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Archive for January, 2013
Eyes Turn to Antarctica as Study Shows Greenland’s Ice Has Endured Warmer Climates
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on January 24th, 2013
New York Times: An important discussion is developing among climate and polar researchers around the central point of a landmark Nature paper on Greenland conditions during Earth`s last (very warm) interval between ice ages. The paper, in which a critically important Greenland ice core is analyzed by 133 authors from a host of research centers, concludes that the vast ice sheet largely endured over a period of 6,000 years that was warmer than what is forecast for coming decades.
The graph above, with the Eemian...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Eyes Turn to Antarctica as Study Shows Greenland’s Ice Has Endured Warmer ClimatesObama faces Keystone dilemma after Senate urges pipeline approval
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2013
Guardian: Barack Obama faced intense pressure to break with his inauguration day promise on climate change on Thursday, after a bipartisan majority in the Senate urged approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The letter from 53 senators said there was no reason for Obama to deny the pipeline – as campaigners are demanding – because the project had now undergone exhaustive environmental review. The letter, signed by Democrats as well as Republicans, underlined the high political cost to Obama of living up to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama faces Keystone dilemma after Senate urges pipeline approvalIndia: Climate Change Adaptation in Rural India: A Green Infrastructure Approach
Posted by World Resources Institute: Erin Gray on January 24th, 2013
World Resources Institute: Water is a scarce resource in India, especially in the state of Maharashtra, where most rainfall is limited to the monsoon season from June through September. The Government of India has long promoted a Participatory Watershed Development (PWD) approach to deal with this scarcity, focusing on technical and social interventions to restore barren landscapes, boost agricultural production, and improve livelihoods.
The PWD approach is now facing a major challenge: climate change. Over the past dozen...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on India: Climate Change Adaptation in Rural India: A Green Infrastructure ApproachKerry says global climate change is threat to US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2013
Washington Post: Sen. John Kerry pointed to climate change as among the top international threats facing the United States at his nomination hearing Thursday, cheering environmentalists and dismaying oil industry officials, who have been watching how his confirmation could affect the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline.
In his opening statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Massachusetts Democrat said that American foreign policy "is defined by life-threatening issues like climate change,' along...
U.S. drought expands in top wheat-growing state of Kansas
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on January 24th, 2013
Reuters: Crop-killing drought deepened in Kansas over the last week, further jeopardizing this season's production of winter wheat, a key U.S. crop.
Kansas is generally the top U.S. wheat-growing state, but the new crop planted last fall has been struggling with a lack of soil moisture. Without rain and/or heavy snow before spring, millions of acres of wheat could be ruined.
But a new climatology report issued Thursday showed no signs of improvement for Kansas, or neighboring farm states. Instead, drought...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. drought expands in top wheat-growing state of KansasE.P.A. Directs N.Y. to Act on Muddy Waterway
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2013
New York Times: After a public comment period, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has decided that the lower portion of the Esopus Creek in New York`s Catskills region must be classified as an “impaired” waterway.
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Muddy discharges: the channel connecting the Ashokan Reservoir to the Lower Esopus Creek in the Catskills.
The agency notified the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in a letter that it must take action to reduce the turbidity levels...
Obama must act, not just talk about climate change
Posted by MarketWatch: Darrell Delamaide on January 24th, 2013
MarketWatch: One of the biggest surprises in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural address this week was the prominence given to climate change, marking it as a signature issue for his second term.
The president spoke of the need to preserve the planet for future generations. But he also couched climate change in more immediate economic terms, with leadership on the issue as a necessary component for the U.S. to maintain its economic preeminence.
Reuters Demonstrators call for the cancellation of the...
Why Greenland’s Melting Could Be the Biggest Climate Disaster of All
Posted by Climate Desk: Chris Mooney on January 24th, 2013
Climate Desk: As an expert on Greenland who has traveled 23 times to the massive, mile thick northern ice sheet, Box has shown an uncanny ability to predict major melts and breakoffs of Manhattan-sized ice chunks. A few years back, he foretold the release of a "4x Manhattans" piece of ice from Greenland`s Petermann Glacier, one so big that once afloat it was dubbed an "ice island." In a scientific paper published in February of 2012, Box further predicted "100 % melt area over the ice sheet" within another decade...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Why Greenland’s Melting Could Be the Biggest Climate Disaster of AllHow Climate Change Could Wipe Out the Western Forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 24th, 2013
Atlantic: The fire that burned through Forest Canyon, a breathtaking stretch of wilderness ringed by snowy peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, started in October and burned long past the end of the fire season. Trees still smoldered in late December, and the smoke mixed with dry snow blowing in the air. Known as the Fern Lake Fire, the blaze tore through 3,500 acres of land the federal government set aside a century ago both to provide public enjoyment and protect it from human destruction.
One...
‘Climate change in Pakistan turning extreme’
Posted by Environmental News Network: Suhail Yusuf, Science and Development Network on January 24th, 2013
Environmental News Network: Data presented at a seminar on climate change in Pakistan highlighted trends where this South Asian country, which stretches from high, snow-capped mountains to a deltaic coast, could be in for a sharp rise in average temperatures and extremely erratic weather.
The seminar, held last month (29 December), analysed data in a new report produced by top non-government organisations, LEAD-Pakistan and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, with funding from the European Union.
Data gleaned from...