. Department of the Interior to reduce the venting, leaking and flaring of methane and other natural gases from oil and gas drilling operations on public lands has strong support among New Mexico leaders
In a news call on Thursday, local leaders and residents of northern New Mexico voiced their support for the new rule, which was developed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.
Kent Salazar, a lifelong resident of New Mexico and the western vice...
TMT would relocate if permit not secured soon
Posted by Tribune Herald: TOM CALLIS on February 13th, 2016
Tribune Herald: The TMT International Observatory’s decision to consider locations other than Mauna Kea for its next-generation telescope didn’t come as much of a surprise to supporters of the project, given the hurdles it still faces.
But the announcement is nonetheless increasing anxiety that Hawaii Island could lose out on the jobs and funding for education that comes with the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope.
“I think we put it in a precarious situation,” said Bill Walter, Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce...
Climate change is awfully hard on native plants
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2016
Climate Central: Willis Linn Jepson encountered a squat shrub while he was collecting botanical specimens on California’s Mount Tamalpais in the fall of 1936. He trimmed off a few branches and jotted down the location along the ridge trail where the manzanita grew, 2,255 feet above sea level.
The desiccated specimen is now part of an herbarium here that’s named for the famed botanist. It was among hundreds of thousands of specimens of thousands of different species that were used recently to track the movement...