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Archive for August, 2014
Lafayette’s fracking ban tossed by judge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
Associated Press: Colorado's oil and gas industry has again won another court battle against a town that banned or limited fracking.
A Boulder District Court judge on Wednesday tossed out a voter-approved fracking ban in Lafayette voters. The ban was adopted last year.
The Colorado Oil & Gas Association challenged the fracking ban.
Judge D. D. Mallard also struck down a voter-approved fracking ban on Longmont. She said in both decisions that local governments cannot regulate drilling.
Earlier this month,...
What Global Warming Might Mean for Extreme Snowfalls
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on August 27th, 2014
Climate Central: So if the world is warming, that means winters should be less snowy, right? Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. OK, it's a lot more complicated.
Boston's North End neighborhood amid the snow drifts after a February 2013 blizzard.
While the average annual snowfall in most parts of the world is indeed expected to decline, the extreme snowfalls -- those that hit a place once every 10 or 20 years and can cause major headaches and economic impacts -- may decline at a slower rate, and could...
Secret $700,000 Donation Has Scott Walker Scrambling Address ‘Appearance of Corruption’
Posted by Nation: John Nichols on August 27th, 2014
Nation: When Gogebic Taconite LLC began moving in November 2010--the same month Scott Walker was elected governor of Wisconsin--to develop an open-pit iron mine in one of the most environmentally sensitive regions of northern Wisconsin, the Florida-based mining firm got a lot of pushback. Residents of the region objected, along with Native American tribes. So, too, did citizens from across Wisconsin, a state that has long treasured the wild beauty of the Penokee Range. Environmental and conservation groups...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Secret $700,000 Donation Has Scott Walker Scrambling Address ‘Appearance of Corruption’The foggy future of fresh water in Chile
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on August 27th, 2014
SciDevNet: One of the two 17 square metre fog-catchers that harvest water for producing Atrapaniebla beer. The three main parts of the fog catcher are a structure with mesh, a gutter and a tank to store the water. Miguel Ángel Carcuro Each month the Carcuro brothers, owners of the Atrapaniebla microbrewery, produce 1,000 litres of this ale. They mainly supply the beer to the cities closest to Peña Blanca, where the beer is made. Marco Carcuro The tiny water droplets in fog naturally condense on vegetation....
Russia warms faster than rest of planet and sees disease, drought, and forest fires as a result
Posted by Quartz: None Given on August 27th, 2014
Quartz: When Vladimir Putin declined to support the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty to limit carbon emissions, he famously quipped that higher temperatures might actually benefit Russia since its people would have to spend less on fur coats.
Well, he`s getting his wish. Changes in wind and ocean currents caused by global warming shift heat around unevenly, causing some areas to heat up dramatically even as other regions cool. Russia, it turns out, is in the unusually hot category. Between 1976 and 2012, average...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Russia warms faster than rest of planet and sees disease, drought, and forest fires as a resultUK study eyes links between global warming, extreme flooding
Posted by Summit Voice: None Given on August 27th, 2014
Summit Voice: British scientists aren`t quite ready to say that last winter`s record flooding is linked with human-caused global warming, but in a recent study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, they warned that more coastal flooding is likely as sea level rises.
"We saw a number of examples last winter that demonstrated the vulnerability of coastal regions to flooding from surge events," said Dr. Jason Lowe, of the UK Met Office. "At present our best evidence points towards future increases in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UK study eyes links between global warming, extreme floodingAustralia: Drought and floods: what’s coming next?
Posted by Mail: None Given on August 27th, 2014
Mail: The devastating floods in Queensland may be subsiding, but the weather pattern that caused it is not over - and Sydney could be in the firing line.
Sydney's last major floods were in 1986 and 1988, said the Bureau of Meteorology. In the Liverpool region in 1986, water levels for the Georges River reached the major flood level of 4½ metres while in the North Richmond area in 1986 and 1988, the Hawkesbury River peaked at 12.8 and 14.4 metres, high above the 11-metre major flood level.
In 1986...
UN panel: Global warming human-caused, dangerous
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
Associated Press: Global warming is here, human-caused and probably already dangerous - and it's increasingly likely that the heating trend could be irreversible, a draft of a new international science report says.
The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday sent governments a final draft of its synthesis report, which combines three earlier, gigantic documents by the Nobel Prize-winning group. There is little in the report that wasn't in the other more-detailed versions, but the language...
Climate change may disrupt global food system in a decade
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on August 27th, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: The world is headed "down a dangerous path" with disruption of the food system possible within a decade as climate change undermines nations' ability to feed themselves, according to a senior World Bank official.
Rising urban populations are contributing to expanded demand for meat, adding to nutrition shortages for the world's poor. Increased greenhouse gas emissions from livestock as well as land clearing will make farming more marginal in many regions, especially in developing nations, said...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change may disrupt global food system in a decadeU.N. Draft Report Lists Unchecked Emissions’ Risks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 27th, 2014
New York Times: Runaway growth in the emission of greenhouse gases is swamping all political efforts to deal with the problem, raising the risk of “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” over the coming decades, according to a draft of a major new United Nations report. Global warming is already cutting grain production by several percentage points, the report found, and that could grow much worse if emissions continue unchecked. Higher seas, devastating heat waves, torrential rain and other climate extremes...