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Archive for May, 2014
Global warming threatens Central Valley’s fruit and nut crops
Posted by Summit Voice: None Given on May 22nd, 2014
Summit Voice: The winter tule fog in California`s Central Valley may be fading with climate change, threatening part of the region`s multibillion dollar agricultural industy, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley researchers,
High-value crops like almonds, pistachios, cherries, apricots and peaches all need a winter dormant period that is triggered and maintained by cold temperatures, but those are becoming less reliable as the global climate warms. The new study, published May 15 in...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Global warming threatens Central Valley’s fruit and nut cropsWest Antarctic ice collapse ‘could drown Middle East and Asia crops’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 22nd, 2014
Guardian: The collapse underway of a large part of the Antarctica ice sheet could devastate global food supply, drowning vast areas of crop lands across the Middle East and Asia, according to new research.
The report, Advancing Global Food Supply in the Face of a Changing Climate, urges the Obama Administration to step up research funding– especially in developing countries – to help make up a projected gap in future food supply.
It also warns America's corn belt could face yield declines of more than...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on West Antarctic ice collapse ‘could drown Middle East and Asia crops’Deforestation: Carving up the Amazon
Posted by Nature: Barbara Fraser on May 22nd, 2014
Nature: Next to a newly paved highway in the Peruvian Amazon, a discreet white-on-green sign urges travellers to protect the surrounding ecosystem. “Let's care for the environment, let's conserve the forest,” it reads. But the appeal comes too late for this spot in the region known as Madre de Dios. Before the route was paved a few years ago, tall trees lined the roadside, but the forest edge here now lies about half a kilometre away, beyond a jumble of underbrush and freshly cut trees where a cattle pasture...
Doubt Lingers Years After Sandy for New York
Posted by Huffington Post: Amy Lieberman on May 22nd, 2014
Huffington Post: Edith Harris was cornered in her living room, inside her brick house, deep in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Volunteers in green t-shirts swarmed around her. They banged away at new appliances in the bathrooms, studied the interior supports that held up her fragile basement walls. They scurried past one another in the narrow hallway while Harris applied a fresh coat of maroon lipstick and pink eye shadow, looking back and forth from her pocket mirror to the daytime shows that flashed on the mounted television....
Dust Bowl Days: Will We Cut Carbon Pollution Fast Enough To Prevent Permanent Droughts?
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on May 22nd, 2014
ThinkProgress: Large parts of the Southwest are drier than they were during the 1930s Dust Bowl. And the latest science says unrestricted carbon pollution will make this a near-permanent situation post-2050 in a growing portion of this country and around the world - for a thousand years or more! Earlier this month, the U.S. Drought Monitor warned that "devastatingly dry, dusty, windy conditions on the southern Great Plains fueled concerns of a 'New Dust Bowl`.” The epicenter of the 1930s Dust Bowl was where Kansas,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dust Bowl Days: Will We Cut Carbon Pollution Fast Enough To Prevent Permanent Droughts?Mixed reactions after U.S. drastically cuts Monterey Shale outlook
Posted by LA Times: Shan Li, Diana Marcum on May 22nd, 2014
LA Times: Kim Owens, daughter of an oil rig supervisor who once worked on a fracking crew, now pours drinks for oil workers every day as a bartender at the Foxy Lady in this tiny town 18 miles northwest of Bakersfield.
To Owens and many others in Kern County, petroleum is the economic lifeline that provides jobs, fills the hotels and keeps the restaurants open.
That's why she was bristling Wednesday at new federal findings that dramatically slashed the estimated amount of oil able to be pulled out of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mixed reactions after U.S. drastically cuts Monterey Shale outlookCalifornia first step toward curtailing water rights
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 22nd, 2014
Reuters: Some farmers and community water districts in drought-hit California could soon face limits on their ability to use water from strained streams that flow into the Sacramento River.
The California Water Resources Control Board adopted regulations on Wednesday to limit water use during summer months, the driest season and the time of year when farmers are most likely to need water to irrigate their crops.
"Due to severe drought conditions, immediate action is needed," said Dan Schultz, acting...
Time for France’s Biggest Bank to Stop Funding Mountaintop Removal Coal
Posted by Rainforest Action Network: None Given on May 21st, 2014
Rainforest Action Network: The campaign to stop bank financing of mountaintop removal coal mining is gaining momentum.
For years, RAN and other organizations in the global BankTrack network have urged U.S. and European banks to stop financing the devastation caused by mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. BankTrack members have worked closely with advocates from Appalachia -- the region hardest hit by MTR -- including Paul Corbit Brown and Elise Keaton from Keeper of the Mountains, and Bob Kincaid from Coal River Mountain...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Time for France’s Biggest Bank to Stop Funding Mountaintop Removal CoalIron From Melting Ice Sheets Could Have Major Impact On Global Warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 21st, 2014
RedOrbit: A newly-discovered source of oceanic bioavailable iron could have a major impact on our understanding of marine food chains and global warming. A UK team, including researchers from the University of Bristol, has found that summer meltwaters from ice sheets are rich in iron, which will have important implications on phytoplankton growth. Their findings are reported today in Nature Communications.
It is well known that bioavailable iron boosts phytoplankton growth in many of the Earth’s oceans....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Iron From Melting Ice Sheets Could Have Major Impact On Global WarmingUnited Kingdom: £30bn bill purify water system after toxic impact contraceptive pill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 21st, 2014
Guardian: Britain faces a £30bn bill to clean up rivers, streams and drinking water supplies contaminated by synthetic hormones from contraceptive pills. Drastic reductions in these chemicals, which have been linked to collapses in fish populations, are proposed in the latest European Union water framework directive.
But the plan, which would involve upgrading the sewage network and significantly increasing household water bills, is controversial. Water and pharmaceutical companies dispute the science involved...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: £30bn bill purify water system after toxic impact contraceptive pill