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Archive for June, 2014
Using too much fertilizer is bad for crops AND bad for climate!
Posted by Environmental News Network: Roger Greenway on June 16th, 2014
Environmental News Network: Using too much fertilizer is a very bad idea. It doesn't help crops, and in fact can be harmful to them. Excess fertilizer runs off and contributes to river and stream contamination and a new study shows that it is bad for the climate too! But farmers sometimes think that if some is good, more MUST be better! Helping farmers around the globe apply more precise amounts of fertilizer nitrogen is a great objective that can improve crop yields, reduce pollution, and combat climate change. That's the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Using too much fertilizer is bad for crops AND bad for climate!Addressing fresh water deficiency
Posted by BusinessGreen: Johan Widheden, AkzoNobel on June 16th, 2014
BusinessGreen: For many countries, fresh water availability is an acute concern. In some cases it is the sheer number of people in one location that is triggering the deficiency, in others it is rising sea levels due to climate change and in some situations it is a particular industry, such as cotton that is causing the problem. Because of this, over one billion people have no access to clean drinking water and two million people die annually from water-related diseases. Most of these grave concerns are occurring...
Is the fracking revolution overhyped?
Posted by Daily Ticker: None Given on June 16th, 2014
Daily Ticker: The nation's booming natural gas industry has transformed the U.S. energy landscape. Yet Dan Dicker, author of Oil's Endless Bid and a long-time oil trader, argues the U.S. shale revolution has been "overhyped." He tells The Daily Ticker that hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) of shale rock has increased U.S. energy production by 3.5 million barrels a day -- a significant increase from previous years but not nearly enough to keep up with global demand.
"What has happened in the shale revolution...
In Mali, farmers scramble to adapt to changing rains
Posted by Reuters: Soumaila T. Diarra on June 16th, 2014
Reuters: Talking with his neighbours under a neem tree, Madou Kone relates how he is late planting his sorghum crop this year -- even though the usual time to plant is now.
"This is the right time to start farming, but I haven't sown any crop yet, as I had to finish clearing my farm. I am a bit late,' said the 56-year-old Kone, a resident of the village of Heremakono, in the country's south.
Malian farmers expect to begin sowing in late June or early July, at the beginning of the rainy season, which...
Refreezing Water Causes Weird Warps in Greenland’s Ice
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on June 15th, 2014
Climate Central: The flat, glistening, white expanse of the Greenland Ice Sheet, stretching out across hundreds of thousands of square miles, appears placid, unchanging ... boring even. But this tranquil surface belies the turmoil taking place below, at the base of the ice sheet. There, scientists have discovered sections of ice up to a kilometer thick and tens of kilometers long where meltwater has refrozen to the base of the ice sheet, setting off a dynamic process that causes the layers of ice to build up over...
Frozen underworld discovered beneath Greenland ice sheet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2014
Guardian: Scientists have discovered a frozen underworld beneath the ice sheet covering northern Greenland.
The previously unknown landscape, a vast expanse of warped shapes including some as tall as a Manhattan skyscraper, was found using ice-penetrating radar loaded aboard Nasa survey flights.
The findings and the first images of the frozen world more than a mile below the surface of the ice sheet are published on Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Scientists said the findings could deepen...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Frozen underworld discovered beneath Greenland ice sheetCalifornia wildfire prompts hundreds of home evacuations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2014
Reuters: Hundreds of firefighters on Sunday were battling a wildfire in southern California that prompted the evacuation of about 500 homes, local officials said. The Shirley Fire was only five percent contained and burning over 800 acres, sending smoke plumes across the Kern River Valley, about 130 miles (209 km) north east of Los Angeles. Mandatory evacuations of about 500 homes in proximity to the blaze northeast of the city of Bakersfield started Saturday, according to a statement from the Kern County...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California wildfire prompts hundreds of home evacuationsPhotographer Captures Drought Turn California Farms Into Kingdom of Dust
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 15th, 2014
National Geographic: Photographer Matt Black isn't just covering a story when he's capturing the lives and landscapes of California's historic drought. He's showing us how modern farming and natural forces are irrevocably altering his own childhood home.
Black grew up just outside Visalia in California's Central Valley, the rural agricultural area that is the increasingly dry heart of not just California, but also the nation's productive farmland. Back then, the region was rich in water resources for farming. "When...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Photographer Captures Drought Turn California Farms Into Kingdom of DustGov. Scott oil-drilling interests alarm Everglades environmentalists
Posted by Bradenton Herald: Steve Bousquet on June 15th, 2014
Bradenton Herald: Gov. Rick Scott’s six-figure stake in a French energy company is angering environmentalists because the firm is involved in oil drilling in Collier County near the Everglades. Scott and the Cabinet oversee the Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates oil drilling in Florida, and Scott has invested in businesses that could be regulated by DEP and other state agencies. Asked if he supports drilling in a county where he owns a $9.2 million home, Scott did not directly answer. He said:...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Gov. Scott oil-drilling interests alarm Everglades environmentalistsGlobal warming poses threat to Southwest water supply
Posted by Desert Sun: None Given on June 15th, 2014
Desert Sun: The biggest reservoir in the United States is dropping 1 foot each week. Lake Mead's rapidly sinking water level is set to reach an all-time low in July, driven down by a 14-year drought that scientists say is one of the most severe to hit the Colorado River in more than 1,200 years.
The water behind Hoover Dam supplies vast areas of farmland and about 25 million people in three states, and this critical reservoir stands just 40 percent full.
Droughts and even decades-long mega-droughts have...