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Archive for June, 2014
Turning up the heat: Manitoba caught climate change crosshairs
Posted by Winnipeg Free Press: Mary Agnes Welch on June 7th, 2014
Winnipeg Free Press: Ask Danny Blair what really keeps Prairie climate experts such as himself up at night and watch him run through a long list of looming calamities to settle on one.
Drought.
"If you thought the Dirty Thirties were bad," he said, "get ready for some really long, intense droughts."
After a terrible winter and four massive floods in a decade, Manitoba is already starting to get a taste of the extreme weather that's a hallmark of climate change. But in the absence of any global commitment to...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Turning up the heat: Manitoba caught climate change crosshairsCalifornia’s Fog is Fading Away, Crops Could Suffer
Posted by Daily Climate: Marianne Lavelle on June 7th, 2014
Daily Climate: For California's highway managers, research showing a decline in the Central Valley's unique tule fog is no surprise.
The thick ground fog, an iconic weather feature that settles in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys during colder months, historically has been a bane to motorists.
Researchers have found a 46 percent decline in foggy days over the past three decades, helping motorists but potentially harming the state's valuable fruit and nut trees that depend on the cool and moisture the...
Invasive Lizards are a Threat to Florida’s Native Reptiles, Researchers Say
Posted by Nature World: None Given on June 7th, 2014
Nature World: Invasive lizards are a threat to Florida's native alligators and turtles, researchers find.
According to researchers at the University of Florida, The Argentine black and white tegu has already established itself in several parts of Florida and is now threatening the existence of alligators, crocodiles and turtles in the region.
The lizard species, which can grow to four feet in length, is already seen in areas inhabited by Eastern indigo snake, Cape Sable seaside sparrow and gopher tortoise,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Invasive Lizards are a Threat to Florida’s Native Reptiles, Researchers SayClimate change will make food less nutritious: Study
Posted by Times of India: Subodh Varma on June 7th, 2014
Times of India: Plants make food from carbon dioxide in the air, using energy from sunlight. So, if carbon dioxide levels in the air are going up due to climate change, plants should be making more food, right? Wrong, says a new study published last week in the science journal Nature.
According to the study conducted by a team of US, Australian and Japanese scientists, carbon dioxide emissions are slowly making the world's staple food crops less nutritious. Wheat, maize, soybeans and rice will see their levels...
Oil money flowed to Calif. senators who blocked fracking moratorium
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 6th, 2014
LA Times: A week after the California Senate rejected a moratorium on fracking in the state, a watchdog group said those who opposed the bill or abstained from voting on it received significantly more campaign money from the oil and gas industry than supporters of the measure.
Senators who opposed the bill received 14 times as much in campaign contributions from the industry, on average $25,227, than those who supported the measure, who on average received $1,772 during the four years ending Dec. 31, 2012....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Oil money flowed to Calif. senators who blocked fracking moratoriumFixes After BP Spill Not Enough, Board Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2014
New York Times: Federal safety regulators warned on Thursday that another disastrous offshore oil well blowout could happen despite regulatory improvements in the four years since a BP well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and dumped millions of gallons of oil into the sea.
The warning came with the release of a report by the Chemical Safety Board that placed much of the blame for the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon, the rig involved in the BP disaster, on a buckled steel drill pipe that...
Alaska fishing community sues U.S. interior secretary over road plan
Posted by Reuters: Steve Quinn on June 5th, 2014
Reuters: An isolated Alaska fishing community filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday challenging a decision by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that stopped it from building a road through a wildlife preserve to an all-weather airport. King Cove, in the Aleutian Islands chain, is inaccessible by land. It is seeking to reverse Jewell's decision last December that halted the community's a plan for the 10-mile (16-km) road using land exchanged as part of a 2009 plan approved by Congress. Jewell cited the potential...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alaska fishing community sues U.S. interior secretary over road planMountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Five Things You Need to Know
Posted by Rainforest Action Network: None Given on June 4th, 2014
Rainforest Action Network: A few days ago, I sat down for an interview with the good folks at Living on Earth, Public Radio International`s weekly environmental news show.
We talked about RAN`s work fighting mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining in Appalachia, and the banks that fund it. From that interview, here are five things you need to know:
MTR destroys some of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the U.S. The first step in blowing the top off a mountain is clear cutting the forest off the top of it--some of the most...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Five Things You Need to KnowBrazil’s ‘Mythological’ Pink Dolphins Finally Being Rescued
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on June 4th, 2014
Nature World: In an effort to prevent the killing of the Amazon pink dolphin, whose flesh is used as bait, Brazil will temporarily ban the catch of a certain type of catfish, the Fishing and Aquaculture Ministry said Tuesday.
Ministry spokesman Ultimo Valadares said the government is still working out the details of this five-year moratorium, aimed at fishing of the species called piracatinga, and will go into effect sometime next year.
"That should give us enough time to find an alternative bait for the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil’s ‘Mythological’ Pink Dolphins Finally Being RescuedUnited Kingdom: Shale gas firms to get more power to drill under homes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2014
Guardian: A group of 50 academics from some of the UK's leading universities today call on politicians to fast-track a UK shale gas industry, the latest salvo in an increasingly polarised debate around fracking.
In a letter to the Guardian on Thursday, the scientists argue there are "undeniable economic, environmental and national security benefits" from shale being produced in the north-west of the country. The move comes just days after Sir Paul McCartney and 150 other celebrities called on the government...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Shale gas firms to get more power to drill under homes