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Archive for September, 2012
Obama rebuts Romney, says climate change is no ‘hoax’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 7th, 2012
USA Today: President Obama embraced his environmental record Thursday and fought back at his GOP rival's recent mockery by telling the Democratic National Convention that "climate change is not a hoax."
In accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama cited his efforts to boost cars' fuel efficiency, cut energy waste in buildings and expand solar and wind power. "My plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet, because climate change is not a hoax," he told the delegates...
Diversity helps ecosystems cope with stress
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 7th, 2012
Mongabay: Ecosystems with higher levels of biodiversity tend to better cope with more stress than those with less biodiversity, finds a new study published in Ecology Letters.
The results are based on analysis of 64 species of single-celled microalgae. The scientists, led by Bastian Steudel of the University of Zurich, looked at how different assemblages of algae responded to different stressors like higher temperatures or salt concentrations. The researchers used biomass production as an indicator for...
Politicians Who Deny Climate Change Cannot Be Pro-Business – Bloomberg
Posted by Bloomberg: Andrew Winston on September 7th, 2012
Bloomberg: It finally seems to be dawning on many Americans that there's something to this climate change thing. The historic drought has been hard to ignore. While belief in a long-term trend because it's hot out right now is a bit ridiculous, it's a start. You can see a shift in how the media covers weather. The statement "because of climate change..." is often stated clearly without caveats such as, "what some scientists think may be a warming planet." You see it in the UN calling for action to help the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Politicians Who Deny Climate Change Cannot Be Pro-Business – BloombergKey Asian Species Need Urgent Recovery Plans, Group Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 7th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has called on Asian nations to work together to save a handful of critically endangered species, including tigers, Asian rhinos, orangutans, Asian vultures, Batagur turtles, and the Mekong giant catfish. Speaking at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress in South Korea, WCS President Christian Samper called on delegates to intensify recovery plans or face the possible extinction of some of these iconic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Key Asian Species Need Urgent Recovery Plans, Group SaysClimate change a mixed blessing for wheat, say experts
Posted by SciDev.Net: Li Jiao on September 7th, 2012
SciDev.Net: Climate change may have a profound effect on the world's ability to produce wheat -- one of its staple crops -- and adaptation efforts must take into account both the positive and negative effects of climate shifts, say wheat experts.
Production in some regions, such as India and Mexico, is predicted to be negatively affected by climate change, according to Thomas Lumpkin, director general of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
But, in other regions, such as northern...
United Kingdom: Biomass generators to face sustainability criteria
Posted by BusinessGreen: Will Nichols on September 7th, 2012
BusinessGreen: Biomass power stations will have to meet strict sustainability criteria to receive government subsidies, according to new proposals published today.
A consultation outlining the measures and recommending a cap on the support provided to new dedicated biomass power under the Renewables Obligation (RO) as well as drops in subsidy levels was published today alongside proposed cuts to payments for large-scale solar systems.
According to the government's bioenergy strategy published in April, burning...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Biomass generators to face sustainability criteriaConcord, Mass., bans sale of plastic water bottles
Posted by NBC: Miguel Llanos on September 7th, 2012
NBC: Bans on plastic bags have taken root in communities across the country, but banning the sale of water in plastic bottles? The town of Concord, Mass., is in line to be the first in the nation to do just that, now that the state's attorney general has signed off. The bottled water industry, for its part, is considering a lawsuit.
Championed by an 84-year-old resident during a three-year battle, the law bans the sale of single-serving PET water bottles of one liter or less starting on Jan. 1 in Concord,...
Obama acceptance speech soft pedals climate goals
Posted by Bellona: Charles Digges on September 7th, 2012
Bellona: In a speech inspiring for its embrace of responsibility to future generations, President Barack Obama nonetheless accepted the Democratic nomination in a sobering manner that was longer on political survival and shorter on ambitious climate goals than many environmental observers had hoped. Hovering over his appeal to voters at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, were clouds that this was no longer 2008, and that the political course to a greener economy that lay ahead...
Climate change ruins world for children
Posted by Evansville Courier and Press: Wendy Bredhold on September 7th, 2012
Evansville Courier and Press: My daughter was born in July 2011, within a week of air quality alerts. This year, she celebrated her first birthday within a summer of them.
Summer 2012 should have been the first that we could really enjoy as a family, but with poor air quality, regular heat advisories with temperatures topping 100 degrees, and the threat of West Nile virus-carrying mosquitoes in the cooler evenings, my husband and I have kept our daughter inside.
We had hoped to take her to the Vanderburgh County Fair, but...
African farming makes progress against climate change
Posted by Examiner: None Given on September 7th, 2012
Examiner: A report of the improvements in East African farming and livestock management that help small farmers adapt to climate change developed by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) appeared online before publication in the journal Food Security on September 7, 2012, and was reviewed at the Eureka Alert web site the same day.
Food insecurity in this part of the world is a constant threat from changing...