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Archive for July, 2015
Countries must deal with health risks of more frequent heatwaves: UN
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Agnes Pedrero on July 1st, 2015
Agence France-Presse: The UN on Wednesday urged countries to create preparedness systems to counter the health risks of heatwaves, as they become ever more frequent and intense, and dangerous, due to climate change.
For the first time, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) and its World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have joined forces to create guidelines for experts and authorities for how to lower the health risks of heatwaves like the ones currently scorching Asia and Europe.
"Heatwaves have emerged as...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Countries must deal with health risks of more frequent heatwaves: UNAstronomers to convene in Hawaii this summer amid TMT controversy
Posted by Pacific Business News: None Given on July 1st, 2015
Pacific Business News: As officials await a start date of the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope project on the Big island, thousands of astronomers from around the world are making plans to gather in Hawaii in what will be the largest International Astronomical Union triennial general assembly in history.
Hawaii was selected for the union's 28th assembly in 2009. The two-week meeting will be held Aug. 3-14, with events for astronomers, science journalists and the public.
Dr. Günther Hasinger, director of the University...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Astronomers to convene in Hawaii this summer amid TMT controversyResidents return to see homes destroyed by Washington state fire
Posted by Reuters: David Ryder on July 1st, 2015
Reuters: Families whose homes were destroyed in a massive grassland wildfire in Washington state were returning to scenes of destruction on Tuesday as firefighters fought to contain the virtually unchecked blaze, officials said. Fueled by extreme heat and gusting winds, the so-called Sleepy Hollow fire has scorched nearly 3,000 acres (1,200 hectares) of rolling grasslands and brush around the city of Wenatchee since it erupted on a parched central Washington hillside on Sunday. The blaze was just 10 percent...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Residents return to see homes destroyed by Washington state fireNew York State First to Ban Fracking
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on July 1st, 2015
Environment News Service: A statewide ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was made official across New York State on Monday, nearly a year after communities won the right to ban oil and gas development locally.
This action concluded New York Department of Environmental Conservation`s comprehensive, seven-year review and officially prohibits fracking anywhere in the state.
Joe Martens, head of the Department of Environmental Conservation, DEC, said in a statement, "After years of exhaustive research...
Ocean acidification: Not just for oceans anymore!
Posted by Grist: Amelia Urry on July 1st, 2015
Grist: Move over, ocean acidification - or don`t, actually. "Freshwater acidification" doesn`t have quite the same ring to it, though it is happening, thanks to the same carbon emissions currently souring the seas. And apparently fish are feeling the burn already, according to a study in Nature on juvenile pink salmon. From Scientific American:
The study was among the first to look at how different CO2 levels could affect fish larvae in fresh water, according to the lead author, Michelle Ou, a former...