RSS Feed
Archive for September, 2014
World population could surpass THIRTEEN billion by the end of century
Posted by Mongabay: Tiffany Roufs on September 18th, 2014
Mongabay: By 2100, over 13 billion people could be walking the planet. That's the conclusion of a new study published today in Science, which employed UN data to explore the probability of various population scenarios. The new study further demolishes the long-held theory that human population growth will quit growing by mid-century and then fall. "Analysis of these data reveals that, contrary to previous literature, world population is unlikely to stop growing this century," reads the paper. It's worth...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on World population could surpass THIRTEEN billion by the end of centuryWater scarce for thousands in Mexico’s Los Cabos as new storm looms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2014
Reuters: Thousands of tourists were stranded in the storm-battered Mexican Pacific resort of Los Cabos on Thursday, with water in short supply and looted stores sitting empty as a new hurricane threatened to buffet the popular tourist hub.
Odile churned into the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula on Sunday as a Category 3 hurricane, wreaking havoc on a scenic area popular with U.S sun seekers that has rarely witnessed such devastation.
Two people died after trying to cross a flooded stream...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Water scarce for thousands in Mexico’s Los Cabos as new storm loomsWe keep moaning about population, but ignore consumption habits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2014
Guardian: At any public meeting on the environment over the past decade , there's one question that almost always came up. It is a variation of 'Why will no one talk about population?' As a result, population is discussed endlessly while people grumble that no one ever talks about it.
The same oddly circular conversation happened in the Observer Review section in an article relating to the new book, 10 Billion, by Stephen Emmott, head of Microsoft's Research Lab. Five full pages of extract and interview...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on We keep moaning about population, but ignore consumption habitsA World With 11 Billion People? New Population Projections Shatter Ear
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2014
National Geographic: Warning: The 21st century may get a lot more crowded than previously thought.
In a paper published Thursday in Science, demographers from several universities and the United Nations Population Division conclude that instead of leveling off in the second half of the 21st century, as the UN predicted less than a decade ago, the world's population will continue to grow beyond 2100. (Read "Population Seven Billion" in National Geographic magazine.)
And for the first time, through the use of a "probabilistic"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A World With 11 Billion People? New Population Projections Shatter EarDeep Inside the Wild World of China’s Fracking Boom
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on September 18th, 2014
Climate Desk: ON A HAZY MORNING LAST SEPTEMBER, 144 American and Chinese government officials and high-ranking oil executives filed into a vaulted meeting room in a cloistered campus in south Xi’an, a city famous for its terra-cotta warriors and lethal smog. The Communist Party built this compound, called the Shaanxi Guesthouse, in 1958. It was part of the lead-up to Chairman Mao’s Great Leap Forward, in which, to surpass the industrial achievements of the West, the government built steelworks, coal mines, power...
U.S. green groups urge methane rules for oil and gas industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2014
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must act to rein in methane pollution from the oil and gas industry, environmental groups said on Thursday, warning that failure to set federal standards would undermine other Obama administration efforts to address climate change. The EPA is expected to lay out a plan within months to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling as a part of President Barack Obama's broad climate action plan. A coalition of major green groups, including the Environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. green groups urge methane rules for oil and gas industryAntarctic Sea Ice Hits a Record Max, and That’s Not Good
Posted by Climate Desk: None Given on September 18th, 2014
Climate Desk: For the third year in a row, the sea ice ringing Antarctica has set a new record. Its extent is the farthest now since observations began in the late `70s, and scientists say the growth is largely the result of climate change.
Antarctic sea ice melts during the early part of the year but typically packs it back on by September. The ice broke last year`s record for extent on Monday, according to a report in New Scientist. It`s the latest evidence of a small but significant growth trend of about...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Antarctic Sea Ice Hits a Record Max, and That’s Not GoodWorld population to hit 11bn in 2100 w/ 70% chance of continuous rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 18th, 2014
Guardian: The world’s population is now odds-on to swell ever-higher for the rest of the century, posing grave challenges for food supplies, healthcare and social cohesion. A ground-breaking analysis released on Thursday shows there is a 70% chance that the number of people on the planet will rise continuously from 7bn today to 11bn in 2100.
The work overturns 20 years of consensus that global population, and the stresses it brings, will peak by 2050 at about 9bn people. “The previous projections said this...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World population to hit 11bn in 2100 w/ 70% chance of continuous riseEl Niño is Kinda Sorta Maybe Here
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on September 18th, 2014
Climate Central: On Tuesday, researchers at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society said a borderline El Niño is upon us, with the odds for further development increasing throughout the fall and winter.
Chart showing ocean temperatures in different regions of the Pacific used to gauge El Niño, including the recent rise in temperatures. Credit: IRI
This El Niño has played a game of hide and seek since an El Niño Watch was declared way back in March. After picking up steam in the spring and...
Gore: Fracking Won’t Solve Our Climate Crisis
Posted by Climate Desk: Tim McDonnell on September 18th, 2014
Climate Desk: Few figures in the climate change debate are as polarizing as former Vice President Al Gore. His fans and his enemies are equally rabid, and his 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth is still probably the most-referenced document on climate change in history. In the last few years, Gore’s global warming work has mostly been channeled into a nonprofit he oversees called the Climate Reality Project, which organizes rallies and educational events. This week, that group held its annual “24 Hours of Reality”...