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Archive for November, 2013
Typhoon Haiyan: perfect storm of corruption & neglect
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2013
Ecologist: Why did Typhoon Haiyan wreak such havoc on the Philippines? In a country that sees 20 tropical storms every year, it would be natural to expect some form of planning for such disasters. But a neglectful government distracted by political chaos meant Filipinos received little warning of the coming storm. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has tracked tropical storms since 1948. Between 1948 and 2012, about 1250 typhoons have landed in the Philippines....
Haiti, Philippines hardest hit by weather extremes in 2012: study
Posted by Reuters: Alister Doyle and Stian Reklev on November 13th, 2013
Reuters: Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were hardest hit by weather disasters in 2012, a report issued at U.N. climate talks on Tuesday showed, as the death toll mounted from the latest typhoon to devastate the Philippines.
Germanwatch, a think-tank partly funded by the German government, said poor nations had suffered most from extreme weather in the past two decades, and worldwide, extreme weather had killed 530,000 people and caused damage of more than $2.5 trillion.
"The unfolding human tragedy...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Haiti, Philippines hardest hit by weather extremes in 2012: studyDeveloping nations bear the brunt of extreme weather
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 13th, 2013
SciDevNet: Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan were the countries that suffered the most due to extreme weather events in 2012, according to the Global Climate Risk Index released yesterday at the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland. The 2012 events that hit these countries and, so explain their high ranking were Hurricane Sandy in Haiti, Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines, and severe monsoon flooding in Pakistan. "We have lost almost US$15 billion to floods and droughts in the last three years and...
Satellite imagery shows before & after devastation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2013
Telegraph: Satellite images of Tacloban taken before and after Typhoon Haiyan destroyed much of the city have shown how the city in the Philippines has been flattened.
Several hours before the typhoon hit, DigitalGlobe -- a Colorado-based company that provides high resolution images from its own satellites to mapping agencies, defence contractors and governments -- switched on its cameras above the city of Tacloban.
The city of 200,000 people was teeming with life. Roads were thick with lorries and cars....
The Inequality of Climate Change
Posted by New York Times: Annie Lowrey on November 13th, 2013
New York Times: Typhoon Haiyan has left an estimated 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the Philippines. And it has once again underscored for many development experts a cruel truth about climate change: It will hit the world’s poorest the hardest. “No nation will be immune to the impacts of climate change,” said a major World Bank report on the issue last year. “However, the distribution of impacts is likely to be inherently unequal and tilted against many of the world’s poorest regions, which have...
How climate change will impact the Southeast USA
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 12th, 2013
USA Today: Rising sea levels, warming temperatures, heat waves, worsening air quality and stresses on the water supply are issues the Southeast will face over the next 20 years because of man-made climate change, according to a report released Tuesday. "The Southeast is a key part of the problem," said Keith Ingram, director of the Southeast Climate Consortium and a professor at the University of Florida. "With 26% of the total population of the U.S. living there, the region emits 25% of the country's total...
This map shows why the Philippines is so vulnerable to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 12th, 2013
Washington Post: The Philippines is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change for two main reasons: geography and development. As my colleague Brad Plumer points out in an excellent piece on what the Philippines' experience with Typhoon Haiyan tells us about global efforts to adapt to climate change, a recent United Nations report identified the country as the third-most at-risk from climate change in the world, ranked behind the South Pacific island nations of Vanuatu and Tonga.
But the Philippines...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on This map shows why the Philippines is so vulnerable to climate change500 million to go thirsty as climate warms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 12th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: HALF A BILLION more people will be unable to access clean water as a result of climate change, according to a new international study. Approximately 1.3 billion people today live in areas of water scarcity. A increase in temperature of 2°C by 2100 — a midrange prediction from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — is expected to expose an additional eight per cent of the world's population to new or worsening water scarcity. A more extreme rise in temperature of five degrees, reveals that...
Researchers study how preserve tree species amid climate change
Posted by Tuscon Sentinel: Chris Cole on November 12th, 2013
Tuscon Sentinel: Two researchers at Arizona State University are aiming to help officials manage trees based on how different types are affected by climate change.
Janet Franklin, a geography professor, and Pep Serra-Diaz, a postdoctoral researcher, are using computer models to study how quickly a tree species and its habitat will be exposed to climate change. That information is used to locate areas with specific elevations and latitudes where trees could survive and repopulate.
"This is information that would...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Researchers study how preserve tree species amid climate changePrecipitation Changes Linked To Global Warming
Posted by redOrbit: April Flowers on November 12th, 2013
RedOrbit: According to Eliza Doolittle from “My Fair Lady,” the rain in Spain lies mainly on the plain. However, according to a new study from the scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the location and intensity of rain is changing around the globe, not only in Spain. The study, published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that observed changes in global (ocean and land) precipitation are directly affected by human activities and...