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Archive for August, 2011
Experts: La Niña, Climate Change Impact East African Drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
Voice of America: More than 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are confronting the worst drought in decades.
Experts say the Pacific ocean phenomenon known as La Niña is partly to blame for the drought ravaging the Horn of Africa.
But while the latest La Niña episode has ended, climate scientists are concerned about what the next few months will bring and the intensifying effects of a changing global climate.
La Niña begins when eastern Pacific waters near the equator turn cooler than normal. A cascade...
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Record Heat Unlikely to Cool Climate Change Debate
Posted by LiveScience.com: Stephanie Pappas on August 3rd, 2011
LiveScience.com: If this summer's record-breaking heat has you gulping iced tea while bemoaning the evils of climate change, you're probably not alone. But climate communications experts suggest that any extra interest in global warming triggered by the heat wave will be gone by the first winter snow.
July brought oppressive heat to much of the country, with all 50 states setting high temperature records. Climate scientists say that such heat waves will be the norm in the future if climate change continues unabated,...
Q&A: Preparedness key as climate shifts threaten more drought
Posted by AlertNet: Laurie Goering on August 3rd, 2011
AlertNet: The race by U.N. and aid agencies to respond to worsening drought and hunger in the Horn of Africa suggests how far the world still has to go to put in place effective measures to prevent droughts turning into disasters.
Finding solutions is particularly urgent as climate change brings more extreme and unpredictable weather, including more "slow-onset' disasters like droughts, warns Luc Gnacadja, executive director of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, a sister convention to the U.N....
Shell oil spills in the Niger delta: ‘Nowhere and no one has escaped’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 3rd, 2011
Guardian: The air stinks, the water stinks, and even the fish and crabs caught in Bodo creek smell of pure "sweet bonny" light crude oil. It has found its way deep into the village wells, it lies thick in the mud flats and there are brown and yellow slicks all along the 20 sq km network of creeks, swamps, mangrove forests and rivers that surround Bodo in the Niger delta.
The first oil ever exported from Nigeria was found just five miles away from Bodo in 1958 but, says chief Tella James, chair of Bodo's...
Climate Change – Danger Looms – Rep
Posted by All Africa Global Media: None Given on August 3rd, 2011
All Africa Global Media: HOUSE of Representatives member, Dr Akpan Micah Umoh, yesterday said danger is lurking around the corner if urgent steps are not taken to remedy the climate change in Nigeria as the effect will be more devastating in the Niger Delta.
Rep Umoh who is an expert on environmental matters with a special bias in Climate Change said with the rise in rainfall, Nigeria is in a precarious position as all the six zones are prone to one form of geographical calamity or the other.
He, however, pointed out...
Gas Extraction Creates A Boom For Sand
Posted by National Public Radio: Kathleen Masterson on August 3rd, 2011
National Public Radio: The rise of fracking as a method for extracting natural gas from shale rock has triggered demand for a key ingredient in the process: silica sand. In parts of the upper Midwest, there's been a rush to mine this increasingly valuable product.
In northeast Iowa, a mine recently reopened to profit from the new demand. It's owned by the Pattison family, who have run a grain business for decades. They had been storing the grain in the old, unused mine tunnels carved into the cliffs and then loading...
How Global Warming Denial Aids Terrorists
Posted by Yahoo!: Brad Sylvester on August 3rd, 2011
Yahoo!: In the United States there is vocal opposition to any suggestion that the chemicals we pump into air through the burning of fossil fuels could have any effect on global climate. These global warming deniers claim that the over-whelming scientific evidence to the contrary is either purposely faked by money-hungry scientists, or was conducted in complete error by incompetent scientists. They say there is no need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Is their position actually weakening America's security...
How Saving Energy Means Conserving Water in U.S. West
Posted by Daily Climate: Daniel Glick on August 2nd, 2011
Daily Climate: California likes to think of itself as being ahead of the curve. So when the state set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, regulators did all the right things - stringent tailpipe standards for cars, tighter codes for buildings, higher renewable energy standards for utilities. Then they took one of the most aggressive energy-saving steps of all.
They started a campaign to save water.
The link between energy and water is not always apparent, but the two are as intertwined as the hydrogen...
Vermont finds contaminated fish as nuclear debate rages
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2011
Reuters: Vermont health regulators said on Tuesday they found a fish containing radioactive material in the Connecticut River near Entergy's Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant which could be another setback for Entergy to keep it running.
The state said it needs to do more testing to determine the source of the Strontium-90, which can cause bone cancer and leukemia.
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin wants the 620 megawatts reactor shut in March 2012 when its original operating license was to expire.
"Today's...
Water shortages threaten renewed conflict between Pakistan, India
Posted by AlertNet: Shahid Husain on August 2nd, 2011
AlertNet: As population growth and climate change increase competition for water around the world, India and Pakistan may find water a growing source of conflict, analysts say.
The two South Asian countries have a long history of tensions over issues as diverse as terrorist attacks and rights to Kashmir. Diplomatic initiatives have helped reduced these tensions in recent years.
But given that India and Pakistan share numerous rivers, some experts think that the issue of water supplies could lead to renewed...