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Archive for March, 2015
Modi budget slashes environmental funding for India
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
Reuters: Environmentalists in India have expressed alarm over the new budget of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which they say heralds substantial cuts in environmental programmes and fails to address the country’s worsening pollution and vulnerability to climate change.
The budget for the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for the fiscal year beginning April 1 has been reduced by 25 percent, from 22.6 billion Indian rupees ($360 million) to 16.8 billion rupees ($268 million)....
NASA chief has perfect comeback to Ted Cruz’s attack on Earth science
Posted by Mashable: None Given on March 13th, 2015
Mashable: Texas Republican Senator and likely presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has had it with NASA researching our home planet, preferring that NASA devote its attention to sending humans to Mars and inspiring children with space exploration missions.
His vision collided with NASA's actual mission, which has been in place since its founding in 1958, and was represented at a Senate hearing on Thursday by NASA administrator Charles Bolden.
Senator Cruz's critique of what he sees as an agency that has drifted...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on NASA chief has perfect comeback to Ted Cruz’s attack on Earth science‘God commanded’ family planning, says Muslim leader flood-ravaged Malawi
Posted by WGBH: None Given on March 13th, 2015
WGBH: A village chief in Malawi, Sheikh Mosa, is trying to persuade other chiefs in his area to support family planning.
For two villages in southern Malawi, climate change and contraception have become intertwined. So much so, that long-held cultural assumptions are starting to change.
Sheikh Mosa is chief of one of the villages, Mposa. He says there’s been a massive shift in mindset toward family planning as people in the villages begin to feel the effects of population growth and climate change...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘God commanded’ family planning, says Muslim leader flood-ravaged MalawiArctic melt brings more persistent heat waves to US, Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
Bloomberg: The U.S., Europe and Russia face longer heat waves because summer winds that used to bring in cool ocean air have been weakened by climate change, German researchers said.
Rapid Arctic warming disturbs air streams in ways that have “significantly” reduced summer storms, raising the likelihood of heat waves, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research said in a report Thursday in the journal Science. Hot weather in Russia in 2010 devastated crop harvests and caused wildfires.
“Unabated...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Arctic melt brings more persistent heat waves to US, EuropeSouthern Calif fog falls victim to concrete
Posted by Climate Central: John Upton on March 13th, 2015
Climate Central: Summertime fog that helps keep coastal southern California cool and damp appears to be melting away, and scientists who have documented nearly 70 years of its decline think they can explain why: concrete.
The urban heat island effect, the phenomenon of cities warming faster than surrounding countryside, is a main culprit for a two-thirds reduction in the number of foggy mornings in Los Angeles since 1948 -- a trend that's expected to intensify as greenhouse gas pollution pushes temperatures upward....
John Kerry slams climate skeptics & fossil fuels, but sidesteps Keystone
Posted by Politico: None Given on March 13th, 2015
Politico: Secretary of State John Kerry railed against climate change skeptics on Thursday, saying that "future generations will not and should not forgive those who ignore this moment, no matter their reasoning,' though he offered no direct clues on whether he would back the Keystone XL pipeline.
Kerry's speech was the latest warning from the administration about the threat of carbon pollution from fossil fuels and the need to reach a strong, long-term international pact to combat global warming at the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on John Kerry slams climate skeptics & fossil fuels, but sidesteps KeystoneGlobal warming messing with the jet stream and your weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
Washington Post: Is the rapid melting of the Arctic paying us back for our greenhouse gas emissions by messing with the jet stream -- which carries weather through the northern hemisphere? And could that, in turn, explain recent breakouts of extremes all around the northern half of the world -- including recent snowfall in the east coast?
That’s what Rutgers University’s Jennifer Francis has argued in a series of papers going back to 2012 -- but there has been quite a lot of criticism. Several distinguished climate...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global warming messing with the jet stream and your weatherAfter 4 Years, Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup in Japan Remains Daunting, Vast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
LA Times: Neon pink and yellow banners flutter along the roadsides, their gentle flapping breaking an eerie stillness. The houses here are shut tight, the streets are nearly deserted, the fields that once sprouted rice, tomatoes and cucumbers are fallow.
Shigeo Karimata dons a hard hat and a mask and prepares to get out of his car.
"Some people say, 'Oh, it looks like a festival!`" says the avuncular 62-year-old Environment Ministry worker. "Then they see the writing on the flags: 'Decontamination Work...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on After 4 Years, Fukushima Nuclear Cleanup in Japan Remains Daunting, VastU.S., Chinese Companies Dominate List of Most-Polluting Coal Plants
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 13th, 2015
Guardian: The 100 global power companies most at risk from growing pressure to shut highly polluting coal plants have been revealed in a new report from Oxford University.
Chinese companies dominate the top of the ranking but US companies, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, occupy 10 of the top 25 places.
The analysis, produced to help investors assess the risk of major financial losses, also found French energy giant GDF Suez was third in the list of most polluting coal station fleets in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S., Chinese Companies Dominate List of Most-Polluting Coal PlantsWhat Historic Megadroughts Western US Tell Us About Our Climate Future
Posted by Good Men: None Given on March 13th, 2015
Good Men: Let’s start with some old news. Earth’s climate is warming, human activities are causing it, and as long as we continue to dump greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, the impacts on climate and society will only intensify.
These impacts will be felt regionally and be linked to a chain of consequences relating the way we live and operate on planet Earth. Understanding how these regional climatic impacts will unfold in the future is therefore important for adaptation planning and assessing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on What Historic Megadroughts Western US Tell Us About Our Climate Future