In Mexican villages, few are left to dream of U.S. – ‘It’s a new Mexico, it’s a new United States, and the interaction between them is new’

By DAMIEN CAVE 2 April 2013 EL CARGADERO, Mexico (The New York Times) – The pretty houses in the hills here, with their bright paint and new additions, clearly display the material benefits of having millions of workers move to the United States over the past few decades. But these simple homes also reveal why […]

Total SA dumps Canada oil sands project for $1.65 billion loss

[Hopefully, the market will decide against further expansion of this disaster.] By Jen Alic, OilPrice.com31 March 2013 France’s Total SA (NYSE: TOT) will sell its 49% stake in its Canadian oil sands project to Suncor Energy Inc. for $500 million, netting the French oil giant a $1.65 billion loss on the beleaguered project. Total would […]

Record-sized Lake Erie algae bloom of 2011 likely to become regular occurrence, study says – ‘Everything is trending in the direction of conditions conducive to more large blooms’

By John Mangels1 April 2013 (The Plain Dealer) – The record-shattering glut of toxic algae that fouled much of Lake Erie in 2011 wasn’t a fluke, but a sign of what’s likely ahead for the troubled lake, researchers say. A combination of weather extremes and long-standing farming practices that unwittingly aid algae growth spawned the […]

U.S. dominated global disaster losses in 2012: Swiss Re

By Andrew Freedman 1 April 2013 (Climate Central) – The insurance industry had its third-most expensive year on record in 2012, with global economic losses from natural catastrophes and manmade disasters totaling $186 billion, according to a report released March 27 by the reinsurance giant Swiss Re. The total insured losses for the year was […]

Drought has stranglehold on U.S. West

By Andrew Freedman and Daniel Yawitz29 March 2013 (Climate News Network) – The extended drought continues to choke the Western half of the country, with water supply concerns rising in New Mexico and Texas as anxiety about another bone-dry summer is raised. This week, the dryness grew worse in Texas while expanding into California, Montana, […]

Canada defends pulling out of UN convention on droughts – ‘A departure from global citizenship’

OTTAWA, Ontario, 29 March 2013 (AP) – Canada defended its decision to pull out of a United Nations convention that fights the spread of droughts just a month before a major gathering would have forced the country to confront scientific analysis on the effects of climate change. Canada is the only country in the world […]

EPA to study flame retardant chemicals

By Kate Sheppard29 March 2013 (Mother Jones) – The EPA announced this week that it will study the health and environmental risks of 23 chemicals, with an emphasis on chemical flame retardants that are found in many common products. [cf. Blood levels of flame-retardant chemicals doubling every few years in North Americans] Even though they […]

Delmarva Peninsula residents must come to terms with sea level rise

29 March 2013 (DelmarvaNow) – Last October’s Hurricane Sandy was a costly affair for Somerset County, hitting Crisfield residents especially hard, with flood waters up to 5 feet deep that destroyed property and in the aftermath, shook the town’s economic and physical foundations. There was little time to escape rapidly rising waters as the storm […]

Colony collapse disorder expanded drastically in 2012 – Bee death rate ‘much higher than it’s ever been’

By MICHAEL WINES28 March 2013 BAKERSFIELD, California (The New York Times) – A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s […]

Most in U.S. concerned about sea level rise, poll finds – ‘The question is, how does public support for preparation translate to action?’

By Neela Banerjee, neela.banerjee@latimes.com28 March 2013 WASHINGTON (Los Angeles Times) – An overwhelming majority of Americans is convinced that sea level rise resulting from climate change poses a significant threat to the United States and coastal communities should invest in preparing for the risks, according to a survey released Thursday by Stanford University. The study […]

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