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Archive for March, 2015
When humans go extinct: How life will evolve after we’re gone
Posted by Salon: Lindsay Abrams on March 14th, 2015
Salon: The sixth mass extinction is nearly upon us. Species on Earth are dying out at a rate one thousand times greater than they were before humans began altering the environment. By the end of this century, scientists warn, anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of the species on Earth could be lost forever.
And among those who might not make it out the other side, says science writer Michael Tennesen, are humans.
It`s to be expected: No species lasts forever, and in our relatively short existence, humanity...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on When humans go extinct: How life will evolve after we’re goneAlgeria: fracking and the Ain Salah uprising
Posted by Ecologist: Alexander Reid Ross on March 14th, 2015
Ecologist: Deep in the Algerian Sahara, the oasis town of Ain Salah is a focus of opposition to a new wave of fracking, with violent confrontations between police and up to 40,000 protestors, writes Alexander Reid Ross. They have two main concerns: preventing pollution to the aquifer that sustains them, and keeping out foreign oil giants like Total and Halliburton.
The new policy is playing fast and loose with the aquifer that sustains Ain Salah and its precious oasis - and it's the threat of pollution from...
NASA Scientist Claims California Has One Year Of Water Left
Posted by Frisky: None Given on March 14th, 2015
Frisky: Today in apocalyptic sounding headlines, NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti was published in the Los Angeles Times` op-ed section saying that California has about one year left of water. This has been caused by a variety of factors that started well before the droughts.
I remember the `80s and early-`90s as a kid, when the California water problem was spoken about often when Earth Day was trendy. The last 15 years, that kind of chatter has really stopped and most people prefer to just ignore the issue....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on NASA Scientist Claims California Has One Year Of Water LeftWeakening of summer storm intensifies heat extremes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2015
Asian News International: A new study has revealed that summer storm weakening leads to more persistent heat extremes.
Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research suggested that storm activity in large parts of the US, Europe and Russia significantly calmed down during summers over the past decades, but this is no good news.
The weakening of strong winds associated with the jetstream and weather systems prolongs and hence intensifies heat extremes like the one in Russia in 2010 which caused devastating...
Revamped environmental law raises hope for cleanup in China
Posted by Associated Press: Jack Chang on March 14th, 2015
Associated Press: People in China who want to take industries to task for fouling their surroundings have been rushing to file complaints and lawsuits this year in a test of legal reforms that toughen environmental penalties and make clear that many public-interest groups have the right to sue.
Environmental watchdogs say people have filed hundreds of complaints with local governments under the new law launched in January, taking advantage of requirements that authorities respond to environmental complaints or...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Revamped environmental law raises hope for cleanup in ChinaThe conscious decoupling of greenhouse gases and economic growth
Posted by Mashable: None Given on March 13th, 2015
Mashable: Global emissions of carbon dioxide, the main long-lived global warming pollutant, flatlined in 2014, despite global economic growth, a report released Friday found.
This is the first time in 40 years in which there was a halt or reduction in greenhouse gas emissions without an economic downturn, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Vienna, Austria. The new data may indicate some progress is being made in addressing global warming, which is caused largely by increasing amounts...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The conscious decoupling of greenhouse gases and economic growthScientists warn of global warming threat to temperate rainforests
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on March 13th, 2015
Mongabay: If you Google "rainforest," you're almost assured to get a page of search results mostly about the tropics. Yet, another kind of rainforest also exists: temperate rainforests. Far less expansive than the tropical kind, temperate rainforests occur in isolated patches and strips around the world – from the coasts of western North America and eastern Siberia, to throughout much of New Zealand and Tasmania. In a new study published recently in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences, researchers warn...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists warn of global warming threat to temperate rainforestsScientists warn G20 $60 trillion infrastructure plan is “doubling down on a dangerous vision”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
Mongabay: If there's one thing most governments and even political parties appear to agree on it's a desire for more infrastructure, i.e. more roads, dams, bridges, power plants, airports and seaports, sewers, pipelines, and telecommunication systems. At the most recent G20 meeting in Brisbane, the world's biggest economies agreed on the need for more infrastructure around the globe, including a plan to boost infrastructure spending by trillions of dollars by 2030 and setting up a so-called Global Infrastructure...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Scientists warn G20 $60 trillion infrastructure plan is “doubling down on a dangerous vision”Global CO2 emissions ‘stalled’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
BBC: The growth in global carbon emissions stalled last year, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
It marks the first time in 40 years that annual CO2 emissions growth has remained stable, in the absence of a major economic crisis, the agency said.
Annual global emissions remained at 32 gigatonnes in 2014, unchanged from the previous year.
But the IEA warned that while the results were "encouraging", this was "no time for complacency".
"This is both a very welcome surprise...
Novel monitoring tools tackle chemical surface waters pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
ScienceDaily: To tackle the challenge of current and future chemical pollution, new monitoring and diagnostic tools are needed that can integrate and support the chemical monitoring programmes of surface waters. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is the main legislation for the protection of water resources and sets the goal of achieving a "good status" for all Europe's surface waters and groundwaters by 2015 with the aim to protect environment and human health. The control of the chemical pollution is based...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Novel monitoring tools tackle chemical surface waters pollution