RSS Feed
Archive for December 2nd, 2012
Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Hit Record in 2011, Researchers Say
Posted by New York Times: Justin Gillis and John Broder on December 2nd, 2012
New York Times: Global emissions of carbon dioxide were at a record high in 2011 and are likely to take a similar jump in 2012, scientists reported Sunday — the latest indication that efforts to limit such emissions are failing. Emissions continue to grow so rapidly that an international goal of limiting the ultimate warming of the planet to 3.6 degrees, established three years ago, is on the verge of becoming unattainable, said researchers affiliated with the Global Carbon Project. Josep G. Canadell, a scientist...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Hit Record in 2011, Researchers SayUnited Kingdom: Lord Deben: Thatcherite turned green warrior defends climate cuts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 2nd, 2012
Guardian: The former Tory environment secretary and now head of the UK's climate change watchdog, John Gummer – now Lord Deben – has vowed to protect legislation underpinning the UK's climate commitments, bringing him into conflict with many in his own party.
The simmering row in the coalition is set to be reignited when George Osborne announces tax breaks for shale gas drilling in the autumn statement. The new gas strategy is intended to promote a huge rise in gas exploration and power generation. This...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Lord Deben: Thatcherite turned green warrior defends climate cutsSearch for life begins in lake entombed under Antarctic ice
Posted by Guardian: Ian Sample on December 2nd, 2012
Guardian: British scientists flew into Antarctica last on Saturday night to begin an extraordinary search for life in a stretch of water the size of Lake Windermere buried under three kilometres of solid ice.
The researchers join a team of engineers who set up camp on the West Antarctic ice sheet, where the December sun shines night and day, and temperatures plunge far below freezing.
In the coming days, the team will use a sterile hot water drill to bore down to the subglacial Lake Ellsworth and retrieve...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Search for life begins in lake entombed under Antarctic iceAnti-climate change business groups demand Obama fixes climate change problems
Posted by America Blog: None Given on December 2nd, 2012
America Blog: Ah yes, Republicans once again want stuff. Even better though, the groups that "want stuff" are deep pocketed business groups. Even better, they are demanding that Obama takes action to fix problems that are linked to climate change. As in the same climate change that they`ve fought against for years.
It`s easy to be sympathetic to Democratic Senator Tom Harkin but for the rest, it feels too easy to give them a free pass without demanding that they get their act together and accept climate change....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Anti-climate change business groups demand Obama fixes climate change problemsWorking Wonders Without Water Out West
Posted by Daily Climate: Bruce Dorminey on December 2nd, 2012
Daily Climate: In the long rain shadow of the Cascade Mountains, where dryland wheat farmers have eked out livings for more than a century, climate change is very much an issue of the present.
The rain gauge is always in the back of the mind for Mike Nichols, a wheat farmer cultivating 20,0000 acres across two counties in south-central Washington state.
It has to be: Nichols doesn't irrigate, and with less than six inches of precipitation a year, his wheat crop is already on the edge of what's considered...
United States: Storm protection should focus on Bay wetland restoration
Posted by Contra Costa Times: David Lewis on December 2nd, 2012
Contra Costa Times: Superstorm Sandy has caused coastal communities across the country to ask how they can protect themselves from inevitable severe storms and sea-level rise intensified by climate change. The Bay Area will face an increasing threat of destructive storms with impacts like those in New York and New Jersey. But restoring San Francisco Bay's tidal marshes could help save us from a similar fate. Rising sea levels and increasingly severe weather events present unprecedented new risks to crucial infrastructure...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Storm protection should focus on Bay wetland restorationGlobal water crisis: Seen from the first Himalayan glacial trickle
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: William Wheeler on December 2nd, 2012
Christian Science Monitor: In the Nepalese Himalayas in 2009, I trekked into the Langtang Valley, just short of the Tibetan border, and to a village of empty plywood cabins. The arrival of the summer monsoon season had chased the trekkers away. Just uphill was a Buddhist temple and, behind it, a wrinkled sea of gray ice reached up the steep mountain walls into the clouds – the Langtang Lirung glacier, one of thousands that make up the largest body of ice outside the poles. In the winter, these glaciers capture precipitation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global water crisis: Seen from the first Himalayan glacial trickleUnited Kingdom: Why were these houses built on a flood plain?
Posted by Telegraph: William Langley on December 2nd, 2012
Telegraph: To the young families buying their first homes on a smart new Denbighshire housing estate, the attractions seemed irresistible. The prices were reasonable, and a dreamily worded brochure assured them that as residents there, beside the ancient town of Ruthin, they would be "well placed to enjoy all that North Wales has to offer', with "delightful days out amid the majestic beauty of Snowdonia and a coastline renowned for its natural beauty'.
Then there was the clincher -- a written assurance that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Why were these houses built on a flood plain?New Zealand: Climate change increasing freak weather
Posted by Stuff: Simon Day on December 2nd, 2012
Stuff: Climate change is increasing far faster than the world has been willing to admit, and New Zealand could face increased flooding and drought while large areas of coastline could be inundated by the rising sea and coastal erosion.
As another round of global climate talks began last week in Doha, a member of the generation that will face the effects of climate change, 18-year-old Ben Dowdle, believes those with the power to do something are not concerned about his future.
Dowdle was a Unicef youth...
United Kingdom: Fracking firm ready to press on
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 2nd, 2012
BBC: The head of a company involved in fracking has said it is ready to press on quickly with production if a UK ban on the technique is lifted.
Cuadrilla Resources chief executive Francis Egan told the Sunday Telegraph that the development of gas resources in the UK was an economic necessity.
A government review has concluded that fracking - extracting shale gas - is safe if adequately monitored.
Mr Egan warned his company may "walk away" if the ban is not lifted soon.
Fracking is a controversial...