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David Cameron: UK Must Accept the Potential of Fracking

Tue, 2013-08-20 00:39 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Anti-fracking protesters in Balcombe, West Sussex, last month. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

Prime minister says the UK needs to share in the energy benefits and need not worry about environmental concerns

theguardian.com - August 12, 2013

David Cameron has insisted the UK should accept fracking, claiming the controversial method of extracting gas will attract "real public support" when the benefits are explained.

The prime minister said the process would not damage the countryside and cause only "very minor change to the landscape".

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Cameron said: "I want all parts of our nation to share in the benefits: north or south, Conservative or Labour.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Global
United Kingdom
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Energy
Environment
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Problem

Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken From Nature - Book Review by Bill Gates

Thu, 2013-08-01 12:45 — Kathy Gilbeaux

thegatesnotes.com

BOOK REVIEW

How Much of This Do We Use Up Every Year?

Written by: BILL GATES

. . . I mean everything that can be consumed on
Earth: plants, animals, all of it. And by "we" of
course I mean people.

It's such a big question that many people wouldn't even know where to start.

But if you care about understanding the impact that humans are having on the Earth, and what that means for our future, it's a crucial question. Vaclav Smil sets out to answer it in his book Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken From Nature.

(READ COMPLETE BOOK REVIEW)

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Global
General Topic Tags: 
Capacity
Ecosystems
Environment
Food
Limits
Scarcity
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Other

Thai Oil Spill Having Extreme Impact on Tourism - Minister

Thu, 2013-08-01 09:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Thai soldiers wearing biohazard suits take part as cleaning operations continue at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet, Rayong July 31, 2013. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

reuters.com - by Amy Sawitta Lefevre - July 30, 2013

(Reuters) - An oil spill that has blackened beaches at a Thai holiday island was having an extreme impact on tourism and could spread to the coast of the mainland and affect the fishing industry, officials and an environmental group said on Tuesday.

Tourists were pouring off the island of Koh Samet, 230 km (142 miles) southeast of Bangkok, while soldiers and volunteers in white bio-hazard suits struggled to clear black oily sludge off the white sand.

"We're working to move visitors to other locations if they want to move," Tourism Minister Somsak Phurisisak told reporters.

"I'm very concerned, I didn't think this spill would impact tourism in such an extreme way."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Global
General Topic Tags: 
Disaster Response
Ecosystems
Energy
Environment
Food
Oceans
Pollution
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Problem

Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Guidance

Wed, 2013-07-31 22:09 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

gov.uk - June 12, 2013

This document is designed to help companies in complying with the greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting regulation, a requirement from the Climate Change Act 2008; and all organisations with voluntary reporting on a range of environmental matters, including voluntary GHG reporting and through the use of key performance indicators (KPIs).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/environmental-reporting-guidelines-including-mandatory-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reporting-guidance

Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Guidance

Ref: PB13944
PDF, 598KB, 135 pages

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/206392/pb13944-env-reporting-guidance.pdf

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Global
United States
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Climate
Environment
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Situation Report

Hundreds of Dead Stingrays Found on Mexico Beach

Tue, 2013-07-30 23:35 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Hundreds of dead stingrays have been found on a beach in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz.  Reuters

bbc.co.uk - July 17, 2013

. . . Veracruz's Environment Minister Victor Alvarado Martinez has asked federal authorities for help investigating the incident. . .

. . . Chachalacas fisherman Jaime Vazquez said that in his more than three decades in the job he had ever seen any of his colleagues dump dead fish on the beach.

He told local media that any unwanted fish would have been returned to the sea while still alive.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)


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United States
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Environment
Oceans
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Problem

No One Knows How to Stop These Tar-Sands Oil Spills

Tue, 2013-07-23 17:17 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

Oil polluting the ground at Cold Lake in Alberta.  Photograph obtained by the Toronto Star

grist.org - by John Upton - July 22, 2013

Thousands of barrels of tar-sands oil have been burbling up into forest areas for at least six weeks in Cold Lake, Alberta, and it seems that nobody knows how to staunch the flow.

An underground oil blowout at a big tar-sands operation run by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has caused spills at four different sites over the past few months. . .

Media and others have been blocked from visiting the sites, but the Toronto Star obtained documents and photographs about the ongoing disaster from a government scientist involved in the cleanup, who spoke to the reporter on condition of anonymity.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Global
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Environment
Pollution
Water
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Problem

Wind at parity with new coal in India, solar to join by 2018: HSBC

Thu, 2013-07-18 10:13 — Gina Angiola

By on 11 July 2013

Wind energy is now cost competitive with new-build coal capacity in India, and solar is likely to follow suit sometime between 2016-18, according to a report by HSBC.

The report on India Renewables, Good bye winter, hello spring, published on April 30, says the growing cost-competitiveness of renewable energy with new-build coal – and the arrival of wind parity, despite the upper wind FiT range being around 15 per cent lower than the upper tariff range for new coal capacity (see chart 3 below) – is helping to drive strong renewables growth on the sub-continent.

India’s share of renewable generation in the total electricity mix increased to around 6 per cent in the 2012/13 financial year – an amount the government is hoping to grow to 20 per cent by the end of 2020, to help meet the nation’s a peak power deficit of 12GW, or around 9 per cent of its demand....

 

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Climate
Economics
Energy
Environment
Sustainable Development
Technology
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 
Solutions

Millennium Development Goals are Within Reach, but Stronger Efforts Needed – UN Report

Sat, 2013-07-06 11:59 — Kathy Gilbeaux

un.org

The Millennium Development Goals Report - 2013
(64 page .PDF report)

1 July 2013 – Thirteen years after the world set the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), countries have made big strides to meet the eight anti-poverty targets by their 2015 deadline, says a United Nations report released today, which stresses that the unmet goals are still within reach, but nations need to step up their efforts to achieve them.

“In more than a decade of experience in working towards the MDGs, we have learned that focused global development efforts can make a difference,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in the report's foreword, in which he urges for accelerated action to close development gaps.

“Now is the time to step up our efforts to build a more just, secure and sustainable future for all.”

Country / Region Tags: 
Global
General Topic Tags: 
Development
Education
Environment
Health
Sustainable Development
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Situation Report

China’s Next Chapter: The Infrastructure and Environmental Challenge

Thu, 2013-07-04 21:51 — Kathy Gilbeaux

mckinsey.com - June 2013

McKinsey’s Jonathan Woetzel explores China’s huge infrastructure program and the country’s plans to build sustainable urban clusters for hundreds of millions of its people.

“It’s safe to say that China has had the single-biggest buildout of infrastructure in the history of mankind,” says McKinsey’s Jonathan Woetzel. “And clearly still more to go.” Indeed, despite the progress resulting from hundreds of billions of dollars in investment over the past 15 years, the efficiency of China’s infrastructure still lags behind that of developed countries by decades.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Global
China
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Environment
Infrastructure
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Problem

Could Climate Bonds Become a Major Force in Green Finance?

Thu, 2013-06-27 13:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Albert Gomez

environmentalleader.com - June 3, 2013

So-called “green” or “climate” bonds, being issued by a number of financial institutions and state governments as a means of generating funding for sustainable development and clean energy technology, are becoming increasingly popular and could become a major new force in the green investment world, according to the Globe-Net.

The World Bank developed the Green Bond concept in 2007/2008 and simplicity is key to its popularity, according to Globe-Net blog post. The World Bank’s green bonds are triple-A rated and can be traded as easily as other “vanilla” investments, offering investors a high rate of liquidity.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Economics
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