One Planet, One Environment, One Humanity. Human-Caused Climate Change Should Be A Wake-up Call to Us All. We need a healthy, balanced natural world for the survival of all species. To the degree our planet is sick and out of balance so are we. We must return to our deep interconnection with Nature for our own health and survival to nutture and revive the harm we humans have wrought. Nature First.
▶ MIGHTY RIO GRANDE NOW A TRICKLE UNDER SEIGE. Drought’s grip on California grabs all the headlines. But from Texas to Arizona to Colorado, the entire West is under siege by changing weather patterns that have shrunk snowpacks, raised temperatures, spurred evaporation and reduced reservoirs to record lows. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/13/us/mighty-rio-grande-now-a-trickle-under-siege.html?_r=0
WATCH PBS Newshour, August 01, 2014 WHO OWNS THE WATER?
DRILLING FINITE WATER UNDERGROUND TO QUENCH CALIFORNIA'S THIRST: COMPETING CONCERNS. California is facing its worst drought in generations -- bad news for the state where nearly half of the nation's fruits and vegetables are grown. With water from rivers and reservoirs in short supply, attention has turned to how to manage the state's groundwater. How much can be safely pumped from underground?http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/drilling-to-quench-californias-water-needs-raises-debate/
THE POWER OF WATER RIGHTS HuffPost Green, May 26, 2014 ▶ CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: "SENIOR RIGHTS HOLDERS" DOMINATED BY CORPORATIONS AND AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS ARE NOT OBLIGED TO CONSERVE WATER. Nobody knows how much water they actually use, though it amounts to trillions of gallons each year, according to a review of their own reports by The Associated Press. Together, they hold more than half the rights to rivers and streams in California...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/27/california-drought_n_5395501.html
-▶ CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: CENTRAL VALLEY FARMLAND ON ITS LAST LEGS.Only sensible solution is to retire hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland. Decades of irrigation have leached salts and toxic minerals from the soil that have nowhere to go, threatening crops and wildlife. Aquifers are being drained at an alarming pace. More than 95 percent of the area's native habitat has been destroyed by cultivation or urban expansion, leaving more endangered bird, mammal and other species in the southern San Joaquin than anywhere in the continental U.S. http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Central-Valley-farmland-on-5342892.php
ABC News, February 03, 2014 ▶CALIFORNIA DROUGHT: WHAT CROPS WILL BE HIT FIRST AND HARDEST? SACRAMENTO - AS California farmers begin scaling back on planting crops due to a lack of water, you may be already paying higher prices for vegetables such as broccoli and lettuce at the supermarkethttp://www.news10.net/story/news/2014/02/03/drought-impact-on-crops/5192631/
L.A. Times, April 20, 2015 ▶ DRY, WARM CONDITIONS KEEP CALIFORNIA'S NATIONAL FORESTS PARCHED, With the state’s snowpack at only 5%, water resources in the 18 national forests in California are low and trees are water-starved, said climatologist William Patzert of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-dry-conditions-national-forests-20150420-story.html
The Guardian, March 17, 2014 ▶ TOXIC TRAIL: HOW A LANDMARK SUPERFUND CLEANUP PROGRAM LEAVES ITS OWN TOXIC LEGACY. Below some of the world’s most expensive real estate, in the heart of Silicon Valley, pipes and pumps suck thousands of gallons of contaminated water every hour from vast underground toxic pools.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2014/mar/-sp-toxic-waste-silicon-valley-trail
ClimateCentral, October 06, 2014 ▶CALIFORNIA DROUGHT IS SO BAD, EVEN ITS HYDROPOWER IS DRYING UP. Conditions are so dire that the California State Water Project, which provides supplemental water to 29 public water agencies, can only deliver 5 percent of the amount of water those agencies requested this year, he said. With less water filling the state’s reservoirs than usual, hydroelectric dams’ ability to produce electricity is drastically reduced.http://www.climatecentral.org/news/drought-dries-up-california-hydropower-18141
Santa Cruz Sentinel, December 07, 2014 ▶DROUGHT DRIES RURAL WELLS, RESIDENTS CARRY WATER IN BUCKETS. Only hours from Silicon Valley and Hollywood, in a state with the eighth-largest economy in the world, these desperate Californians are getting water in ways usually seen only in developing nations. They take water donated by charities or governments and store it in bottles, buckets, barrels and horse troughs. groundwater levels that have plummeted to all-time lows in many areas. In some communities in the San Joaquin Valley, groundwater has fallen more than 100 feet below previous record-setting levels.http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141207/drought-dries-rural-wells-residents-carry-water-in-buckets
REPORT WARNS OF DWINDLING WATER SUPPLY REACHING CRISIS POINT IN USA WESTERN STATEShttp://sco.lt/59iE3l
National Geographic, February 13, 2014
▶COULD CALIFORNIA'S MEGA DROUGHT LAST 200 YEARS? Two years into California's drought, Donald Galleano's grapevines are scorched shrubs, their charcoal-colored stems and gnarled roots displaying not a lick of life. "I've never seen anything like this," says Galleano, 61, the third-generation owner of a 300-acre vineyard in Mira Loma, California, that bears his name. "It's so dry ... There's been no measurable amount of rain."http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-california-drought-record-agriculture-pdo-climate/
Nightly Business Report, October 20, 2014 ▶‘DROUGHT' BEER: CALIFORNIA BREWERIES HIT DRY TIMES. This drought is the most severe on record, and there’s no end in sight. Agriculture operations and manufacturers across California are drilling deeper, paying more, and competing with each other, with wildlife and with residents for water. But in the brewing business, it’s not just the water going into the cans which is now at a premium. It’s the water used to clean tanks... http://nbr.com/2014/10/20/drought-beer-california-breweries-hit-dry-times/
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WILDLIFE
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▶ CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS EXTINCTION FOR 82 PERCENT OF CALIFORNIA NATIVE FISHhttp://sco.lt/57HMXJ
MintPress News, March 20, 2015 - ▶ NESTLE CONTINUES STEALING WORLD'S WATER DURING DROUGHT. Nestlé is draining California aquifers, from Sacramento alone taking 80 million gallons annually. Nestlé then sells the people's water back to them at great profit under many dozen brand names. http://www.mintpressnews.com/nestle-continues-stealing-worlds-water-during-drought/203544/
ALL NUCLEAR PROCESSING SHOULD BE HALTED UNTIL WE HAVE FOUND A WAY TO NEUTRALIZE THE RADIOACTIVE WASTE - FOR THE SAKE OF OUR ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH AND ALL LIFE ON PLANET EARTH
April 24, 2011 Guardian ▶ NUCLEAR WASTE: "KEEP OUT OUT FOR 100,000 YEARS " Few architects have to design anything to last more than 100 years, so how do you build a nuclear waste facility to last for millennia? And what sign do you put on the door? http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/24/nuclear-waste-storage
What happens to nature after a nuclear accident? And how does wildlife deal with the world it inherits after human inhabitants have fled? The historic nuclear accident at Chernobyl is now 25 years old. Filmmakers and scientists set out to document the lives of the packs of wolves and other wildlife thriving in the “dead zone” that still surrounds the remains of the reactor.... http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/radioactive-wolves/full-episode/7190/
The Raw Story, May 10, 2014 ▶ NEW MEXICO NUCLEAR WASTE SITE HALTS SHIPMENTS TO TEXAS.
New Mexico nuclear waste dump, which saw a radiation leak in February, has halted shipments of toxic waste barrels to a commercial Texas facility amid concerns that chemical reactions could trigger another release there, officials said on Friday. A probe found the February 14 accident may have been linked to improperly prepared and packaged drums of toxic waste accepted from the Los Alamos National Laboratory by the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), its managers said in a statement.... http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/10/new-mexico-nuclear-waste-site-halts-shipments-of-toxic-materials-to-texas/
June 22, 2013 NBC News ▶ USA FEDS: NUCLEAR WASTE MAY BE LEAKING INTO SOIL FROM HANFORD SITE The tanks are now beyond their intended life span. The Energy Department announced last year that AY-102 was leaking between its two walls, but it said then that no waste had escaped. Two radionuclides comprise much of the radioactivity in Hanford's tanks: cesium-137 and strontium-90. Both take hundreds of years to decay, and exposure to either would increase a person's risk of developing cancer http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/22/19088481-feds-nuclear-waste-may-be-leaking-into-soil-from-hanford-site?lite
▶ PROBLEM WITH A WEST TEXAS RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMP GET BURIED. The preferred method for getting rid of radioactive waste is to bury it deep underground and hope to never see it again. Texas’ approach to regulating radioactive waste is similar. Instead of a public airing, problems with a burgeoning West Texas nuclear dump often get buried.... http://www.texasobserver.org/problems-with-a-west-texas-radioactive-waste-dump-get-buried/
France24, January 06, 2015 ▶ AUSTRALIA BATTLES WORST WILDFIRES IN 30 YEARS. That has raised questions about whether the blaze is the result of climate change and a possible sign of worse to come.“Unless there are rapid, substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and globally, Australia will experience more heat waves and bush fires as in 2014,” David Karoly, a professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Melbourne, said in a statement.http://www.france24.com/en/20150106-australia-battles-worst-wildfires-30-years-adelaide/
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 04, 2015
▶ADELAIDE HILLS BUSHFIRES: HOW DISASTER STRUCK ON ADELAIDE'S DOORSTEP. Right at this moment, residents in the Adelaide Hills are being confronted by a fire which hasn't been seen in the hills since the 1983 bushfires of Ash Wednesday. At the moment, we have a fire which is extremely dangerous and it is burning under extremely adverse conditions ... Our fears have been realised today. We have a significant fire of a dangerous nature under very adverse weather conditions marching its way through the hills.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-05/quotes-and-pictures-from-adelaide-hills-bushfires/5999308
International Business Times, October 22, 2014 ▶AUSTRALIA BRACES FOR 'CATASTROPHIC CONDITIONS' AS 2014/2015 BUSHFIRE SEASON BEGINS. Experts said some areas of Australia have become "uninhabitable" due to the increased risk of fire and extreme weather conditions becoming a long-term trend. 2013 was the hottest year on record. Report predicts economic cost of fires will triple by 2050 and urges reduction in carbon emissionshttp://au.ibtimes.com/articles/570291/20141022/australia-bushfires-climate-change-extreme-weather.htm
▶ NASA Earth Observatory, February 10, 2014 CITY-SIZED FIRE BURNING IN AUSTRALIA.Melbourne, Australia, has a new rival in night-time views from space. The massive Snowy River Complex fire lights up the landscape over an area that nearly matches or possibly exceeds Melbourne in size. The fire in and around the remote Snowy River National Park is one of three high-priority bushfires that flared up in the state on February 9, 2014. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83117&eocn=home&eoci=iotd_title&;
The World Post, January 26, 2014
▶ AUSTRALIAN HONEY BEES UNABLE TO MAKE HONEY : THEIR HIVES ARE MELTING AS TEMPERATURES SOAR.
Australia's hottest spring on record has spawn droughts and intense heatwaves; it has been disastrous for honeybees as their hives are melting whilst temperatures soar.
Plants have responded to the stifling heatwaves this summer (2014) across the Australian continent by substantially lowering nectar production. Bees require nectar to make honey -- their only food source.
Australian Climate Council, March 10, 2014 ▶ THE ANGRY SUMMER: GRAPH
Continuing hot on the heels of the ‘Angry Summer’ of 2012/2013, Australians again endured record breaking extreme events this summer. Heatwaves, hot days, drought and bushfires: reporthttp://www.climatecouncil.org.au/angry-summer
-▶ WIND TURBINE- BIRD DEBATE FLARES WITH NEW MASSIVE FATALITY FIGURE. A published study has concluded that 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats were killed by wind power in 2012. The figure on birds – which includes 83,000 raptors – is about 30 percent higher than the 444,000 estimate by a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist in 2009, when the U.S. had about half as much installed wind capacity....http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/07/wind-bird-debate-flares-with-new-fatality-figure/
May 14, 2013 Associated Press
-▶ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION GIVES WIND INDUSTRY A PASS FOR KILLING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PROTECTED BIRDSIs it OK to slaughter hundreds of thousands of birds every year in the name of clean energy? Is it OK for a luxury home developer to kill California condors in its quest for profits? http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-impact-wind-farms-get-pass-eagle-deaths
WATCH QUEST TV BIRDS, BLADES AND THE BRUTAL BUSINESS OF CLEAN ENERGY
Summit Voice, February 16, 2014 -▶ NEW STUDY UPS ESTIMATE OF WIND TURBINE BAT DEATHS TO 600,000 — By the latest conservative estimate, at least 600,000 bats were killed by energy producing wind turbines in 2012, with the highest fatality rates in areas near the Appalachian Mountains.
-▶ OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO ALLOW EAGLE DEATHS - TO AID WIND POWER. Under pressure from the wind-power industry, the Obama administration said Friday it will allow companies to kill or injure eagles without the fear of prosecution for up to three decades.
Bloomberg Sustainability, February 19, 2014 -▶ U.K. OFFSHORE WIND EXPANSION SCRAPPED BY CONCERN FOR BIRDS.“Renewable energy, like every other industry, must be developed in harmony with the natural environment,” RSPB Head of Energy Policy Harry Huyton said in an e-mailed statement. “Critical to this is avoiding damaging developments in sites that are particularly special for nature.”
Bloomberg Sustainability, February 19, 2014 -▶ U.K. OFFSHORE WIND EXPANSION SCRAPPED BY CONCERN FOR BIRDS.“Renewable energy, like every other industry, must be developed in harmony with the natural environment,” RSPB Head of Energy Policy Harry Huyton said in an e-mailed statement. “Critical to this is avoiding damaging developments in sites that are particularly special for nature.”
VIDEO 56:44 "THE NEXT FRONTIER: ENGINEERING THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEN" This entertaining one-hour documentary takes the viewer around the world in search of technologies and policies that will address the serious problem of excessive carbon dioxide emissions and our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. It features interviews with some of the top energy and economic experts along with educators and high-level government officials, all striving to develop clean energy solutions and alternatives to burning fossil fuels. http://www.thenextfrontiermovie.com/
-- MORE ON IMPORTANCE OF BIRDS AND THEIR FATE ---
-▶ ****STATE OF THE WORLD'S BIRDS REPORT INDICATES A PLANET IN PERILhttp://sco.lt/4yq6z3
-▶ ****NO SAFE HAVEN: MIGRATING BIRDS BEING MASSACRED BY THE MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLDhttp://sco.lt/6pozuT
-▶ WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME, WINDFARMS HAVE KILLED UP TO 6.7 MILLION BATS - http://sco.lt/5dc13Z
-▶ ****WETLANDS VITAL IN SUPPORTING HUMAN LIFE AND BIODIVERSITYhttp://sco.lt/6Nfjcn
-▶ PRICING CARBON, CARBON STORAGE, OFFETS: FAILED STRATEGIES THAT WON'T SAVE THE CLIMATE OR THE PLANEThttp://sco.lt/7UBKIj
-▶ FOOD OR FUEL? RESEARCH SUGGESTS BIOFUELS WILL COST THE EARTHhttp://sco.lt/5D24ET
Clean, Renewable Energy should not further harm the environment or our ecosystems. We have to be mindful of the absolute need to preserve and maintain our fragile environment that all species play their part in. Birds are crucial to this ecosystem and we are losing them by the millions. We must begin to think differently from our conditioned military industrial mindset, top-down GDP mindset where big business controls our energy and food.
- ▶ Scientists are working hard to understand the life that teems within our soil and that is threatened by farming and development...
Forget the term “dumb as dirt.” The complex soil ecosystem is highly evolved and sophisticated. It processes organic waste into soil. It filters and cleans much of the water we drink and the air we breathe by retaining dust and pathogens. It plays a large role in how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. Soil, with all of its organic matter, is second to the oceans as the largest carbon repository on the planet. Annual plowing, erosion and other mismanagement releases carbon in the form of carbon dioxide, and exacerbates climate change... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/the-hidden-world-of-soil-under-our-feet.html?ref=opinion&_r=0
One of our biggest potential climate allies is directly under our feet: soil. Healthy, living soil has an enormous capacity to store carbon. In fact, carbon stored in soil accounts for roughly three times the amount stored in the atmosphere! Improving the health of degraded soil holds tremendous potential to mitigate climate change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KamMRhlu9dA
August 30, 2013 Modern Farming - ▶ NO-TILL FARMING: WHAT'S THE DEAL? Like clean water and fresh air, fertile soil ensures our continued survival — and we're destroying it in mass quantities... http://modernfarmer.com/2013/08/7-facts-till-farming/
Kevin's Rain Garden, December 12, 2013 - ▶ A PAVED NEW WORLD: HOW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IS CREATING AN IMPERVIOUS PLANET http://www.kevinsraingardens.com/paved/
August 30, 2013 National Environment Research Council - ▶ THE LAND BENEATH THE LAKES: There's more carbon in soil and vegetation worldwide than in the whole atmosphere, so even marginal changes can make a big difference. The Lake District itself is estimated to hold the equivalent of 84 million tonnes of CO2 in peat, which underlies some 40 per cent of the park, and some 13 million more in woodlands... http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/features/story.aspx?id=1515
- ▶ BIOLOGICAL DESERTS: THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE GMO MONOCULTURE BIOFUEL AND PALM OIL INDUSTRY
The mass clearing of trees for farmland disturbs the ecosystem of the rainforest by decimating rare and exotic flora and fauna. With the planting of a single crop plantation, the natural biodiversity of the rainforest is lost. The mono-crop culture that has long-plagued environmentalists in the west displaces or destroys most of the species in a single sitting, as they are unable to adapt to living within vast acres of a single crop. The environment, habitats and species that are destroyed have lived together since the dawn of the rainforest, and the damage caused by palm oil farming is irreversible http://sco.lt/9AeHbN
- ▶ GMO TREES DEVASTATE ECOSYSTEMS LEAVING A BIOLOGICAL DESERT http://sco.lt/51ekyH
The future of the private sector will increasingly hinge on the ability of businesses to adapt to the world's rapidly changing environment and to develop goods and services that can reduce the impacts of climate change, water scarcity, emissions of harmful chemicals, and other environmental concerns. -
"From extreme weather events, to rising pressures on finite natural resources, changes in the global environment will increasingly impact operating costs, markets for products, the availability of raw materials, and the reputation of businesses, from finance and tourism, to healthcare and transport."
-▶ OPEC MINISTERS OPT FOR STATUS QUO AS OIL PRICES SLIDE.“It is increasingly clear that we have begun a new chapter in the history of the oil markets,” the IEA concluded. “Economic development no longer spurs oil demand growth as it once did.”
CHECK MATE
The UAE’s Minister of Energy, Suhail Al Mazrouei, echoed other ministers in saying that it was not Opec producers who were primarily responsible for the world’s oil glut, referring particularly to surging North American production....Meanwhile, oil production from North America — especially from unconventional sources, including so-called shale oil — has surged over the last few years, helped by relatively high oil prices. That has pushed the need for imported oil by the US to its lowest level in more than four decades and meant tougher competition for oil producers to find buyers...http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/opec-ministers-opt-for-status-quo-as-oil-prices-slide
-▶ OPEC TO KEEP OIL OUTPUT UNCHANGED DESPITE LOW PRICES. Analysts say that by opposing an output cut, Saudi Arabia appears to be hoping to drive prices below the level at which shale oil production is economical. That, in theory, would force shale producers – particularly in the U.S. – to cut back, re-establishing OPEC’s dominance of the energy market.http://www.france24.com/en/20141127-opec-keeps-oil-output-unchanged-despite-low-prices/
USA "NATURAL" GAS LNG EXPORTS - FRIEND OR FOE?
FOSSIL FUEL LEAVES A POLLUTION CESSPOOL FOR U.S. TAXPAYERS
Center for American Progress, December 22, 2014 -▶FOSSIL-FUEL INDUSTRY SPENT BIG TO SET ANTI-ENVIRONMENT AGENDA FOR THE NEXT GOP U.S. CONGRESS : A legislative rider that was quietly attached to a major defense funding bill earlier this month marked a watershed change in the political fortunes of the coal, oil, and gas industries and their return to power in Washington, D.C. The rider—which turns the Bull Mountains in Montana over to a Koch-connected, Houston-based company to be strip mined for coal—is the fossil-fuel industry’s first major payoff from a three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar investment to secure Republican control of Congress and to set the stage for a pro-coal, pro-drilling, and anti-environment agenda in 2015
Reuters, December 02, 2014 -▶ AT CLIMATE TALKS, UN CALLS FOSSIL FUELS 'HIGH RISK' INVESTMENT. Falling oil prices show the "high risk" of fossil fuel investments compared with renewable energies, the U.N.'s climate chief said on Monday at the start of 190-nation talks on a deal to slow global warming. Christiana Figueres, head of the U.N.'s Climate Change Secretariat, dismissed suggestions that a tumble in the price of oil to a five-year low on Monday could brake hopes for a shift to renewable energies as a cornerstone of the climate deal. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/02/us-climatechange-lima-idUSKCN0JF37320141202
THE ONLY WAY OUT
CHINA TO PRIORITIZE ENVIRONMENT OVER ECONOMY & DEVELOPMENT IN REVISED LAWhttp://sco.lt/51P1sH
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FRACKING
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USA NATURAL GAS EXPORTS
LEAVING A POLLUTION CESSPOOL FOR TAXPAYER CLEAN-UP
Environmental Justice, March 06, 2014 ▶ NO FRACKING WAY : HOW THE EU-US TRADE AGREEMENT RISKS EXPANDING FRACKING. A major trade deal currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) threatens the power of governments to protect communities, citizens and the environment from risky new technologies such as fracking. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) covers a huge range of issues and sectors, including food safety, genetically modified products, toxic chemicals, highly polluting fuels and data protection. The talks threaten to weaken or roll-back democratically agreed safeguards put in place to protect the environment and citizens – for the sake of corporate profits.http://www.tni.org/briefing/no-fracking-way?context=596
▶ VAST METHANE 'PLUMES' SEEN IN ARCTIC OCEAN RISING DIRECTLY INTO ATMOSPHERE AS SEA ICE RETREATShttp://sco.lt/8rSiJN
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INTERACTIVE
Guardian Environment, December 01, 2014
150 YEARS TIMELINE OF WORLD'S TOP 20 CARBON EMITTERS
The Guardian, December 11, 2014 -▶ AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER: BANGLADESH OIL SPILL THREATENS RARE DOLPHINS. Bangladesh officials warn that an oil spill from a crashed tanker is threatening endangered dolphins and other wildlife in the massive Sundarbans mangrove region, branding the leak an ecological ‘catastrophe’http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/11/bangladesh-oil-spill-threatens-rare-dolphins
Öljyn hinta on laskenut kesästä lähtien, ja on nyt alimmalla tasollaan neljään vuoteen. Tämä johtuu pääasiassa teollisuusmaiden vähentyneestä öljyn kysynnästä, erityisesti Yhdysvalloissa tarve tuoda maahan öljyä on pienimmillään moneen vuosikymmeneen.
Nyt öljyntuottajamaiden OPEC-järjestö päättivät pitää öljyn tuotannon ja hinnan ennallaan ja antaa markkinavoimien tehdä tehtävänsä. He uskovat, että aleneva hinta tulee elvyttämään kysyntää markkinatalouden lakien mukaan, ja tällöin hinta voi taas nousta.
-▶ MINING COMPANIES INVADE WISCONSIN FOR FRAC-SAND And when the sand is gone, when the mining activity moves out, what will be left of this place? Some big empty rail yards, a pockmarked series of “reclaimed” sites no longer suitable for farming, and a bunch of homes nobody wants to live in any more? A post-mining wasteland and an even more depressed economy? That’s what’s happened in countless other mine-riddled communities.... http://ecowatch.org/2012/mining-companies-invade-wisconsin-for-frac-sand/ ;
-▶ U.S. MINING COMPANY DEPLOYS MORE MASKED MILITIAMEN AGAINST "ECO-TERRORISTS" IN WISCONSIN - Debate over a proposed open-pit iron ore mine in northern Wisconsin went from heated to outright bizarre when masked guards brandishing assault rifles showed up at the site in the remote and scenic wilderness of Penokee Hills... http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/07/walker-backed-mine-hires-militiamen-intimidate-protesters
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT: GazetteNet, November 5, 2013
-▶ BIO-ETHANOL FUEL: THE SECRET DIRTY COST OF OBAMA'S GREEN POWER PUSH. Five million acres of land set aside for conservation — more than Yellowstone, Everglades and Yosemite National Parks combined — have vanished on Obama’s watch. Landowners filled in wetlands. They plowed into pristine prairies, releasing carbon dioxide that had been locked in the soil. Sprayers pumped out billions of pounds of fertilizer, some of which seeped into drinking water, contaminated rivers and worsened the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where marine life can’t survive. ... 15 million more acres of corn were planted last year than before the ethanol boom http://www.gazettenet.com/home/9190243-95/the-secret-dirty-cost-of-obamas-green-power-push
▶ SHOULD COMPANIES COMPENSATE SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION FROM WHICH THEY PROFIT? http://sco.lt/72Hsf3
-▶ UNBELIEVABLE, UNACCEPTABLE, OUTRAGEOUS: OIL, COAL CHEMICAL & ASH SPILLS WRECKING OUR ENVIRONMENT & WATER | http://sco.lt/81P9DF
WATCH VIDEO REPORT Newshour, March 05, 2014 -▶ THE BIGGEST EVER FINES FOR A COAL COMPANY that violated its water pollution permits: Alpha Natural Resources, which is based in Virginia, and 66 of its subsidiaries.: 6,000 violations, violations over 300 state-issued permits, hundreds of streams, tributaries and rivers, 79 active coal mines, 25 coal processing plants, where they put the coal and wash it before it’s shipped, over five Appalachian states. So it’s a pretty massive coverage area for the settlement.
International Business Times, July 28, 2014 -▶ U.S. COAL EXPORTS DIRTYING THE WORLD: REPORT: U.S. energy companies have exported more coal in the last six years than ever before, the report said, analyzing preliminary data released by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA. In the same time period, the U.S. reduced domestic coal consumption by 195 million tons. As a result, the reduction in domestic coal consumption made the U.S. appear to be making more progress than it really is on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. http://www.ibtimes.com/us-coal-exports-dirtying-world-report-1640648
- ▶ MORE THAN HALF OF U.S. RIVERS ARE TOO POLLUTED TO SUPPORT LIFE SHOCKING REPORT REVEALS http://sco.lt/5JvEi9
▶ GOLD/COAL MINING, DEFORESTATION, FOREIGN LAND GRABS ENDANGERING ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES http://sco.lt/6ZK1mj
▶ DEFORESTATION, MINING RISES AGAIN IN BRAZIL'S AMAZON IMPACTING ECOSYSTEMS, CLIMATE http://sco.lt/4ha4y9
▶ PESTICIDES ARE KILLING OUR PLANET: DECIMATING POLLINATORS, DRAGONFLIES AND OTHER AQUATIC INSECTS - And YOU http://sco.lt/5XzNlx
VIDEO REPORT
September 15, 2013 The Real News ▶ PHILIPPINE ACTIVISTS FIGHT BACK AGAINST CORPORATE AND MILITARY FORCES DESTROYING THEIR LAND, FORESTS AND LIVELIHOODS Corporate agri-businesses like U.S.-based Dole, Del Monte, Monsanto, along with international and Philippine mines, are polluting waterways and destroying the surrounding farms. Chinese, European, Canadian, and Filipino mines are stripping away the mountains to get at what some estimate to be the largest iron deposit in the world. There also some of the most significant gold, nickel, and copper reserves in Asia. http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10725
VIDEO:
▶ FOREIGN CORPORATIONS DESTROYING ECOSYSTEMS, INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS, NULLIFYING LAND RIGHT AND CREATING DEPENDENCY http://sco.lt/4l725B
▶ THE NEW CORPORATE COLONIALISM. DESTRUCTION OF PLANETARY LIFE IN THE NAME OF "GROWTH http://sco.lt/8pbb7p
▶ DECLINE IN BIODIVERSITY OF FARMED PLANTS AND ANIMALS GATHERING PACE http://sco.lt/7o99MH
▶ CLIMATE CHANGE TO HALVE HABITAT FOR OVER 10,000 COMMON SPECIES http://sco.lt/8G99Av
VIDEO
SARAWAK, MALAYSIA -
▶MASSIVE CORRUPTION UNCOVERED OVER INDIGENOUS FORESTS, DAMS, LAND GRABS http://sco.lt/7baDWz
-▶ CLIMATE CHANGE COULD ENDANGER MORE ANIMALS THAT WE THOUGHT. A new study presents startling findings that rapid climate change may threaten many more species of plants and animals than previous measures have led us to believe. The study, one of the biggest of...
Summit County Citizens Voice, September 13, 2014 -▶ STUDY TRACKS BIG DROP IN PACIFIC WALRUS NUMBERS. Population dropped by about half between 1981 and 1999, but scientists aren’t sure if the numbers have stabilized since then. In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged that the species was under pressure from sea ice loss and over-harvestinghttp://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/09/13/study-tracks-big-drop-in-pacific-walrus-numbers/
Government officials from an elite group of developed countries meeting in Washington, D.C. at the invitation of U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern appear to be on the brink of instigating yet another corporate handout and big bank giveaway—this time in the name of fighting climate change.... http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/04/10-6
As an extension of China’s $16 billion plan to combat air pollution in its cities, today the CNSA announced an ambitious plan to export the nation’s emissions to Mars....
The unprecedented plan, they claim, would greatly reduce emissions on Earth while warming the climate on Mars, causing the planet’s polar ice caps to melt and eventually creating an atmosphere capable of sustaining life.
May, 16, 2013 Guardian Environment - Nafeez Ahmed:
-▶ OBAMA'S ARCTIC STRATEGY SETS OFF A CLIMATE TIME BOMB.US National Strategy for the Arctic Region prioritises corporate 'economic opportunities' at the expense of everyone else
At the heart of the White House's new Arctic strategy is an elementary but devastating contradiction between what President Obama, in the document's preamble, describes as seeking "to make the most of the emerging economic opportunities in the region" due to the rapid loss of Arctic summer sea ice, and recognising "the need to protect and conserve this unique, valuable, and changing environment."...http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/17/obama-arctic-energy-security-climate
Deutche Welle, February 07, 2014 -▶ ARE WE PREPARED FOR A CATASTROPHE IN THE ARCTIC?As climate change warms the Arctic, oil rigs are opening, ships are making use of new shipping routes and tourists are flocking to see the icebergs. But experts warn that we are not adequately prepared for accidents. http://www.dw.de/are-we-prepared-for-a-catastrophe-in-the-arctic/a-17412856
-▶ OFFSHORE OIL: SHELL'S CHALLENGE IN DRILLING FOR ARCTIC OIL ,Over a year ago, Royal Dutch Shell began oil drilling operations offshore of Alaska, the first attempt to explore the outer continental shelf in two decades. But Shell's initial foray proved disastrous. After sinking $5 billion into the effort, not a single well was drilled and its rig ran aground. Shell racked up big fines for faulty equipment, pollution and safety violations and sat out the last season. Outgoing Shell CEO Peter Voser called the Arctic one of his biggest disappointments. Elizabeth Arnold, based in Alaska, looked into the state of Arctic oil exploration in the U.S...http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/shells-challenge-drilling-arctic-oil
ClimateProgress, December 27, 2013 -▶ IN THE MIDST OF RECORD OIL BOOM, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SEEKS MORE OIL PRODUCTION.
America produced an average of 7.5 million barrels of crude oil per day in 2013, an increase of one million barrels per day and the biggest one-year jump in the nation’s history, FuelFix reported Thursday. The U.S. Energy Information Association (EIA) estimates production will grow by another one million barrels in 2014 and will peak at a whopping 9.5 million barrels per day in 2016.
-▶ WHY GEOENGINEERING SUITS RUSSIA'S CARBON AGENDA, GIVEN THE COUNTRY'S FOSSIL FUEL STRATEGY IN THE ARCTIC
The Arctic, a large portion of which is controlled or claimed by Russia, is a new carbon El Dorado, holding up to a quarter of the globe’s undiscovered oil and gas reserves. According to one energy industry insider: "Climate change is opening up one of the last frontiers for hydrocarbons on our planet. The Arctic … could be set for rapid change and development as exploration, production and infrastructure will have an inevitable, irreversible impact." http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/24/why-geoengineering-suits-russias-carbon-agenda
-▶ "WE HAVE FIVE MINUTE BEFORE MIDNIGHT" - IPCC REPORT. UN CHIEF SCIENTIST URGES ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGEhttp://sco.lt/5bNJoX
-▶ -▶ *** OBAMA'S NEW SECRETIVE TRADE PACTS NEGOTIATE AWAY SOVEREIGN RIGHTS TO CORPORATE GOVERNANCEhttp://sco.lt/8FToVl
WATCH:
Encore, Moyers and Company
ENDING THE SILENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE - THE POLITICS
For Indigenous peoples climate change is not a political slogan but an inescapable reality of their daily life. In a new series for the Ecologist, Gleb Raygorodetsky explores how different communities are responding to the challenges of climate change ...
This blog is part of the Healing the Earth project of the Conversations with the Earth (CWE) initiative, a multimedia platform that brings Indigenous voices on climate change to the global audience. Follow CWE on Facebook or Twitter @ConversEarth.
▶ DESPITE CLIMATE CHANGE, AFRICAN CAN FEED AFRICA. There is a continuing argument as to whether the industrial agricultural revolution will solve some or all of Africa's climate change problems. However, experts maintain that industrial agriculture currently accounts for one third of all greenhouse gas emissions--the very element most responsible for climate change. Additionally, they believe that the resources and infrastructure required to operate an industrial agricultural system in Africa are impractical for smallholder farmers... http://allafrica.com/stories/201402191455.html
...was written with contributions from over 60 experts, and finds that "urgent and far-reaching action" is needed to address the "collective crisis" of "rural poverty, persistent hunger around the world, growing populations, and mounting environmental concerns."
However, the call from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) flies in the face of the goals laid out by trade deals now being negotiated including the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership....
▶ THE DANGEROUS NEW SECRETIVE GLOBAL TRADE PACTS WILL IMPACT US ALL. THREATENS SOVEREIGNTY AND PUBLIC OWNERSHIP http://sco.lt/74uPth
THE 21st CENTURY CORPORATE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA World Development Movement -▶ STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF AFRICA'S FOOD. Under the guise of tackling hunger, initiatives like the G8 New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, will help corporations take control over Africa’s land, seeds and markets - at the expense of small farmers. Join our campaign to oppose this twenty-first century corporate scramble for Africa. - See more at: http://www.wdm.org.uk/food#sthash.dgDwkdF0.dpufhttp://www.wdm.org.uk/food
-▶ OUR INDUSTRIAL, WESTERN AGRICULTURAL FOOD SYSTEM IS DESTROYING THE EARTH AND OUR HEALTH http://sco.lt/63qRl3
▶ THE ROLE OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD PRODUCTION AND POVERTY ERADICATION http://sco.lt/7SRAUj
"Our modern energy-, chemical- and genetically modified organism (GMO)-intensive industrial food and farming systems are the major cause of man-made global warming." Studies show that not only are greenhouse gasses caused by Carbon Dioxide but also by methane and nitrous oxide. Farming includes so many different ways of using fuel form the machinery to the end of food production. Another way farming isn't helping is through deforestation, and wetlands destruction. "When you add it all up, the picture is clear—contemporary agriculture is burning up our planet. And factory farms or, in industry lingo, Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), play a key role in this impending disaster." Climate rise is complex but a few of the top reasons are coal burning, and fossil fuels. To get this under control we would need to stop using 90% of the fosil fuels we are using.
Reuters, February 14, 2014 - ▶ WHITE HOUSE PLEDGES $1 BILLION TO PREPARE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE. Funds would be used to research how to better prepare for climate change-related effects like rising sea levels and extreme temperatures and encourage local initiatives. Other investments would include "breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure" such as building sea walls and more resilient electricity delivery systems to protect vulnerable cities and towns. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/15/us-usa-climate-fund-idUSBREA1E03D20140215
THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION IS UPON US - CAN HUMANS SURVIVE?Are we in the first act of a mass extinction that will end in the death of millions of plant and animal species across the planet, including us? Proponents of the “sixth extinction” theory believe the answer is yes.
AL GORE : 400 PPM Yesterday, for the first time in human history, concentrations of carbon dioxide, the primary global warming pollutant, hit 400 parts per million in our planet's atmosphere. This number is a reminder that for the last 150 years -- and especially over the last several decades -- we have been recklessly polluting the protective sheath of atmosphere that surrounds the Earth and protects the conditions that have fostered the flourishing of our civilization http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-gore/carbon-dioxide-400-parts-per-million_b_3253361.html?ref=topbar
ARCTIC OCEAN 'ACIDIFYING' RAPIDLY' - HIGHEST LEVELS IN 55 MILLION YEARS - ARCTIC TO BE -ICE-FREE IN TWO YEARS http://sco.lt/6qm61h
Scientists monitoring global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations report that, for the first time in human history, CO2 levels could soon rise above 400 parts per million for a sustained period of time in much of the Northern Hemisphere.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/400-ppm-atmospheric-co2_n_3179617.html
ENDING SUBSIDIES FOR FOSSIL FUELS COULD SLOW CLIMATE CHANGEGovernments have long provided subsidies, direct and indirect, on fuels for both consumers and producers. Providing subsidies on fossil fuels is costly in terms of public health and climate change. In 2009, G20 leaders agreed that subsidies should be curtailed, but Asian countries continue to fund subsidies to support economic growth. Subsidies for consumers lead to waste, traffic and pollution. Yet less scrutinized, according to Will Hickey of SolBridge University, are the many subsidies for fossil-fuel producers not available to producers of alternative fuels: preferential land-acquisition policies, support for infrastructure like ports or highways, special financing for exploration, quick approval for destruction of habitat and eminent domain, resistance to pollution regulations or low penalties for violations, and even government guarantees of profits. The subsidies distort market pricing, contributing to inefficiencies and waste. For emerging economies of Asia, the subsidies are unsustainable as fuel prices rise, exports for emerging economies decline, and the environmental and health costs rise. – YaleGlobal.. http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/fossil-fuel-subsidies-help-asia-roar
Huffington Post Politics, July 09, 2014 -▶ U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STILL SPENDING TENS OF BILLIONS TO SUBSIDIZE FOSSIL FUELSOver the past five years, the Obama administration has repeatedly called for cutting fossil fuel subsidies in the form of tax breaks and other incentives. But the amount of money the federal government forfeits through subsidies has increased steadily over that time period, reaching $18.5 billion last year, according to a new report from the environmental group Oil Change International.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/fossil-fuel-subsidies_n_5572346.html?m=true
OilChange International - PDF $775 BILLION IN FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES:This year, there will be $775 Billion worth of global fossil fuel subsidies that can be reliably estimated from the current available data. http://pic.twitter.com/8w0bmM0oa5
Grist, July 14, 2014 ▶ THANKS TO THE FRACKING BOOM, WE'RE WASTING MORE MONEY THAN EVER ON FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES... making society bear the brunt of the local pollution and climate change caused by fossil fuel extraction, transport, and burning. the federal government continues to lose lots of money by selling fossil fuel extraction rights on public lands for less than they are worth, as the Government Accountability Office has reported. Oil Change notes that below-market lease rates are costing the Treasury $1 billion per year.http://grist.org/climate-energy/thanks-to-the-fracking-boom-were-wasting-more-money-than-ever-on-fossil-fuel-subsidies/
UNEP Newscenter, April 28, 2014 ▶ FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES HAMPER PATHWAY TO INCLUSIVE GREEN ECONOMY, EXPERTS SAY.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently reported that CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes were responsible for approximately 78 per cent of the total increase in greenhouse gas emissions between 1970 and 2010.Experts say reducing or eliminating harmful fossil fuel subsidies - and properly pricing energy to account for environmental impacts - is one of the most promising ways governments can promote a transition to a greener economy, and even the playing field for investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. http://www.unep.org/NewsCentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=2787&ArticleID=10837&l=en
“Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020,” said Mona Sahlin, minister of Sustainable Development, in an interview with The Guardian newspaper. “There shall always be better alternatives to oil, which means no house should need oil for heating, and no driver should need to turn solely to gasoline.”
Whether Sweeden will achive their objective can be debated , but their resolve is backed by robust strategy and plan. And they are on path, even for the transport sector . FFV (Flexi-Fuel-Vehicle) is somethig that can inspire Public Private Partnerships even in the developinf countries
Eliminating the burning of all fossil fuels for economic reasons is perfectly reasonable, especially if the full and true costs of the fossil fuel industry are factored in.
Common sense tells us that growing biofuels on arable land for fuel can, at the most, only provide us with a small percentage of so-called renewable fuel. It takes up huge acreage of good land for food; often from deforestation; it is constantly being harvested, not allowing natural biodiversity to re-establish itself; it requires water; pesticides, chemicals, fertilizers; it is energy intensive to process and transport; and it carries nice, hefty subsidies (as does wind) for investment and bottom-line. But it is not cost-effective when all is taken into account and t is dependent upon the weather and climate change is coming in fast. So let's stop with the public relations spin and tell it like it is. It is a boondoggle that will fade as the subsidies are withdrawn.
Climate modeling has become an important method of attempting to determine the impacts of climate change in years to come. However, climate modeling is not without faults. Climate modeling is an evolving process which is refining along the way. A new study based on plants indicates that some significant tweaking is required for some climate models. Led by Dr. Elizabeth Wolkovich from the University of British Columbia, the study evaluated flowering and leafing plants for their blooming dates. Published in the journal Nature, the researchers determined that the current climate models are significantly lagging behind the real-time impacts of leafing and flowering plants... http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/study-finds-plants-flowering-and-leafing-much-earlier-compared-to-climate-models/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Aboutmyplanetcom+%28aboutMyPlanet.com%29
March 13, 2013
PLANET PASSES DAILY 400 PPM CO2 MILESTONE - MARCH TOWARD DISASTER http://sco.lt/8pMIe9
-▶ GET USED TO HEAT WAVES: EXTREME EL NINO EVENTS TO DOUBLE DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING EMISSIONS - MASSIVE CHANGES IN GLOBAL RAINFALL PATTERNS massive changes in global rainfall patterns. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140119142454.htm
"Wildfires last summer burned more than 9 million acres across the U.S." Most of these Fires happened in the West and Southwest. To add on to that the precipitation has not been as high as expected possibly causeing more of these fires in the future. This will also effect the climate change. Dry climates with fire, without rain is already increasing the climate to rise. In the Rocky Mountains snowfall is not as large as in the past. Snow also has been melting sooner in the spring. These effects are happening all over the world including Russia and Alaska, "Canada, the average amount of land burned annually by wildfires has doubled since the 1970s." Now that these fires are so populare some of the consern is directed to the soil. Parched soil will prevent many new growths of these aburnt forests.
“Fires are simply going to be reintroduced by nature, augmented by climate change,” he said. “I think the land’s going to burn, and then we’ll go from there.” -Westerling
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YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY NEWS AGGREGATES @pdjmoo
▶ CLIMATE CHANGE http://www.scoop.it/t/changingplanet
▶ BIODIVERSITY http://www.scoop.it/t/biodiversity-is-life
▶ OUR OCEANS http://www.scoop.it/t/our-oceans-need-us
▶ OUR FOOD http://www.scoop.it/t/agriculture-gmos-pesticides
▶ CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY http://www.scoop.it/t/environmental-and-human-health