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Archive for August 6th, 2012
Climate Change’s Role in Heat Waves Still Under Debate
Posted by LiveScience: Wynne Parry on August 6th, 2012
LiveScience: It's no surprise to those who follow climate science that temperature patterns have shifted as the world has warmed up. But in a new study, outspoken climate scientist James Hansen goes a step further, saying devastating heat waves in recent years are the result of global warming.
Since natural dynamics -- such as fluctuations in sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean -- contribute to extreme events like heat waves, this connection can be controversial.
Scientists disagree...
Fred Krupp: A New Climate-Change Consensus
Posted by Wall Street Journal: Fred Krupp on August 6th, 2012
Wall Street Journal: One scorching summer doesn't confirm that climate change is real any more than a white Christmas proves it's a hoax. What matters is the trend-a decades-long march toward hotter and wilder weather. But with more than 26,000 heat records broken in the last 12 months and pervasive drought turning nearly half of all U.S. counties into federal disaster areas, many data-driven climate skeptics are reassessing the issue.
Respected Republican leaders like Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Chris Christie...
Earth’s ecosystems still soaking up half of human carbon emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Mongabay: Even as humans emit ever more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Earth's ecosystems are still sequestering about half, according to new research in Nature. The study finds that the planet's oceans, forests, and other vegetation have stepped into overdrive to deal with the influx of carbon emitted from burning fossil fuels, but notes that this doesn't come without a price, including the acidification of the oceans.
"We're already seeing climate change happen despite the fact that only half of...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Earth’s ecosystems still soaking up half of human carbon emissionsU.S. business group challenges EPA mercury rule
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Reuters: The biggest U.S. business lobby group said Monday it has petitioned a federal appeals court to invalidate environmental regulations it claims will lead to sweeping electricity blackouts by forcing coal-fired power plants to close.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it filed a friend-of-the-court brief with a broader business coalition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency‘s "Utility MACT" rule, which aims to reduce emissions...
Are Recent Heat Waves A Result Of Climate Change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
National Public Radio: It's been an unusually hot couple of years in many parts of the U.S. But just how unusual is this? It's a question climate scientists are getting asked a lot.
They wonder whether a warming climate is doing this or whether it's just part of the normal variation in the weather. Among scientists there's a growing view that these latest heat waves are a result of climate change.
NASA climate scientist James Hansen has been looking at the past century's temperatures all over the world. He has measured...
Heat Waves “Almost Certainly” Due to Global Warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
National Geographic: Recent heat waves that have triggered wildfires, droughts, and heat-related deaths in the United States and around the globe "almost certainly would not have occurred" without global warming-and will become more routine in coming years, NASA climate scientist James Hansen says.
A new study examining six decades of global temperature data concludes that a sharp increase in the frequency of extremely hot summers can only be the result of human-caused global warming. ee an interactive map of global...
Extreme summer heat linked to climate change, scientists say
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on August 6th, 2012
LA Times: Exceedingly high summer temperatures, longer summers and related catastrophes, such as wildfire and drought, are poised to be the norm, and they are driven by climate change, according to a new research paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In an opinion article over the weekend in the Washington Post that previewed the findings, the paper's lead author, James E. Hansen wrote: "It is no longer enough to say that global warming will increase the likelihood...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Extreme summer heat linked to climate change, scientists sayUnited Kingdom: Putting a price on the rivers and rain diminishes us all
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Guardian: 'The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying 'This is mine', and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not anyone have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, 'Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Putting a price on the rivers and rain diminishes us allMidwest Fish Kills Exacerbated By Record Heat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
National Public Radio: This summer, extreme heat and drought have brought on larger than normal "fish kills" throughout the Midwest. Fish are dying by the tens of thousands. All Things Considered host Audie Cornish speaks with Aaron Woldt, Fisheries Program Supervisor for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Midwestern Region, about what's happening in these waters.
World Bank unveils carbon incentive plan in Philippines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: The World Bank said on Monday it plans to buy carbon credits from pig farms in the Philippines, helping farmers generate extra income by setting up environment friendly waste treatment facilities.
Under the program it will finance the installation of such waste treatment systems that will capture methane gas from pig manure which could be used to generate electricity, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
The World Bank's Carbon Finance Unit will buy carbon credits from farms that instal...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World Bank unveils carbon incentive plan in Philippines