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Archive for February, 2014
South America glacier decline linked with global warming
Posted by Summit Voice: Bob Berwyn on February 26th, 2014
Summit Voice: Geologists are getting better at unraveling the mysteries of historic glacial episodes, as technology helps understand how the ice sheets respond to climate change.
One recent research project led by scientists from Dartmouth University suggests that temperature is the driving factor in shaping the size of Peru`s Quelccaya Ice Cap. The 17-square mile glacier in the Andes has been shrinking dramatically in the past few decades, making it a global warming symbol.
The findings support the idea...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on South America glacier decline linked with global warmingWhy we need an outright ban on fracking in UK
Posted by Guardian: Natalie Hynde on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: Getting arrested for taking part in direct action at Balcombe was the most liberating experience I've ever had. Nothing I've ever done in my life has made me feel so empowered and alive.
Anyone can Google the "List of the Harmed" or look at the Shalefield Stories detailing what's happened to people in the US as a result of fracking – the nosebleeds, the cancers, the spontaneous abortions in livestock, the seizures and silicosis in the worker's lungs. Not to mention the farming revenue lost from...
Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
ScienceDaily: With global greenhouse gas emissions continuing to increase proposals to limit the effects of climate change through the large-scale manipulation of Earth system are increasingly being discussed. Researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now studied with computer simulations the long-term global consequences of several "climate engineering" methods. They show that all the proposed methods would either be unable to significantly reduce global warming if CO2 emissions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?Singapore and Malaysia hit by extreme dry spell
Posted by Guardian: Reuters on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbour rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries.
Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between Jan 13 and Feb 8 and has had little rain since.
Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations there, have risen 3.5%...
Climate change may be causing a global coffee shortage
Posted by Slate: Eric Holthaus on February 26th, 2014
Slate: An epic drought -- Brazil's worst in decades -- is threatening exports from the world's largest coffee exporter and driving up wholesale prices worldwide. We've officially entered the realm of bloggers' worst-case scenario.
Now, let's not get too hasty. The world is not going to run out of coffee next week. Analysts still estimate an increasingly tight global coffee surplus of less than 1 percent of total production through the remainder of the year. But the Brazilian drought is causing a significant...
Australia: Tony Abbott: drought relief not ‘super favourable social security’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: The government has announced an extra $320m to help drought-affected farmers, with Tony Abbott emphasising it was disaster relief not a “super favourable social security regime”.
A farming allowance equivalent to the Newstart allowance will be paid to farming families fortnightly to help them with daily living expenses; $280m in concessional loans will be delivered though eligibility standards yet to be announced, and more money will be poured into water-related infrastructure.
Up to $10.7m...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Tony Abbott: drought relief not ‘super favourable social security’Drought: no amount assistance can fix land turned permanently to dust
Posted by Guardian: Dugald Murray on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: As drought hits parts of NSW and Queensland, Australia’s farmers are again asking for relief. For those living in cities, drought is easily forgotten. The latest drought is watched on the nightly news bulletin where the harsh realities do not affect daily life. Annual heatwaves, devastating to the elderly, are simply an inconvenience to most. Drought is part of Australia. The fact it is not new does not negate its impact on humans and livestock. This month, Lifeline confirmed the suicide of a farmer...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought: no amount assistance can fix land turned permanently to dustNuclear Waste Repository Set to Reopen After Leak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
New York Times: Almost two weeks after an unexplained puff of radioactive materials forced the closing of a salt mine in New Mexico that is used to bury nuclear bomb wastes, managers of the mine are planning to send workers back in and are telling nearby residents that their health is safe.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, 28 miles east of Carlsbad, has been in operation for 15 years, burying wastes in an ancient salt bed deep beneath the desert, mostly without incident, and some experts have said that the site...
Peru Park Sets Record for Reptile, Amphibian Biodiversity
Posted by LiveScience: Megan Gannon on February 25th, 2014
LiveScience: For reptiles and amphibians, southern Peru's Manu National Park is the most diverse protected area on the planet.
Scientists have counted a recording-breaking 287 species of of snakes, lizards, turtles, frogs and salamanders within the borders of the largely inaccessible and undeveloped reserve and its buffer zone.
The landscape of Manu National Park ranges from lowland Amazonian rainforests to high-altitude cloud forests along the eastern slope of the Andes. The area is accessible by dirt...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Peru Park Sets Record for Reptile, Amphibian BiodiversityCalifornia’s Drought: A Shocking Photo And Other Updates
Posted by National Public Radio: Bill Chappell on February 25th, 2014
National Public Radio: Farmers in California, where Gov. Jerry Brown last month, are facing hard choices as a drought threatens to ruin their crops. They must weigh the costs of paying for irrigation against the chance that their fields will never get enough water this season. A striking picture illustrates the severity of the situation, as Northern California's Folsom Lake, a reservoir northeast of Sacramento, is seen in January at only 17 percent of its capacity. In July of 2011, "the lake was at 97 percent of total...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California’s Drought: A Shocking Photo And Other Updates