Young and old hockey stars reach for the puck in a game of shinny on a frozen pond in Palgrave, something the NHL worries may become less possible as the climate changes.  Jim Wilkes / TORONTO STAR

Hockey is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, for good reason: more than other pro sports, it depends on cold weather and clean water.

thestar.com - by Kevin McGran - July 23, 2014

(CNN) -- A doctor who has played a key role in fighting the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone is infected with the disease, according to that country's Ministry of Health.

Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan is being treated by the French aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres -- also known as Doctors Without Borders -- in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, Tim Shenk, an agency spokesman, told CNN.

(Read complete article here)

NHL Commissioner to receive 2014 Environmental Leadership Award

nhl.com - July 21, 2014

The Green Sports Alliance will honor NHL commissioner Gary Bettman with the 2014 Green Sports Alliance Environmental Leadership Award for his visionary work and guidance in establishing NHL Green and promoting sustainable business practices across the League.

The Green Sports Alliance Environmental Leadership Award is presented to a member of the sports industry who has demonstrated leadership and has provided significant contributions to environmental sustainability. The award is voted on by the Green Sports Alliance Board of Directors, which is comprised of representatives from professional sports organizations, leading environmental nonprofits and other organizations affiliated with the sports industry.

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aceee.org

Health authorities at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Medical Center in Sinkor have confirmed the closure of the hospital's emergency ward to the public following reports that the Ebola virus had spread.

Reports say nurses have been re-assigned on the regular ward. The hospital's emergency ward was shutdown following the death of a suspected Ebola patient (name withheld), who had been brought from the borough of New Kru Town last Thursday at the JFK...

ted.com - Filmed April 2010

There's a tight link between the ocean's health and ours, says marine biologist Stephen Palumbi. He shows how toxins at the bottom of the ocean food chain find their way into our bodies, with a shocking story of toxic contamination from a Japanese fish market. His work points a way forward for saving the oceans' health — and humanity's.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_palumbi_following_the_mercury_trail#t-923173

greenbiz.com - July 15th, 2014 - Todd Reubold

By 2050, seven out of every 10 people on Earth will be an urban dweller. What the cities of the future look like depends largely on decisions we make today.

Will we design a future where driverless cars zip around under skyscraping vertical gardens in hyperconnected, energy-efficient “smart cities”? Or will we be trapped in endless traffic jams while pollution overwhelms remaining green spaces and infrastructure crumbles?

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Image: Eleni Kalorkoti

nytimes.com - by David J. Hayes - July 17, 2014

STANFORD, Calif. — AFTER years of hype, renewable energy has gone mainstream in much of the United States and, increasingly, around the world. . .

. . . But many communities that need small-scale renewable energy remain out in the cold — literally and figuratively.

In Alaska, for instance, the vast majority of the more than 200 small, isolated communities populated primarily by native Alaskans rely on dirty, expensive diesel fuel to generate their electricity and heat.

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CLICK HERE - The Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project (DDPP)

submitted by Albert Gomez

e360.yale.edu - July 15, 2014

Thirty scientific institutions from 15 countries last week released a report for the United Nations outlining how the world’s major carbon dioxide-emitting nations can slash those emissions by mid-century. Called the Deep Decarbonization Pathways Project, the initiative aims to provide government leaders with a plan of action in advance of a UN climate summit in September and climate negotiations in Paris in late 2015. Yale Environment 360 asked Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a key player in the decarbonization project, five questions about the initiative and the prospects for global action on the climate front.

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Published on Jul 10, 2014

Cities have always had to contend with things like natural disaster, economic and infrastructure collapse, and widespread illness. But globalization, climate change and rapid urbanization are making this moment in history different, and the stresses facing cities all the more complex. So how can cities survive, adapt, and grow, no matter what shocks might lie ahead? Join the Rockefeller Foundation's Judith Rodin for a look at what she calls "the resilience dividend" — investments that can minimize the disruptive effects of strain on a city, while simultaneously creating jobs, social cohesion, and equity.

It was humid, muddy and raining when WHO staff approached a compound in heavily populated New Kru Town, outside Monrovia, Liberia to look for people who have had contact with people infected with Ebola. A WHO technical adviser from Rwanda, sent in to help the zone coordinator, spoke to a woman who had cared for an Ebola patient. She understood the need to be monitored for the disease, but another man with whom the team talked denied knowing anyone with Ebola and refused further contact with the team.

Japan Meteorological Agency - http://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/

gdacs.org - July 14, 2014

Tropical Cyclone RAMMASUN-14 can have a medium humanitarian impact based on the Maximum sustained wind speed and the affected population and their vulnerability.

Updated: this report is based on advisory number 18.

• Tropical Cyclone Hurricane/Typhoon > 74 mph (maximum wind speed of 167 km/h)
• from 14/07/2014 00:00 UTC to 18:00
• Population affected by Category 1 (120 km/h) wind speeds or higher is 35.6 million
• Vulnerability: High

(CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION)

CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE JOINT TYPHOON WARNING CENTER (JTWC)

CLICK HERE - GDACS Tropical Cyclones - Joint Research Centre

CLICK HERE - Tropical Cyclone Information - Japan Meteorological Agency

submitted by Joe Browder

Offsetting carbon emissions by conserving ocean vegetation

thebluecarbonproject.com

What is Blue Carbon?

The problem: The growing emission of carbon dioxide from a wide range of human activities is causing unprecedented changes to the land and sea. Identifying effective, efficient and politically acceptable approaches to reduce the atmospheric concentration of CO₂ is one of society’s most pressing goals.

Image: The Keeling Curve

economist.com - May 11th, 2013

Charles D. Keeling, mostly known as Dave, was a soft-spoken, somewhat courtly man who changed the way people and governments see the world. A slightly aimless chemistry graduate with an interest in projects that took him out into the wild, in 1956 he started to build instruments that could measure the proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a scientific topic which, back then, was barely even a backwater. In 1958, looking for a place where the level of carbon dioxide would not be too severely influenced by local plants or industry, he installed some instruments high up on Mauna Loa, a Hawaiian volcano.

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earth-policy.org - by J. Matthew Roney - July 8, 2014

China installed a world record amount of solar photovoltaics (PV) capacity in 2013. While this was the first time the country was the number one installer, China has led all countries in making PV for the better part of a decade. China now accounts for 64 percent of global solar panel production—churning out 25,600 megawatts of the nearly 40,000 megawatts of PV made worldwide in 2013—according to data from GTM Research. . .

. . . As demand for increasingly affordable solar power continues to climb around the world, GTM Research projects that China’s annual solar panel output will double to 51,000 megawatts by 2017, representing close to 70 percent of global production at that time.

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