Earth News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 19 April 2018 06:32 |
By Andrea Diaz, CNN
The stunt, which blocked the main entrance to the Canadian High Commission, was orchestrated by Greenpeace activists who oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline planned in western Canada across indigenous lands.
The Trans Mountain expansion, approved in 2016, will help oil companies reach new markets by expanding the capacity of North America's only pipeline with access to the West Coast, and it will nearly triple the number of oil tankers traveling the shared waters between Canada and Washington state.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Friday, 09 February 2018 09:25 |
It's not looking good for Canada avoiding an endangered listing for Wood Buffalo'
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says low water levels are threatening Wood Buffalo National Park’s ecosystem. (Courtesy of Mikisew Cree First Nation)
One of the world's largest groups of conservation scientists says Canada's biggest national park is among the most threatened World Heritage Sites in North America.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature says Wood Buffalo National Park, which straddles the Alberta-Northwest Territories boundary, is significantly threatened by hydroelectric and oilsands development.
"This is quite embarrassing," said Melody Lepine of the Mikisew Cree First Nation.
Many First Nations members live alongside the park.
"It's not looking good for Canada avoiding an endangered listing for Wood Buffalo," says Lepine.
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Last Updated on Friday, 09 February 2018 09:33 |
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Earth News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Wednesday, 07 February 2018 08:24 |
FEBRUARY 6, 2018
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/06/nuclear-reactors-bankrupting-their-owners-closing-early/
by JOHN LAFORGE
Photo by Nuclear Regulatory Commission | CC BY 2.0
On January 22, FirstEnergy Corporation announced that its faulty and nearly-self-destructed Davis-Besse power reactor east of Toledo, Ohio, will be closed well before its license expires. But the shutdown is not because the reactor represents reckless endangerment of public health and safety. FirseEnergy was fine with that. No, the old rattle trap can’t cover its costs any more, not with the electricity market dominated by cheaper natural gas, and renewable wind and solar.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 02 January 2018 17:41 |
Scientists Warn of Permanent Drought for 25% of Earth By 2050 If Paris Goals Not Reached
"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere in order to keep global warming under 1.5ºC or 2ºC could reduce the likelihood" of widespread drought, researchers concluded
"Our research predicts that aridification would emerge over about 20-30 percent of the world’s land surface by the time the global mean temperature change reaches 2ºC," said Manoj Joshi, one of lead researchers of the study. (Photo: Joshua Tree National Park/Flickr/cc)
In a new study that adds to the lengthy and ever-growing list of potential consequences of global climate inaction, scientists warn that around a quarter of the Earth could end up in a permanent state of drought if the planet warms by two degrees Celsius by 2050.
"Our research predicts that aridification would emerge over about 20-30 percent of the world's land surface by the time the global mean temperature change reaches 2ºC," said Manoj Joshi, one of lead researchers of the study, which was published on Monday in the journal Nature.
Scientists have for years linked widespread and more intense droughts to human-caused climate change. The only way to avoid these conditions is to limit global warming to 1.5ºC, Joshi concluded.
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Earth News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 02 January 2018 17:41 |
"Reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere in order to keep global warming under 1.5ºC or 2ºC could reduce the likelihood" of widespread drought, researchers concluded
home to more than 20 percent of the world's population.
Though the Paris climate accord has long been criticized by environmentalists and researchers as wholly inadequate to the task of confronting the climate crisis already wreaking havoc across the globe, the agreement's central objective is keeping average global temperatures from rising 2°C by the end of the century. Meeting that mark by taking "early action" would substantially "constrain" the spread of drought, the study concluded.
The problem, of course, is that the world's second-largest emitter of carbon—the United States—has, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, withdrawn from the Paris accord and begun to move in the opposite direction that scientists have recommended. During his first year in office, Trump has moved at a rapid pace to gut even the most basic environmental protections put in place by the Obama administration and has shown little sign of slowing down.
Trump also appeared to indicate that he wouldn't mind a perpetually warming planet last week, when he tweeted that the U.S. "could use a little bit of that good old global warming" to combat the cold weather currently gripping eastern states.
"Please let someone preserve this tweet forever so that future generations at least know why the American government didn’t take action to deal with the climate change crisis that now afflicts them," concluded David Sirota of the International Business Times.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 January 2018 17:53 |
Earth News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Wednesday, 20 December 2017 13:32 |
“Only Our Youth Can Save the Planet” – Kumi Naidoo
Kumi Naidoo
SUVA, Fiji, Dec 20 2017 (IPS) - “Today’s youth should think of new solutions for old problems like climate change and social injustice.”
That’s the strong message of the South African activist Kumi Naidoo. The former executive director of Greenpeace says young people need to be more innovative and visionary, “because the solutions of my generation have failed.”
After battling apartheid in South Africa, Kumi Naidoo led numerous global campaigns to protect
human rights.
Among other organizations, he headed CIVICUS, an alliance for citizen participation. It was at the International Civil Society Week (ICSW), organized by CIVICUS in Fiji in December, that Naidoo spoke out on youth and innovation.
“My advise for young people is: don’t put any faith in the current leaders. They are the biggest bunch of losers you are going to find. Because they are unwilling to accept that they have got us into this mess,” says Naidoo.
“Basically, we are using old solutions that have never worked in the past anyway,” Naidoo contin-ues.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 09 November 2017 03:38 |
Joan Russow PhD
Global Compliance Research Project

At COP 21, Ban Ki Moon, in Paris, urged states to negotiate with
a global vision not with national vested interests (a paraphrase of statement at
Cop21 press conference)
A global vision would be to address article 2 of the UNFCCC and at a
minimum the following: (i) to immediately end all subsidies for fossil fuel,
(ii) to calculate the carbon budget for each state,(iii) to divest in fossil fuels
and to reinvest and invest in renewable energy, (iv) to conserve sinks
-such as old growth forests and bogs, to strengthen conservation of biodiversity,
(v) to abandon false solutions such as nuclear, geo-engineering and biofuels
which would all violate principles within the UNFCCC
(vi) to compensate for historical emissions, and (vi) to institute a fair and just
transition for workers affected negatively by the new vision. (vii) to promote nature
based solutions and socially equitable and environmentally sound energy such as solar,
wind, tidal, and geothermal, (viii) end the exemption for miitary contribution to
greenhouse gas emissions, and (ix) reallocate the military budget and transfer the funds to address climate change
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Last Updated on Friday, 10 November 2017 18:26 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Sunday, 01 October 2017 09:20 |
nn
All the information to plan your stay in Paris during the Car Free Day which will be held on 1 October 2017
The Car Free Day is a unique opportunity to discover or re-discover Paris! Take advantage of a whole new area in which to get around in peace and tranquillity throughout the day.
After the success of last year’s initiative, Paris City Hall is launching its third edition that seeks to be even more ambitious.
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Earth News
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Monday, 25 September 2017 22:29 |
Damian Carrington Environment editor Friday 22 September 2017 12.23 BST First published on Thursday 21 September 2017 19.00 BSTThe assumption by regulators around the world that it is safe to use pesticides at industrial scales across landscapes is false, according to a chief scientific adviser to the UK government.
Damning assessment by one of the UK’s chief scientific advisers says global regulations have ignored the impacts of ‘dosing whole landscapes’ and must change

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Last Updated on Monday, 25 September 2017 22:41 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 12 September 2017 06:47 |
Yet another country announces their intention to end the sale of fossil fuel cars. First it was France, then the United Kingdom and now it is China. Bloomberg has reportedthat the Chinese authorities have been looking a timeline for phasing out the sale of fossil fuel vehicles according to the Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin. On paper this move should be significant. China is one of the World’s largest automobile markets with over 28 million vehicles sold last year. China is in line with an industry that is rapidly improving electric cars and many will see the news as positive. The problem with China’s ban on fossil fuel cars is that it doesn’t do anything to solve the root cause of air pollution in its cities. It grabs headlines but instead China, England and France should be focusing on rethinking how we use our cities.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 September 2017 06:53 |
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