PM Narendra Modi has cut environmental funding for India: TRFN | The Financial Express

PM Narendra Modi has cut environmental funding for India: TRFN | The Financial Express: "Environmentalists in India have expressed alarm over the new federal budget of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which they say heralds substantial cuts in environmental programmes and fails to address the country’s worsening pollution and vulnerability to climate change.
The budget for the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for the fiscal year beginning April 1 has been reduced by 25 percent, from 22.6 billion Indian rupees ($360 million) to 16.8 billion rupees ($268 million).
In his budget speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced an increase in the target for renewable energy generating capacity, to 175,000 megawatts by 2022. But the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will see its funding for the coming year reduced by more than two-thirds, to 3 billion rupees ($48 million).
“There is a disconnect between the budget speech and the allocations,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and advocacy organisation based in Delhi."



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Using Terms “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” Banned for Florida DEP Officials - Daily Science Journal

Using Terms “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” Banned for Florida DEP Officials - Daily Science Journal: "According to a report released by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR), the employees of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have been ordered not to use the terms “climate change” and “global warming” in official communications. Christopher Byrd, an attorney with the DEP’s Office of General Counsel in Tallahassee from 2008 to 2013 stated “We were told not to use the terms ‘climate change,’ ‘global warming’ or ‘sustainability.’ That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Counsel.”

The report revealed that it is an unwritten policy which came into effect after Governor Rick Scott, a global warming skeptic, took office. The state of Florida in the US is highly vulnerable to the effects of global warming which makes such prohibitions for Florida officials noteworthy. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2014 wrote “Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems.”

Doug Young, president of the South Florida Audubon Society and a member of the Broward County Climate Change Task Force explained “I told them the biggest problem I have was that there was absolutely no mention of climate change and the affect of climate change on coral reefs. The two young women, really good people, said, ‘We are not allowed to show the words, or show any slides that depicted anything related to climate change.”"



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Why the Greens aren’t despondent despite the derision | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian

Why the Greens aren’t despondent despite the derision | Zoe Williams | Comment is free | The Guardian: "There is something distinctive about the authentic ovation: the applause that is neither dutiful nor orchestrated, but occurs in the spirit for which it was invented. I don’t know how you can tell, but you can, and that is what greeted Green party leader Natalie Bennett at its spring conference on Friday.

My droll Guardian colleague John Crace suggested that they were giving her a standing ovation at the start in case she messed up and they couldn’t, in conscience, do it at the end. But it was a statement of support, of love, if you like. There is no crisis of confidence in the Green party.

There are no huddles of people, saying “all lost, all lost” with their eyes (well, about the environmental apocalypse, maybe, but not about the party). There is no sense of starting every day with a compromise, nor a great taboo to step around, where the one idea that unites them is the one they can’t say – and on this last point it contrasts instructively with the Ukip conference but it is strikingly unlike any other party’s.

Natalie Bennett comes good amid conference chaos
John Crace
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On that difference between the Greens and Ukip, the Mirror produced some helpful data at the weekend, comparing the two: 1,300 Green conference delegates, to 500 Kippers; 55,000 Green members to 42,000 Ukip; a typical age group of 18-24 among the Greens, and 60-plus in Ukip."



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Indian state of Maharashtra bans beef - FT.com

Indian state of Maharashtra bans beef - FT.com: "Narendra Modi, prime minister, has bemoaned what he calls India’s “pink revolution” of rising meat exports, and expressed hopes of bringing a national ban on cow slaughter.
India’s consumption of bovine meat — including both beef and buffalo — has fallen over the past decade, as rightwing Hindu groups have campaigned to discourage lower-caste Hindus from eating it. But exports are surging, and are now estimated at about $5bn a year."



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