By Claire Rigby15 April 2015 São Paulo (The Guardian) – With water levels worryingly low in at least two of São Paulo’s largest reservoirs, insecurity around water has become a fact of life for most paulistanos – as has a newfound interest in self-reliance and thrift: in stored water, rainwater collection and reduced usage. Yet […]
By John C. Cannon 20 May 2015 (mongabay.com) – More than 9,400 hectares of closed-canopy Amazonian rainforest has been removed for two oil palm plantations in the Peruvian region of Ucayali since 2011, according to scientists working for MAAP, the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project. The two plantations are linked to Czech entrepreneur Dennis […]
By Tiago Dantas 8 April 2015 [Translation by Bing] SÃO PAULO (O Globo) – The main reservoirs of São Paulo, Rio and Belo Horizonte have reached the end of the summer with at least 40% less water than they had at the beginning of April 2014. Although consumption of the population has fallen, experts assess […]
By Michaeleen Doucleff21 April 2015 (NPR) – Looks like many of us don’t have the right stomach for a paleodiet. Literally. Two studies give us a glimpse into our ancestors’ microbiome — you know, those trillions of bacteria that live in the human gut. And the take-home message of the studies is clear: Western diets […]
By Tanya Lewis24 April 2015 (Business Insider) – Earth Day, which was on April 22 this year, is a time to celebrate and protect the pale blue dot we call home. But some of its crown jewels may be vanishing. Many parts of the globe face threats from warming temperatures, sea level rise, drought, and […]
By Kaelyn Forde10 April 2015 (Al Jazeera) – Videos reportedly leaked by a whistleblower at the Chevron Corp. purport to show employees and consultants paid by the energy giant finding petroleum contamination at sites in the Ecuadorean Amazon that the company claimed was cleaned up years earlier. According to the environmental advocacy group Amazon Watch, […]
By Stan Lehman 2 April 2015 SÃO PAULO (Associated Press) – Brazil’s biggest city has recorded its rainiest March since 2008, but the worst drought in more than 80 years has left reservoir levels critically low and water experts fear that strict water rationing may still loom for São Paulo as it enters the April-September […]
By Priscila Jordao and Silvio Cascione; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn26 March 2015 SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil will import electricity from Argentina and Uruguay this year, the government said in its official gazette on Thursday, the latest step to fend off energy rationing as reservoirs of local hydroelectric plants remain at very low levels. […]
By Lourdes Garcia-Navarro10 March 2015 (NPR) – Geologists say the problem with wildcatters is that new wells are contaminating São Paulo’s natural aquifer not to mention damaging the structure of many buildings. Transcript RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST: In Brazil, prospectors are hoping to strike the mother load. And what they are drilling for isn’t your usual […]
9 March 2015 (The Economist) – February 2015 was the wettest month in the region around São Paulo since 1995, with rainfall 36% above the historical average [This isn’t evident from the graph. I think the author means “36% above the historical minimum.” –Des]. But the water emergency in South America’s biggest metropolis is not […]
