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Archive for September, 2014
Hundreds dead as heaviest downpour in 50 years rains down on India and Pakistan
Posted by Blue and Green: Richard Heasman on September 10th, 2014
Blue and Green: The heavily militarised region of Kashmir, shared by both India and Pakistan, has endured the worst rainfall in 50 years as flash floods took thousands by surprise, with no warning issued by India’s weather office.
The current death toll stands at 400 people, with thousands still trapped on rooftops. Citizens have expressed criticism against both Indian and Pakistani authorities for the lack of preparation and response to the disaster, regardless of a similar event occurring in 2010.
On the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Hundreds dead as heaviest downpour in 50 years rains down on India and PakistanBritish winters becoming more extreme, scientists warn
Posted by Blue and Green: Tom Revell on September 10th, 2014
Blue and Green: British winters are becoming more extreme, with unpredictable swings between very mild, stormy winters and very cold, snowy ones becoming more likely, a new study has warned.
Surveying seasonal records dating back to 1899, experts from the Met Office, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and the University of Sheffield found that seven of the 10 most extreme winters came in the last decade.
“If this trend continues, we can expect more volatile UK winter weather in decades to come,” said Prof...
Thousands Rescued From Deadly Flash Floods in India, Pakistan
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on September 10th, 2014
Environment News Service: Hundreds of people have lost their lives in the the heaviest monsoon rains to fall for 50 years in the Himalayan region of Jammu & Kashmir. Thousands are still trapped on rooftops, and a massive rescue and evacuation is in operation
After three days, thousands are still trapped on rooftops, and a massive rescue and evacuation operation by the National Disaster Response Force and the Indian Armed Forces in the flooded Kashmir valley is in full swing with more helicopters, boats and rescue materials...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Thousands Rescued From Deadly Flash Floods in India, PakistanMalaysian palm oil chief misleads on deforestation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 10th, 2014
Mongabay: One of Malaysia's top palm oil officials has once again misled the public on the state of forests in Malaysia.
Speaking at a recent conference on palm oil sustainability in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Palm Oil Council CEO Yusof Basiron asserted that 80 percent of Sarawak's forests are "still undeveloped", indicating "there's no issue of deforestation", as reported by the Malaysian Star.
Basiron's remark is undercut by recent scientific papers showing that less than 20 percent of Sarawak is covered...
Researchers link climate change, vegetation and water
Posted by Merced Sund-Star: None Given on September 10th, 2014
Merced Sund-Star: As the climate warms, sources of the water so critical to life everywhere on Earth are drying up. By the end of this century, communities dependent on fresh water from mountain-fed rivers could see significantly less water, according to a new climate model recently released by University of California researchers. For example, people who get fresh water from the Kings River could see a 26 percent decrease in river flow. Why? Think of the environment to which humans are accustomed as a huge jigsaw...
Almost Half North American Bird Species Threatened By Climate Change
Posted by ThinkProgress: Katie Valentine on September 9th, 2014
ThinkProgress: Nearly half the bird species in North America are threatened by climate change, according to a new report.
The report, published Monday by the National Audubon Society, found that as the the climate of North America changes, 126 bird species will lose more than half - with some at risk of losing 100 percent - of their current ranges by 2050, and will have no possibility of colonizing new areas if warming continues unabated. That`s about 21 percent of North America`s 650 or so bird species. On...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Almost Half North American Bird Species Threatened By Climate ChangeReport: Globe could pass UN warming target
Posted by Hill: Laura Barron-Lopez on September 9th, 2014
Hill: If carbon emissions continue at current rates, the globe is set to surpass the United Nations's (U.N.) temperature target, hitting roughly 4 degrees Celsius, according to a new report.
The sixth Low Carbon Economy report by international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released late Sunday estimates the current rate of carbon emissions will "burn" through the 2 degrees Celsius marker set by the U.N. within 20 years.
If countries are unable to reach an ambitious agreement during...
Canada: With groundbreaking, large-scale carbon capture finds home in oil patch
Posted by EnergyWire: Nathanial Gronewold on September 9th, 2014
EnergyWire: The elusive dream of commercial carbon capture and storage may finally be moving closer to reality, in part thanks to the nation's crude oil boom.
NRG Energy Inc. and its partner JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. broke ground Friday on a project here that both companies believe will be one for the record books. The 50-50 venture aims to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream coming from a coal-fired power plant just southwest of Houston and make money by selling the CO2 to nearby oil producers....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: With groundbreaking, large-scale carbon capture finds home in oil patchOne more heave! Ministers’ pre-election fracking drive
Posted by Ecologist: Alex Stevenson on September 9th, 2014
Ecologist: Ministers are determined to get fracking under way in the UK as fast as possible, so it's a 'fait accompli' in time for the election, writes Alex Stevenson. With a firm pro-fracking concensus in Parliament, only one thing can frustrate their plans - strong local campaigns to turn around MPs desperate for re-election in 2015. It even has a name: democracy. It's a question of fear. What secretly worries pro-fracking Conservative ministers, The Ecologist has learned, is that a Labour administration...
How conversion of forests to cropland affects climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2014
ScienceDaily: The conversion of forests into cropland worldwide has triggered an atmospheric change that, while seldom considered in climate models, has had a net cooling effect on global temperatures, according to a new Yale study.
Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, Professor Nadine Unger of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) reports that large-scale forest losses during the last 150 years have reduced global emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which...