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Archive for January, 2016
Mountains west of Boulder continue to lose ice as climate warms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2016
ScienceDaily: New research led by the University of Colorado Boulder indicates an ongoing loss of ice on Niwot Ridge and the adjacent Green Lakes Valley in the high mountains west of Boulder is likely to progress as the climate continues to warm. The study area encompasses the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, thousands of acres of alpine tundra, subalpine forest, talus slopes, glacial lakes and wetlands stretching to the top of the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. The Niwot Ridge...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Mountains west of Boulder continue to lose ice as climate warmsGreenland ice sheet melts more when it’s cloudy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Clouds play a bigger role in the melting of the Greenland ice sheet than was previously assumed. Compared to clear skies, clouds enhance the meltwater runoff by a third. Those are the findings of an international study that was coordinated by KU Leuven and published in Nature Communications.
Greenland's ice sheet is the second largest ice mass in the world -- the largest is Antarctica. The ice sheet is losing mass at a high speed and increasingly contributes to the sea level rise on our planet....
BNDES: Corruption guided award huge Amazon dam contracts in Brazil
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on January 12th, 2016
Mongabay: Brazil’s BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) is the largest development bank in the world. Its annual disbursements of US$50 billion in 2014 were greater than those of the World Bank and Ex-Im Bank (Export-Import Bank of the United States) taken together. Although the bank has played a key role in Brazil’s development over the decades, its hasty expansion in recent years has created widespread concern that the bank is out of control and causing damage to Brazil’s people and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on BNDES: Corruption guided award huge Amazon dam contracts in BrazilCalls Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top Staffers
Posted by Common Dreams: Sarah Lazare on January 12th, 2016
Common Dreams: Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's ouster--and arrest--are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint's public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.
According to the newly-released emails, which were obtained by NBC News, Snyder's chief of staff at the time, Dennis Muchmore, wrote to an unnamed high-level health department staffer: "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint."
"These...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Calls Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top StaffersThe California gas leak that prompted a state of emergency, explained
Posted by Vox: David Roberts on January 12th, 2016
Vox: On October 23, Southern California Gas Company discovered a leak at its Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. It is still leaking, spewing methane into the atmosphere, sickening nearby residents, and prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency. It is widely being hailed as the worst environmental disaster since the BP oil spill. And SoCal Gas says the leak likely won't be contained until March at the earliest.
There's a lot of great journalism being done around the spill --...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The California gas leak that prompted a state of emergency, explainedEl Niño Heat Peaks, But Impacts Still to Come
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 11th, 2016
Climate Central: It looks like this El Niño — which will rank among the strongest on record — has passed its peak in terms of tropical ocean temperatures, but it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, the biggest El Niño impacts on the U.S., like rain and snow for California, are probably still to come. The country has already started to feel the influence of El Niño with a recent spate of storms that dumped much-needed precipitation on California. The cold winter months are when El Niño holds sway over North American...
Aliso Canyon methane leak emissions sky-high, pilot scientist finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 11th, 2016
ScienceDaily: A UC Davis scientist flying in a pollution-detecting airplane provided the first, and so far only, estimates of methane emissions spewing from the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility in Southern California since the leak began on Oct. 23, 2015. Those estimates were provided to the California Air Resources Board in November. Pilot and UC Davis project scientist Stephen Conley continues to measure emissions from the still uncontrolled leak, which has displaced thousands of residents in the affluent...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Aliso Canyon methane leak emissions sky-high, pilot scientist findsMichigan governor to request federal aid in Flint water crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 11th, 2016
Reuters: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Monday said the state was beginning to put together a request for federal assistance in dealing with the lead-contaminated drinking water in the city of Flint.
"We also have engaged FEMA in this process," the governor said at a news conference in Flint. A spokesman for the governor said Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials were already in Flint providing technical assistance on the issue.
"We actually have liaison officers from FEMA in dialogue...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Michigan governor to request federal aid in Flint water crisisGiant icebergs play key role in removing carbon dioxide from atmosphere
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 11th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Pioneering research from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography discovered melting water from giant icebergs, which contains iron and other nutrients, supports hitherto unexpectedly high levels of phytoplankton growth.
This activity, known as carbon sequestration, contributes to the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide, therefore helping to slow global warming.
During the study, which is the first of its kind on this scale, a team of scientists led by Professor Grant...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Giant icebergs play key role in removing carbon dioxide from atmosphereFor French Ski Resorts, a Scramble to Offset Snow Deficit
Posted by New York Times: Celestine Bohlen on January 11th, 2016
New York Times: Bright sunshine and mostly brown slopes welcomed skiers to the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Valley just before New Year's Eve, a sight that hardly came as a shock.
Across France, December 2015 was already on track to be the warmest since 1900, a fact since confirmed by Météo France, the national weather service.
The toll of global warming on Alpine ski resorts has already been well documented. A 2006-7 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which landed in the middle of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on For French Ski Resorts, a Scramble to Offset Snow Deficit