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Archive for March, 2014
Anti-fracking activist in court, fights ban from Pennsylvania land
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
Reuters: A Pennsylvania judge could rule as early as this week on whether to modify his five-month-old injunction banning an anti-fracking activist from approaching lands leased by a Texas-based natural gas producer that effectively prohibits her from visiting the local hospital or grocery store.
Judge Kenneth Seamans suggested at a hearing on Monday in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas that he was not inclined to lift the injunction against Vera Scroggins, 63, of Brackney, Pennsylvania, but...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Anti-fracking activist in court, fights ban from Pennsylvania landWater Scarcity Drives U.S. Communities Toward Smarter Use, Recycling
Posted by Bloomberg: Amena H. Saiyid on March 24th, 2014
Bloomberg: Virtually all of the water flushed down toilets and sent down drains in U.S. homes and businesses goes to wastewater treatment plants where it is cleaned up and then discharged into rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. Only a small percentage is directly reused. A conservation push spurred in part by drought, and expectations of greater shortages in the future, could change that. Soon, consumers could be irrigating their lawns or washing their cars with water that has come directly from a wastewater...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Water Scarcity Drives U.S. Communities Toward Smarter Use, RecyclingUnited Kingdom: Rain could increase river pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
BBC: Wetter winters in the future could increase agricultural pollution in Britain's rivers, say scientists. A research team from Lancaster University concluded that increased, more intensive winter rainfall is likely to wash more fertiliser out of soil and into rivers. This could artificially nourish plants, including toxic algae. The research team is now embarking on a project to help predict and ultimately mitigate agricultural pollution. Its study aims to work out how the changing climate and...
U.N. blames warming earth for extreme weather in 2013
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
Associated Press: Much of the extreme weather that wreaked havoc in Asia, Europe and the Pacific region last year can be blamed on human-induced climate change, the U.N. weather agency says.
The World Meteorological Organization's annual assessment Monday said 2013 was the sixth-warmest year on record. Thirteen of the 14 warmest years have occurred in the 21st century.
A rise in sea levels is leading to increasing damage from storm surges and coastal flooding, as demonstrated by Typhoon Haiyan, the agency's...
La Nina Effect Curbed Sea Level Rise, say Experts
Posted by French Tribune: None Given on March 24th, 2014
French Tribune: Sea level rise is considered as one of the biggest indicators of climate change. In this process, water expands and parts of Greenland and Antarctica, Himalayan glaciers to the Alps are melting.
But climate scientists got confused when they got to know that the rate of sea level rise has decreased from 3.4 mm in 1994-2002 to 2.4 millimetres a year in 2003-2011. Many considered the decline as a pause in global warming.
Such is not the case, said experts in the journal Nature Climate Change....
US will keep pushing nations like Australia on climate change action, says former adviser
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on March 24th, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: The Obama administration will closely monitor how nations such as Australia tackle climate change, as the US President makes greenhouse gas emission cuts one of his signature policies, according to the White House's former top climate adviser.
Heather Zichal, who worked with Barack Obama from his 2008 election campaign until late last year when she resigned as chief climate and energy adviser, said the president viewed action to curb global warming as ''key to his legacy in his second term''....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US will keep pushing nations like Australia on climate change action, says former adviserCongress Focuses on Dams Amid California’s Drought
Posted by Associated Press: Kevin Freking on March 24th, 2014
Associated Press: California's drought has sparked a new push by federal lawmakers to create or expand a handful of reservoirs around the state, ramping up a political battle that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once referred to as a "holy war in some ways."
Government agencies have been studying five major water storage projects for nearly two decades, with nothing to show for the effort so far.
Meanwhile, the state's water problems have only grown worse. California has had its third relatively dry winter...
UN Climate Change Report Predicts Dire Consequences for Australia, Rest of the World
Posted by International Business Times: Reissa Su on March 24th, 2014
International Business Times: Climate scientists have predicted that Australia will get hotter in the latest UN climate change report. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change draft report has a significant impact to Australia. According to the draft, Australia is exposed to potential environmental risks.
According to the UN climate change report, the world will become 2 degrees Celsius warmer. This may cause the wipeout of entire ecosystems. The rise in global temperature would mean the potential widespread and permanent...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UN Climate Change Report Predicts Dire Consequences for Australia, Rest of the WorldSoutheast England most at risk of rising deaths due to climate change
Posted by Eureka! Science News: None Given on March 23rd, 2014
Eureka! Science News: Warmer summers brought on by climate change will cause more deaths in London and southeast England than the rest of the country, scientists predict. Researchers at Imperial College London looked at temperature records and mortality figures for 2001 to 2010 to find out which districts in England and Wales experience the biggest effects from warm temperatures. In the most vulnerable districts, in London and the southeast, the odds of dying from cardiovascular or respiratory causes increased by over...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Southeast England most at risk of rising deaths due to climate changeOil Spill From Ship-Barge Crash Closes Houston Ship Channel
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on March 23rd, 2014
Environment News Service: A major oil spill Saturday has closed the Houston Ship Channel, preventing over 60 vessels, including three cruise ships, from transiting between the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay.
Efforts to contain and recover about 168,000 gallons of marine fuel oil spilled when a bulk carrier collided with a barge continue today with what the U.S. Coast Guard calls "aggressive deployment of all available response resources."
At 12:35 pm Saturday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Oil Spill From Ship-Barge Crash Closes Houston Ship Channel