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Archive for June, 2013
What’s Behind the New Warning on Global Carbon Emissions?
Posted by National Geographic: Thomas K. Grose on June 11th, 2013
National Geographic: If the world waits until 2020 to take action on global climate change, it will undoubtedly be too late, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns in a new report. However, the Paris-based agency, which is tasked with maintaining global energy security, identified four proven policies, each relying on current technology, that could be implemented immediately. (See quiz: "What You Don't Know About World Energy.") These efforts could keep the world on track while nations work toward a more comprehensive...
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Comments Off on What’s Behind the New Warning on Global Carbon Emissions?Wood not so green a biofuel? Logging may have greater impact on carbon emissions than previous
Posted by Science Daily: None Given on June 11th, 2013
Science Daily: Using wood for energy is considered cleaner than fossil fuels, but a Dartmouth College-led study finds that logging may release large amounts of carbon stored in deep forest soils.
Global atmospheric studies often don't consider carbon in deep (or mineral) soil because it is thought to be stable and unaffected by timber harvesting. But the Dartmouth findings show deep soil can play an important role in carbon emissions in clear-cutting and other intensive forest management practices. The findings...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wood not so green a biofuel? Logging may have greater impact on carbon emissions than previousGerman flood damage insurance claims may reach €3bn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2013
Associated Press: Damage from the past week's flooding in Germany is expected to lead to insurance claims of up to EUR3bn (£2.5bn), a credit rating agency has said, as flood levels on the Elbe river in the country's north appeared to stabilise.
Further south, the peak of the flood on the Danube, Europe's second-longest river, moved away from the Hungarian capital, Budapest, toward Serbia.
The Elbe, the Danube and other rivers have overflowed their banks following weeks of heavy rain, causing extensive damage...
NYC lays out $20 billion plan to combat climate change –
Posted by Reuters: Hilary Russ on June 11th, 2013
Reuters: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday announced a $20 billion plan to prepare for rising sea levels and hotter summers expected as a result of climate change in the coming decades.
The plan, which follows widespread destruction wreaked by Superstorm Sandy last year, included about 250 recommendations ranging from new floodwalls and storm barriers to upgrades of power and telecommunications infrastructures.
It coincided with a report updating projections of the impact of climate change,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on NYC lays out $20 billion plan to combat climate change –Water levels fall in Great Lakes, taking a toll on shipping
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2013
New York Times: Aboard the Dorothy Ann, in Lake Erie near Fairport Harbor, Ohio — As Capt. Jeremy R. Mock steered this 711-foot combination of tug and barge toward a harbor berth, a screen of red numbers indicated the decreasing depth of water under the vessel: 6 feet, 3.6 feet, 2 feet. Suddenly the numbers gave way to a line of red dashes: — — — — . It was a signal that there was not enough water to measure. Drought and other factors have created historically low water marks for the Great Lakes, putting the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Water levels fall in Great Lakes, taking a toll on shippingNew York City Faces Increasing Risk From Climate Change, New Data Show
Posted by New York Times: Jenny Anderson on June 11th, 2013
New York Times: The Bloomberg administration on Monday issued new warnings about New York City’s vulnerability to climate change, offering updated data to encourage businesses, residents and perhaps even future mayors to better prepare against hotter weather, fiercer storms and increased rainfall. Administration officials estimated that more than 800,000 city residents will live in the 100-year flood plain by the 2050s. That figure is more than double the 398,000 currently estimated to be at risk, based on new...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York City Faces Increasing Risk From Climate Change, New Data ShowAmount of dust blown across the Western U.S. is increasing
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 11th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The amount of dust being blown across the landscape has increased over the last 17 years in large swaths of the West, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.
The escalation in dust emissions -- which may be due to the interplay of several factors, including increased windstorm frequency, drought cycles and changing land-use patterns -- has implications both for the areas where the dust is first picked up by the winds and for the places where the dust is put back down....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amount of dust blown across the Western U.S. is increasingMassive Wetlands Destruction Project Still Pending
Posted by EcoWatch: George Sorvalis on June 10th, 2013
EcoWatch: The Obama Administration is facing mounting pressure to release an environmental analysis that could recommend building the controversial New Madrid Levee, a component of the St. John`s Bayou and New Madrid Floodway project in South East Missouri.
The pressure is coming from Missouri’s Sen. Blunt, who has placed a hold on President Obama’s nominee to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Gina McCarthy, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) publicly releases its newest environmental...
Romania: Danube Crests Near Record Level in Budapest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 10th, 2013
New York Times: The Danube, which normally bisects Budapest as a gently rolling swath of silver, hovered at historic levels Monday, as the Hungarian capital struggled as record floods battered Central and Eastern Europe.
An unusually wet spring has swollen the Danube, the Elbe and several of their tributaries across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Hungary, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, disrupting rail and road traffic, and causing damage that some preliminary estimates have put...
Ganges, Nile and Amazon seen suffering more floods from warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 9th, 2013
Reuters: Climate change is likely to worsen floods on rivers such as the Ganges, the Nile and the Amazon this century while a few, including the now-inundated Danube, may become less prone, a Japanese-led scientific study said on Sunday.
The findings will go some way to help countries prepare for deluges that have killed thousands of people worldwide and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage every year in the past decade, experts wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Given enough warning,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ganges, Nile and Amazon seen suffering more floods from warming