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Archive for September 11th, 2012
Tree Deaths Linked to Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 11th, 2012
Voice of America: Hot and dry conditions triggered by climate change are killing the world's trees, according to a new report which examines dozens of scientific articles on the subject.
Stanford University graduate student William Anderegg has seen this forest die-off firsthand.
His doctoral thesis documents the impact of drought on trembling aspen, the most common tree in North America.
"These are complete hillsides of trembling aspens that are dying off," Anderegg says. "And when the main tree in a forest...
Kenyan farmers cut tilling to raise yields, store carbon
Posted by AlertNet: Isaiah Esipisu on September 11th, 2012
AlertNet: In the west Kenyan village of Siilila, 27-year-old Geoffrey Wanjala and other members of his farmers' group are trying out a way of working the land that avoids ploughing and releasing the carbon dioxide stored in the soil. So far it is also cutting their costs and boosting yields.
Traditionally, farmers across Kenya till their land at least twice before planting, then weed it after their seeds have germinated. But the new method, known as conservation agriculture, aims to leave the land in its...
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Comments Off on Kenyan farmers cut tilling to raise yields, store carbon2012 Has Had Most Extreme Weather On Record for U.S
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 11th, 2012
Climate Central: The first eight months of 2012 had the most extreme weather in U.S. since such record-keeping began in 1910, according to the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The Climate Extremes Index, or CEI, is used to track the highest and lowest 10 percent of extremes in temperature, precipitation, drought, and tropical storms and hurricanes across the lower 48 states. That the year-to-date was the most extreme on record should not come as much of a surprise, since the year to date was the hottest on record,...
NYC on rising seas: be resilient, not waterproof
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 11th, 2012
New York Times: With a 520-mile-long coast lined largely by teeming roads and fragile infrastructure, New York City is gingerly facing up to the intertwined threats posed by rising seas and ever-more-severe storm flooding.
So far, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has commissioned exhaustive research on the challenge of climate change. His administration is expanding wetlands to accommodate surging tides, installing green roofs to absorb rainwater and prodding property owners to move boilers out of flood-prone basements....
Locusts threaten African Sahel food supply next year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 11th, 2012
Reuters: Locusts nesting in northern Mali and Niger threaten next year's food crop, the U.N.'s top aid official in the region said, after donors and governments across Africa's Sahel zone have contained a crisis caused by shortages this year.
Rains falling across the Sahel bode well for a healthy 2013 harvest but the pests, due to start moving across the region within weeks, add to long-term problems like high food prices and low production which must be tackled to end cyclical crises, David Gressly told...
Arctic Has Lost Enough Ice to Cover Canada and Alaska
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 11th, 2012
Climate Central: The official end of the Arctic Ocean melt season could come any time now, but the sea ice that covers the North Polar region has already smashed the previous record low for end-of-summer ice area set in 2007.
Back then, a combination of warm temperatures and ice-dispersing winds left just 1.61 million square miles of ice cover -- but that meltback was surpassed in late August this year, and by now, the ice extent has dropped by more than 35 percent below the 2007 record, according to the National...
‘Alter lifestyle to counter climate change’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 11th, 2012
Times of India: Environmentalist and alternative energy promoter Michael Mazgaonkar on Monday emphasized the need to change lifestyles in order to counter climate change effects. "While we are running out of our energy sources, the consequences of our modern day living are increasingly becoming alarming. Climate change is for real and unless we made conscious decisions to change our lifestyles, we would also be facing a Beijing-like situation where it rained 18 inches in 24 hours, killing 30 people, recently. We...
The 100 species at risk of extinction – because Man has no use for them
Posted by Independent: Sam Masters on September 11th, 2012
Independent: The spoon-billed sandpiper, three-toed sloth and a long-beaked echidna named after Sir David Attenborough are among the 100 most endangered species in the world, according to a new study.
The list of at-risk species has been published as conservationists warn that rare mammals, plants and fungi are being sacrificed as their habitats are appropriated for human use.
More than 8,000 scientists from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) helped...
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