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Archive for November 13th, 2014
Ferocious lightning strikes all set to increase globally
Posted by Times of India: Kounteya Sinha on November 13th, 2014
Times of India: Ferocious lightning strikes are all set to increase globally, thanks to warming temperatures.
New climate models have predicted a 50% increase in lightning strikes across the world during this century as a result of warming temperatures associated with climate change.
University of California, Berkeley's climate scientist David Romps and his colleagues looked at predictions of precipitation and cloud buoyancy in 11 different climate models and conclude that their combined effect will generate...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Ferocious lightning strikes all set to increase globallyAustralian Dredging Threatens Great Barrier Reef and Wetlands
Posted by Nature World: Brian Stallard on November 13th, 2014
Nature World: Last September, conservationists were thrilled to see the Australian government rescind its plans to dump sediment from dredging into Great Barrier Reef waters. Now however, it has been revealed that four more dredging projects near the reef are still likely to occur, and sediment from these digs could still be dumped within the greater World Heritage Area.
The dredging in question is part of a consortium for port expansion along Australia's northeastern coast to help facilitate the export of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australian Dredging Threatens Great Barrier Reef and WetlandsThe World is Doing Well to Protect Valuable Ecosystems
Posted by Nature World: None Given on November 13th, 2014
Nature World: A new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests that the world is well on track to meet a 2020 target for the expansion of protected ecosystems. This should come as a bit of surprise for many groups, who have been pressing the argument that officials aren't doing enough to protect declining species.
The report was released today during the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress, and not only details the rate at which protected areas...
Lightning May Increase with Global Warming
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on November 13th, 2014
Climate Central: While severe weather like hurricanes and tornadoes typically only hit particular areas of the globe, lightning can strike anywhere. And it does, a lot. A bolt of lightning flashes through the sky and hits the ground somewhere around the world about 100 times every second. That's 8 million lightning strikes in a single day -- yes, you read that right: just one day.
Now, a new study finds that lightning strikes could flash through the sky even more often than that as the planet warms, at least over...
Lightning strikes ‘more as world warms’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2014
BBC: Global warming will significantly increase the frequency of lightning strikes, according to US research. The research, published in Science, was carried out with the help of data from a US network of lightning detectors. The teams says they have calculated how much each extra degree in temperature will raise the frequency of lightning. "For every two lightning strikes in 2000, there will be three lightning strikes in 2100," said David Romps, at the University of California, Berkeley. As well...
Fracking Support Plummets Among Americans
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 13th, 2014
EcoWatch: As more stories emerge about the dangers posed by the toxic fallout from the aggressive drilling process to communities near the operations, support for fracking tilts negative for the first time, with 41 percent favoring increased use of fracking and 47 percent opposing it. That’s a huge swing from 20 months ago. In Pew’s March 2013 poll 48 percent supported more fracking while only 38 percent opposed it.
Support for fracking has dropped most steeply among women and people under 50, whose opinions...
Sundarban National Park under significant threat due failed conservation system: IUCN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2014
Times of India: Bengal's Sundarban National Park has now been declared as "facing significant threat" due to a failed conservation system.
Some of India's iconic natural wonders - Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Kaziranga National Park and the Western Ghats too were declared to be of "significant concern" after the first ever analysis of all 228 natural world heritage sites across the world.
The red flag has also been raised for some global iconic sites like Machu Picchu in Peru and Tanzania's Serengeti by the IUCN...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sundarban National Park under significant threat due failed conservation system: IUCNKeystone pipeline approval bills advance in U.S. Congress
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2014
Reuters: Legislation to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline began racing through the U.S. Congress on Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans appeared to be coming together in a challenge of President Barack Obama's oversight of the project.
In a series of rapid developments that unfolded just hours after Congress returned from a seven-week recess, there were indications the measure could pass and be sent to Obama sometime next week.
Republicans, victorious in Nov. 4 congressional elections...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone pipeline approval bills advance in U.S. CongressGreen groups sue for fresh review of U.S. sands pipeline plan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 13th, 2014
Reuters: The U.S. State Department must halt plans to expand an oil sands pipeline route from Canada to Wisconsin until possible environmental harm has been closely studied, several green groups said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
An Enbridge Inc proposal for its Line 3 pipeline from Alberta to Wisconsin is part of a $7.5 billion upgrade on its system that would help oil sands producers in Western Canada reach refineries in the Gulf Coast and elsewhere.
Such cross-border projects typically require...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Green groups sue for fresh review of U.S. sands pipeline plan