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Archive for June, 2014
Beetles ravaging Mount Rushmore drain budgets as West warms
Posted by Bloomberg: Jennifer Oldham on June 8th, 2014
Bloomberg: Beetles are obliterating forests throughout Colorado and the West, draining budgets as property values decline and threatening tourism at national parks, including the home of Mount Rushmore.
Voters in Colorado communities raised taxes to protect ski resorts that bring in $3 billion annually to the economy. The pine beetles, each the size of a rice grain, have devoured 25 percent of the woods in South Dakota's Black Hills, where the mountain with massive carvings of Presidents George Washington,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Beetles ravaging Mount Rushmore drain budgets as West warmsHeat wave, power cuts, riots in India
Posted by Sapa: None Given on June 8th, 2014
SAPA: Thousands of people enraged by power cuts during an extreme heat wave rioted across northern India, setting electricity substations on fire and taking power company officials hostage, officials said Saturday.
The impoverished state of Uttar Pradesh has never had enough power for its 200 million people - about the population of Brazil - and many receive only a few hours a day under normal conditions, while 63 percent of homes have no access to electricity at all.
But recent temperatures that...
On Climate Change, Landrieu Stands With Coal, Against Obama
Posted by Roll Call: Steven Dennis on June 8th, 2014
Roll Call: Sen. Mary Landrieu will head to a coal-fired power plant tomorrow to emphasize her opposition to President Barack Obama’s new plan to take a big whack at coal as part of his plan to cut carbon emissions and tackle climate change. The vulnerable Louisiana Democrat will head to the Big Cajun II coal-fired power plant in New Roads, La., according to a press release. She’ll “meet with plant workers, take a tour of the facility and hold a roundtable discussion with power industry leaders from across...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on On Climate Change, Landrieu Stands With Coal, Against ObamaGreenland Is Getting Darker
Posted by Science: Eric Hand on June 8th, 2014
Science: Greenland’s white snow is getting darker. Scientists have generally attributed that darkening to larger, slightly less white snow grains caused by warmer temperatures. But researchers have found a new source of darkening taking hold: impurities in the snow.
“It can increase the speed of melting,” says Marie Dumont, a remote sensing scientist at Météo France in Grenoble, who publishes today with her colleagues in Nature Geoscience.
Scientists have known for years that Greenland’s snow is getting...
India implement code for energy saving, green building 2017
Posted by Aaj Ki Khabar: None Given on June 8th, 2014
Aaj Ki Khabar: It will be mandatory for all state governments to implement by 2017 the minimum requirements for energy efficient design and construction set by the central government to meet the challenges of depleting resources, increased urbanisation and rapid construction, according to a top official.
Shifting its focus to building energy-saving structures, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the power ministry has made mandatory the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) which acts like a "cross-check...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on India implement code for energy saving, green building 2017El Niño Could Spell Disaster for Coral Reefs
Posted by Guardian: Johnny Langenheim on June 8th, 2014
Guardian: A growing number of scientists are predicting a major El Niño weather event this year, which could wreak havoc across South America and Asia as droughts, floods and other extreme weather events hit industry and farming. But the impacts on the world's coral reefs could be even more disastrous.
The last big El Niño in 1997/98 caused the worst coral bleaching in recorded history. In total, 16 percent of the world's coral was lost and some countries like the Maldives lost up to 90 percent of their...
New Case of Chikungunya Virus Hits Florida
Posted by Nature World: None Given on June 7th, 2014
Nature World: Health officials in Brevard County in Florida have identified a new case of the mosquito-borne chikungunya disease, raising the number of known cases the state has seen this year to 19.
According to the Florida Department of Health in Brevard County, the infected patient, who remains anonymous, had recently traveled, making the case a likely imported instance of chikungunya fever.
"With a large number of people traveling to and from the Caribbean in Florida we have been monitoring for possible...
Philippines: Mangroves shield coastal areas from storm surge
Posted by Business Mirror: None Given on June 7th, 2014
Business Mirror: Close to a thousand civil servants from different national and local offices, employees from private companies and students trooped to the shore of Taytay, El Salvador City in Misamis Oriental, on Thursday for their unified gesture to celebrate the World Environment Day (WED). They planted mangroves.
This year’s celebration, which is anchored on the theme, “Small Islands and Climate Change,” with the slogan--“Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level”--aims to promote worldwide awareness and action...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Philippines: Mangroves shield coastal areas from storm surgeGlobal warming playing a role in Australia’s record heat
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on June 7th, 2014
Climate Central: On the heels of the warmest 12-month period in Australia's recorded history, parts of the country experienced an unusually strong stretch of warm autumn weather in May. Global warming has aided the string of record-breaking temperatures, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and other scientists, and will continue to increase the odds that new records will be set in the future.
Maximum temperature anomalies (compared to 1961--1990 average) across Australia from May 8 to 26, 2014....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global warming playing a role in Australia’s record heatIndia: ‘Monsoons could last 10 days longer’
Posted by Hindu: None Given on June 7th, 2014
Hindu: One of the many consequences of global warming could be dramatic changes in the annual southwest monsoon, Govindswamy Bala, associate professor at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), has said. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted an increase in the duration of monsoon by 10 days and an increase in rainfall intensity by 10 per cent by the end of this century, said Dr. Bala, who is faculty with the IISc.’s Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. He was delivering...