Category: RT Newswire

USE ME! Essentially, this is a catch all for everything. This is probably the ONLY category where things that are not directly related to Rising Tide affiliates/allies should go. For example if a coal company goes out of business (and we didn’t directly cause it) it should probably only go here.

Oceans Warming, Rising Faster

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Scientific sleuths find seas warming, rising faster
Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:01am EDT  By David Fogarty

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Scientific detective work has uncovered a decades-old glitch in ocean temperature measurements and revealed that the world’s seas are warming and rising faster than previously reported.

An international team of scientists, reporting their findings on Thursday in the journal Nature, looked at millions of ship-based measurements taken since 1950, but particularly from 1960, and revealed an error in data from a common probe called an XBT.

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NZ Engineers Convicted for Depleting Ozone Layer

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NZ engineers convicted for depleting ozone layer
Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:39am EDT 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Two refrigeration engineers have been convicted by a New Zealand court for depleting the ozone layer.

The country’s Ministry for Economic Development prosecuted the two men in the first ever case taken under a 1996 law protecting the ozone layer.

The pair released an ozone depleting substance, chlorodifluoromethane HCFC22, into the atmosphere as they were repairing a drinks chiller, and ignored a warning that it was hazardous.

The Ministry said it took the case as a warning to industry. The two were convicted and fined NZ$750 each ($568).

Permits are needed to handle HCFCs, which will be banned under an international agreement from 2015.

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Brazil Backs Amazon Soy Ban

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Brazil throws weight behind Amazon soy ban
Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:20am EDT  By Ana Nicolaci da Costa

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s new environment minister reached an agreement with the grain processing industry to ban purchases of soy from deforested Amazon until July 2009, winning praise from environmentalists.

“This same initiative will be extended to two other sectors — the timber sector and the beef sector,” Environment Minister Carlos Minc said while praising the grain industry and non-governmental organizations for a “pioneering” initiative.

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Australia in Grip of Tenacious Drought: 2 Stories

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Australian rivers ‘face disaster’ 
By Nick Bryant  BBC News, Sydney 

Australia is facing is worst drought in a century

Parts of Australia’s vital Murray-Darling river basin will be beyond the point of recovery unless they receive water by October.

That is the verdict of an expert panel whose leaked report warns of dire consequences like the loss of wetlands, vegetation and some fish species.

The Green party has hit out at the government for deferring consideration of the report until November.

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