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Archive for January 23rd, 2012
Complications of Hacking the Planet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
New York Times: As scientists, with some reluctance, begin to study the idea of "geoengineering" the planet to slow or halt global warming, they are finding that any such program would quite likely have a complex array of effects, not all of them to humanity`s benefit.
In a paper released on Sunday by the journal Nature Climate Change, four California researchers used computer analysis to test the idea of managing incoming sunlight and predicted what that would do to crop yields. As an example of the strategies...
Freshwater Bulge in the Arctic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
New York Times: Scientists suggest that a dome of freshwater in the western Arctic Ocean might eventually disturb the warm currents that assure relatively mild weather in Northern Europe.
Environmentalists see cause for alarm as Republican candidates show signs of shift
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
Associated Press: Four years after the GOP’s rallying cry became “drill, baby, drill,” environmental issues have barely registered a blip in this Republican presidential primary. That’s likely to change as the race turns to Florida. The candidates’ positions on environmental regulation, global warming as well as clean air and water are all but certain to get attention ahead of the Jan. 31 primary in a state where the twin issues of offshore oil drilling and Everglades restoration are considered mandatory topics...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Environmentalists see cause for alarm as Republican candidates show signs of shiftHome, Home … on Less Range
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
New York Times: Environmental Defense Fund Estimates of how much California rangeland (yellow) could be lost to climate change by 2100. Among the other landscapes illustrated are conifer forests (green), desert shrub (light brown), woody shrub growth (pink), oak woodlands (purple) and hardwood forests (blue).
To see how thoroughly the concept of ecosystem services - the economic analysis of the natural world`s intersection with human endeavors - is embedded in climate change research, check out this forecast...
Solar pump project aims to ease Kenyan water shortages
Posted by AlertNet: Geoffrey Kamadi on January 23rd, 2012
AlertNet: Blue skies and sunshine don't make Joseph Katitu a happy man.
The 49-year-old sorghum farmer and father of nine shakes his head at the glaring sun as the last cloud fades in the sky above him.
"Mvua haitakuya (The rain will not come)!' he sighs.
The lack of gathering clouds is an ominous sign that Tseikuru District, some 230 km (150 miles) east of Kenya's capital Nairobi, will have to wait a while longer before the heavens open again.
But the power of the sun will soon be turned to the...
GOP mulls tying Keystone approval to payroll tax bill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
Business Green: Any hope the Obama administration may have held that its rejection last week of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would draw a line under the row was dashed yesterday, after Republicans confirmed they are considering tying the project to an upcoming payroll tax cut bill that the government is committed to passing.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Republican House speaker John Boehner said "every option is on the table" as the GOP seeks to secure approval for a project that they argue will help...
Arctic freshwater bulge detected
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 23rd, 2012
BBC: UK scientists have detected a huge dome of freshwater that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean.
The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002.
The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.
This would force the water together, raising sea surface height, the group tells the journal Nature Geoscience.
"In the western Arctic, the Beaufort Gyre is driven...