Archive for January, 2015
Australia: Firefighting hardly changed century. But bushfires certainly have
Posted by Guardian: Jim Casey on January 7th, 2015
Guardian: Innovation in firefighting methods only go so far. To keep up with climate change and more extreme fires, we need a larger, more professional fire service – and a change of attitude
Right now it’s the Adelaide Hills. In 2013 it was the Blue Mountains, in NSW. In 2009 it was the terrible Black Saturday fires in Victoria. While bushfires have always been a part of Australia, the behaviour of fires is changing on the back of increasing extreme weather incidents.
For our continent, extreme weather...
2014 was the hottest year on record, Japanese scientists say
Posted by Vox: None Given on January 7th, 2015
Vox: 2014 was Earth's hottest year since records began in 1891, according to new data from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA):
The global average temperature in 2014 was about 0.63°C (or 1.1°F) hotter than the average during the twentieth century, JMA found. Its data is based on both satellite and ground readings.
The second hottest year in JMA's records was 1998 -- a big El Niño year -- followed by 2013, 2010, and 2005. All ten hottest years have come since 1998.
Climate scientists expect...
Senate Republicans to try to force construction of Keystone pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2015
Guardian: Republicans will introduce a bill on Tuesday to force construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, setting the new Congress on a collision course with the White House over Barack Obama’s environmental agenda.
The Keystone XL bill aims to take the decision about the controversial pipeline out of the president’s hands. It is seen as the first shot in an all-out Republican offensive against the Democratic president’s environmental and health agenda.
The bill is expected to pass but it faces a potential...
US coastal cities face daily flooding by mid-century
Posted by RTCC: Tim Radford on January 6th, 2015
RTCC: Oceanographers have just identified the US coastal regions likely to experience 30 days or more of “nuisance” flooding every year. And the answer is that most of the American coast will experience high waters that are 30-60 cms above local high tides, at least 30 times a year. Nuisance flooding means just that - somewhere between an inconvenience and modest damage. But climate change, and its attendant sea-level rise, will make them much more frequent, and possibly more damaging. William Sweet...
Australia battles to contain worst wildfires in 30 years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2015
Reuters: Hundreds of firefighters were battling on Tuesday to contain Australia's worst wildfires in 30 years which have already swept across more than 12,000 hectares outside the southern city of Adelaide and destroyed at least 26 homes.
The fires, which are burning across a 240-km (150-mile) perimeter in the state of South Australia, come as the Australian Bureau of Meteorology announced on Tuesday that 2014 had been the country's third warmest year on record.
That has raised questions about whether...
Australia’s third hottest year on record
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on January 6th, 2015
Sydney Morning Herald: Australia has capped two years of extraordinary warmth with 2014 declared the third hottest on record just 12 months after 2013 smashed annual highs, the Bureau of Meteorology said. No year since 1985 has observed a below-average global mean temperature and all of the 10 warmest years have occurred between 1998 and the present. Mean temperatures across the country in 2014 came in 0.91 degrees above the 1961-1990 average, behind only 2013 and 2005. Melbourne posted its equal warmest year on record...
Conflicting views aired at hearing on oil pipeline from North Dakota
Posted by Associated Press: Steve Karnowski on January 6th, 2015
Associated Press: Supporters of the proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline told an administrative law judge Monday in St. Paul that it will provide a safer and more efficient alternative to the trains that now carry most of the crude from the Bakken fields of North Dakota, while opponents said the project will exacerbate climate change. About 302 miles of the proposed 616-mile pipeline would cut across northern Minnesota, transporting light crude from western North Dakota to the Enbridge oil terminal in Superior, Wis. It...
Australia: Australian businesses feel the heat as temperatures soar
Posted by BBC: Phil Mercer on January 6th, 2015
BBC: Australia has recorded its third-warmest calendar year since national records began in 1910. For farmers, adapting to the harsh conditions can be difficult, and many businesses are now being urged to start "heat-proofing" their operations.
Plummeting oil price casts shadow over fracking future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 6th, 2015
Guardian: There’s no doubt that US-based fracking – the process through which oil and gas deposits are blasted from shale deposits deep underground – has caused a revolution in worldwide energy supplies.
Yet now the alarm bells are ringing about the financial health of the fracking industry, with talk of a mighty monetary bubble bursting - leading to turmoil on the international markets similar to that in 2008.
In many ways, it’s a straightforward case of supply and demand. Due to the US fracking boom,...
White House issues veto threat over Keystone pipeline bill
Posted by Fox: None Given on January 6th, 2015
Fox: The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto fresh legislation approving the controversial Keystone pipeline, setting up a likely showdown between President Obama and the new GOP-controlled Congress over one of Republicans' top agenda items.
"If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn't sign it," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday, stressing that the president wants to wait for a State Department review process to finish.
Republicans, with several Democratic...