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Archive for November, 2013
Strict scrutiny for fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 24th, 2013
LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown has released draft regulations to govern fracking in California that very closely follow the lines of a ">bill passed this year by the Legislature. The problem is that the bill itself, though better than nothing, is not strong enough to ensure the safety of the state's air, water and ground stability in the face of this controversial and not-yet-fully-understood practice. Neither the bill nor the draft regulations make it clear whether the state will require environmental impact...
Before and After Satellite Images of Leyte Highlight Damage Caused by Haiyan
Posted by Nature World: None Given on November 24th, 2013
Nature World: Before and after NASA satellite images of the island of Leyte, Philippines reveals just how much havoc Super Typhoon Haiyan wreaked after making landfall Nov. 8.
One of -- if not the -- largest storms to ever make landfall, Haiyan pounded Leyte with winds of rougly 195 miles per hour. As of Nov. 23, the death toll for the entire country had reached more than 5,200.
The images were taken by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Before and After Satellite Images of Leyte Highlight Damage Caused by HaiyanWinter storm deluges western US with floods and snow, killing four
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 23rd, 2013
Associated Press: The western US has been drenched by a powerful storm system that blasted several states and has led to four deaths.
The weather has prompted flooding and water rescues in California, stranded dozens of drivers in Nevada, caused hundreds of crashes among desert dwellers in Arizona and brought snow to northern New Mexico. The system was expected to head east and reach the Atlantic coast by the middle of next week, but not before hitting the south-west again with rain, snow and wind, forecasters...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Winter storm deluges western US with floods and snow, killing fourColorado’s crackdown on methane leaks
Posted by Denver Post: Vincent Carroll on November 23rd, 2013
Denver Post: With a bold indifference to both timing and facts, U.S. Rep. Jared Polis took to the House floor this week to denounce Colorado's oil and gas regulations as toothless just one day after the Hickenlooper administration unveiled air-quality proposals for the industry that will be stricter than any in the nation -- especially in targeting methane.
Colorado has also led the nation in mandating "green completions" in drilling, baseline water sampling and disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing,...
Expert claims climate change making tornadoes weaker
Posted by News.com.au: None Given on November 23rd, 2013
News.com.au: CLIMATE change may be altering our weather but it may not necessarily be for the worse, with one leading climate scientist claiming tornadoes may actually be getting weaker.
While we may have experienced a week of wild weather - with everything from Sydney's own travelling tornado to record-setting twisters in the US and a massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia, all following hard on the heels of the devastating Philippines typhoon - US weather expert Professor Richard A. Muller says there...
Avert water wars – build desalination plants
Posted by Chonicle: Joel Brinkley on November 23rd, 2013
Chonicle: Get ready for the water wars.
Most of the world's population takes water for granted, just like air - two life-sustaining substances. After all, the human body is nearly two-thirds water.
But a Hindustan Times blogger said that in India right now, as in so many other places around the globe, drinkable water has become such a precious commodity that it's dragging the world into "water wars to follow the ones for the control of fuel oil."
Climate change is drying up lakes and rivers almost...
World’s Forests Show Decrease Photosynthetic Activity
Posted by Softpedia: None Given on November 23rd, 2013
Softpedia: An international collaboration of scientists argues in a new study that the world's forests have been undergoing a browning process for more than 20 years, and say that this process leads to a significant decrease in overall photosynthetic activity. Photosynthesis is one of the most important natural processes occurring anywhere on Earth. Through it, plants convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into oxygen, in the presence of light, water and nutrients from the ground. Without it, we would...
Majority of Americans Uninformed About Fracking, Survey Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 22nd, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Most Americans are uninformed and lack opinions on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process used to extract oil and gas from rock formations, a new survey says. Fifty-eight percent of people surveyed specifically reported that they knew nothing at all about fracking, and the same percentage said they didn't know whether they supported fracking or opposed it. Seven percent said they were aware of some of the process's environmental impacts, and 3 percent said they knew of positive economic and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Majority of Americans Uninformed About Fracking, Survey FindsSatellites reveal browning mountain forests
Posted by Mongabay: Tiffany Roufs on November 22nd, 2013
Mongabay: In a dramatic response to global warming, tropical forests in the high elevation areas of five continents have been "browning" since the 1990s. They have been steadily losing foliage, and showing less photosynthetic activity.
Scientists analyzed the forest cover by using satellites to measure sunlight bouncing off the surface of the earth, then determining the different surface types via reflection patterns. Areas with lush foliage where photosynthetic rates are high appear green, and areas with...
Fracking boom is fueling a plastics boom
Posted by Grist: John Upton on November 22nd, 2013
Grist: Plastic crap that Americans are accustomed to importing from Asia is increasingly being manufactured right here in the U.S. -- all thanks to the country’s crappy fracking boom.
Chemical and plastics companies use natural gas as a raw material, and now they can get it cheaply in the U.S. As Living on Earth reports, "The fracking boom has led to renaissance for the chemical industry, particularly for plastics makers in Louisiana, where the plants are major employers."
Other states are seeing...