27 April 2015, Climate News Network: Well drilling has deep impact on Great Plains’ health. Loss of vegetation on North America’s vast rangelands as a result of a huge increase in oil and gas wells invokes memories of the 1930s Dust Bowl disaster. Oil wells and natural gas may have made individual Americans rich, but they have impoverished the great plains of North America, according to new research. Fossil fuel prospectors have sunk 50,000 new wells a year since 2000 in three Canadian provinces and 11 US states, and have damaged the foundation of all economic growth: net primary production − otherwise known as biomass, or vegetation. Brady Allred, assistant professor of rangeland ecology at the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation, and colleagues write in the journal Science. Read More here
Category Archives: Fossil Fuel Reduction
20 April 2015, RTCC, Australia’s climate plans probed by UN partners World’s biggest emitters call out inadequate pollution-cutting targets in questions submitted through the UN: Australia has come under scrutiny for unambitious plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions. China, the US, Brazil and the EU have probed the country’s resolve to cut CO2 by 5% from 2000 levels by 2020 through its UN forum. That is just half the pace of US proposals, as almost 200 nations prepare to roll out pledges in the coming months towards a new global climate deal. And Climate Action Tracker estimates the country is on track for a rise of 12-18%, not even meeting its goal. Since prime minister Tony Abbott scrapped its main environment policy, a carbon tax, analysts say Australia will struggle to curb emissions. Read More here