RSS Feed
Archive for December 10th, 2015
New draft text of Paris climate change deal cuts through many sticking points
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 10th, 2015
Guardian: Negotiators in Paris are within reach of a new global agreement to curb greenhouse emissions to 2030 and beyond, with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, saying the meeting was “extremely close to the finishing line” as he presented a draft text that cut through many sticking points.
After reading the new draft and chairing a meeting of the so-called “umbrella group” of developed nations, Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop said she thought the text was “about 80% there”.
“There’s...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on New draft text of Paris climate change deal cuts through many sticking pointsLook beyond hotspots to help people weather climate shocks: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 10th, 2015
Reuters: Targeting money only at areas hit by drought and other climate extremes in an effort to build resilience among the world’s poorest may be ineffective, researchers said.
In Mali, for example, over much of the last decade, farmers and herders have struggled with worsening drought that has killed crops and animals and often made rural people poorer and hungrier.
But the fallout from those losses has impacts far beyond drought-hit regions, new research by the London-based Overseas Development Institute...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Look beyond hotspots to help people weather climate shocks: studyModels overestimate rainfall increases due to climate change, experts say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 10th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Lawrence Livermore researchers and collaborators have found that most climate models overestimate the increase in global precipitation due to climate change. Specifically, the team looked at 25 models and found they underestimate the increase in absorption of sunlight by water vapor as the atmosphere becomes moister, and therefore overestimate increases in global precipitation. The team found global precipitation increase per degree of global warming at the end of the 21st century may be about...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Models overestimate rainfall increases due to climate change, experts sayU.S. Northwest hit by more storms after flooding, power outages
Posted by Reuters: Eric M. Johnson on December 10th, 2015
Reuters: Fresh storms hit the U.S. Pacific Northwest on Thursday, triggering a state of emergency in several counties, after it received record-breaking rainfall that left two dead in Oregon and triggered widespread flooding, landslides and power cuts. Periods of heavy rain and fierce winds will continue across the region and down into northern California as the next installment of storms moves onshore, and warnings of coastal floods were issued for 3 a.m. to 9 a.m. local time on Friday morning (1100 to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Northwest hit by more storms after flooding, power outagesDeep core of African lake gives insight to ancient lake levels, biodiversity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 10th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Syracuse Earth sciences professor Christopher Scholz and former Ph.D. student Robert Lyons have an unprecedented glimpse into the past of a lake with explosive biodiversity. Along with colleagues from six other universities, Scholz and Lyons have unearthed a 380-meter-deep time capsule from Lake Malawi. Lyons says the core shows that "East African moisture history over the last 1.3 million years is a lot more complicated than was previously postulated." The team's observed variation in lake level...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Deep core of African lake gives insight to ancient lake levels, biodiversityThe upside-down world of the Gulf’s dead zone
Posted by Mother Nature Network: Robynne Boyd on December 10th, 2015
Mother Nature Network: The seas off the Gulf of Mexico look much like any stretch of ocean -- an expanse of mercurial waves shimmering and sparkling in sunlight -- except for the greenish tint. Below the surface, it's a vastly different story owing to a problem that's suffocating the sea.
For marine ecologists like Nancy Rabalais, diving here is like entering an upside-down world where the water column has been turned on its head. The barnacles and sponges usually found on the seabed now cling to oil rig platforms where...
Indian economy suffers $3 billion loss from recent floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 10th, 2015
Reuters: India suffered a $3 billion loss to its economy from severe rainfall and flooding in November and early December, reinsurance broker Aon Benfield said in its monthly report on global catastrophes. "New economic developments in Asia are taking place in flood plains and marsh lands with scant attention to drainage, thus increasing run-off and flooding," Adityam Krovvidi, head of impact forecasting, Asia Pacific, at Aon Benfield, said in a statement. "The 100-year rainfall event in Chennai exposed...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Indian economy suffers $3 billion loss from recent floodsGreenland glaciers found to be melting on fast track
Posted by Environmental News Network: Columbia University Via EurekAlert on December 10th, 2015
Environmental News Network: Greenland's glaciers are retreating quickly, and a new study shows in historical terms just how quickly: over the past century, at least twice as fast as any other time in the past 9,500 years. The study also provides new evidence for just how sensitive glaciers are to temperature, showing that they responded to past abrupt cooling and warming periods, some of which might have lasted only decades.
To track how glaciers grew and shrank over time, the scientists extracted sediment cores from a glacier-fed...
Energy Companies Want Judge to Dismiss Historic Lawsuit Over Oklahoma Earthquakes
Posted by EcoWatch: Lorraine Chow on December 10th, 2015
EcoWatch: Energy companies are trying to legally distance themselves from the fracking-linked earthquakes currently rattling Oklahoma. According to a new report from the Associated Press, Lincoln County District Judge Cynthia Ferrell Ashwood is hearing two energy companies` motion to dismiss a major liability lawsuit.
The lawsuit in question was brought by Sandra Ladra, an Oklahoma woman who claims she was injured after a 5.6-magnitude quake--the largest ever recorded in the state--hit the city of Prague...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Energy Companies Want Judge to Dismiss Historic Lawsuit Over Oklahoma EarthquakesU.S. government forecaster maintains outlook for strong El Niño this winter
Posted by Reuters: Chris Prentice on December 10th, 2015
Reuters: A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday said the El Nino weather phenomenon that is underway is expected to remain strong through the Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, before tapering off during the late spring or early summer.
The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, in its monthly forecast broadly maintained its outlook for strong El Nino conditions likely to persist through the winter.
"El Niño has already produced significant global impacts...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. government forecaster maintains outlook for strong El Niño this winter