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Archive for July, 2013
Pitfalls Abound in China’s Push From Farm to City
Posted by New York Times: Ian Johnson on July 14th, 2013
New York Times: Li Yongping sat in a darkened conference room, his face illuminated by an enormous map of southern Shaanxi Province projected on a wall-size screen. He nodded to an assistant and the screen split: the province on one side and a photograph of a farmer on the other.
“These people are moving out of here,” he said, gesturing to the mountains that dominate the province’s south. “And they’re moving here,” he said, pointing to the farmer’s newly built concrete home. “They are moving into the modern world.”...
After Sandy, New York aims to fortify itself against next big storm, climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Lenny Bernstein on July 14th, 2013
Washington Post: Off a narrow road in a swampy part of Staten Island, Thomas Morello is preparing his two-family home for the next time the water pours in from Lower New York Bay, a quarter-mile or so away.
When Hurricane Sandy hit more than eight months ago, inundating but not destroying his converted summer cottage, Morello discovered the house was not anchored to its foundation. Now, as he repairs the damage from water that rose almost to the second floor, he is bolting and screwing the structure to its...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on After Sandy, New York aims to fortify itself against next big storm, climate changeTrees Using Water More Efficiently Due To Increase in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
Posted by Science World Report: Benita Matilda on July 14th, 2013
Science World Report: A paper published online in the journal Nature Wednesday, examines how a dramatic change in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels makes trees thriftier with water.
It is a known fact that atmospheric carbon dioxide boosts the growth of plants. To state that carbon dioxide is an important plant food is not a new argument. Many experts have expressed concerns over the fate of forests in the face of climatic changes taking place because such alterations directly and indirectly affect the growth and productivity...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Trees Using Water More Efficiently Due To Increase in Atmospheric Carbon DioxideCoal industry on edge as White House moves to curb emissions
Posted by Marion Star: None Given on July 14th, 2013
Marion Star: As the Obama administration prepares to roll out tough new standards aimed at sharply curbing carbon pollution, it’s hard to overstate the high stakes for Ohio.
The state is home to Murray Energy Corp., America’s largest privately owned coal producer, and American Electric Power, which has one of the biggest fleets of coal-fired power plants in the nation.
Plus, Ohio residents rely overwhelmingly on coal to power televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners and other appliances. In 2010, Ohio...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Coal industry on edge as White House moves to curb emissionsThe misplaced war against Western wildfires
Posted by Denver Post: Stephen J. Pyne on July 14th, 2013
Denver Post: The simplest way to describe fire worldwide is that there is too much of the wrong kind, too little of the right kind, and too much overall. The wrong kinds are those such as the blaze that killed 19 firefighters in Arizona, or those that have put southeast Asia under a pall, that incinerate communities, befoul ecosystems with effluents, and trash biotas by burning at the wrong times and intensities.
The right kinds are those that perform an ecological service by burning landscapes properly --...
Canada: Modern urban flood prevention: more ideas, fewer emissions
Posted by Globe and Mail: David Miller on July 14th, 2013
Globe and Mail: After Hurricane Hazel, which killed dozens of people in 1954, Torontonians made strong decisions through their local and provincial governments - such as banning development from flood plains and creating conservation authorities - that proved extremely effective in preventing a repeat of the mayhem. Considering the recent storms and flooding in Calgary and Toronto, and Hurricane Sandy's devastation to the United States last year, we need to take equivalent bold measures today. The only question...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Modern urban flood prevention: more ideas, fewer emissionsClimate change is happening too quickly for species to adapt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2013
Guardian: Among the many strange mantras repeated by climate change deniers is the claim that even in an overheated, climate-altered planet, animals and plants will still survive by adapting to global warming. Corals, trees, birds, mammals and butterflies are already changing to the routine reality of global warming, it is argued.
Certainly, countless species have adapted to past climate fluctuations. However, their rate of change turns out to be painfully slow, according to a study by Professor John Wiens...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change is happening too quickly for species to adaptFish Turn on One Another When Attacked by Predators
Posted by Nature World News: James A. Foley on July 13th, 2013
Nature World News: In the underwater world, self-preservation takes many shapes. Fish, for example, will avoid capture by swimming in a large mass that makes it difficult to single-out one individual. But according to the latest research on a small species of South American fish, the creatures will turn on one another when confronted by a predator on the hunt. Two-spot astyanax, are seemingly innocuous fish. Often kept as pets, the small fish tend to swim in schools of about 50 and have a diet of plankton, plants...
Study: Climate change causing trees to use less water
Posted by National Public Radio: Gretchen Frazee on July 13th, 2013
National Public Radio: Some trees seem to be adapting to climate change by using less water, according to a study by a team of researchers from several universities, including Indiana University, that was recently published in the journal Nature.
Using atmospheric devices on a 150-foot tower in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest, IU researchers measured how much water vapor and gases were being absorbed and released by the forest.
That information, combined with similar data from forests around the world, has led researchers...
Alarmist US report highlights risks of climate change to energy sector
Posted by Financial Post: None Given on July 13th, 2013
Financial Post: In a report supporting Barack Obama’s renewed push to fight climate change, the United States Department of Energy said its energy sector is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods and decreased water availability and needs to shore up its preparedness.
“The magnitude of the challenge posed by climate change on an aging and already stressed U.S. energy system could outpace current adaptation efforts, unless a more comprehensive and accelerated approach is adopted,”...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alarmist US report highlights risks of climate change to energy sector