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Archive for December, 2015
El Niño Could Usher in a Decade of Stronger Events
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Climate Central: In Buffalo, early December meant breaking a 116-year-old record for a lack of snow. In Duluth, Minn., a newspaper reported that the temperature was 40 degrees above zero, not below. And in Miami, beachgoers stayed indoors during what had become the third-wettest December in local history, just eight days into the month.
What's going on with the weather?
It's the phenomenon called El Niño, which is happening now as ocean water temperatures rise above normal across the central and eastern Pacific,...
Has the climate change deal really averted catastrophe?
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 20th, 2015
Al Jazeera: After years of fruitless negotiations, world leaders finally reached an agreement to combat climate change, agreeing to cap greenhouse gases in an effort to slow down global warming.
It was very interesting to see this mirror between what politicians were saying and what the media were saying. They all echoed a very similar narrative - they were using very, very similar terms, language, frames.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, or COP21, set a target of limiting carbon...
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Comments Off on Has the climate change deal really averted catastrophe?Mass layoffs in China’s coal country threaten unrest
Posted by New York Times: Jane Perlez and Yufan Huang on December 20th, 2015
New York Times: In the dank shower room where the miners soak, the coal dust from their bodies staining the water chocolate, a lone worker sat smoking a cigarette, staring at the floor. He lingered, he said, because since his pay had been cut in half, he had been eating dinner at his parents’ apartment, and he dreaded the humiliation of going there again. “If any of the leaders would do their job properly, the situation would not be like this,” said the worker, Mr. Guo, 39. “If they want to sack me, they should...
George Mitchell, overlooked environmentalist, reflects on climate change
Posted by Press Herald: Mary Pols on December 20th, 2015
Press Herald: Twenty-five springs ago, U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell of Maine put the finishing touches on a book called “World on Fire,” subtitled “Saving an Endangered Earth.” Mitchell had worked extensively on amendments to the Clean Air Act since he joined the Senate in 1980 and now, as majority leader he’d just completed months of negotiating to get a reauthorized Clean Air Act through the Senate. The book, which addressed what Mitchell called “the gathering environmental tragedy,” sent out a clarion call...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on George Mitchell, overlooked environmentalist, reflects on climate changeOn wrong track: Regulators miss real problem in rail-car explosions
Posted by Dispatch: None Given on December 20th, 2015
Dispatch: Track defects caused fiery crude-oil derailments that forced 1,100 people from their homes in the Appalachian village of Mount Carbon, West Virginia, this year and killed 47 people in a Canadian town in 2013. In fact, a Dispatch analysis of federal records shows that track defects and human error are to blame for most railway incidents. Yet U.S. regulators continue to focus on tanker cars instead of the rails that support the cars and millions of gallons of Bakken crude, a type of highly...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on On wrong track: Regulators miss real problem in rail-car explosionsSan Diego’s 18-year wait to drink sea water may hinder deals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Bloomberg: The largest ocean desalination plant ever built in the Western Hemisphere is finally generating drinking water, and revenue, 18 years after it was proposed in Southern California. Some investors say it wasn't worth the wait.
Poseidon Resources Corp. this month will begin commercially desalinating saltwater from the Pacific Ocean at its Carlsbad, Calif., facility, which is designed to supply 50 million gallons of drinking water each day. That's enough for 7 percent of San Diego County, home to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on San Diego’s 18-year wait to drink sea water may hinder dealsBrazil dam disaster: judge freezes assets of miners BHP and Vale
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Guardian: A judge has frozen the Brazilian assets of mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale SA after determining their joint venture Samarco was unable to pay for widespread damage caused by the bursting of a dam at its mine last month.
In a ruling issued late on Friday, the judge in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais determined that Vale and BHP could be held responsible for the disaster at the iron ore mine, for which the government is demanding 20bn reais ($5bn) in compensation. Brazil's mining tragedy:...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil dam disaster: judge freezes assets of miners BHP and ValeWhy we shouldn’t confuse climate and weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 20th, 2015
Guardian: We have always been baffled by the weather and have often used strange arguments to explain its unexpected behaviour. More than 2,000 years ago, one hapless Roman citizen was so worried that unusual gales and storms might be due to the impiety of the nation that he asked the gods for guidance via a carved lead tablet which he left at a local oracle.
Today we have a better idea of the factors that influence our weather, though we still struggle to make sense of the reams of data – wind, pressure,...
Stopgap measures: Pakistan fighting climate change with ad-hocism
Posted by Tribune: Shahzad Anwar on December 19th, 2015
Tribune: At a time when nations have agreed to set a new path to low carbon emissions and climate resilient futures for their countries, Pakistan’s seriousness in tackling climate change can be gauged from the fact that many environment-related departments have been without permanent heads for years. Some crucial climate tasks of the Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC) are being dealt on ad-hoc basis, as many senior posts in its allied departments are either vacant or being held by officials from unrelated...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Stopgap measures: Pakistan fighting climate change with ad-hocismTwo Straight Debates On National Security, And No Questions About The Real Threat To The Globe
Posted by Huffington Post: Sam Levine on December 19th, 2015
Huffington Post: In a Democratic debate focused on national security Saturday evening, one topic was notably missing from moderators' questions: climate change. Even though a major climate agreement was reached recently, it didn't even come up during Saturday's two-hour debate or the GOP debate on Tuesday. Climate change can increase the likelihood of migration pressures and change the availability of natural resources, which can lead to conflict among different groups of people. The issue has also been linked...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Two Straight Debates On National Security, And No Questions About The Real Threat To The Globe