Archive for July 23rd, 2015

‘Family of 5’ Primary Forests: A Snapshot What Remains

National Geographic: Here’s a fact that should be disturbing to anyone concerned about our imperiled forests: The pace of deforestation has accelerated so rapidly over the past 200 years that today our planet harbors only one-quarter of its original old-growth forest--i.e., forest that has never been logged or cleared. Using detailed satellite imagery and geographic information system technology, scientists have produced moment-in-time snapshots of these remaining forested regions. The pictures are not pretty....

The Link Between Climate Change And ISIS Is Real

ThinkProgress: Democratic presidential candidate Martin O`Malley linked climate change to the rise of ISIS earlier this week. Conservatives pounced. Score this round for O`Malley. For three years now, leading security and climate experts - and Syrians themselves - have made the connection between climate change and the Syrian civil war. Indeed, when a major peer-reviewed study came out on in March making this very case, Retired Navy Rear Admiral David Titley said it identifies "a pretty convincing climate fingerprint”...

Godfather of global warming’s frightening prediction is getting the cold shoulder

Mashable: We're entering the final sprint toward one of the most consequential rounds of climate change negotiations in history, which will take place in Paris this December. Those talks have the goal of devising an international agreement that will limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels by 2100. Study after study has already found that this goal is going to be extremely difficult for the world to reach, in light of recent emissions trajectories...

B.C. fires: Christy Clark blames climate change for wildfire increase

CBC: B.C. Premier Christy Clark says wildfire seasons like the one the province is currently experiencing will become more common because of climate change. "Climate change has altered the terrain. It's made us much more vulnerable to fire," said Clark. "We have to be planning with the knowledge that this isn't going to be an unusual year." The premier made the remarks at the site of the Westside Road fire near West Kelowna after flying over the area to view the damage. There are 248 fires...

Nexen: It May Take Months Pinpoint Cause of Alberta Oil Spill

Reuters: Finding the root cause of the oil-sands pipeline leak discovered earlier this month in northern Alberta, one of the biggest oil-related spills on land ever in North America, will likely take months, a senior Nexen Energy executive said on Wednesday. Nexen, a subsidiary of China's CNOOC Ltd, is putting a higher priority on cleaning up the spill from its pipeline and investigating its cause than on restarting the Kinosis oil sands project where the spill took place, Ron Bailey, Nexen's senior vice...

Wildfire Rages Across Glacier National Park

Associated Press: Firefighters battling a blaze in Montana’s Glacier National Park may see relief from the hot, dry and windy conditions that have worked against them, as a cold front sweeps toward the Northern Rocky Mountains this weekend. A severe drought has fueled multiple fires burning in the Western U.S., threatening homes and watersheds in California and Washington state. "Much cooler temperatures are expected in Glacier National Park the next few days, with highs in the 50s on Sunday, and possibly staying...