HACKENSACK, New Jersey, 10 March 2013 (Associated Press) – Thousands of Jersey Shore owners whose homes were flooded by Superstorm Sandy are now facing the most crucial decision yet: raise, sell, or raze. Is it cheaper to elevate or demolish? How long a wait will there be for insurance and grant money? Can the emotional […]
JAMESTOWN, Virginia, 10 March 2013 (Associated Press) – Rising sea levels are threatening Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English settlement in North America. Jamestown Island, where most of Jamestown is located, lies 3 feet or less above the tidal James River. Scientists project that it will be underwater by 2100, but flooding will […]
By Stephen Leahy11 March 2013 UXBRIDGE, Canada (IPS) – “Canada is not a country, it’s winter,” Canadians say with pride. But the nation’s long, fearsome winters will live only in memory and song for Canadian children born this decade. Winters are already significantly warmer and shorter than just 30 years ago. The temperature regimes and […]
By Ashley Southall8 March 2013 (The New York Times) – George P. Shultz, a former Republican cabinet secretary, seems an unlikely figure to fight for climate change, which is largely the political turf of Democrats. But climate change was exactly why Mr. Shultz, who is best remembered as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state, came to […]
By Brad Lendon8 March 2013 (CNN) – A U.S. plan to give new protection to polar bears was voted down Thursday at an international conference on endangered species. The American delegation at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, had sought a ban on […]
By MARGARET SULLIVAN5 March 2013 (The New York Times) – Judging by appearances, things are not looking good for environmental reporting at The Times. In January, The Times dismantled its environmental reporting “pod” – a group of reporters and editors solely devoted to that subject who worked with one another to develop stories and projects. […]
By Blaine Friedlander4 March 2013 (Cornell Chronicle) – If you believe that last October’s Superstorm Sandy was a freak of nature — the confluence of unusual meteorological, atmospheric and celestial events — think again. Cornell and Rutgers researchers report in the March issue of Oceanography that the severe loss of summertime Arctic sea ice — […]
By Lisa Song for InsideClimate News, part of the Guardian Environment Network 6 March 2013 (guardian.co.uk) – The State Department’s recent conclusion that the Keystone XL pipeline “is unlikely to have a substantial impact” on the rate of Canada’s oil sands development was based on analysis provided by two consulting firms with ties to oil […]
By ERIC LIPTON and MATTHEW L. WALD26 February 2013 (The New York Times) – Alarms sounded and lights flashed as control panel dials at a nuclear power plant in upstate New York warned that the power for safety equipment was failing. The room went dark until the emergency lights kicked in. But there was no […]
By Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Lisa Shumaker5 March 2013 (Reuters) – A Washington state lawmaker has apologized for telling a bike store owner, in a spat over a proposed bike fee, that bicyclists can cause pollution – just by breathing out carbon dioxide. Ed Orcutt, a ranking Republican member of the […]
