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Archive for July, 2014
El Niño Triggers Drought, Food Crisis in Nicaragua
Posted by Inter Press Service: José Adán Silva on July 10th, 2014
Inter Press Service: The spectre of famine is haunting Nicaragua. The second poorest country in Latin America, and one of the 10 most vulnerable to climate change in the world, is facing a meteorological phenomenon that threatens its food security.
Scientists at the Nicaraguan Institute for Territorial Studies (INETER) say the situation is correlated with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a weather cycle that periodically causes drought on the western Pacific seaboard and the centre of the country, in contrast...
Coastal flooding has surged in U.S., Reuters finds
Posted by Reuters: Ryan McNeill and Deborah J. Nelson on July 10th, 2014
Reuters: Coastal flooding along the densely populated Eastern Seaboard of the United States has surged in recent years, a Reuters analysis has found.
During the past four decades, the number of days a year that tidal waters reached or exceeded National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flood thresholds more than tripled in many places, the analysis found. At flood threshold, water can begin to pool on streets. As it rises farther, it can close roads, damage property and overwhelm drainage systems....
Photosynthesis photographed for the first time
Posted by Mother Nature Network: John Platt on July 10th, 2014
Mother Nature Network: Every school kid learns about photosynthesis, but a new study shows the life-giving process in action for the first time. As published this week in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers has photographed photosynthesis in action using the world's fastest X-ray laser, which captures events that take place in one-quadrillionth of a second. Using this ultrafast laser, the researchers were able to document the previously unseen moments when photosynthesis converts water into oxygen,...
Safe Coast Virginia: Report outlines the climate change threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 10th, 2014
Daily Press: That's the nut of the latest report on the impact of climate change on Hampton Roads released Wednesday by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
"Safe Coast Virginia: Climate Change Threats and Practical Solutions for Coastal Virginia" contains no big surprises, but CCAN director Mike Tidwell said it is the first to aggregate the latest science, tell the stories of real people experiencing climate change and recommend 10 achievable ways to mitigate and adapt to the inevitable impacts of a rising...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Safe Coast Virginia: Report outlines the climate change threatAs climate changes, world weather agency calls for new baseline
Posted by Age: Peter Hannam on July 10th, 2014
Age: The World Meteorological Organisation says it`s time to shift climate baselines because global warming is increasingly setting a new "normal" for weather conditions.
The widely used 1961-90 baseline should be retained as a "stable reference" for climate study but a more current data set -- updated every decade -- should be adopted to gauge changes in heatwave and rainstorm frequency already under way, the WMO said.
"Rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are changing the Earth`s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As climate changes, world weather agency calls for new baselineLoss of snowpack and glaciers in Rockies poses water threat
Posted by Yale 360: Ed Struzik on July 10th, 2014
Yale 360: When Rocky Mountain explorer Walter Wilcox hiked up to Bow Summit in Canada’s Banff National Park in 1896, he took a photo of a turquoise lake that later caught the eye of a National Geographic magazine editor. In the photo, which was eventually published, the glacier feeding the lake was just a mile upstream.
Since then, the snout of Peyto Glacier has receded more than three miles from the broad valley it carved out thousands of years ago. Remnants of ancient tree trunks the glacier bulldozed...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Loss of snowpack and glaciers in Rockies poses water threatClimate change could affect your drinking water
Posted by Connection: Lisa Spinelli on July 10th, 2014
Connection: Drinking cups of clear tap water could be a luxury we are less likely to take for granted in the near future as climate-change culprits affect our waterways—and our water bills. #The increased development of Northern Virginia, along with agricultural uses, have been slowing down the Potomac’s fast-moving water for a number of years; add climate-change factors like rising air and water temperatures and we now have what the Shenandoah Riverkeeper Jeff Kelble calls a “double whammy” on the river. ...
No respite from ‘worst storm in decade’
Posted by Radio New Zealand: None Given on July 10th, 2014
Radio New Zealand: The storm has caused "millions of dollars" of damage to electricity networks after hurricane-force winds since Tuesday snapped concrete power poles and felled massive trees from Cape Reinga to Kaiwaka. A Far North farmer described it as the worst since Cyclone Bola in 1988. The MetService said on Thursday night that Northland could get up to 150 millimetres of rain between now and Saturday morning, as well as winds that could reach gale-force in exposed places. The winds are also likely to be strong...
Fracking could supply one third UK gas by 2035
Posted by RTCC: Megan Darby on July 10th, 2014
RTCC: Indigenous shale gas could provide more than a third of the UK’s gas supplies in 2035. If the UK fails to invest in gas production it will depend on imports for 90% of its supplies.
These were among the conclusions of National Grid’s latest Future Energy Scenarios report, published on Thursday. The owner and operator of the UK’s core gas and electricity networks, National Grid also has a strategic role in predicting patterns of energy supply and demand.
While National Grid is not directly involved...
Cities and businesses prepare for threat climate change poses to water
Posted by Guardian: Larissa Bulla on July 10th, 2014
Guardian: Cities are home to half the world's population and produce a staggering 80% of global GDP. As more of us continue to migrate to cities, these numbers are widely expected to grow. According to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), urban climate change risks are increasing too.
We are already witnessing the consequences of this. Last winter's historic flooding in England wreaked havoc on homes and businesses, costing small businesses alone some £830m and counting....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Cities and businesses prepare for threat climate change poses to water