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Archive for October 24th, 2015
My Dark California Dream
Posted by New York Times: Daniel Duane on October 24th, 2015
New York Times: CALIFORNIA’S over, everything I love about this place is going to hell. Stories from Our Advertisers I knew there was something familiar about this thought from the moment it occurred to me in Yosemite National Park. My sister and I started going to those mountains 40 years ago with our parents, who taught us to see the Sierra Nevada as a never-changing sanctuary in a California increasingly overrun by suburban sprawl. Once we had our own families, we indoctrinated our kids in the same joys: suffering...
Why monster hurricanes like Patricia are expected on a warmer planet
Posted by Washington Post: Chris Mooney on October 24th, 2015
Washington Post: First there was Supertyphoon Haiyan - which peaked out at 170-knot or 315 km/h mile-per-hour winds in 2013 as it slammed the Philippines. And now there is Patricia, forecast to soon hit Mexico, with currently estimated maximum sustained wind speeds of 175 knots or more than 324 km/h. It is officially the strongest hurricane ever measured by the U.S. National Hurricane Center, based on both its wind speed (175 knots) and its minimum central pressure (880 millibars). The wind measurement "makes Patricia...
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Comments Off on Why monster hurricanes like Patricia are expected on a warmer planetHurricane Patricia made worse by climate change
Posted by Slate: Eric Holthaus on October 24th, 2015
Slate: Hurricane Patricia--now the strongest hurricane ever measured--is expected to make landfall in Mexico late Friday. According to the latest official forecast from the National Hurricane Center, Manzanillo, a city of 100,000 people, appears to be in Patricia's direct path.
After seeing the incredible data gathered by hurricane hunter aircraft overnight, a few meteorologists have argued that Patricia could be thought of as a Category 7 hurricane--though the official Saffir-Simpson scale only goes...
Global climate deal could punish Canada
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on October 24th, 2015
Toronto Star: Prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau will face one of his first major international tests at next month’s United Nations’ meeting on climate change in Paris. In all, 25,000 delegates -- including Canada’s premiers whom Trudeau plans to bring along -- from 196 countries will make yet another attempt to draft a binding global agreement to fight man-made global warming. But the same fundamental disagreements which scuttled a similar deal in Copenhagen in 2009 and, prior to that, produced the failed...
Deadly fish virus still present in Wisconsin lake
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2015
ScienceDaily: In May 2007, hundreds of freshwater drum -- also known as sheepshead -- turned up dead in Lake Winnebago and nearby Little Lake Butte des Morts, both inland lakes near Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The fish were splotched with red and their eyes were swollen and bulging.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) launched a quick response and, working with the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL), quickly learned that a deadly virus was responsible: viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus,...
Don’t dismiss the link between wildfires and climate change, scientists say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2015
LA Times: Was Gov. Jerry Brown wrong to blame this year's epic California wildfires on climate change? An Oct. 18 Times article said he was; scientists and activists responding to that article say it's a lot more complicated.
Tuesday, two letters that didn't weigh in on the science underpinning The Times' reporting were published. Since then, several experts have written to say the article was wrong to assert that climate change isn't fueling the state's historically large fires. Here are some of their...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Don’t dismiss the link between wildfires and climate change, scientists sayCanada: Warm welcome awaits Justin Trudeau on world stage
Posted by Toronto Star: Tony Burman on October 24th, 2015
Toronto Star: So that’s it, the end of the Harper era, done and dusted. It was as decisive a message from Canadians as one could have imagined. The road back for Canada to repair its damaged and diminished place in the world will not be easy, but thankfully it has begun.
Justin Trudeau’s dramatic victory received considerable international attention this week, far more than past Canadian elections. Obviously, some of it was due to memories of Justin’s father, the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau, and his mother,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Warm welcome awaits Justin Trudeau on world stageIn dry California, reward for water conservation is higher bills
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2015
Reuters: Their lawns dry and their trees on the verge of dying, Californians have dramatically cut water use during the state's relentless drought, only to learn that many local utilities are hiking rates to make up for the lost revenue.
Water providers in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of the state have recently told customers that rates will go up at least temporarily, as utilities struggle to pay for building and repairing pipes, buying water and other costs, even as customers...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In dry California, reward for water conservation is higher bills