Environment

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 18:28 UTC

  Piñera opens joint-largest wind-farm in the north of Chile

  

  President Sebastian Piñera inaugurated Chile’s joint-largest wind farm at an official ceremony. The 90MW Talinay East facility is owned by Italy’s Enel Green Power and features 45 Vestas V100 2MW turbines in the country’s central Coquimbo region, 400 kilometres north of Santiago.

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 17:08 UTC

  Argentine indigenous people ask Francis to intercede before Cristina Fernandez

  

  Leaders of an Argentine indigenous community together with Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Perez Esquivel met on Monday with Pope Francis and requested he intercedes before Argentine president Cristina Fernandez so that she receives a delegation from the Qom community.

• Tuesday, June 25th 2013 - 02:00 UTC

  Lead case in Uruguay: Herbicide-spraying company forced to pay compensation for fumigating school

  

  A Uruguayan rural school teacher who suffered the consequences of agro-toxics spraying from neighbouring soybean crops has won a civil court demand against the fumigation company. The court ruled that Agronegocios del Plata, ADP, must compensate Silvia Nobelasco the equivalent to 6.800 dollars.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 18:00 UTC

  Extreme energy, extreme implications: interview with Michael Klare

  

  Interview by James Stafford of Oilprice.com - If oil and gas is a profoundly dynamic phenomenon, then so too must be environmental risk and conflicts over natural resources—and we are not getting the full picture from the mainstream media, according to Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, TomDispatch blogger.

• Thursday, June 20th 2013 - 03:12 UTC

  Scientists expect large ‘dead zone’ in Gulf of Mexico caused by excessive nutrient pollution

  

  Scientists are expecting a very large “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico based on several NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency)-supported forecast models.

• Tuesday, June 18th 2013 - 07:20 UTC

  Thousands camp in the Peruvian Andes to protect a lake from major gold mining project

  

  Thousands of opponents of a 5 billion dollars gold project of Newmont Mining circled a lake high in the Andes, in Cajamarca province vowing to stop the company from eventually draining it to make way for Peru's most expensive mine.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 08:20 UTC

  Nicaragua approves transoceanic canal to rival with Panama and to be built by Hong Kong company

  

  The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.

• Saturday, June 8th 2013 - 06:18 UTC

  Piñera blasts environmental licensing for giant Pascua-Lama gold mine project

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera blasted the environmental review process that led to a permit for Barrick Gold’s, now-suspended 8.5 billion dollar Pascua-Lama gold mine project.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  IAATO focus on collaborative work at the 36th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting

  

  The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) reported to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM XXXVI) last week and as in previous years, in addition to presenting statistics and estimates of numbers for next season, IAATO reported on the Association’s recent work and activities. This year, there was a heavy focus on the collaborative work that IAATO has undertaken with Treaty Parties and other Observers and Experts in a variety of fields.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 06:33 UTC

  Throwing away food is like stealing from the poor, Francis tells followers

  

  Francis has denounced what he called a “culture of waste” in an increasingly consumerist world and said throwing away good food was like stealing from poor people.