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Archive for September, 2012
2012 U.S. Drought Hits New Highs; Southwest Gets Relief
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 13th, 2012
Climate Central: The severe drought across much of the U.S. proved stubborn once again during the past week as nearly four-fifths of the country was in some form of drought. And the area of the lower 48 states affected by moderate to exceptional drought expanded slightly, hitting a high for the year, according to data released Thursday morning.
The new U.S. Drought Monitor map shows that drought conditions have stayed the same or intensified in much of the southern Plains, with extreme to exceptional drought conditions...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on 2012 U.S. Drought Hits New Highs; Southwest Gets ReliefLaissez-Faire Failing World’s Dwindling Water Resources
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2012
Inter Press Service: Growing water shortages in many countries are a major threat to global security and development and should be a top priority at the U.N. Security Council, a panel of experts said in a new report.
However, that report ignores the biggest threat to water security: neoliberal policies of the free market economic system laying waste to the natural world and turning water into a commodity, activists counter.
China and India will not have enough fresh water to meet their needs before 2030, according...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Laissez-Faire Failing World’s Dwindling Water ResourcesIn Himalaya Mountains, A Mixed Picture of Glacial Melting
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: A new study says that glaciers in the Himalayas are reacting to climate change in different ways, with glaciers in the eastern and central Himalayas retreating at accelerating rates, while glaciers in the western Himalaya and Hindu Kush region are more stable and possibly even growing in places. According to a report by the National Research Council, many of the glaciers of the Himalayan region are retreating at rates comparable to other parts of the world, but changes to glacial meltwater are not...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In Himalaya Mountains, A Mixed Picture of Glacial MeltingHumans and Nature: Can the Gulf Be Bridged?
Posted by New York Times: Lauren E. Oakes on September 13th, 2012
New York Times: Basking in a surprise dose of early morning sun, we sat together on a bench made from yellow-cedar at the Gustavus Forelands Preserve, a landscape of spruce and cottonwood forests and beaches overlooking the Icy Strait waters. We were staring at a diagram on a piece of paper I had handed to Hank Lentfer, a lifelong Alaskan and longtime resident of the tiny town of Gustavus.
The image before us was a series of circles in pairs, overlapping at varying degrees from just barely touching to completely...
Broward Adopts Climate Change Plan; Dumbasses Think It’s a UN Conspiracy
Posted by New Times Broward-Palm Beach: Stefan Kamph on September 13th, 2012
New Times Broward-Palm Beach: Broward has been out in front of the rest of the state, maybe the country, in terms of preparing for climate change and rising sea levels. The county commissioned a report showing that large parts of Lauderdale could be underwater 50 years from now. Over and over, experts say our low-lying areas are facing a huge problem. So some officials are trying to form a plan for how to face rising tides and changing weather.
At the County Commission meeting Tuesday night, county leaders moved to recognize...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Broward Adopts Climate Change Plan; Dumbasses Think It’s a UN ConspiracyBeyond Big Dams: Turning to Grass Roots Solutions on Water
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Fred Pearce on September 13th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: How will the world find the water to feed a growing population in an era of droughts and water shortages? The answer, a growing number of water experts are saying, is to forget big government-run irrigations projects with their mega-dams, giant canals, and often corrupt and indolent management. Farmers across the poor world, they say, are solving their water problems far more effectively with cheap Chinese-made pumps and other low-tech and off-the-shelf equipment. Researchers are concluding that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Beyond Big Dams: Turning to Grass Roots Solutions on WaterUnited Kingdom: George Osborne slammed by his own climate change advisors over ‘dash for gas’
Posted by Independent: Oliver Wright on September 13th, 2012
Independent: George Osborne is today under attack from the Government's own official climate change advisors who have warned unequivocally that his 'dash for gas' is putting Britain's legally binding carbon reduction commitments in jeopardy.
In a highly significant intervention the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has sent an open letter to ministers criticising their “apparently ambivalent position” on whether the Government is trying to build a low-carbon or a gas-based electricity generating system.
Mr...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: George Osborne slammed by his own climate change advisors over ‘dash for gas’Recalling a Foe of Mountaintop Mining
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 13th, 2012
New York Times: Larry Gibson, the retired autoworker who gained national attention for his fight against mountaintop-removal coal mining in his native Appalachia, died of a heart attack on Sunday at his home in West Virginia. He was 66. For more than two decades, Mr. Gibson campaigned against mountaintop strip mining, which has demolished some 500 mountains in the region over the past 30 years. Several recent studies also link the practice to an increasing incidence of serious health problems among local residents....
Changing rainfall boosts number of Ethiopians in need of food aid
Posted by AlertNet: Pawlos Belete on September 13th, 2012
AlertNet: Millions of Ethiopians face severe food shortages as a result of the failure of crucial seasonal rains, a problem increasingly linked to climate change.
The Ethiopian government announced last month that 3.7 million of its citizens will require humanitarian assistance between August and December of this year, up from 3.2 million in January. The 16 percent increase follows the failure of the Belg rains, which normally fall between February and May and are essential to the country's secondary harvest....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Changing rainfall boosts number of Ethiopians in need of food aidTrillion-dollar nature needs boardroom seat, says U.N. economist
Posted by Reuters: David Fogarty and Alister Doyle on September 13th, 2012
Reuters: Nature lacks a seat in the boardrooms of most big companies even though it provides valuable resources that should have a price tag, one of world's most influential green economists said.
Ignoring nature's value risks "mayhem" for corporations and mankind in the rush for profits and finite resources, Pavan Sukhdev, formerly of Deutsche Bank and a United Nations goodwill ambassador told Reuters.
Sukhdev said water, clean air, coral reefs, forests and rivers provide natural services worth trillions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Trillion-dollar nature needs boardroom seat, says U.N. economist