RSS Feed
Archive for November 8th, 2012
U.S. drought deepens in Plains states, wheat crop suffers
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on November 8th, 2012
Reuters: Hot and dry conditions in parts of middle America deepened an ongoing drought in many states over the last week, according to a climatology report issued Thursday.
October is typically the third-wettest month for Texas, but instead last month was the ninth-driest October statewide since 1895, according to the Drought Monitor report issued weekly by a consortium of state and federal climatology experts.
Texas and Oklahoma both recorded above-normal temperatures and little or no rain. Kansas...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on U.S. drought deepens in Plains states, wheat crop suffersClimate change is making your coffee more expensive
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2012
Washington Post: Climate change has already been blamed for major storms and melting arctic ice, but now it may be coming after your morning cup of joe.
Researchers have found that climate change will reduce the number of suitable growing locations for the Arabica coffee plant, which provides about 70 percent of the world`s coffee supply, according to a new study in the journal PLOS ONE.
Using computer modeling, researchers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London predicted that the number of suitable growing...
New Report Shows Radioactive Threat to New York if Fracking Approved
Posted by EcoWatch: Grassroots Environmental Education on November 8th, 2012
EcoWatch: A new report issued by Grassroots Environmental Education, a New York-based non-profit organization and authored by a former staff scientist for the National Council on Radiation Protection says that horizontal hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale region of New York State is likely to produce significantly higher amounts of radioactive waste than previously believed, putting New Yorkers in danger, and that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has not demonstrated the ability...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Report Shows Radioactive Threat to New York if Fracking ApprovedClimate Change Didn’t Cause Hurricane Sandy, But it Sure Made it Worse
Posted by Mother Jones: Kevin Drum on November 8th, 2012
Mother Jones: There are a bunch of technical reasons why climate change made Hurricane Sandy worse than it would have been, but Chris Mooney reports today that there's also a very simple reason: global warming has raised sea levels by about eight inches over the past century, and this means that when Sandy swept ashore it had eight extra inches of water to throw at us.
It turns out, eight inches matters a lot. First of all, using Climate Central's Surging Seas tool, [meteorologist Scott] Mandia estimated that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change Didn’t Cause Hurricane Sandy, But it Sure Made it WorseMild Europe winter weather more likely – German forecaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2012
Reuters: European weather in the coming winter now looks more likely to be mild than in previous studies, German meteorologist Georg Mueller said in a monthly report on Thursday.
"The latest runs are generally in favor of a milder than normal winter, especially over northern Europe," wrote Mueller, who regularly monitors energy weather on behalf of Point Carbon, a Thomson Reuters company.
"Especially January and February could get quite wet, windy and mild over Scandinavia and parts of northern Central...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mild Europe winter weather more likely – German forecasterAustralia: Firestorm risks to cities ‘are growing’
Posted by Environment Health: Ben Cubby on November 8th, 2012
Environment Health: BUSHFIRE risks have been rising steadily for nearly 40 years, according to comprehensive new data that shows for the first time that big firestorms near Australian cities are becoming more likely.
As NSW prepares for an uncertain fire season, the study shows risks increasing most sharply in eastern Australia, based on daily weather data gathered from 38 key sites around the country between 1973 and 2010, the study published in the International Journal of Climatology shows.
None of the sites,...
Will Obama tackle climate change in his second term?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 8th, 2012
Telegraph: The topic of climate change was largely absent from both campaigns until Superstorm Sandy hit. While the storm may not have been caused by a changing climate, it highlighted the challenges to come if global warming is to take hold.
To the relief of the environmental lobby groups, President Obama finally made a direct reference to global warming in his victory speech.
"Despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America's future,' he said.
"We want our children to live...