RSS Feed
Archive for June, 2013
How climate change makes wildfires worse
Posted by Grist: None Given on June 15th, 2013
Grist: Last year, Colorado suffered from a record-breaking wildfire season: More than 4,000 fires resulted in six deaths, the destruction of 648 buildings, and a half a billion dollars in property damage. Still reeling, Coloradans are once again fleeing in their thousands from a string of drought-fueled fires.
So what role is climate change playing in the worsening wildfires? Here`s what we`ve learned:
Is climate change making wildfires worse?
Big wildfires like Colorado`s thrive in dry air, low...
Colorado fire: Is global warming one of the culprits?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: Cooler temperatures and some rain helped increase the contained area from just five percent Thursday to 30 percent Friday, authorities reported.
Still, the fire has been devastating: Two people killed and 38,000 evacuated, 473 homes destroyed as the blaze moved through 25 square miles of forests and woodland neighborhoods.
The Black Forest Fire in Colorado is part of a pattern in the West: increased construction in the “wildland-urban interface,” as it’s called.
Most homeowners adhere to...
ExxonMobil Sued Over Arkansas Pipeline Oil Spill
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on June 15th, 2013
Environment News Service: The United States and the State of Arkansas Thursday filed a joint enforcement action against ExxonMobil Pipeline Company and Mobil Pipe Line Company in federal district court in Little Rock.
The civil complaint addresses ExxonMobil's illegal discharge of heavy crude oil from a 20-inch-diameter interstate pipeline, known as the Pegasus Pipeline, that ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas, on March 29.
A segment of the Pegasus Pipeline ruptured in a residential neighborhood of Mayflower, a town of...
Deadly Colorado blaze subsides with help from rain
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2013
Reuters: Rain and calmer winds helped firefighters tame a deadly wildfire ranked as Colorado's most destructive on record as authorities reported making significant headway on Friday in curtailing a blaze that has destroyed nearly 420 homes outside Colorado Springs.
The fire has charred roughly 24 square miles of rolling, wooded terrain northeast of Colorado's second-largest city since it started on Tuesday, killing two people and forcing some 38,000 to flee their homes.
A firefighting force estimated...
In frogs’ croaks, volunteer hears nature’s pulse
Posted by Associated Press: Dan Olson on June 14th, 2013
Associated Press: Half an hour past sunset in rural western Hennepin County, Madeleine Linck strains her ears. She's listening, believe it or not, for the sounds of courtship.
Frog courtship, that is.
Linck is helping with a survey gauging the presence of the state's 14 frog and toad species. She's listening for the male mating call.
"The females do no calling," Linck said.
She offers no judgment on the family values of frogs.
"The females, once they lay their eggs, usually disperse pretty quickly and...
In Colorado, Nature Takes a Fiery Toll Despite a Community’s Efforts to Prepare
Posted by New York Times: Jack Healy on June 14th, 2013
New York Times: For years, families in Black Forest, Colo., did what they could to keep the flames at bay. They scooped up pine needles and trimmed low-hanging branches around their homes. They chopped down saplings and hauled dead trees to the community mulcher. But when the fire came this week, hundreds of their homes still burned. As fire crews fought Friday to contain the most destructive wildfire in Colorado’s history — a blaze that has now burned 400 homes, killed two people and spread across 15,000 acres...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on In Colorado, Nature Takes a Fiery Toll Despite a Community’s Efforts to PrepareStorm-battered Philippines moves to reduce risks and emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 14th, 2013
ClimateWire: The Philippines, Asia's fastest-growing country and among its most vulnerable to climate change, has launched several new strategies to both prepare for the impacts of global warming and develop its renewable energy capacity.
Meeting in Washington, D.C., recently, a high-level government delegation outlined its plans for low-carbon growth and this week is meeting with counterparts in California to discuss ways to implement policies on the ground.
From a new "People's Survival Fund" aimed at...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Storm-battered Philippines moves to reduce risks and emissionsWeird weather might just wake feeble politicians up to climate change
Posted by Guardian: Zoe Williams on June 14th, 2013
Guardian: On Monday, Amory Lovins, physicist, environmentalist, and unassuming colossus of the green movement, appeared in London to talk about energy use. I mention this in the context of the Guardian's story that meteorologists are due to meet next week to discuss whether our bizarre weather is climate change-related (moreover, anthropogenic climate change-related) or just represents natural variation.
I have got into the habit of mentally and often literally shutting my eyes when I see a story like that;...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Weird weather might just wake feeble politicians up to climate changeAustralia: Keep our coal in the ground
Posted by Guardian: Simon Copland on June 14th, 2013
Guardian: I'm instantly stuck by the contrast. On one side, the landscape is beautiful. A river winds its way towards the ocean, until it hits a few islands sitting on the coast. Mangroves cling to the water edge. Beyond the initial line of trees, the landscape is bare -- dark brown and red soils radiating in the sun.
The other side is very different. Amongst the beauty, humans have wreaked havoc. We can see factories, gas plants and piles of coal getting ready to be shipped out. On the ocean I can count...
Climate change threatens water and food security in Antigua
Posted by Environment Health: Desmond Brown on June 13th, 2013
Environment Health: With their islands devoid of rivers or streams, farmers in Antigua and Barbuda have been building dams and ponds for centuries, harvesting rainwater to irrigate their crops and provide drinking water for their livestock.
But now with the advent of climate change, they are facing major challenges. Stronger and more frequent storms regularly destroy trees planted around catchment areas as watershed as well as grass planted in and around these areas to slow evaporation.
"Since 1995, since Hurricane...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change threatens water and food security in Antigua