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Norway, Canada, the United States and the Tar Sands

Fri, 2013-06-07 00:32 — Maeryn Obley

It is crunch time on tar sands. (photo: Greenpeace)

Image: It is crunch time on tar sands. (photo: Greenpeace)

readersupportednews.org - May 11th, 2013 - Dr. James Hansen

Today 36 Norwegian organizations sent an open letter to Prime Minister Stoltenberg expressing opposition to development of Canadian tar sands by Statoil (the Norwegian state is majority shareholder of Statoil). Signatories include not only environmental organizations, but a broad public spectrum, including, appropriately, many youth organizations. It is encouraging that Norwegian youth press their government to stop supporting tar sands development, given the fact that Norway saves much of its oil earnings for future generations and given the fact that Norway is not likely among the nations that will suffer most from climate change.

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400 Parts Per Million

Sat, 2013-05-18 00:00 — Maeryn Obley

Former Vice President Al Gore. (photo: Mario Anzuoni)

Image: Former Vice President Al Gore. (photo: Mario Anzuoni)

readersupportednews.org - May 11th, 2013 - Al Gore

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. We are altering the composition of our atmosphere at an unprecedented rate.

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Patuca Reserve Resilience Network

Wed, 2013-05-15 09:18 — mdmcdonald

Honduras' ecosystems are being destroyed at an incredible rate, taking with it the rich natural heritage of biodiversity that has required million of years to evolve.  In 20 years, human populations in Honduras will be be threatend from ecosystem collapses that are likely to create abect misery and population collapses at an extraordinatry level.  Already population crashes are happening in small scale collapses due to the degradation of social ecology.  

There is a need to build a Patuca Reserve Resilience Network to help preserve the remaining 30% of the Patuca Reserve that has not been destroyed by deforestation and gold mining in the rivers. Association Patuca and Dr. Perinjaquet are working on introducing Resilience Capacity Zone Assessments and Mapping in order to identify solution sets local communities would embrace for preserving their environments and livelihoods, considering that they are squating within a national preserve that to date has had no environmental enforcement. 

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Video - TIME, GOOGLE AND NASA: Timelapse of the Earth Over the Last 30 Years

Mon, 2013-05-13 13:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

world.time.com - by Jeffrey Kluger

Spacecraft and telescopes are not built by people interested in what’s going on at home. Rockets fly in one direction: up. Telescopes point in one direction: out. Of all the cosmic bodies studied in the long history of astronomy and space travel, the one that got the least attention was the one that ought to matter most to us—Earth.

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Victory! Offshore Oil Drilling Stopped in Belize

Wed, 2013-05-01 07:21 — admin

Oceana.org    April 17, 2013   Jessica Wiseman

Yesterday, Belize’s Supreme Court declared offshore drilling contracts issued by the Government of Belize (in 2004 and 2007) null and void, providing a dramatic and potentially definitive setback to The Government of Belize and the petroleum prospecting companies issued the contracts.

The ruling, handed down by Justice Oswell Legall, was in response to a case brought by Oceana, COLA, and the Belize Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage. It effectively ends the Belizean government’s immediate effort to allow offshore oil drilling in the Meso American Reef, the second largest barrier reef in the world.

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The Limits of the Earth, Part 2: Expanding the Limits

Fri, 2013-04-26 19:50 — Maeryn Obley

Limits of Earth logo.Image: Limits of Earth logo.

blogs.scientificamerican.com - April 18th, 2013 - Ramez Naam

As part one of this series showed, we are up against incredible challenges: feeding a world with a rapidly growing appetite, the continuing loss of the world’s precious forests, the ongoing collapse of fish species in the oceans, the rapid depletion of our fresh water resources, and the over-arching threat of climate change, which makes all others far worse.

Ending growth isn’t a realistic option.  Billions of people in the developing world want access to more resources, deserve those resources as much as those of us in the rich world do, and need them in order to rise out of poverty.

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The Limits of the Earth, Part 1: Problems

Fri, 2013-04-26 19:47 — Maeryn Obley

Limits of Earth logo.Image: Limits of Earth logo.

blogs.scientificamerican.com - April 17th, 2013 - Ramez Naam

The world is facing incredibly serious natural resource and environmental challenges: Climate change, fresh water depletion, ocean over-fishing, deforestation, air and water pollution, the struggle to feed a planet of billions.

All of these challenges are exacerbated by ever rising demand – over the next 40 years estimates are that demand for fresh water will rise 50%, demand for food will rise 70%, and demand for energy will nearly double – all in the same period that we need to tackle climate change, depletion of rivers and aquifers, and deforestation.

One view of these looming threats is that we’ve exhausted planet’s resources.

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Dennis Meadows on 'The Limits to Growth and the Future of Humanity'

Thu, 2013-04-25 12:36 — Maeryn Obley

Dennis MeadowsImage: Dennis Meadows

carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de - December 4th, 2012

2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of  The Limits to Growth. Not only has this book been  translated into more than 30 languages,  it has also sold more than 30 million copies, thus making it the highest selling environmental book in world history. The Limits to Growth unleashed a debate that has yet to end.

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Solving Global Warming: A Silent Revolution

Sat, 2013-04-13 02:09 — Maeryn Obley

csi.gsb.stanford.edu - April 5th, 2013 - Bernadette

It’s a fact: global temperatures are warmer than at any time in the past 4,000 years –– the result of human activities releasing large quantities of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Given existing technology to reduce our carbon footprint, why aren’t we seeing bolder action to remedy the issue at home and abroad?

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More and More Voices Speaking Out Against Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam

Mon, 2013-04-01 16:09 — admin

Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam to Displace Thousands in Amazon    www.abcnews.go.com - June 18, 2012 - Tiffany Hagler-Geard

Belo Monte Dam will be the world’s third-largest hydroelectric project and will displace up to 20,000 people while diverting the Xingu River and flooding as much as 230 square miles of rainforest in Brazil. The Brazilian government says residents forced to relocate will be compensated and that most will benefit from the relocation. Opponents of the dam are skeptical of this claim.

While environmentalists and indigenous groups oppose the dam, many Brazilians support the project. The Brazilian Amazon, home to 60 percent of the world’s largest forest and 20 percent of the Earth’s oxygen, remains threatened by the rapid development of the country. The area is currently populated by over 20 million people and is challenged by deforestation, agriculture, mining, a governmental dam-building spree, illegal land speculation including the occupation of forest reserves and indigenous land and other issues.

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