GLOBAL WARMING AND THE AFTER EFFECTS FOR BANGLADESH.

[Banglar Bir]

Mountain Valley Pipeline Project Threatens Ecosystems and Landscape of Virginia and West Virginia
by Jordan A. Bowman | Nov 18, 2016


The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) is strongly opposed to the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline project, which would detract significantly from the scenic landscape of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.), produce irreversible damage to local ecosystems, and potentially lead to millions of dollars in lost revenue for communities that rely on outdoor recreation-based tourism.

This rendering highlights the negative impact that the Mountain Valley Pipeline will have on the Virginia and West Virginia landscape,
disrupting iconic views along the A.T. for up to 100 miles.

The ATC has a history of working with various industries to ensure that the energy needs of the public are met while simultaneously preserving the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains and the unique hiking experience that the A.T. provides.

However, after studying the woefully inaccurate Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and witnessing the inadequacies of the environmental compliance process initiated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), we feel the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline threatens the A.T. on an unprecedented scale.

Background:

The Mountain Valley Pipeline is designed to deliver natural gas to Virginia and West Virginia, though it has been mired in controversy since its initial proposal. The pipeline would carry fracked natural gas for over 300 miles through the Virginia and West Virginia countryside, crossing over dozens of water sources, protected areas and, at one point, over the A.T. itself. The proposed project fails to meet numerous criteria the ATC laid out in a 2015 policy offering guidance on proposed natural gas pipeline projects.

The ATC, the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and many other local stakeholders provided input on how the project could be adjusted to avoid unnecessary environmental hazards and unsightly alterations to Appalachian vistas — including following existing infrastructure corridors already cut into the landscape — but, unfortunately, almost all of this advice went unheeded.

Here are some of the major concerns we have about the Mountain Valley Pipeline:

• Permanent damage to iconic views along the Appalachian Trail
  The FERC DEIS failed to study the visual impact the Mountain Valley Pipeline would have on the A.T. and the surrounding area. Multiple iconic viewpoints in Virginia are predicted to be severely impacted, including Angels Rest, Kelly Knob, Rice Fields, Dragons Tooth and McAfee Knob — some of the most visited and photographed locations on the entire A.T. The proposed route for the project would require the cutting of a 500-foot corridor around the pipeline, which would effectively eliminate thousands of acres of pristine forest. The ATC will be performing its own visual simulations to understand the full impact of the pipeline, though we predict that the pipeline corridor could be viewed from over 20 miles away at many viewpoints.
  
• Health and safety concerns for nearby communities and the surrounding environment.
  Numerous safety concerns loom over the Mountain Valley Pipeline as well. Situated on land that is geologically unstable — literally crossing over a designated seismic zone — the risk of severe erosion, landslides and pipeline failure are extremely high. Such instability also poses a high likelihood of natural gas leaks, which could poison the surrounding environment and contaminate the groundwater used by nearby communities.
  
• Harmful changes to the Jefferson National Forest Management Plan
  In order to accommodate the visual and environmental damage that would be caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the U.S. Forest Service agreed to lower the Jefferson National Forest Management Plan standards for water quality, visual impacts, the removal of old-growth forest, and the number of simultaneous projects passing through the borders of federally protected land. This unprecedented change is extremely ill-considered, not only because it would permit the Mountain Valley Pipeline to destroy thousands of acres of pristine forest, but it would open the gates for future infrastructure projects to cause similar destruction. All of these changes were made without sufficient public review or input from other partners — a rash and dangerous change from the standards previously established through decades of cooperation.
  
• A potentially significant impact on the economy for nearby communities.
  The negative impact this pipeline would have on nearby Pearisburg and Narrows, Virginia — each a designated A.T. Community™ — would reach beyond safety concerns. These communities are staunch supporters of the A.T. and benefit from tourism dollars provided by hikers and other visitors. This economic study highlights some of the potential impacts the pipeline would have on the income and property values in the surrounding areas.Both Pearisburg and Narrows have passed resolutions opposing the pipeline, as the wellbeing of their communities may be at risk.
  

The ATC does not take this position lightly — for months, we have attempted to find ways to minimize environmental and visual impacts through collaboration with Mountain Valley Pipeline officials and the project's various partners, including the U.S. Forest Service. However, due to the massive impact the proposed project would have on the Appalachian Trail, the surrounding environment, and multiple communities and small businesses, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy strongly opposes the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and we urge our members, the A.T. hiking community, outdoor lovers, and the citizens of Virginia and West Virginia to stand with us.

Take Action:

• Be informed about the proposal. Learn more about the proposed project here.
• Contact FERC directly to voice your concerns. A prewritten, editable letter to FERC Secretary Kimberly Bose can be found here.

Nick Dobbs
Yesterday at 17:40
This is not ok. We have the technology and resources to be completely independent from fossil fuels for energy, but our politicians and media are stuck in the energy companies pockets. If you thought the Flint water crisis was bad, just wait. It isn't a matter of "if" it is a matter of "when" any pipeline will malfunction and leak. Do your research and if you want to take action, visit the ATC's link here



https://www.appalachiantrail.org/ho...s-and-landscape-of-virginia-and-west-virginia

 

[Banglar Bir]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...bal-warming-a7432646.html?cmpid=facebook-post

Strange, super-hot temperatures at the Arctic mean that sea ice is melting
The ice should start coming back over the last few weeks, but it hasn’t

• Andrew Griffin
• @_andrew_griffin
• 3 minutes ago
• 2 comments

Click to follow
The Independent Online

A polar bear sow and two cubs are seen on the Beaufort Sea coast within the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in this undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Image Library on December 21, 2005 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout
Strange events in the Arctic appear to suggest that something very troubling is happening with the sea ice there, scientists have said.

The North Pole is experiencing hugely unexpected hot sea temperatures, which are stopping the usual ice from forming and could be a mark that something global warming is having even more worrying effects than previously thought.

In most years, the sun goes down in mid-October and that serves as a signal that the sea ice will start coming back as the water freezes. But this year that ice is actually melting, because intense heat is stopping the usual processes from happening.

10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change
Scientists say that heat has never been seen in previous years and is “off the charts” when compared with what has happened before. Temperatures have been as much as 20C hotter than where they usually should be.

View image on Twitter

Follow
Zack Labe

✔@ZLabe
Okay, maybe time to let the #Arctic know what season it is -> another drop in #seaice extent from the last 24-hours (3rd day in a row, JAXA)

9:30 AM - 20 Nov 2016 · Irvine, CA
Part of that is the result of cold weather over northern Russia that’s on its way to the Arctic. When it arrives there, the freezing should begin and much of the ice that should already be there will appear.

But because of that effect, there’s likely to be problems over the next year because the ice will be thinner. And the hot air itself is likely to cause strange weather, with the cold air being pushed further south.

• READ MORE

North Pole above freezing amid 'sudden' climate change
The unusual melting and lack of freezing doesn’t necessarily mean that scientists have underestimated the extent of climate change so much as the effect that climate change will have on sea ice.

The concern about the planet’s poles is actually worry about two effects. In the Arctic, the sea ice recovery usually happens around this time, and isn’t; but in the Antarctic, sea ice levels are also falling far more quickly than would usually be expected.

Antarctica would usually lose sea ice during this period, but it is melting far quicker than expected. That’s thought partly to be the result of climate change, but also is happening because of the effects of the El Nino that wreaked havoc on the world’s weather last year.

Climate scientists have traditionally resisted using the amount of sea ice as a measure of the climate, in part because it underestimates the effects.

“Lumping the two together has been a climate denier tactic in the past to mask out the sharp drop in Arctic sea ice in recent years,” wrote meteorologist Eric Holthaus.

Mr Holthaus also wrote that climate change might actually lead to more sea ice in the coming years.

“On the one hand, increased ice mass loss and freshwater output from Antarctica may actually lead to increased sea ice in the next few decades because freshwater freezes more quickly than saltwater. On the other hand, temperatures are going up—not good news if you're an ice cube.”

• More about:
• climate change
• Global Warming

 

[Banglar Bir]

Watch Tidal Surge After Mag.-7.4 Quake Hits Japanese Coast
TUE, NOV 22

A major offshore quake led to a surge on the Sunaoshi River and cooling was suspended at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-tidal-surge-after-mag-7-4-quake-hits-japanese-coast-81500576378

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-tidal-surge-after-mag-7-4-quake-hits-japanese-coast-815005763789

Tesla, SolarCity Power Entire Island With Solar + Batteries

Ta'u, an island in American Samoa, has turned its nose at fossil fuels and is now almost 100 percent powered with solar panels and batteries thanks to technology from the newly combined Tesla and SolarCity.


The microgrid is operated by American Samoa Power Authority and was funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior.

Radio New Zealand reported that the $8 million project will significantly reduce fuel costs for the island, which is located more than 4,000 miles from the west coast of the U.S. Ta'u's 600 residents previously relied on shipments of diesel for power. At times, a shipment could not arrive on the island for months, meaning the island had to power ration and faced reoccurring outages.

But the new microgrid replaces this reliance on dirty fuels with more affordable solar energy, as Peter Rive, SolarCity co-founder and CTO, detailed in a blog post about the project, adding that the microgrid is designed to optimize system performance and maximize savings.

http://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-solarcity-tau-samoa-island-2104960096.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Slovenia Declares Water A Human Right By Amending Constitution
Activism · Environment · Most Popular · News · Positive News

ByWhitney Webb
Posted on November 21, 2016

Last Friday, Slovenia amended its constitution to protect its abundant clean water supplies from corporate greed.

Credit – at-web.org


In 2013, Nestle’s then-CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe drew the ire of many when he declared that water is not a human right, but a market commodity. Nestle, the world’s largest food company, has been a leader among corporations involved in the privatization of water, often outbidding communities for the right to manage their own water supplies. Though Brabeck-Letmathe’s sentiments are shared by several Western governments, the country of Slovenia has stood up to corporate greed and has enshrined access to clean drinking water as a human right guaranteed by the nation’s constitution. Slovenia’s 90-seat parliament voted 64 in favor and 0 against to add an article to its constitution which states that “everyone has the right to drinkable water.” The article also rejects the idea that water is a market commodity, instead declaring that “water resources represent a public good that is managed by the state. The Slovenian Democratic Party, who oppose the current ruling party, chose to abstain from voting, saying that amending the constitution was unnecessary and aimed at boosting the ruling party’s popularity.

Though many Americans are most familiar with Slovenia as the birthplace of soon-to-be First Lady Melania Trump, the mountainous nation in Eastern Europe is home to abundant fresh water resources with more than half of its territory covered in native forest. Earlier this year, Slovenia was also declared the world’s most green destination and its capital, Ljubljana, was named the greenest European capital city.

This latest move to protect the nation’s water resources from exploitation will likely further cement the nation’s green reputation. Miro Cerar, the Slovenian prime minister, called clean drinking water “the 21st century’s liquid gold” and called for lawmakers to vote in favor of the amendment to protect the nation’s water resources “at the highest level.” Cerar added:

“Slovenian water has very good quality and, because of its value, in the future it will certainly be the target of foreign countries and international corporations’ appetites. As it will gradually become a more valuable commodity in the future, pressure over it will increase and we must not give in.”

Cerar was very wise to have such foresight as the world’s water wars are set to begin much sooner than many people realize. In the US, NASA scientists have argued that California will run out of water entirely by 2017 as the long-standing drought in the area continues to take its toll. In other areas of the world, droughts, desertification, and mismanagement have already to water crises in many countries that are not likely to get better any time soon. Entire ethnicities are already in danger of going extinct due to no water access. However, the issues receives little play on the corporate media or even on the alternative media, meaning that many people and nations will fail to take the necessary precautionary steps that Slovenia is currently taking. Meanwhile, private corporations like Nestle are expanding their extraction of fresh water, bottling it and selling it for profit. In one particularly horrific example, Nestle is set to triple its water extraction from an aquifer in Michigan only 120 miles from the embattled town of Flint, where residents have not had access to clean drinking water for over a year.

Between the environmental devastation and corporate greed, water as a resource is already under threat. These criminal corporations, and the governments that support them, must be forced to relinquish their pursuit of water privatization before it’s too late.

What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!

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[Banglar Bir]

Tesla & Solar City Just Shattered the Energy Paradigm — Power Entire Island with Solar Energy
Jay Syrmopoulos November 23, 2016

EcoWatch.

The microgrid is operated by American Samoa Power Authority and was funded by the American Samoa Economic Development Authority, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Interior.

The ambitious project is meant to show exactly why the SolarCity acquisition was a smart move, as Elon Musk has a larger “Master Plan” to integrate clean energy and storage – a move that could completely change the world’s current energy paradigm. The move was lampooned by many market analysts as too risky for Tesla, due to SolarCity’s lack of profitability, which currently only makes $1 revenue for every $6 spent – but those analysts are most likely not visionary thinkers like Musk.

Reports indicate that the microgrid will allow the island to maintain full power for three days without any sunlight, and a full recharging capacity time of seven hours.

“Factoring in the escalating cost of fuel, along with transporting such mass quantities to the small island, the financial impact is substantial,” SolarCity co-founder and CTO, Peter Rive wrote in a blog post about the project. Rive noted that the microgrid also eliminates “the hazards of power intermittency” and makes “outages a thing of the past.”

Local businesses, and essential services like the hospital, police, and fire stations, will all be run off solar power, according to EcoWatch.
“Before today, every time we turned on the light, turn on the television, turn on maybe the air conditioner, all of the cash registers in China, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia go ‘cha-ching,’ but not after today,” SolarCity market development director Jon Yoshimura told Radio New Zealand. “We will keep more of that money here, where it belongs.”

“Ta’u is not a postcard from the future, it’s a snapshot of what is possible right now,” Rive wrote. “Renewable power is an economical, practical solution for a growing number of locations and energy needs, and islands that have traditionally relied on fossil fuels can easily transition to microgrids powered by solar and storage today.”

With the merger of SolarCity and Tesla, and a visionary like Musk at the helm, it looks as future of clean energy is now. As the technology becomes more widespread the cost of solar products will fall dramatically, and thus will begin a true paradigm shift in the distribution of energy.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/tesla-solar-city-power-entire-island/#56QkxlicTqtI3wg8.99

 

[Banglar Bir]

Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’


Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding as the president-elect seeks to shift focus away from home in favor of deep space exploration



A Nasa Earth photo shows the Bruckner and Heim glaciers where they flow into the Johan Petersen fjord in southeastern Greenland. Photograph: Jeremy Harbeck/AFP/Getty Images
Oliver Milman in New York

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...p-eliminate-climate-change-research?CMP=fb_gu
@olliemilman
Wednesday 23 November 2016 05.00 GMTLast modified on Wednesday 23 November 2016 22.00 GMT
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Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.

Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.

This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.

Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.

“We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.

“My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing Nasa programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr Trump’s decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.”


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A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’. Photograph: Massimo Rumi / Barcroft Images
Trump has previously said that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, although on Tuesday he said there is “some connectivity” between human actions and the climate. There is overwhelming and long-established evidence that burning fossil fuels and deforestation causes the release of heat-trapping gases, therefore causing the warming experienced in recent decades.

FacebookTwitterPinterest
‘No one’s an exception’: toll of climate change, from US to the Marshall Islands – video
Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”

Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential.”
Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, said Nasa has a “critical and unique role” in observing Earth and climate change.

“Without the support of Nasa, not only the US but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change,” he said.

“It would be a blatantly political move, and would indicate the president-elect’s willingness to pander to the very same lobbyists and corporate interest groups he derided throughout the campaign.”

Nasa has appointed two officials, Tom Cremins and Jolene Meidinger, to lead the transition to the new Trump administration. However, the president-elect’s team has yet to formally review the space agency.

“The Nasa community is committed to doing whatever we can to assist in making the executive branch transition a smooth one,” a Nasa spokesman said. “The agency remains focused on the future, a future that will improve our understanding of our changing home planet from Nasa’s unique platforms in space.”

 

[Banglar Bir]

UNFCCC
Sponsored ·
Business solutions to climate change are not expenses, they are profitable investments. See video on global climate action in business and industry at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (#COP22) in Marrakech.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154538264150867

 

[Banglar Bir]

Farmers bear the brunt of extreme weather caused by climate change. At the same time, agriculture – particularly meat production - is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions that heat the atmosphere. Implementing tools that build resilience to climate change can help farmers curb emissions and reduce poverty and hunger at the same time. See video on global #ClimateAction on agriculture at the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech (#COP22).

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154543454290867

 

[Banglar Bir]

Chile is generating so much solar power that it’s giving it away for free

• 06/03/2016
• under Alternative Energy, Environment, News, Renewable Energy, Solar Power

by Cat DiStasio

VIEW SLIDESHOW
In recent years, Chile has invested so much in its solar power industry that the country is now generating more electricity from the sun than it knows what to do with. A new report reveals that spot prices on solar electricity dropped to zero for 113 days of the year through April, and many more days of free solar power are expected to come. Taking advantage of free solar power is a huge benefit for residents, but analysts are concerned about how this will impact the market, since investors and owners of solar power plants may lose money.

• 
• 
  
• 

Solar power fed to Chile’s central grid has quadrupled in capacity since 2013. The grid is now fed by 29 solar farms, and another 15 are planned for construction in the future. But Chile has two power networks in play: a central grid and a northern grid, which are not connected. Infrastructure in some areas of each grid is poor, so there are places where the grids simply cannot transmit as much electricity. Due to the age-old principle of supply and demand, some areas have more electricity than they need, driving prices down, while other areas are under-served. In areas served by the northern part of the central grid, power surpluses have driven the price to zero, and this year’s figures are on target to meet or exceed last year’s number of free solar power days, which was 192. Simultaneously, areas under-served by the grid are experiencing higher than normal prices.




Critics are concerned about the long-term effects of the massive solar industry growth, without the necessary infrastructure updates to handle the increased capacity. As Carlos Barria, former chief of the government’s renewable energy division and a professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, in Santiago, told Bloomberg: “[President] Michelle Bachelet’s government has set the energy sector as a priority,” said Carlos Finat, president of the country’s renewable association, known as Acera. “But planning has been focused in the short term when it is necessary to have long term plans to solve these type of issues.”

Related: Chile introduces world’s first metro to be powered largely by renewables

Chile is responding to the need for better energy infrastructure, though. Construction is underway on a 3,000 kilometer (1,865 mile) transmission line to link the two grids by 2017. A separate 753km (468 mile) line is also in development, designed to alleviate congestion in the northern parts of the central grid, where excess electricity is driving prices down to zero.

Via Bloomberg

Images via Wikimedia and Taiyang News

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[dray]

After effect is a sinking Bangladesh and Bangladeshis turning into mermaids due to evolution.

 

[Nabil365]

After effect is a sinking Bangladesh and Bangladeshis turning into mermaids due to evolution.

And west bengal will become a habitat for mermaids.

 

[dray]

And west bengal will become a habitat for mermaids.

No way, we will seal our borders.

 

[Nabil365]

No way, we will seal our borders.

Don't worry people living in West bengal has to develop a pair of wings and fly away to other states also,that land will be useless.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...es-to-warming-effects/articleshow/5222638.cms

 

[dray]

Don't worry people living in West bengal has to develop a pair of wings and fly away to other states also,that land will be useless.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...es-to-warming-effects/articleshow/5222638.cms

Entire India is for all Indians, no worries.

 

[Bheemsen]

Sooner these bangladeshis drown the better