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.

Earth May Lose Up To Half Its Plant Species

  By

SCIENCE
23 MAY 2008 VOL 320

The Threat to the World’s Plants

A day after polar bears made headlines last week, the world’s leading
botanical gardens issued a call to remember threatened plants, too.
Their new report, Plants and Climate Change: Which Future? makes the
case for protecting the botanical foundations of terrestrial life.
“If you read any report about the impact of climate change, it’s
almost always about polar bears or tigers,” said Suzanne Sharrock,
director of Global Programmes for Botanic Gardens Conservation
International (BGCI) in London and a co-author of the report.

Continue reading

More on Upcoming Atlantic Hurricane Season

  By

U.S. government sees active Atlantic hurricane season
Thu May 22, 2008 2:27pm EDT   By Christopher Doering

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season will be active with 12 to 16 named storms, six to nine of which are expected to become hurricanes, the U.S. government’s top climate agency predicted on Thursday.

Of the six to nine hurricanes forecast for the season starting June 1, two to five will be major ones of Category 3 or higher with winds above 110 miles per hour, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its annual preseason forecast.

Continue reading

The Costs of Denial

  By

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2008
11:51 AM

CONTACT: NRDC
Eric Young, NRDC, 202-289-2373 or 703-217-6814 (cell)
 
 
New Report Finds Doing Nothing on Global Warming Comes with a Huge Price Tag
 
WASHINGTON, DC – May 22 – A report released today by researchers at Tufts University, commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), presents two ways of estimating the costs of inaction on climate change, both leading to staggering bottom lines. A comprehensive estimate, based on state-of-the-art computer modeling, finds that doing nothing on global warming will cost the United States economy more than 3.6 percent of GDP – or $3.8 trillion annually (in today’s dollars) – by 2100. On the other hand, a detailed, bottom-up analysis finds that just four categories of global warming impacts — hurricane damage, real estate losses, increased energy costs and water costs — will add up to a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today’s dollars) by 2100.

Continue reading

Construction/Demolition: Energy, Water, Waste, Emissions

  By

——————————–
“The U.S. generates 136 million tons of
construction- and demolition-related wastes every
day. Demolition debris alone can contribute to up
to 40% of the country’s waste.”

“When a buildings’ energy and water requirements
are added in, it becomes clear that their
environmental impact is huge. Buildings swallow
up to 30-40% of the world’s energy and 16% of the
planet’s water requirement …”
————————————————-

Environmental Science & Technology
<http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2008/may/science/rc_buildings.html>

May 21, 2008
Built to demolish, demolish to build

All things must come to the end of their lives,
and buildings are no exception. When buildings
die, they end up in heaps of rubble that make
their way into landfills. Only some parts-the
metals and some of the concrete-get recycled.
Consequently, dead and demolished buildings can
contribute up to 40% of a country’s waste
materials.

Continue reading