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Archive for October, 2012
Unconventional energy jobs: 1.7 million and counting
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Laurent Belsie on October 23rd, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: "Unconventional" oil and natural gas drilling supports 1.7 million jobs, according to a new report. By 2020, it will support another 1.3 million new positions. The new unconventional extraction methods – called "fracking" – are creating so much energy so fast that by 2015 the United States will produce more oil from unconventional than conventional means, according to the new report from IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm based in Lexington, Mass. The jobs boom isn't evenly distributed....
World’s glaciers have new size estimate
Posted by CBS News: Becky Oskin on October 23rd, 2012
CBS News: The relatively small glaciers that drape the planet's mountains will play an important role in future sea level rise, according to a new study that estimated glaciers' collective size.
Researchers calculated the ice thickness for 171,000 glaciers worldwide, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which hold the bulk of Earth's frozen water. Through a combination of direct satellite observations and modeling, they determined the total volume of ice tied up in the glaciers is nearly 41,000...
Impoverished Niger creates fund to fight desert spread
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Reuters: Niger said on Monday it will launch a $110 million project to counter the impact of rapid expansion of deserts and increasingly unpredictable rains in one of the world's poorest countries. "The programme aims to test strategies that will help us integrate climate risk and adapt climate change into our national planning," Abdou Souley, spokesman for Niger's planning and community development ministry, said. The five-year programme aims to improve community use of water resources and alter herding...
Australia: Climate change unit axed in cost-cutting push
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The Northern Territory Government is disbanding the Energy Policy and Climate Change Unit set up by Labor inside the Environment Department.
The Government says the move will save about half a million dollars, and was put forward as a cost-cutting measure by the new Department of Lands, Planning and Environment.
Territory Environment Centre spokesman Stuart Blanch says the three-person unit deserved more funding, not the axe.
"We don't want to slip behind other states and other countries...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Australia: Climate change unit axed in cost-cutting pushFarm runoff is accelerating demise of protective coastal salt marshes
Posted by ClimateWire: Robert S. Eshelman on October 23rd, 2012
ClimateWire: Pollution from agricultural production degrades coastal salt marshes more quickly than previously thought, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The decline of these ecosystems, the authors add, not only harms the plants and animals that inhabit them but undermines the storage capacity of one of the world's primary carbon sinks.
"Perhaps the most obvious [benefit that salt marshes provide] is they're nursery grounds for many fish, shellfish and birds, especially migrating birds...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Farm runoff is accelerating demise of protective coastal salt marshesFossil fuel experience expected in Romney nominee
Posted by Greenwire: Nick Juliano on October 23rd, 2012
Greenwire: With the presidential candidates racing to the finish line two weeks from now, attention in Washington policy circles is turning to who would staff key agencies in the next administration.
If Republican challenger Mitt Romney wins, observers expect his Department of Energy would be led by someone with ties to the oil, natural gas or coal industries, following a campaign in which he has accused President Obama of hostility to those fuels. Conservatives also are looking for Romney to tap someone...
How Does Climate Change Factor into Decision 2012?
Posted by PBS: Azmat Khan on October 23rd, 2012
PBS: Last election season, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain agreed that climate change was a critical issue demanding urgent attention. Four years later, both candidates Obama and Mitt Romney barely discuss climate change. In fact, the words were never uttered during any of the three presidential debates.
Coral Davenport has been investigating what`s behind the change as the energy and environment correspondent for The National Journal. FRONTLINE spoke with her about the dramatic...
190 Million Tons of Ice a Day Has Sea Rising 1MM a Year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 23rd, 2012
Age: Antarctica is shedding an average of 190 million tonnes of ice every day, according to a landmark study that used satellites to ''weigh'' the vast landmass.
Although parts of East Antarctica are growing, glaciers in West Antarctica are melting faster, leading to a net loss of ice across the continent, according to the study published in the journal Nature.
''We're confident that the ice cover is shrinking, and the rate along the Amundsen Sea coast is accelerating,'' said the lead researcher...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 190 Million Tons of Ice a Day Has Sea Rising 1MM a YearCanada: B.C. Premier Christy Clark Warns of National Crisis Over Pipeline
Posted by Globe and Mail: Gary Mason on October 23rd, 2012
Globe and Mail: Any move by Ottawa to green-light the Northern Gateway pipeline over British Columbia's objections would ignite a national political crisis, says Premier Christy Clark.
Putting its foot down on a provincial matter would fan the flames on both sides of the debate and run afoul of political reality: the pipeline will only get built if it has the "social licence" to proceed, Ms. Clark said.
She made the comments in a wide-ranging interview with The Globe and Mail, in which she softened some of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: B.C. Premier Christy Clark Warns of National Crisis Over PipelineLow Electricity Prices Lead Dominion to Decommission Wisconsin Reactor
Posted by E and E: Gabriel Nelson and Hannah Northey on October 23rd, 2012
E and E: Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday it will shut down and decommission the Kewaunee Power Station near Green Bay, which would make it the first U.S. nuclear reactor to be permanently retired since 1998.
The company said the decision was purely based on economics, which may signal trouble for other nuclear power plants at a time when cheap natural gas and the slowly recovering economy are holding down electricity prices in many parts of the country.
Dominion President...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Low Electricity Prices Lead Dominion to Decommission Wisconsin Reactor