Archive for December 29th, 2013

Natural Defenses Can Best Protect Coasts Says Study

Climate News Network: It isn't just the catastrophic storms and tropical cyclones that threaten disaster for the world's coastal cities. Simple, insidious things like sea level rise, coastal subsidence and the loss of wetlands could bring the sea water coursing through city streets in the decades to come. Aerial photo of Mantoloking, N.J., after Hurricane Sandy. Many cities are on low-lying coastal plains or on river estuaries and are therefore at risk as sea levels rise because of global warming. Jonathan Woodruff...

It won’t be long before the victims of climate change make the west pay

Guardian: Would you enjoy the cosiness and warmth of Christmas with your children or grandchildren just that little bit less if you knew that other people's children were dying because of it? More than four million children under five years old are now at risk of acute malnutrition in the Sahel, an area of the world that is one of the clearest victims of the rich world's addiction to fossil fuels. About 18 million people in the Sahel – the vulnerable pan-African strip of land that runs from Senegal to Sudan...

Is LNG fracking worth its weight in water?

Globe and Mail: More than seven billion litres of water were used for fracking in B.C. last year. If the government's liquefied natural gas sector takes off, the water needed to get shale gas out of the ground in the northeast corner of the province will likely increase by 500 per cent, or more. Much of that water is consumed with only minimal regulation. A new law set to be introduced in the spring would, for the first time in B.C., impose fees for the use of groundwater and allow for government to restrict...

Australia: Brisbane just misses out on hottest day of year

Sydney Morning Herald: Dangerous storms are set to provide an unwelcome form of relief from Brisbane's hot conditions, with two cells bearing down on the city's metropolitan area. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a warning for "very dangerous thunderstorms with destructive winds" moving north-east from near Beaudesert and Jimboomba. "Very dangerous thunderstorms are forecast to affect Beenleigh, Logan City and Mount Cotton by 5.15pm and Cleveland, Wynnum and southern waters of Moreton Bay by 5.45pm," the Bureau...

California drought brings water rationing orders

Sacramento Bee: December is usually not the time of year to discuss water rationing. But this holiday month has been so dry that mandatory water conservation orders are beginning to sweep across the Sacramento region. The city of Folsom led the pack on Monday, imposing a mandatory 20 percent water conservation order. On Thursday, Sacramento County asked customers in unincorporated areas to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 20 percent. The cities of Sacramento and Roseville are likely to consider their own...