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Archive for August, 2013
Climate change to trigger frequent, severe heatwaves
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 18th, 2013
Press Trust of India: Climate change is set to trigger more frequent and severe heatwaves in the next 30 years regardless of the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted into the atmosphere, a new study has warned.
Extreme heat waves such as those that hit the US in 2012 and Australia in 2009 dubbed three-sigma events by the researchers are projected to cover double the amount of global land by 2020 and quadruple by 2040, researchers said.
Meanwhile, more-severe summer heat waves classified as five-sigma events will...
More Frequent Heat Waves by 2020 ‘Almost Certain’
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on August 18th, 2013
Climate News Network: Stand by for extreme weather. Prepare for heat waves on a scale that was once unprecedented. For once, there are no "ifs' in the forecast, no caveats about modeling business-as-usual-scenarios rather than dramatic reductions of emissions for near-term warming
Even if governments abandon fossil fuels everywhere, immediately, and invest only in green energy, there will be new record temperatures. The greenhouse gas emissions of the last few decades now mean that regions of the planet subjected to...
United Kingdom: Anti-oil drilling and fracking demonstration: Crowds to march through Balcombe
Posted by Metro: None Given on August 18th, 2013
Metro: Campaigners will attempt to get their voices heard today, when a legion of impassioned activists take to the streets in protest against gas and oil exploration in the English countryside.
Anti-fracking and oil drilling demonstrators will march at 3pm in Balcombe, West Sussex, the town near to a site on which energy firm, Cuadrilla Resources Ltd, is hoping to stage a test drill.
Masses of environmental activists, local Sussex residents and even perhaps a few celebrities – Vivienne Westwood was...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: Anti-oil drilling and fracking demonstration: Crowds to march through BalcombeNot Enough Known Regarding Effect of Pesticides on Environment, Researchers Argue
Posted by Nature World: None Given on August 17th, 2013
Nature World: With the rise in global human population has, naturally, come a rise in global food production. As a result, the use of pesticides has increased worldwide as desperate farmers fight to protect their crops from opportunistic scavengers.
However, despite their skyrocketing usage throughout the world, little is known regarding exactly how these pesticides affect not only the plants they were developed to protect but humans and animals as well. And with growing evidence that the chemicals found in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Not Enough Known Regarding Effect of Pesticides on Environment, Researchers ArgueUnited Kingdom: Middle England and the eco-warriors say victory is theirs in the battle for Balcombe
Posted by Guardian: Mark Townsend on August 17th, 2013
Guardian: Some had travelled the length of the country, determined to fortify the new frontline in the ongoing struggle to shape Britain's future energy supply. By Saturday, hundreds of protesters had convened in a camp straddling the B2306 outside the village of Balcombe.
Many are prepared to dig in for what has been described as a six-day campaign of "civil disobedience". Few aligned to the burgeoning No Dash For Gas anti-fracking coalition are contemplating anything other than victory, an assessment...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Middle England and the eco-warriors say victory is theirs in the battle for BalcombeBritish fracking firm stops drilling amid fierce protests
Posted by Press TV: None Given on August 17th, 2013
Press TV: British Energy giant Cuadrilla Resources has stopped its exploration work in the West Sussex countryside in southern England amid growing protests from locals and environmentalists, local media reported. In the face of fierce protests, the fracking firm halted its controversial drilling after it was threatened by activists, who said they will act directly to disrupt the process. Cuadrilla admitted to scale back its drilling activities on the Sussex Police’s advice following reports that thousands...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on British fracking firm stops drilling amid fierce protestsFracking in UK’s interest, says Cuadrilla’s Browne
Posted by Telegraph: James Quinn on August 17th, 2013
Telegraph: The former chief executive of BP told The Sunday Telegraph that as long as it could be done safely, the method of hydraulic fracturing for shale oil and gas should be pursued.
His comments came as Cuadrilla's potential shale oil site outside the village of Balcombe in West Sussex attracted hundreds of protesters this weekend, angry at the potential environmental fallout from the method. Fracking involves pumping water, gas and chemicals into the ground at high pressure to fracture the rocks and...
Dengue fever sweeps Southeast Asia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2013
Wall Street Journal: Southeast Asia is scrambling to combat a deadly outbreak of dengue fever, the tropical illness transmitted by mosquitoes, which has hit parts of the region especially hard. Health experts suspect that an unusually early rainy season that brought mosquitoes out in April, months ahead of what is expected, contributed to the seriousness of the dengue challenge. Also, above-average temperatures that many experts blame on global warming encouraged early mosquito breeding. Meanwhile, dengue is thought...
Colorado River: Is historic cut in water release the new normal?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: Fourteen years of drought in the West and a revised rule book on allocating water along the Colorado River have prompted the US Bureau of Reclamation to make the deepest cut in water released from Lake Powell in the reservoir's 46-year history. Lake Powell is second-largest engineered reservoir in the United States by capacity, bested only by Lake Mead, more than 200 miles downstream. The bureau formally announced the cut Friday. The amount of water that the bureau will release from the lake starting...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado River: Is historic cut in water release the new normal?United Kingdom: 1,000s expected to converge on Balcombe as fracking protests continue
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2013
Independent: Hundreds of demonstrators have arrived at an anti-fracking protest camp in West Sussex on Saturday, swelling numbers on the second day of a proposed six day protest.
Police and the protest organisers No Dash for Gas anticipate up to 1,000 activists joining the anti-fracking demonstrations at the Balcombe camp as it emerged earlier today that the cost of policing the operation has risen to nearly £750,000.
Demonstrators will join the six-day Reclaim the Power Camp on the outskirts of the West...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: 1,000s expected to converge on Balcombe as fracking protests continue