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Archive for December, 2013
Disease, Not Climate Change, Fueling Frog Declines in the Andes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
ScienceDaily: A deadly fungus, and not climate change as is widely believed, is the primary culprit behind the rapid decline of frog populations in the Andes mountains, according to a new study published today in the journal Conservation Biology.
Frogs living at higher elevations can tolerate increasing temperatures, researchers found, but their habitats fall within the optimal temperature range for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, a harmful pathogen they have only encountered relatively recently. The...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Disease, Not Climate Change, Fueling Frog Declines in the AndesGenerating Electricity May Utilize Otherwise Unwanted Carbon Dioxide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
RedOrbit: A team of American researchers has designed a novel geothermal power plant that would sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide underground as part of its operations.
According to a report being presented on Friday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, carbon dioxide can be used to boost power generation from geothermal sources by at least 10 times compared to conventional means.
“Typical geothermal power plants tap into hot water that is deep underground, pull the heat...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Generating Electricity May Utilize Otherwise Unwanted Carbon DioxideA Tale of Two Cities: America Bipolar Climate Future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
Spiegel: New York City and New Bern, North Carolina both face the same projected rise in sea levels, but while one is preparing for the worst, the other is doing nothing on principle. A glimpse into America's contradictory climate change planning.
When Veronica White and Tom Thompson stand on the coastline of their respective cities, 680 kilometers (423 miles) apart, they gaze out at the same ocean, but see different things.
White, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation,...
How Plastic In The Ocean Is Contaminating Your Seafood
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
National Public Radio: We've long known that the fish we eat are exposed to toxic chemicals in the rivers, bays and oceans they inhabit. The substance that's gotten the most attention - because it has shown up at disturbingly high levels in some fish - is mercury.
But mercury is just one of a slew of synthetic and organic pollutants that fish can ingest and absorb into their tissue. Sometimes it's because we're dumping chemicals right into the ocean. But as a study published recently in Nature, Scientific Reports helps...
Washing Hands in Hot Water Wastes Energy, Study Says
Posted by National Geographic: Brian Clark Howard on December 13th, 2013
National Geographic: It doesn't kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the U.S. burns carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent to the fuel use of a small country.
It's cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you think you know about...
Spike in oil pumped under Straits of Mackinac worries Michigan lawmakers
Posted by Detroit Free Press: TODD SPANGLER on December 13th, 2013
Detroit Free Press: Michigan’s U.S. senators want to know what steps federal regulators took to ensure that a 60-year-old pipeline crossing the Straits of Mackinac was safe before allowing millions of gallons of oil to flow through it each day -- and how quickly a leak could be detected and the line shut down.
Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin sent a letter to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrationtoday, raising the specter of another environmental disaster like the one that occurred...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Spike in oil pumped under Straits of Mackinac worries Michigan lawmakersChanges Continue in the Arctic Due to Climate Change: Report
Posted by Softpedia: Tudor Vieru on December 13th, 2013
Softpedia: NOAA releases new Arctic Report Card for 2013 The conclusions of the latest Arctic Report Card, a document created every year by scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), indicate that, although values measuring the health of Arctic ices are closer to their long-term average, the North Pole is still struggling with the effects of global temperature increases.
NOAA develops the Card annually alongside organizations such as NASA. The document covers a variety...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Changes Continue in the Arctic Due to Climate Change: ReportThe Dark Dide of the West’s Fossil Fuel Boom
Posted by Washington Post: Brad Plumer on December 13th, 2013
Washington Post: Over the last decade, oil and natural gas production has been booming out West, in states like North Dakota, Colorado, and Montana. That's brought plenty of benefits to local communities: Good-paying jobs, rising incomes, new businesses, a tidal wave of fresh tax revenue.
It's also brought a fair share of problems. Towns around the oil-rich Bakken formation in North Dakota, for instance, have been grappling with higher crime rates, heavy truck traffic and overcrowded schools. What's more, there's...
Kalamazoo Activist Could Face Federal Charges for Enbridge Pipeline Protest
Posted by Vancouver Observer: None Given on December 13th, 2013
Vancouver Observer: After Chris Wahmhoff broke up with his first girlfriend, he went down to the Kalamazoo River to think. When his grandfather died, he went looking for comfort in the same place. He has spent the better part of his life living within a few hundred feet of the river, but when he went down to the water last June, it was for a different reason.
On June 24--his 35th birthday--Wahmhoff climbed into a section of Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline. When he got out 10 hours later, he was arrested and charged with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kalamazoo Activist Could Face Federal Charges for Enbridge Pipeline ProtestMore Than 150 Green Groups Push for an Offshore Fracking Ban in California
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
Associated Press: More than 150 environmental groups are asking California coastal regulators to halt offshore fracking, saying the practice violates state law.
Wetsuit-clad demonstrators holding surfboards submitted the letter to the California Coastal Commission on Thursday before its meeting in San Francisco.
Fracking involves pumping huge amounts of water, sand and chemicals into deep rock formations or old wells to release oil or natural gas.
While the state oversees oil wells, there have not been specific...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on More Than 150 Green Groups Push for an Offshore Fracking Ban in California