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Archive for March, 2014
White House presses forward on ‘methane strategy.’
Posted by US News and World Report: None Given on March 29th, 2014
US News and World Report: The Obama administration has redoubled its campaign to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
At a conference on Capitol Hill on Friday morning, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy talked up a new set of national carbon standards that she plans to formally unveil in June. Speaking at a gathering of the American Council on Renewable Energy, she reiterated earlier pledges that the rules -- which would mostly apply to existing coal-fired power plants -- would provide...
Climate change influences landowner’s tree choices
Posted by Associated Perss: Ann Wessel on March 29th, 2014
Associated Perss: Cardinals tuck into the dark wall of Norway spruce, finding shelter in the tall trees. Prickly, round seed balls dangle from a slender sycamore like tiny Christmas ornaments. A dawn redwood, native to China and found in fossil records dating back about 150 million years, drops flat rust-colored needles on the deep March snow. When Steve and Jeanne Dirksen moved onto 40 acres outside Clearwater in the early 1970s, the yard was a cornfield and the 20-acre woods held a lot of oaks. "There were two...
Is Nicaraguan Canal a Boon for Trade or a Boondoggle?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2014
National Geographic: For nearly a century the Panama Canal has been the only game in town for anyone who wanted to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific without making the long voyage around Cape Horn. In that time more than a million ships, from bulk carriers to cruise liners to nuclear submarines, have passed through its locks, taking advantage of the world's most famous shortcut. Panama's canal may (or may not) soon face stiff competition. Last June Nicaragua's National Assembly overwhelmingly approved a plan to...
Why Africa’s Cities Need African Planning
Posted by Arch Daily: None Given on March 29th, 2014
Arch Daily: In this article, originally posted on Future Cape Town as "Designing African Cities: Urban Planning Education in Nigeria", Professors Vanessa Watson and Babatunde Agbola discuss a paradigm shift occurring in Nigerian Planning Schools: from the American and European planning theories that have so far been applied in Nigeria to new theories more suited to dealing with the unique challenges presented by African cities.
In June 2011, the Governor of Osun State inaugurated a 10 man Committee for the...
UN panel: 8 reasons to worry about global warming
Posted by Associated Press: Seth Borenstein and Kaori Hitomi 12 Hours Ago on March 29th, 2014
Associated Press: If you have already read "12 Pieces of Practical Advice from Housecats," now you can move on to "8 Reasons to Worry about Global Warming."
A United Nations panel of scientists is joining the list craze with what they call eight "key risks" that are part of broader "reasons for concern" about climate change.
It's part of a massive report on how global warming is affecting humans and the planet and how the future will be worse unless something is done about it. The report is being finalized at...
Anxious Wait for News Days After Deadly Slide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2014
New York Times: The grim work of recovery at the site of last week’s landslide in Oso was compounded on Friday by rain and wind, but also by growing anxiety over how bad the disaster might yet get, as emergency officials declined again to confirm numerous reports by volunteers and families about retrieved bodies. Officials have been slow to update the death toll, even as volunteers and family members working at the site, about 55 miles northeast of Seattle, reported numerous bodies that had been discovered and,...
A Zen-like approach to flood risks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2014
BBC: Coping with increased risk of flooding in a changed climate is not just about money. BBC environment correspondent Matt McGrath reports from Japan, where philosophy is just as important as resources.
At a large government research facility in Tsukuba city, engineers have built a 30-sq-m replica of a meandering Japanese river.
At one point along the concrete shore, there's an unremarkable, small square of wood, with red and white triangles on top. But it is a constant reminder of the power of...
The cost of climate change
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on March 29th, 2014
Al Jazeera: The United Nations climate change body is painting a grim picture about global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) fifth major assessment report is out this week, and the content affects us all. Millions have already been directly impacted by climate change. In the Philippines, for example, there was a lot of talk about how the warming Pacific Ocean played a part in last year's catastrophic Typhoon Haiyan. Although the IPCC report was not yet out by the end of the week,...
Soaring death toll looms in U.S. mudslide with 90 still missing
Posted by Reuters: Eric M. Johnson on March 29th, 2014
Reuters: The death toll from a mudslide that has left 90 people missing in Washington state appeared certain to climb nearly a week after the disaster, as anguished relatives turned to the Internet and word of mouth for scarce scraps of new information.
At least 26 people were killed when a rain-soaked hillside collapsed without warning last Saturday, unleashing a towering wall of mud that flattened dozens of homes in a river valley near the rural town of Oso, about 55 miles northeast of Seattle.
While...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Soaring death toll looms in U.S. mudslide with 90 still missingClimate impacts felt “across all continents”
Posted by Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Joel Connelly on March 28th, 2014
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: A coal-fired power plants: Coal burning is a major cause of climate change. Use of coal in the United States is down, but China has overtaken the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change is being felt from the lowlands of Bangladesh to villages in the Arctic, with impacts ranging from droughts to the spread of disease to the melting of glaciers, according to a United Nations-sponsored report due for release on Monday.
It is the latest work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,...