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Archive for January, 2016
What did the hottest year on record mean for the Midwest?
Posted by OnEarth: None Given on January 17th, 2016
onEarth: The ground in the Midwest during a typical winter is cold and dry. But with runners jogging in shorts along Lake Michigan just two days before Christmas, this is no typical winter. In fact, this past December was the hottest ever recorded in the Midwest, and the land in the country’s center was warm and wet.
As 2015 (which is expected to be declared the warmest year on record) came to a close, heavy rainfall washed across already saturated ground and went straight into the Mississippi River, which...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on What did the hottest year on record mean for the Midwest?Snowstorm wreaks havoc in Romania, ports closed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 17th, 2016
Reuters: Heavy snowfall and strong winds closed Romania's Black Sea ports including the main port of Constanta, and shut dozens of roads while snowstorms and torrential rains cut electricity to hundreds of towns in Bulgaria, authorities said on Sunday. Blizzards dumped up to half a metre of snow in 12 hours in Romania, disrupting trains and forcing authorities to shut down all schools in Bucharest and nearby counties. There were no reports of victims but emergency services said they were prepared to intervene,...
Obama Halts Most Coal Mining on Public Lands
Posted by Daily Croton: None Given on January 17th, 2016
Daily Croton: The Department of the Interior announced a moratorium Friday on new coal leases on public lands while a review of the federal coal leasing program takes place. The announcement follows President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, in which he spoke of improving management fossil fuel resources and moving the country toward a clean energy economy. But today, thanks to hundreds of thousands of activists like you who submitted comments, showed up at hearings, took to the streets, and called...
Climate extremes threaten Australia’s wine industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 17th, 2016
Reuters: Winemakers in Australia's oldest growing region fear a ruined harvest after heavy rainfall, while vineyards in the country's west are under threat from bushfires, undermining efforts to recover from a near decadelong run of lower exports. Just weeks out from the 2016 harvest, the contrasting events highlight the challenges from climate change, particularly extreme weather, faced by the world's fourth-largest wine exporter. Not only are wine growing regions getting hotter, weather is also becoming...
Soil frost affects greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Soil frost is a nearly universal process in the Arctic. In a recent dissertation by doctoral student Marina Becher at Umeå University, it is shown that the frequency and extent of soil frost is important for the release of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from arctic soil. Soil in the Arctic has for thousands of years gathered large quantities of decomposed organic matter due to the decomposition being slow at the low temperatures in the region. As temperatures in the Arctic are increasing, there...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Soil frost affects greenhouse gas emissions in the ArcticObama declares emergency in Michigan over bad water – White House
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2016
Reuters: U.S. President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Michigan on Saturday and ordered federal aid for state and local response efforts in the county where the city of Flint has been contending with lead-contaminated drinking water.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder had asked the president to declare both an emergency and an expedited major disaster in Genesee County to protect the safety of Flint residents.
Obama is authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama declares emergency in Michigan over bad water – White HouseHow Melting Giant Icebergs May Help Slow Climate Change (Just A Little)
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2016
Huffington Post: Melting icebergs may be fighting against the very forces that cause them to melt, a new study suggests.
Water dripping off icebergs and into the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, contains iron and other nutrients, according to research published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. These nutrients fertilize phytoplankton, the microscopic marine life that plays a key role in oceanic ecosystems, and help the tiny plants absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as they grow into...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on How Melting Giant Icebergs May Help Slow Climate Change (Just A Little)Damming the Mekong – the myth of ‘sustainable hydropower’
Posted by Ecologist: Tom Fawthrop on January 16th, 2016
Ecologist: Dam builders have a new mantra, writes Tom Fawthrop: 'sustainable hydropower'. Repeated at every opportunity, it is based on the unproven idea that large dams can be made 'sustainable' by promising future 'mitigation'. And so it is at the Don Sahong dam in Laos which is about to devastate the mighty Mekong and the 60 million people who depend on it for food and livelihood.
The evidence is conclusive: Large dams in a vast majority of cases are not economically viable. Instead of obtaining hoped-for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Damming the Mekong – the myth of ‘sustainable hydropower’Sanders calls for resignation of Michigan governor amid Flint water crisis
Posted by Guardian: Martin Pengelly on January 16th, 2016
Guardian: Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration for Flint, Michigan, where a lead-poisoning crisis in the city’s water supply has left residents without safe water for nearly two years. On Saturday the White House authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to provide water, filters, cartridges and other supplies for 90 days. Republican governor Ricky Snyder asked Obama for help on Friday, saying emergency measures could cost $41m. Democratic candidate for president Bernie Sanders called...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sanders calls for resignation of Michigan governor amid Flint water crisisThe Porter Ranch gas leak update
Posted by Environmental News Network: Nrdc on January 16th, 2016
Environmental News Network: Senators Kevin de León and Fran Pavley announced a package of new legislation that builds on Gov. Brown’s state of emergency declaration to ensure protections for Californians impacted by the natural gas leak in Porter Ranch. The new legislation will require: a moratorium on new injections into the Aliso Canyon storage facility until experts determine it is safe to resume and a study to see whether it makes sense to continue using the facility. (SB 875) that response costs – such as...