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Archive for September, 2012
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...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on The 100 species at risk of extinction – because Man has no use for themTwenty more “Niles” needed to feed growing population-leaders
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 10th, 2012
Reuters: The world needs to find the equivalent of the flow of 20 Nile rivers by 2025 to grow enough food to feed a rising population and help avoid conflicts over water scarcity, a group of former leaders said on Monday. Factors such as climate change would strain freshwater supplies and nations including China and India were likely to face shortages within two decades, they said, calling on the U.N. Security Council to get more involved. "The future political impact of water scarcity may be devastating,"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Twenty more “Niles” needed to feed growing population-leadersEU raises fresh concerns over environmental impact of Shale Gas
Posted by BusinessGreen: James Murray on September 10th, 2012
BusinessGreen: The chances of the European Union taking tough new action to regulate controversial Shale Gas projects received a major boost late last week, with the publication of three new in-depth reports that raised serious concerns about the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" as it is more commonly known.
The EU-commissioned reports from the EU Joint Research Centre and environmental consultancy AEA assessed the risks shale gas projects pose to the environment and human health,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EU raises fresh concerns over environmental impact of Shale GasClimate change and forests — the big picture
Posted by Summit County Citizens Voice: None Given on September 10th, 2012
Summit County Citizens Voice: Colorado isn`t the only place that has seen major climate-related impacts to its forest ecosystems. During the past couple of decades, extensive forest death triggered by hot and dry climatic conditions has been documented on every continent except Antarctica and forest mortality due to drought and heat stress is expected to increase.
Most research to-date has been focused on local and regional impacts of forest mortality, but scientists are starting to grapple with the bigger picture of how widespread...
Butterfly decline blamed on soggy summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 10th, 2012
Press Association: The wettest summer for a century has been blamed for a sharp decline in the number of butterflies in Britain.
A study of 223,000 butterflies and day-flying moths found the populations of 15 of the 21 species had fallen.
Eleven common butterfly types had decreased by more than a third compared with last year, according to the Big Butterfly Count 2012.
Butterfly Conservation said the heaviest rainfall over the summer months for 100 years was putting many already threatened species at risk....
Climate change hurting food production in temperate zone too
Posted by Cape Breton Post: Gwynne Dyer on September 10th, 2012
Cape Breton Post: It’s no surprise that we will have a record minimum of ice cover in the Arctic Ocean at the end of this summer melt season. It’s already down to around four million square kilometres, with at least a few more days of melting to go, but this is what you might call a “known unknown.”
Scientists knew we were losing the ice cover fast; they just didn’t know how fast.
I’m no fan of Don Rumsfeld, who helped lead the United States into the disastrous invasion of Iraq when he was George W. Bush’s defence...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change hurting food production in temperate zone tooUnited States: Hetch Hetchy Valley Measure Pits Bay Area Against Environmentalists
Posted by New York Times: Norimitsu Onishi on September 10th, 2012
New York Times: It is one of the oldest environmental battles in the United States, and it involves one of the country’s most famous national parks, one of its most liberal cities, leaders of Silicon Valley and a perennial source of conflict in California: water. In 1913, Congress approved the construction of a dam and an eight-mile-long reservoir, called Hetch Hetchy, in the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park to supply cheap water to San Francisco. But the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, which submerged a valley...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Hetch Hetchy Valley Measure Pits Bay Area Against EnvironmentalistsClimate change challenges power plant operations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2012
Washington Post: Drought and rising temperatures are forcing water managers across the country to scramble for ways to produce the same amount of power from the hydroelectric grid with less water, including from behemoths such as the Hoover Dam. Hydropower is not the only part of the nation’s energy system that appears increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, as low water levels affect coal-fired and nuclear power plants’ operations and impede the passage of coal barges along the Mississippi River....
Mountain forest study shows vulnerability to climate change
Posted by Phys.Org: None Given on September 9th, 2012
Phys.Org: CU-Boulder assistant professor Noah Molotch deploying an automated snow depth sensor and solar panel in Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. Molotch and colleagues have found that mid-level mountain ecosystems in the West where people live, camp, hike, fish and mountain bike are the most sensitive to climate change. Credit: Image courtesy Noah Molotch, University of Colorado
A new University of Colorado Boulder-led study that ties forest "greenness" in the western...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mountain forest study shows vulnerability to climate changeRiver turns red in China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2012
Telegraph: State broadcaster CCTV said that the environmental protection bureau in Chongqing had ruled out the possibilities of industrial and sewage pollution causing the river to turn red. "It's not a problem," one boatman said in Chongqing. "The water [colour] is within the normal range. For us boatmen, [the colour] just means the river is washing its water. "[But] the colour this year is redder and darker," he added. Investigations are still underway but authorities said silt deposits brought in by floods...