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Archive for July 30th, 2012
World’s largest funder of environmental projects lands a new CEO
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 30th, 2012
Mongabay: The Global Environment Facility or "GEF" unites 182 government members, in partnership with multiple international institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector, with the goal of addressing global environmental issues.
Established in 1991, the GEF has grown to become the world's largest funder of projects to improve the global environment. The GEF has directly allocated $10.5 billion in project finance and supplemented more than $51 billion in co-financing, for more than...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on World’s largest funder of environmental projects lands a new CEOHistoric Drought Conditions of Recent Years May Be the ‘New Normal,’ Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 30th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: A multi-year drought from 2000 to 2004 that lowered crop productivity and reduced water levels across western North America may become “the new normal” over the next century as the climate warms, a new study says. In an analysis of climate models and precipitation projections, a team of scientists predicts that 80 of the 95 years between 2006 and 2100 will have precipitation levels as low, or lower, than levels experienced during the recent historic drought. That drought -- which, based on tree ring...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Historic Drought Conditions of Recent Years May Be the ‘New Normal,’ Study SaysRising seas threaten California’s coastal past
Posted by KQED: Mike Newland on July 30th, 2012
KQED: A site with evidence of more than 1,000 years of occupation is eroding due to high tides hitting the base of the cliff.
On a sunny day earlier this summer at Point Reyes National Seashore, I scrambled behind Mike Newland as he clambered across gullies and bushwhacked through thigh-high lupine. Once we got to the spot he was aiming for, on the edge of a sandy beach-side cliff, he stopped and started to pick through shells and stones.
"You can see, we`ve got sort of a handful of little guys here,...
China: Desertification threatens world’s highest railway
Posted by Global Times: None Given on July 30th, 2012
Global Times: China's Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the world's highest rail system, is being threatened by desertification on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau as a result of global warming, experts concluded after conducting a probe.
About 443 kilometers of the 1,956-km railway are in areas affected by desertification, including 103 km that lie in seriously desertified areas, Wang Jinchang, a senior engineer with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Company, told Xinhua Monday.
Wang cited research showing that the threat of soil...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China: Desertification threatens world’s highest railwayScientists Defending Against The Methane Bomb
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 30th, 2012
Climate Central: Most of the worry over greenhouse gases centers on carbon dioxide, and rightly so: thanks mostly to the burning of fossil fuels, levels of this heat-trapping pollutant have soared to nearly 400 parts per million in the atmosphere, far above the 270 ppm that prevailed before 1800 or so, and they're still rising -- triggering a rise in sea level, temperature, and other telltale signs of climate change.
But CO2 isn't the only greenhouse gas: methane traps heat too, and it's a lot more powerful, molecule...
Is the gas industry buying academics?
Posted by Mother Jones: Tim McDonnell on July 30th, 2012
Mother Jones: Last week the University of Texas provost announced he would re-examine a report by a UT professor that said fracking was safe for groundwater after the revelation that the professor pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Texas natural gas developer. It's the latest fusillade in the ongoing battle over the basic facts of fracking in America.
Texans aren't the only ones having their fracking conversations shaped by industry-funded research. Ohioans got their first taste last week of the...
Climate change may force India to import corn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 30th, 2012
Press Trust of India: Scientists have claimed that India and China, Asia''s largest corn producers will experience severe dry conditions due to climate change, prompting them to import corn from Tanzania which would face comparatively wet weather.
Researchers from Stanford University, the World Bank and Purdue University found that in the years countries such as India, China and the US are forecast to experience severe dry conditions, Tanzania''s weather will likely be comparatively wet.
The African country better...
United States: Housing Project Planned Near Shrinking Salton Sea
Posted by New York Times: Jennifer Medina on July 30th, 2012
New York Times: Signs of once grandiose dreams dot the shoreline of the Salton Sea, dried up like the dead fish that bob ashore from time to time. This lake, the largest in California, was once supposed to be the Riviera of the West, a playground for stars like Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis and Desi Arnaz. But the Salton Sea, created by accident 40 miles south of Palm Springs, has been shrinking for decades now, while the saline content continues to rise — it is roughly 50 percent saltier than the Pacific Ocean. Waterfront...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Housing Project Planned Near Shrinking Salton SeaThe Frack War Comes Home
Posted by Waging Nonviolence: Peter Rugh on July 30th, 2012
Waging Nonviolence: The war came home this weekend, as thousands of people whose land has been under siege by the U.S. government and corporate interests gathered in Washington, D.C. No, they weren`t victims of drone attacks or 10-plus years of fighting in Afghanistan. They were ordinary Americans, whose neighborhoods, townships and states have been struggling to put an end to fracking, a destructive form of natural gas drilling.
These veterans of the frack war were in Washington for a national convergence called...