Vast Environmental Sustainability News and Information from http://www.EcoEarth.Info/: An Information Gateway Empowering the Movement for Environmental Sustainability

Independent: The coldest night of winter so far left the majority of Britain blanketed in snow as temperatures dropped to -12C. Drivers were warned to take extra care and planes were grounded, including at London Heathrow where one-in-three flights scheduled for today are expected to be cancelled. A host of sporting fixtures were also postponed. The evening match at Manchester City had to pause temporarily so the pitch markings could be made clear. In Beeston, Nottinghamshire, there were more serious...

Independent: The bitterly cold weather sweeping Britain and the rest of Europe has been linked by scientists with the ice-free seas of the Arctic, where global warming is exerting its greatest influence. A dramatic loss of sea ice covering the Barents and Kara Seas above northern Russia could explain why a chill Arctic wind has engulfed much of Europe and killed 221 people over the past week. The death toll from Arctic blast has been particularly severe in the Ukraine, where many of the dead have been people...

Independent: f everyone in the UK went vegetarian or vegan it would have the same environmental benefit as talking half of all cars off the road, according to new research. Scientists have calculated the impact of 61 foods, with fresh meat and cheese topping the carbon footprint league. They estimate that the combined greenhouse gas emissions from the foods we eat in the UK are the equivalent of 167 million tons of carbon dioxide, and switching to vegetarian diets could cut this by between 22 and 26 per cent....

Deccan Chronicle: The Politics of Climate Change and the Global Crisis: Mortgaging Our Future by Praful Bidwai Orient Blackswan, Rs 750 Praful Bidwai’s book The Politics of Climate Change and the Global Crisis: Mortgaging Our Future is written at a time of deep diplomatic despondency. It is brutally honest about what is at risk if no action is taken at the national and international level. It exposes the false solution offered by India in its National Action Plan on Climate Change, and its chasing the nuclear...

BBC: About 100 people have gathered in Enniskillen to demonstrate against the use of fracking to extract gas from shale rock in County Fermanagh. Earlier this week an exploration company said there could be enough gas to guarantee natural gas supply for Northern Ireland over 50 years. However, the process has proved controversial elsewhere. In Lancashire, it has caused small earthquakes and in America, water has been polluted. The process used in capturing the gas from the shale rock is hydraulic...

National Public Radio: DAVID GREENE, HOST: Imagine a place on earth where there's been no light, no wind for millions of years. Lake Vostok is one such place. The world's third largest lake, in terms of amount of water, has long been hidden, buried beneath two miles of ice until, perhaps, this coming week. Russian researchers are about to break through that ice. And to tell us what they might find and what dangers they may encounter, we've brought in John Priscu. He's a researcher at Montana State University who's...

Agence France-Presse: EU climate chief Connie Hedegaard acknowledged Friday that "difficult and unpleasant" negotiations lay ahead with countries like India and China to agree a global framework to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Hedegaard played an instrumental role at UN climate talks in Durban last December in building consensus towards a legal accord that for the first time will bring all major emitters under a single legal roof. The agreement was seen as a breakthrough, given India and China's long-held opposition...

Holland Sentinel: De Bruyn Seed store manager Jan Meeuwsen knew it before the government told her: You can grow a redbud tree in Holland, but never in Grand Rapids. The Holland area doesn`t get as cold in the winter as Grand Rapids does, a fact that`s more accurately depicted in an updated map released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The new guide arrives just as many home gardeners are receiving their seed catalogs and dreaming of lush flower beds in the spring. The Plant Hardiness Zone Map - sometimes...

Santa Barbar Independent: Blooms, or proliferation, of jellyfish have shown a substantial, visible impact on coastal populations - clogged nets for fishermen, stinging waters for tourists, even choked intake lines for power plants - and recent media reports have created a perception that the world`s oceans are experiencing increases in jellyfish due to human activities such as global warming and overharvesting of fish. Now, a new global and collaborative study conducted at UC Santa Barbara`s National Center for Ecological...

Daily Press: With its low-lying military bases and waterfront houses, Hampton Roads is more vulnerable to sea-level rise than most of the United States. Yet there is no coordinated plan to adapt to waters that, combined with slow-sinking land around the Chesapeake Bay, threaten to submerge entire neighborhoods by 2100. One Republican and six Democratic state lawmakers hope to change that with a first-of-its-kind study that would inventory what's been done and what can be done to mitigate the effects of...

The Hill: Democrats this week opened an aggressive front to counter the Republican push to green-light the Keystone XL pipeline, alleging the project will do little to improve U.S. energy security. The move is meant to undercut Republicans’ rationale for speedy approval of the Alberta-to-Texas pipeline – that the project will make the United States less reliant on oil from unstable nations. Democrats in the House and Senate revived long-standing concerns this week that oil from the project will be exported...

New York Times: Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities. They are showing up at planning meetings to denounce bike lanes on public streets and smart meters on home appliances — efforts they equate...

New York Times: The water that once nourished this central Texas community never traveled far: it came from a fenced-in well at the edge of Lake Travis, down a winding street next to the golf course. These days, the water that flows from kitchen and bathroom faucets takes an extraordinary journey that can be measured not in feet but in miles. This drought-stricken place in the scenic hills outside Austin has been forced to bring in water by truck from more than 10 miles away because its sole well came close to...

Vancouver Sun: As Christy Clark’s Liberals tie British Columbia’s economic future to an unprecedented natural gas boom, proponents of the province’s renewable energy resources hope for an opportunity to join in. B.C., predisposed to both massive and small-scale hydroelectric power development, has been one of the world’s laggards in terms of wind energy. Independent power producers say B.C. has tremendous potential for wind power development -- but so far, BC Hydro’s preference has been for small-scale hydro...

National Public Radio: Sturgeon have been swimming around for more than 200 million years, but their eggs are sought after for caviar. This week, the National Marine Fisheries Service placed the Atlantic sturgeon on its endangered species list. Guest host David Greene speaks with Dr. Ellen Pikitch, executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University.