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Archive for April, 2015
In Long Beach, Calif., Smart Meters Spot Wasteful Water Users
Posted by National Public Radio: Molly Peterson on April 6th, 2015
National Public Radio: The city has reduced its water consumption 6 percent since the drought started. The new meters can detect illegal watering in real time, and they've helped to cut some homeowners' use by 80 percent.
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on In Long Beach, Calif., Smart Meters Spot Wasteful Water UsersWhen Did Humans Start Shaping Earth’s Fate? An Epoch Debate
Posted by National Public Radio: Nell Greenfieldboyce on April 6th, 2015
National Public Radio: Humans have had such a huge impact on the Earth that some geologists think the human era should be enshrined in the official timeline of our planet.
They want to give the age of humans a formal name, just as scientists use terms like the Jurassic or the Cretaceous to talk about the age of dinosaurs.
"If the Anthropocene began in 1945, then the entire story of changing the surface of the Earth by cutting forests and plowing prairies occurred before the Anthropocene. Does that make sense?"
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Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on When Did Humans Start Shaping Earth’s Fate? An Epoch DebateIndia to measure air quality in world’s most polluted capital
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 6th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: India's prime minister suggested Monday the country's "age-old traditions" could be used to ease its choking smog, as he launched a new air quality index for the world's most polluted capital.
Narendra Modi proposed making every Sunday "bicycle day" and switching off street lights during a full moon, amid growing public concern over the impact of air pollution on the health of India's 1.2 billion people.
"There can be green solutions in our age-old traditions," he said in a speech at a conference...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on India to measure air quality in world’s most polluted capitalPoll: Americans Starting to Worry About Climate Change Now That It Affects Their Lawns
Posted by New Yorker: Andy Borowitz on April 6th, 2015
New Yorker: A new poll shows that Americans who were unconcerned about climate change as it wreaked havoc around the world are beginning to worry, now that global warming is affecting the appearance of their lawns.
According to the poll, conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Opinion Research Institute, rising sea levels, the destruction of habitats, and catastrophic weather conditions, such as hurricanes and tsunamis, have not served as the wake-up call to Americans that their lawns` unsightly barrenness...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Poll: Americans Starting to Worry About Climate Change Now That It Affects Their LawnsJerry Brown defends drought order that doesn’t limit farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 6th, 2015
Associated Press: Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday defended his order requiring Californians statewide to cut back on their water use in a historic mandate that spares those who consume the most — farmers. Related Stories As California endures a fourth year of drought, Brown's order this week requires towns and cities statewide to draw down water use by 25 percent compared with 2013 levels. While past reductions were voluntary, Brown said he is using his emergency powers to make the cuts mandatory. Martha Raddatz, host...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Jerry Brown defends drought order that doesn’t limit farmersBrazilian Drought Could Last 30 More Years, Meteorologist Says
Posted by Herald Tribune: None Given on April 6th, 2015
Herald Tribune: The current drought in southeastern Brazil, the richest, most densely populated region in the country, has created the greatest water shortage in the last 85 years and could last for 30 more years, a meteorologist said Saturday. The meteorologist and partner-director of the consultancy Somar Meteorology, Paulo Ethichury, told Efe that the South American country’s current climate follows a cooling cycle in the Pacific Ocean during recent years, which came after the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, when it...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazilian Drought Could Last 30 More Years, Meteorologist SaysWill Turning Seawater Drinking Water Help Drought-Hit California?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
National Public Radio: ast week, Governor Jerry Brown made water conservation mandatory in the drought-stricken state of California. "As Californians, we have to pull together and save water in every way we can," he said. But if the four-year drought continues, conservation alone - at least what's required by the governor's plan - won't fix the problem. Across California, communities are examining all options to avoid running out of water. Some, like the coastal city of Santa Barbara, are looking to the past for inspiration....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Will Turning Seawater Drinking Water Help Drought-Hit California?Climate change paradox: Rainforests are being felled… world is getting greener
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Independent: The dramatic demise of the world’s rainforests has caused concern for years while they have been chopped down at breakneck speed to grow crops and rear cattle – yet the planet has actually become greener in the past decade, with the total amount of plant coverage soaring.
The rise in vegetation is the result of a major tree-planting campaign in China and unintentional increases in grasslands and non-tropical forests in former Soviet states, Australia and Africa, as heavy rainfall and abandoned...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change paradox: Rainforests are being felled… world is getting greenerCalifornia’s Wasteful Water Habits Run Up Against a Dry Future – and Past
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
New York Times: You don’t know you’re in a megadrought until you’re many years, if not decades, into one. So conditions in California could still turn around (which could lead to a “shock to trance” effect on water conservation efforts). But lots of signs are pointing to the current extraordinary dry spell, likely exacerbated by heat from human-driven climate change, taking California into conditions unexperienced since long before the state’s water-dependent economy exploded during Gov. Jerry Brown’s father’s...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California’s Wasteful Water Habits Run Up Against a Dry Future – and PastCalifornia drought: governor tells climate-change deniers to wake up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Guardian: As his state faces the worst drought in its history, with mandatory water rationing for residents and fears of destruction to the agricultural sector, California governor Jerry Brown had a message Sunday for climate-change deniers: wake up.
“With the weather that’s happening in California, climate change is not a hoax,” Brown said, on ABC news. “We’re dealing with it, and it’s damn serious.”
Snow pack in California this year, which historically has renewed the state’s water reservoirs each...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California drought: governor tells climate-change deniers to wake up