RSS Feed
Archive for September 14th, 2014
Rules thumb for climate change turned upside down
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2014
PhysOrg: With a new analysis of land regions, ETH climate researcher are challenging the general climate change paradigm that dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are getting wetter. In some regions they are encountering divergent trends.
Based on models and observations, climate scientists have devised a simplified formula to describe one of the consequences of climate change: regions already marked by droughts will continue to dry out in the future climate. Regions that already have a moist...
How Diet and Climate Change Are Intrinsically Linked
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on September 14th, 2014
Climate News Network: The news is enough to make climate campaigners choke on their high-fibre breakfast cereal: If Americans adopted the dietary guidelines suggested by their own Department of Agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) would actually go up by 12 percent. And even if Americans did what dietary campaigners urge and restricted themselves to a healthier 2000 calories a day, GHGs would not fall significantly. Martin Heller and Gregory Keoleian, scientists at the University of Michigan’s Centre for Sustainable...
Croatia struggles with floods after heavy rains
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2014
Reuters: s many as two-thirds of 21 Croatian counties are struggling with flooding, with the worst occurring in central Croatia, the national rescue agency DUZS said on Sunday. Heavy rain has been falling since Wednesday, causing rivers to rise, closing roads and threatening houses and factories. No deaths or injuries have been reported so far. The biggest threat is in flooded areas around the central towns of Sisak, Hrvatska Kostajnica and Karlovac. Several villages have been evacuated and a state of emergency...
When fracking and free speech collide
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on September 14th, 2014
Al Jazeera: What started as a short YouTube video and a couple of local news interviews about a Texas landowner being able to light his water on fire has ballooned into a free speech fight that’s being closely watched by anti-fracking activists across the country.
Steve Lipsky has complained for years that fracking company Range Resources polluted his drinking water and streams that run through his property. The company sued him in 2011 for defaming its reputation for environmental stewardship.
Now Lipsky...
As Obama admin orders carbon cuts, it sells coal rights
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2014
Boston Globe: The desolate stretch of Highway 133 crests a Rocky Mountain pass and settles into a valley where some of the world's most valuable coal is located -- and the landowner is the US taxpayer.
If there is a "war on coal' by President Obama, as his critics say, then this might be a place to wage it. Obama has, after all, approved regulations designed to cut global-warming carbon emissions by nearly one-third, and he is preparing to attend a Sept. 23 United Nations climate summit at which he will renew...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on As Obama admin orders carbon cuts, it sells coal rightsA week on from flood, 150,000 still stranded in Indian Kashmir
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2014
Reuters: About 150,000 people were still stranded in their homes a week after Indian Kashmir's worst flood in over a century and fears grew on Sunday of an outbreak of diseases from vast fields of stagnant brown water.
Indian army and civilian boats trawled through the streets -now water channels - of the state capital Srinagar – picking up residents and delivering water, food and basic medicine to people who chose to remain camped out in the upper floors of their houses.
The state administration, which...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A week on from flood, 150,000 still stranded in Indian KashmirDrought Bites as Amazon’s ‘Flying Rivers’ Dry Up
Posted by Truthdig: None Given on September 14th, 2014
Truthdig: The unprecedented drought now affecting São Paulo, South America’s giant metropolis, is believed to be caused by the absence of the “flying rivers”-the vapour clouds from the Amazon that normally bring rain to the centre and south of Brazil. Some Brazilian scientists say the absence of rain that has dried up rivers and reservoirs in central and southeast Brazil is not just a quirk of nature, but a change brought about by a combination of the continuing deforestation of the Amazon and global warming....
Climate change affects restaurant menus today
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Patrick Mulvaney on September 14th, 2014
Sacramento Bee: When I read about climate change, I learn about rising sea levels and shrinking polar ice caps -- problems for 100 years in the future. But when I talk to my friends and customers about climate change, the focus is on what is happening today. It seems little things are already adding up.
As a chef, I have always believed that the completed dish will only be as good as the ingredients used. The bounty of the 12-month growing season is the main reason we decided to open our restaurant here in Sacramento....
United Kingdom: Rural crisis warning as frackers target Yorkshire region
Posted by Halifix Courier: None Given on September 14th, 2014
Halifix Courier: Rural campaIgners have urged the Government to consider the impact of fracking on the half a billion pound a year local tourism economy.
Concern is growing that drilling for oil and gas in parts of Yorkshire, including potential bids in the North York Moors national park, could see major disruption to rural life.
Ministers are to be asked what protection can be offered to the rural villages and farms which form a vital part of the tourism economy amid fears some fracking sites will need a regular...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Rural crisis warning as frackers target Yorkshire region