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Archive for June, 2013
Warming bad for life in freshwater lakes and rivers
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on June 17th, 2013
Climate News Network: Austria's alpine lakes are warming, and that's bad news for the region's fish and economy, according to new research in the journal Hydrobiologia. The Alpine valleys are warming: From 1980 to 1999 the region warmed three times the global average. Martin Dokulil of the Institute for Limnology at the University of Innsbruck studied data from nine lakes larger than 10 square kilometers, or about 2,500 acres. The largest, Bodensee or Lake Constance, touches Austria's border with Germany and Switzerland;...
Catastrophic Oil Spill Threat to Canadian River Basin
Posted by Climate News Network: Paul Brown on June 17th, 2013
Climate News Network: The Mackenzie River Basin, a vast globally important area in Canada, is at great risk from climate change and a catastrophic oil spill from the tailing ponds of tar sands mining, according to a panel of nine Canadian, American and British scientists. The warning came just days after the Canadian Oil Producers Association says it expects oil production from tar sands in the region to double by 2030. The Mackenzie River Basin showing how it drains north to the Arctic Ocean. A report produced after...
United Kingdom: Indoor fracking installation seeks to provoke debate
Posted by Guardian: Mark Brown on June 17th, 2013
Guardian: It is one of the biggest, most polarising issues there is, but artists who have created an indoor fracking installation insist they are not trying to sway opinion either way. "We want to create an emotionally engaging experience. People can then go away and come to their own conclusions," said Heiko Hansen, who with his partner, Helen Evans, has recreated the sounds, tremors and flames you would get from a fracking operation. The process of fracking – or hydraulic fracturing – involves drilling...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: Indoor fracking installation seeks to provoke debatePakistan can expect worse heatwaves to come, meteorologists warn
Posted by Guardian: John Vidal and Razeshta Sethna on June 17th, 2013
Guardian: Near-record temperatures in Pakistan have claimed hundreds of lives and devastated crops in the third major heatwave in four years. But as temperatures on Friday dipped to under 38C (100F), signalling the end of nearly four weeks of blistering heat, leading meteorologists warned that the country could expect longer, more intense and more frequent events in future. Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, a vice-president of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and former director of Pakistan's Met Office,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pakistan can expect worse heatwaves to come, meteorologists warnMonsoon rains cover India early, boost crop hopes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2013
Reuters: India's monsoon rains have covered the entire country a month ahead of the normal schedule, increasing the prospects for a bumper output for summer-sown crops such as rice, oilseeds and cotton in one of the world's leading producers. The rains usually cover all of India by mid-July, but this year it happened on June 16, said a senior official at the India Meteorological Department, who did not want to be named. The rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the...
Senegal: Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Posted by Independent: Gavin Haines on June 16th, 2013
Independent: Like most people living along the Sahel – the drylands between Africa’s tropical savannahs and the Sahara Desert – Mustafa Ba is all too familiar with the effects of desertification. Thanks to a combination of overgrazing and deforestation, he has watched the countryside around his Senegalese village, Mboula, turn into a dusty, unproductive wasteland. “Trees provide us with many benefits,” explains Mustafa, as we sit on a mat in the centre of his village. “They are good for the soil and important...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Senegal: Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?Die-off in Indian River Lagoon killing dolphins, manatees
Posted by Tampa Bay Times: Craig Pittman on June 16th, 2013
Tampa Bay Times: The Indian River Lagoon on Florida's east coast has long been known as the most diverse ecosystem in North America. Its 156 miles of water boasts more than 600 species of fish and more than 300 kinds of birds.
The lagoon is not just an ecological treasure. To the towns along its edge -- Titusville, Cocoa, Melbourne, Vero Beach and Stuart, among others -- it accounts for hundreds of millions in revenue from angling, boating, bird-watching, tourism and other waterfront activities.
But these days...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Die-off in Indian River Lagoon killing dolphins, manateesObama to Unveil Climate Change Package in July
Posted by Bloomberg: Lisa Lerer on June 16th, 2013
Bloomberg: With his administration under pressure from environmentalists to reject the Keystone XL pipeline project, President Obama plans to unveil a package of separate actions next month focused on curbing US greenhouse gas emissions.
At closed-door fund-raisers held over the past few weeks, the president has been telling Democratic party donors that he will unveil new climate proposals in July, according to people who have attended the events or been briefed.
Obama's promise frequently comes in response...
Climate change tack shifts to adaptation
Posted by Japan Times: None Given on June 16th, 2013
Japan Times: Efforts to curb global warming have quietly shifted as greenhouse gases inexorably rise. The conversation is no longer solely about how to save the planet by cutting carbon emissions, it is becoming more about how to save ourselves from the warming planet`s wild weather.
It was Mayor Michael Bloomberg`s recent announcement of an ambitious plan to stave off New York City`s rising seas with flood gates, levees and more that brought this transition into full focus.
After years of losing the fight...
West Nile virus fears on rise after Hurricane Sandy
Posted by Star-Ledger: Lisa Hagen on June 16th, 2013
Star-Ledger: With mosquito season approaching, some health officials are concerned about another possible consequence of Hurricane Sandy: an elevated risk of the West Nile virus.
Although they said it is too early to tell how severe the threat will be, officials said they are concerned about the "increased opportunity" for mosquitoes to breed because of standing water left in debris, depressions from fallen trees, damaged gutters and unmaintained swimming pools. And with more mosquitoes come mosquito-born...