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Archive for May, 2014
California braces for what could be worst fire season ever
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 18th, 2014
CBS: All evacuation orders were lifted Sunday as firefighters gained the upper hand on the remaining four of nearly a dozen blazes that tore through Southern California last week - while the state's governor warned he was gearing up for what could be the drought-stricken region's worst wildfire season ever. Firefighters have spent the past six days battling 11 wildfires around San Diego. "There's no doubt crews are fatigued," Battalion Chief Nick Schuler told CBS News. "They've been working 24, 48 hours...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on California braces for what could be worst fire season everLess Snow and More Rain Means We’re All Dried Up
Posted by Motherboard: None Given on May 18th, 2014
Motherboard: Right about now is the most magical time of year in the mountains. Not just for the usual spring reasons of getting to play outside and saying farewell to lingering seasonal affective disorder, but because of water. This is when it all happens: the big melt. Mud season. The amount of water shed from high-country snowpack in the springtime will impact the whole rest of the year. The true amount of that water now choking valley rivers will determine which farmers actually get to farm this year, how...
Jerry Brown: Fires related to climate change
Posted by Politico: Jonathan Topaz on May 18th, 2014
Politico: The Republican Party is "in denial" about climate change, California Gov. Jerry Brown said on Sunday, suggesting the wildfires in his state were related to global warming. “As we send billions and billions of tons of heat-trapping gases, we get heat and we get fires and we get what we’re seeing," the Democratic governor said on ABC's "This Week." Major wildfires in the San Diego area, due in part to extreme drought, forced thousands of residents in the area to evacuate. “Humanity is on a collision...
California wildfires: ‘We’re getting ready for the worst’
Posted by Associated Press: Elliot Spagat on May 18th, 2014
Associated Press: Drought-stricken California is preparing for its worst wildfire season ever, the state’s governor said Sunday. Gov. Jerry Brown told ABC’s “This Week” that the nearly dozen wildfires that caused more than $20 million in damage mark only the beginning. The state has 5,000 firefighters and has appropriated $600 million to battling blazes, but that may not be enough in the future. “We’re getting ready for the worst,” Brown said. “Now, we don’t want to anticipate before we know, but we need a full...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California wildfires: ‘We’re getting ready for the worst’In Alaska Senate race, Joe Miller drives discussion climate change
Posted by Alaska Dispatch: Lisa Demer on May 18th, 2014
Alaska Dispatch: Joe Miller, a tea party darling making his second bid for U.S. Senate, is trying once again to carve out the far-right territory as a climate change denier, though without directly saying so.
Meanwhile, after Miller raised global warming as a campaign issue in recent weeks, both leading candidates in the race for Republican primary votes downplayed the role played by human activity in its cause.
Related: Miller makes Senate campaign official with 'Liberty Launch' in WasillaMiller, Treadwell...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In Alaska Senate race, Joe Miller drives discussion climate changeDrought, hurricane bigger threat to world’s top companies
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 18th, 2014
Bloomberg: Drought, hurricanes and rising seas are becoming more significant threats to the world’s biggest companies and the risk is accelerating, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project.
Companies planning for various threats related to climate change say they’re grappling now with about 45 percent of the potential risks, or will be within five years, according to a report issued today by the London-based non-profit group. That’s up from 2011, when members of the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index expected...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought, hurricane bigger threat to world’s top companiesAsheville takes lead in climate report
Posted by Citizen-Times: Dale Neal on May 18th, 2014
Citizen-Times: The nation's most recent, long-term climate outlook projects a gloomy future: extended droughts, fiercer wildfires, heavier rains and rising sea levels.
The Southeast, including the Blue Ridge mountains, would be spared the same spikes in temperature likely in the Southwest and other regions, but Western North Carolina's climate is still changing rapidly, according to the National Climate Assessment report.
Over the past four years, researchers and experts teaming up at Asheville's National...
Mitigate the methane
Posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: None Given on May 18th, 2014
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: First, the bad news. There is broad agreement that methane emissions from natural gas development in Pennsylvania and other states are a serious problem. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas and, absent adequate controls, methane leaks across the natural gas supply chain could undo many of the potential environmental benefits natural gas can have over other fossil fuels like coal. But there appears to be a disconnect about what is being done today to assess and regulate these emissions in the...
Weighing the pros and cons of the Keystone XL Pipeline
Posted by MLive: Julie Mack on May 18th, 2014
MLive: To listen to Congressman Fred Upton, there's really no downside to constructing the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
"It's tens of thousands of jobs," the Republican congressman from Southwest Michigan told the Kalamazoo Gazette Editorial Board on Tuesday.
And, he said, "It's better for the planet."
On the latter point, Upton argues the Canadians will develop their oil fields regardless of whether the United States approves a pipeline from the Canadian border to oil refineries on the...
Water woes (and disagreements)
Posted by AIM: Corey Paul on May 18th, 2014
AIM: The National Climate Assessment attempted to personalize the impact on Americans of global climate change as the White House renews the effort to curb greenhouse emissions.
And as it happens, a lead-author of the study lives in West Texas -- Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University climate scientist and evangelical Christian who believes man is changing the climate. She talked about what climate change means for West Texas in an interview this week with the Odessa American, and the skinny is:...