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Archive for September, 2011
Obama slams Perry on climate change
Posted by Dallas Morning News: Tom Benning on September 26th, 2011
Dallas Morning News: President Barack Obama blasted Rick Perry at a California fundraiser Sunday, calling him "a governor whose state is on fire, denying climate change."
The Associated Press reports that the jab was part of a broader criticism of the Republican Party. Obama also mentioned recent GOP debates, where some in the audience booed a gay service member and cheered a hypothetical scenario where a man without health insurance is left to die.
"That's not reflective of who we are," Obama said.
Politico's...
Remote Wyoming site could help shape fracking’s future
Posted by Houston Chronicle: Brett Clanton on September 26th, 2011
Houston Chronicle: Natural gas development in the U.S. will depend not only on what happens in Washington and in statehouses across the country. It could be shaped in part by what happens in a big antelope-dotted field south of this remote valley town.
Here, Shell Oil Co. and others are taking steps - some required and others voluntary - that soon may be the norm for reducing the environmental impact of gas drilling and the extraction process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Shell, for instance, now...
The Big Payback from Bringing Back Peat Bogs
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Fred Pearce on September 26th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: Wild fires that swept across Russia during the record heat wave last summer wrecked crops, triggered a global surge in wheat prices, caused pitch-black smogs that killed thousands of people and -- though not much noted at the time -- poured huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The gas came mainly from burning peat in wide areas of drained bogs around Moscow.
The world had seen nothing like it since peat bogs burned in Indonesia in 1998, shrouding neighboring countries in smoke for...
Marchers in SF push for end to fossil fuel use
Posted by San Francisco Chronicle: Marisa Lagos on September 25th, 2011
San Francisco Chronicle: With shouts demanding an end to fossil fuels, hundreds of people marched, biked and scooted down Market Street on Saturday as part of a global Moving Planet day.
Some were dressed as polar bears and fish, while others carried signs calling for better public transit, more solar and wind energy, and cleaner air. Many participants took the opportunity to blast plans for a pipeline that would carry crude oil from the tar sands of western Canada into the United States. But everyone was there to express...
Melting ice is Earth’s warning signal – and we cannot ignore it
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2011
Guardian: Ice is the white flag being waved by our planet, under fire from the atmospheric attack being mounted by humanity. From the frosted plains of the Arctic ice pack to the cool blue caverns of the mountain glaciers, the dripping away of frozen water is the most crystal clear of all the Earth's warning signals.
It relies on neither the painstaking compiling of temperature records back through history nor the devilish complexity of predicting the future with supercomputers. Ice on Earth is simply and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Melting ice is Earth’s warning signal – and we cannot ignore itEverest’s ice is retreating as climate change grips the Himalayas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2011
Guardian: The climb to Everest base camp is a journey into a monochrome world, a landscape reduced to rock, ice and grey sky. The only spots of colour are the bright, domed tents of the few climbing teams willing to attempt the summit in the off-season.
There are no birds, no trees, just the occasional chunks of glacier splashing into pools of pale green meltwater like ice cubes in some giant exotic drink. The stillness suggests nothing has changed for decades, but Tshering Tenzing Sherpa, who has been...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Everest’s ice is retreating as climate change grips the HimalayasTemperatures to hit 26C this week
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2011
Independent: After weeks of rain and cold winds, Britain may be on course for an Indian summer this week as temperatures are forecast to exceed 26C (79F).
Meteorologists predict an unseasonably warm and dry couple of weeks, with temperatures likely to reach the mid to high 20s in central and eastern parts of the country. This follows a dreary September so far, with an average mean temperature of 14C (57F).
A Met Office forecaster, Tom Morgan, said: "We are certainly going to see some dry and unseasonably...
Island nations warn of climate disaster at UN
Posted by Associated Press: Gregory Katz on September 24th, 2011
Associated Press: The Palestinians want the United Nations to recognize a state. And the island nation of Tuvalu wants the United Nations to act -- now -- to keep their state above water.
The high drama surrounding the historic Palestinian bid for statehood has to a degree overshadowed other issues facing the U.N. General Assembly, which Saturday heard from the leaders of island nations where the impact of climate change is already having a profound effect.
They argue that the U.N. is moving too slowly despite...
Geo-engineering has built up momentum
Posted by Cyprus Mail: Gwynne Dyer on September 24th, 2011
Cyprus Mail: Scientists who are working on various concepts for “geo-engineering” the climate are almost comically eager to stress that they are not trying to come up with a substitute for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, the main cause of man-made global warming. They are just researching back-up systems that we might need if the reductions don’t happen fast enough.
“It’s hard to imagine a situation except a dire emergency where this will be used, but in order to have that conversation sensibly we need...
Why the warming climate makes animals smaller
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2011
New Scientist: Honey, we shrank the copepods. These tiny marine animals offer a clue to why a warming climate makes animals smaller.
It is well established that cold-blooded species get smaller as the climate heats up, says Andrew Hirst of Queen Mary, University of London. Experiments show that, on average, 1 °C of warming reduces their adult body mass by 2.5 per cent. The mystery is why.
To find out, Hirst pulled together data on 15 species of copepod that swim in the open sea, focusing on how they grew...