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Archive for January 8th, 2013
Deep In Canadian Lakes, Signs Of Tar Sands Pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
National Public Radio: Canadian researchers have used the mud at the bottom of lakes like a time machine to show that tar sands oil production in Alberta, Canada, is polluting remote regional lakes as far as 50 miles from the operations.
An increasingly large share of U.S. oil comes from Canada's tar sands. There are environmental consequences of this development, but until recently, Canadian regional and federal governments left it to the industry to monitor these effects.
A new study follows other recent rigorous...
Not Even Close: 2012 Was Hottest Ever in U.S.
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
New York Times: The numbers are in: 2012, the year of a surreal March heat wave, a severe drought in the corn belt and a huge storm that caused broad devastation in the mid-Atlantic states, turns out to have been the hottest year ever recorded in the contiguous United States. How hot was it? The temperature differences between years are usually measured in fractions of a degree, but last year’s 55.3 degree average demolished the previous record, set in 1998, by a full degree Fahrenheit. If that does not sound...
United States: Climate Change to Claim San Francisco Marshes
Posted by LiveScience: Becky Oskin on January 8th, 2013
LiveScience: More than 80 percent of critical salt marsh habitat around San Francisco Bay will disappear in 100 years due to rising sea levels, according to a detailed, decade-long survey of the area by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The marshes are the bay's natural buffer against rising seas. Many of the Bay Area's cities and important services, including highways, airports and power lines, lie only a few inches to a few feet above sea level. As long as a marsh accumulates enough sediment to keep pace...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Climate Change to Claim San Francisco Marshes2012 was hottest year on record in U.S., climate agency says
Posted by Reuters: James B. Kelleher on January 8th, 2013
Reuters: The year 2012 was the warmest on record for the contiguous United States, beating the previous record by a full degree in temperature, a government climate agency said on Tuesday.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average temperature in 2012 in the contiguous United States was 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit (12.94 degrees Celsius), 3.2 degrees above the average recorded during the 20th century and 1.0 degree above 1998, until now the hottest on record. The contiguous...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 2012 was hottest year on record in U.S., climate agency saysGlobal warming beneficial to ratsnakes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Speculation about how animals will respond to climate change due to global warming led University of Illinois researcher Patrick Weatherhead and his students to conduct a study of ratsnakes at three different latitudes -- Ontario, Illinois, and Texas. His findings suggest that ratsnakes will be able to adapt to the higher temperatures by becoming more active at night.
"Ratsnakes are a species with a broad geographic range so we could use latitude as a surrogate for climate change," Weatherhead...
2012 Smashes Record For Hottest Year In The Lower 48
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
National Public Radio: It's official: 2012 was the hottest year on record for the contiguous United States. In fact, it shattered the record set in 1998. The National Climatic Data Center says last year was also extraordinarily dry — and drought conditions are persisting into 2013.
China’s Rising Soybean Consumption Reshaping Western Agriculture
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Global demand for soybeans has soared in recent decades, with China leading the race. Nearly 60 percent of all soybeans entering international trade today go to China, making it far and away the world`s largest importer.
The soybean was domesticated some 3,000 years ago by farmers in eastern China. But it wasn`t until well after World War II that the crop gained agricultural prominence, enabling it to join wheat, rice, and corn as one of the world`s four leading crops.
This rise in the demand...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China’s Rising Soybean Consumption Reshaping Western AgricultureAustralian bush fires ‘catastrophic’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
BBC: Firefighters in the Australian state of New South Wales are battling some of the worst fires they have ever faced. More than 130 fires are burning, and the risk in some areas is at its highest level because of the combination of high winds, extremely dry vegetation and temperatures above 40. Four areas in New South Wales have been given a "catastrophic" fire danger rating - the highest level - meaning that if fires break out they will be uncontrollable and fast-moving, so residents should leave....
“Catastrophic” Heat Wave Burning up Australia
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on January 8th, 2013
Climate Desk: Every Australian knows well the smell of burning Eucalyptus. As a kid, I remember filling bathtubs and hosing the house as embers flew overhead and the lawn turned grey with ash. The family photo albums practically lived for one month each summer in the back of the car.
So regular are fires across this big, dry place (the driest inhabited continent on earth) that they are given a season unto themselves--"bushfire season"--which kicks off late December and continues through the height of Summer...
Rogue attempts could ‘hijack’ world’s climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 8th, 2013
Guardian: The world's climate could be hijacked by a rogue country or wealthy individual firing small particles into the stratosphere, claims a warning that comes not from a new Hollywood movie trailer but a sober report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The deployment of independent, large-scale "geoengineering" techniques aimed at averting dangerous warming warrants more research because it could lead to an international crisis with unpredictable costs to agriculture, infrastructure and global stability,...