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Archive for January, 2012
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...
Weatherwatch: Winters in northern hemisphere set to get colder
Posted by Guardian: Kate Ravilious on January 22nd, 2012
Guardian: As global temperatures rise, a new study indicates that winters in the northern hemisphere are set to get colder and snowier. Data from the last two decades suggests that this colder trend is already under way. Indeed the chilly winters of 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 caused many to question whether global warming was happening at all.
Ironically, it turns out that these harsh winters may be a consequence of global warming. Careful analysis of northern hemisphere temperature, humidity, snow cover and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Weatherwatch: Winters in northern hemisphere set to get colderHuge pool of Arctic water could cool Europe: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2012
Reuters: A huge pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean is expanding and could lower the temperature of Europe by causing an ocean current to slow down, British scientists said Sunday.
Using satellites to measure sea surface height from 1995 to 2010, scientists from University College London and Britain's National Oceanography Center found that the western Arctic's sea surface has risen by about 15 cms since 2002.
The volume of fresh water has increased by at least 8,000 cubic km, or about 10 percent...
Boehner: Republicans may link pipeline to tax bill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2012
Reuters: House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Sunday that Republicans may use an upcoming payroll tax cut bill to force President Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.
"The Keystone pipeline is a prime example of a shovel-ready project that's been through every approval process here in Washington. Every option is on the table," Boehner said on Fox News Sunday.
"We're going to do everything we can to make sure this Keystone pipeline project is approved,"...
CRS report: Congress can require Keystone oil pipeline approval
Posted by Hill: Ben Geman on January 22nd, 2012
Hill: Capitol Hill lawmakers probably have the Constitution at their back if they require a permit for the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline that President Obama rejected days ago, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
Republicans are mulling bills that require approval of Keystone XL, which would bring oil sands crude from Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries.
The Jan. 20 CRS legal analysis notes that while the executive branch has historically handled the approval of border-crossing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on CRS report: Congress can require Keystone oil pipeline approvalLack of ice cover might be affecting the ecology of Lake Champlain
Posted by Burlington Free Press: Matt Sutkoski on January 22nd, 2012
Burlington Free Press: Less Lake Ice:
Number of times the lake failed to freeze over, per decade:
1900-09: 0
1910-19: 1
1920-29: 0
1930-39: 2
1940-49: 1
1950-59: 5
1960-69: 3
1970-79: 3
1980-89: 5
1990-99: 7
2000-10: 5
Lake freeze-overs, or lack thereof, in the recent years:
2000: Not closed
2001: March 2
2002: Not closed
2003: Feb. 15
2004: Jan. 27
2005: March 8
2006: Not closed
2007: March 2
2008: Not closed
2009: Not closed
2010: Not closed
Earliest...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lack of ice cover might be affecting the ecology of Lake Champlain