News: ‘Environment’ Archive
Incredible pictures of the flood in this Boston Globe article.
‘It is only the start of the monsoon season, but already Pakistan is experiencing some of the worst flooding it has seen in over 80 years.’
via Severe flooding in Pakistan – The Big Picture – Boston.com.
Troubling talk by Jeremy Jackson, coral reef ecologist about the widespread trouble in the oceans.
Concluding excerpt:
“So the question is, how are we all going to respond to this? We can do all sorts of things to fix it, but in the final analysis the thing we really need to fix is ourselves. It’s not about the fish, it’s not about the pollution, it’s not about the climate change. It’s about us and our greed, and our need for growth, and our inability to image a world which is different from the selfish world we live in today.”
“So the question is will we respond to this or not? I would say that the future of life and the dignity of human beings depends on our doing that.”
‘Almost 10% of the World’s mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish are at risk of extinction, says an Australian report.
The animals face threats including habitat loss and climate change.’
via BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Census reveals extinction threat.
‘WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday that 79 applications for surface coal-mine permits in Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee might violate the nation’s Clean Water Act and require closer scrutiny.’
via EPA delays 79 permits for Appalachian surface mines | McClatchy.
‘BEIJING AFP – One year after staging a mostly pollution-free Olympics, Beijing has seen its skies shrouded in haze again, highlighting what observers call a mixed Olympic legacy on the environment.’
via Beijing’s smog is back year after Olympics – Yahoo! News.
‘Expanding hydropower is fraught with controversy, much of it stemming from the industry’s history of turning wild rivers into industrialized reservoirs struggling to support their remaining fish. The emerging boom in hydroelectric power pits two competing ecological perils against each other: widespread fish extinctions and a warming planet.’
via Boom in hydropower pits fish against climate – Los Angeles Times.
‘LONDON Reuters – Americans can save some of the 225 billion gallons of water 852 billion liters wasted each year through over-watering by installing smart systems which deliver just the right amount of moisture.’
via Smart tech could save billions of liters of water | Green Business | Reuters.
This article goes on to include interesting factoids from a RiverNetwork.org report:
“U.S. water-related energy use is at least 521 million megawatt hours a year — equivalent to 13 percent of the nation’s electricity consumption,” said a River Network Carbon Footprint of Water report published in May.
“The carbon associated with moving, treating and heating water in the U.S. is at least 290 million tonnes a year.”
‘WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will announce Monday that his department is temporarily barring the filing of new uranium mining claims on about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon, an Obama administration official said.’
‘WASHINGTON Reuters – More than 800 animal and plant species have gone extinct in the past five centuries with nearly 17,000 now threatened with extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported on Thursday.’
via More than 800 wildlife species now extinct | Green Business | Reuters.
‘Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has approved a controversial bill allowing Amazon farmers to acquire an area of public land larger than France.’