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Archive for October, 2014
Link between environmental degradation & Ebola
Posted by Star: Peter Stoett Catherine Machalaba Cristina Romanelli on October 19th, 2014
Star: The Ebola epidemic besieging West Africa is perhaps the starkest warning yet that as we tear down forests, we open ourselves up to new strains of virulent disease. Among the key lessons from the current outbreak is that human-created pressures such as intensified food production, rapid trade and travel, and climate change, are putting future generations at risk of further Ebola-like catastrophes.
Through some mix of travel control, medical advances, and humanitarian assistance, we can hopefully...
The Kissimmee: A River Recurved
Posted by National Public Radio: Amy Green on October 19th, 2014
National Public Radio: It sounds almost superhuman to try straighten a river and then recarve the curves.
That's what federal and state officials did to the Kissimmee River in central Florida. They straightened the river in the 1960s into a canal to drain swampland and make way for the state's explosive growth. It worked - and it created an ecological disaster. So officials decided to restore the river's slow-flowing, meandering path.
That billion-dollar restoration - the world's largest - is a few years from completion....
These maps of water use show why the Western US is in trouble
Posted by Vox: None Given on October 18th, 2014
Vox: The American West has been wrestling with drought for the past 15 years. California is now facing its worst dry spell in at least a century. So, not surprisingly, the question of how best to manage America's scarce freshwater supplies is coming up more frequently. To that end, the Hamilton Project recently published a helpful primer, "Nine Economic Facts about Water in the United States." The whole thing's worth reading, but four maps and charts in particular stuck out. For starters, some of the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on These maps of water use show why the Western US is in troubleLake Erie Toxic Algae, Blame Climate Change And Invasive Mussels
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on October 17th, 2014
ThinkProgress: Lake Erie is increasingly plagued by toxic algae blooms each summer, and a new study suggests how climate change and mussels, of all things, may be to blame.
On Thursday, the Columbus Dispatch reported on the new research and computer modeling, which show neither rising water temperatures nor runoff from fertilizers and sewage - the traditional causes cited - fully account for the blooms. According to the paper, published in Water Resources Research, climate change may be providing cyanobacteria...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lake Erie Toxic Algae, Blame Climate Change And Invasive MusselsPlastic Particles Harm Freshwater Organisms Too
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on October 17th, 2014
Nature World: Scientists have become increasingly worried that plastic pollution threatens marine life in the world's oceans, and now new research shows that they have reason to fear it can harm freshwater organisms, too.
"The main sources of plastic are on land, so it is important to also look at the effects of plastic on land," Professor Bart Koelmans, leader of the Wageningen University and the IMARES research group behind the study, said in a statement.
Previous studies have shown that microplastics...
Sorry, California — winter isn’t going to fix your drought
Posted by Climate Desk: Tim McDonnell on October 17th, 2014
Climate Desk: California`s crippling drought is not expected to improve over the winter, according to new forecast data released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Nearly 60 percent of the state is experiencing exceptional drought -- the worst category -- NOAA reported. The map below shows that the northern California coast could see some improvement. But in the Central Valley, a critical source of fruits, nuts, and vegetables for the whole country, conditions won`t be getting...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sorry, California — winter isn’t going to fix your droughtAustralia: Climate change forcing rethink on fire risk, RFS chief Shane Fitzsimmons says
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Juanita Phillips and Ursula Malone on October 17th, 2014
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Climate change is having an impact on every level of fire management, the New South Wales rural fire chief has said on the first anniversary of the Blue Mountains bushfires.
The NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said with more days of high fire danger, there is now a shrinking window of opportunity to carry out back-burning and other hazard reduction.
"If our window of opportunity continues to shrink, in order to get those really important pre-season activities underway...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Climate change forcing rethink on fire risk, RFS chief Shane Fitzsimmons saysNew disease ‘killing amphibians’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2014
BBC: A deadly new disease has emerged that is wiping out amphibians, scientists report.
A number of viruses have been found in northern Spain that are killing frog, toad and newt species. Infected animals can suffer from ulcers on their skin and die from internal bleeding.
Researchers fear the strains, which belong to the Ranavirus group, have already spread to other countries.
The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
Lead author Dr Stephen Price, from University College London,...
Peru glaciers shrink 40% in 44 years: government
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: Peru's glaciers have shrunk by more than 40 percent since 1970 because of climate change, giving birth to nearly 1,000 new lagoons, national water authority ANA said Thursday.
Peru, which is hosting the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 20, in December, used satellite images to carry out the glacier inventory ahead of the high-level meeting.
The worst-affected glacier was 5,200-meter-high (17,000-foot) tourist gem Pastoruri in the Andes mountains, which lost 52 percent of its...
Australia aims to end extinction of native wildlife by 2020
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 16th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt has pledged to end the extinction of native mammal species by 2020, with a focus on culprits such as feral cats.
Hunt said Australia had the worst rate of mammal loss in the world and the nation's "greatest failure" in environmental policy was protecting threatened species.
"Our flora and fauna are part of what makes us Australian," he said in a speech late Wednesday.
"I don't want the extinction of species such as the numbat, the quokka, the bilby,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia aims to end extinction of native wildlife by 2020