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Archive for July, 2013
Fracking Pushes U.S. Oil Output to Highest Since 1992
Posted by Bloomberg: Asjylyn Loder on July 11th, 2013
Bloomberg: U.S. oil production jumped last week to the highest level since January 1992, cutting consumption of foreign fuel and putting the U.S. closer to energy independence.
Drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, pushed crude output up by 134,000 barrels, or 1.8 percent, to 7.401 million barrels a day in the seven days ended July 5, the Energy Information Administration said today.
Rising crude supplies from oilfields including North Dakota’s Bakken shale and the Eagle Ford...
In the Greenhouse: Forests Get More Water Efficient as Carbon Dioxide Levels Rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 11th, 2013
Time: The response to climate change has two sides: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation means reducing greenhouse gases in an effort to slow the pace of warming and lessen its effects. Adaptation means responding to those effects, working to blunt climate change as it unfolds. It`s offense versus defense.
Mitigation gets most of the attention because it mostly involves changing the way we use energy, something that we spend trillions of dollars on. Such shifts can have a huge impact on the economy--for...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on In the Greenhouse: Forests Get More Water Efficient as Carbon Dioxide Levels RiseEvolution can’t keep up with climate change
Posted by Futurity: None Given on July 11th, 2013
Futurity: To adapt to the rapid climate change expected in the next 100 years, many vertebrate species would have to evolve about 10,000 times faster than they have in the past.
Scientists analyzed how quickly species adapted to different climates in the past, using data from 540 living species from all major groups of terrestrial vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
They then compared their rates of evolution to rates of climate change projected for the end of this century....
AGL Delays Australian Wind Farm on Government Policy Concern
Posted by Bloomberg: James Paton on July 11th, 2013
Bloomberg: AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK), Australia’s largest developer of renewable energy projects, said it delayed a A$550 million ($509 million) wind farm because of uncertainty over government policy to boost investment in the industry.
AGL will defer hiring an engineering and construction contractor for the proposed Silverton wind farm in Australia’s New South Wales state and review its position in 2014, the Sydney-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.
“This decision does not indicate reduced...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on AGL Delays Australian Wind Farm on Government Policy ConcernSome Trees Use Less Water Amid Rising Carbon Dioxide, Paper Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 10th, 2013
New York Times: The fate of the world’s forests on a warming planet has long been one of the great unanswered questions about climate change. Now, new research is complicating the picture further, suggesting that big shifts are already under way in how forests work. A paper published Wednesday suggests that trees in at least some parts of the world are having to pull less water out of the ground to achieve a given amount of growth. Some scientists say they believe that this may be a direct response to the rising...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Some Trees Use Less Water Amid Rising Carbon Dioxide, Paper SaysAustralia: Ministers Ignore Industrial Threats to Great Barrier Reef
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on July 10th, 2013
Environment News Service: The Australian and Queensland governments today pledged to protect the world`s longest coral reef under a new plan endorsed at the Great Barrier Reef Ministerial Forum in Brisbane. But environmental advocates warn the ministers are ignoring alarm bells about industrial development rung by the United Nations. The 2013 Reef Water Quality Protection Plan is designed to guide initiatives to ensure that runoff from agriculture has no detrimental impact on the health and resilience of the Great Barrier...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Ministers Ignore Industrial Threats to Great Barrier ReefHow to Protest Keystone XL Without Getting Arrested
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 10th, 2013
EcoWatch: Barbara Haws is a Brooklynite, but she was raised in Nebraska. The proposed TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline would pass through her home state, and she’s not happy about it. Her cousins--Nebraska farmers--are so unhappy about it that they chained themselves to the White House fence in protest and were promptly arrested. Haws herself chose a simpler form of protest: she took her protest sign out of her window and now carries it where she goes. She documented her travels and her cause in this video,...
Chesapeake Dead Zones Impacting Local Fish, Ecosystem
Posted by Nature World News: Tamarra Kemsley on July 10th, 2013
Nature World News: Dead zones occurring in the Chesapeake Bay are disrupting the distribution and number of many of the area's fish, according to a 10-year study by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).
As the first quantitative evidence on a bay-wide scale that these low-oxygen zones are impacting demersal fish (fish that live or feed near the bottom seafloor), the study warns that the affected species represent a key part of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and support important commercial...
Torrential rain causes widespread devastation in China – in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 10th, 2013
Guardian: Flooding in western China, the worst in 50 years for some areas, has triggered a landslide that buried about 30 people. Mudslides and flooding are common in China's mountainous areas, killing hundreds of people every year. Deforestation has led to soil erosion and made some parts of the country prone to mudslides after strong rain
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Torrential rain causes widespread devastation in China – in picturesBiofuels: have we lost the plot?
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Johnson on July 10th, 2013
Guardian: I am in the African agriculture sector providing farming machinery and spare parts to my customers in Africa. I have also spent lots of time out there in Nigeria, Zambia and other places on farms.
In Brazil, where there is a big sugar cane industry, biofuel is produced as a by-product which is an excellent idea.
Unfortunately in Africa, there has been a trend towards growing crops for bio fuels. I am very against this idea primarily because crops should be grown for human consumption. I also...