RSS Feed
Archive for October, 2014
Florida Lizards Evolve in Just 15 Years
Posted by Nature World: None Given on October 25th, 2014
Nature World: A native lizard species from Florida has demonstrated some rapid evolution - in as little as 15 years - due to pressures from an invading lizard species hailing from Cuba, according to a recent study.
Fearful of invading Cuban anoles or brown anoles, the native lizards reportedly began perching higher in trees, and, generation after generation, their feet evolved to become better at gripping the thinner, smoother branches found higher up.
The change occurred so quickly, that just within a matter...
Brazil’s Severe Drought Dries Up Reservoirs
Posted by National Geographic: Brian Clark Howard on October 25th, 2014
National Geographic: Thanks to the worst drought in eight decades in southeastern Brazil, water levels have dropped dramatically in the reservoirs that supply São Paulo, the country's largest city. New satellite imagery from NASA reveals that critical reservoirs there have dwindled to 3 to 5 percent of storage capacity, creating shortages in the region.
Rainfall totals in the region this year are 12 to 16 inches (300 to 400 millimeters) below normal.
According to a poll conducted this week, 60 percent of respondents...
Blocked on Keystone XL, the Oil-Sands Industry Looks East
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 25th, 2014
National Geographic: The oil-sands industry in Alberta has a problem: It's capable of producing more oil than it can get to market. It has tried building new pipelines south into the United States-the famous Keystone XL project-and west to British Columbia. But both projects are stalled and face stiff opposition. Now a battle is heating up over the latest proposal: a 2,858-mile-long pipeline to Canada's east coast.
TransCanada, the same company that wants to build Keystone XL, says it plans to seek Canadian government...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Blocked on Keystone XL, the Oil-Sands Industry Looks EastSão Paulo running out of water as rain-making Amazon vanishes
Posted by Reuters: Adriana Brasileiro on October 24th, 2014
Reuters: South America's biggest and wealthiest city may run out of water by mid-November if it doesn't rain soon. São Paulo, a Brazilian megacity of 20 million people, is suffering its worst drought in at least 80 years, with key reservoirs that supply the city dried up after an unusually dry year. One of the causes of the crisis may be more than 2,000 kilometers away, in the growing deforested areas in the Amazon region. "Humidity that comes from the Amazon in the form of vapor clouds - what we call...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on São Paulo running out of water as rain-making Amazon vanishesWashington state community devastated by mudslide could face floods
Posted by Reuters: Victoria Cavaliere on October 23rd, 2014
Reuters: A Washington state community devastated by a mudslide that killed 43 people in March was bracing for its first rainy season since the disaster and the threat of flooding from a river that changed course as a result of it, officials said on Thursday.
A rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River on March 22, unleashing a torrent of mud that buried a community near Oso, 55 miles (89 km) northeast of Seattle.
The risk of flooding remains a concern for hundreds...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Washington state community devastated by mudslide could face floodsUncovering Evidence of a 6th Mass Extinction
Posted by Nature World: None Given on October 23rd, 2014
Nature World: New fossil evidence is pointing to the possibility of a sixth mass extinction event in Earth's past, and this one may have helped usher in the largest "great dying" that that ever occurred. If that is right, the Permian period may have actually been hit with a two-punch knockout that caused more species loss than the infamous extinction of the dinosaurs.
New fossil evidence is pointing to the possibility of a sixth mass extinction event in Earth's past, and this one may have helped usher in the...
New Methane-Releasing Microbe Key Player in Climate Change
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on October 23rd, 2014
Nature World: A new methane-releasing microbe, just recently discovered in Sweden, is a key player in climate change, according to new research.
Identified as Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis, it is just one of many species of soil microbes, known to be among the world's biggest potential amplifiers of human-caused climate change. Earlier this year, an international team of researchers discovered this previously unknown microbe living in permafrost soils in northern Sweden that have begun to thaw in our warming...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Methane-Releasing Microbe Key Player in Climate ChangeWhat Will Winter Hold for Drought-Plagued California?
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on October 23rd, 2014
Climate Central: California really needs this winter to be a wet one.
The state is now at the beginning of the fourth year of one if its worst droughts on record. The drought has been fueled by a spate of disappointing winter rainy seasons that have left meager snowpacks and diminished reservoir levels, combined with record-warm temperatures that have driven demand for the increasingly precious resource, and spurred a series of conservation measures around the state.
Shasta Lake, the largest manmade lake in...
United Kingdom: Dredging can make flooding worse, say activists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2014
Independent: Dredging is “pointless” and largely ineffective, according to a coalition of environmental groups who are calling on the Government to scale down its preferred method of flood prevention.
The Blueprint for Water coalition, which represents groups such as the RSPB, the Angling Trust and Friends of the Earth, is urging the Government to spend money earmarked for dredging on “more effective” alternative flood-control methods such as improved drainage systems.
The warning comes as remnants of Hurricane...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Dredging can make flooding worse, say activistsWhy Are The Great Lakes On The Rise?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2014
National Public Radio: Host Audie Cornish talks with Drew Gronewold, a hydrologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, about why water levels in lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are rising.