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Archive for February, 2016
Clouds reveal new particle formation process
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: n addition to precipitation, clouds influence the climate in various ways: they cover 70% of Earth's surface and represent nearly 15% of the volume of the atmosphere. Scientists need to understand their underlying chemical and physical mechanisms in order to better integrate them into climate change models.
An international team of researchers at the Laboratoire interuniversitaire des systèmes atmosphériques (CNRS/Université Paris-Est Créteil/Université Paris Diderot) and the Laboratoire chimie...
Climate scientists face tight deadline to deliver 1.5C research
Posted by Climate Home: None Given on February 15th, 2016
Climate Home: The UN`s climate science panel faces a tight deadline to drum up research on a 1.5C global warming limit.
Adopted as an aspirational goal at last December`s Paris summit, the 1.5C threshold is seen as critical to protect vulnerable communities. But most available analysis focuses on the longer standing 2C target.
Accordingly, in the small print of the deal was a request to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a special report on 1.5C, by 2018.
That effectively gives researchers...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate scientists face tight deadline to deliver 1.5C researchShallow fracking wells contaminate drinking water, warns US scientist
Posted by Climate Home: Alex Pashley on February 15th, 2016
Climate Home: A kitchen tap catching fire in 2010 documentary Gasland highlighted the risks of the US shale boom, and energised a movement of anti-fracking activists.
Amid the controversy, does living near a gas or oil well really affect your drinking water?
"The answer to that question is usually 'no,` but there are exceptions," said Rob Jackson as the Stanford professor presented his research on groundwater quality on Sunday to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The US pumped out...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shallow fracking wells contaminate drinking water, warns US scientistFootprints of primitive reptiles and amphibians from 280 million years ago
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 15th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The ichnites or fossilised footprints of the Manyanet Valley (within the municipality of Sarroca de Bellera) are in two areas that differ in their environments: meandering fluvial systems in one and unconfined waters in the other. These two palaeoenvironments would have been inhabited by groups of different tetrapods during the Permian Period. The early tetrapods (from the Ancient Greek word meaning "four-footed") were the first vertebrates to tread terra firma, developing lungs to capture atmospheric...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Footprints of primitive reptiles and amphibians from 280 million years agoPennsylvania Dems squabble over fracking – and guess who’s for it?
Posted by ClimateWire: Jennifer Yachnin on February 15th, 2016
ClimateWire: In the battle for Pennsylvania's competitive Senate seat this fall, candidates have spent recent weeks squabbling about the future of hydraulic fracturing in the state as well as taking aim at each other over campaign contributions tied to the energy industry.
But this isn't a fight between Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and his challenger; it's just the Democratic primary taking shape.
A trio of Democrats are vying in an April 26 primary for the right to take on Toomey in the Keystone State: former...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pennsylvania Dems squabble over fracking – and guess who’s for it?Is urban farming only for rich hipsters?
Posted by Guardian: Gina Lovett on February 15th, 2016
Guardian: Spending on ethical food and drink products – including organic, Fairtrade, free range and freedom foods – hit £8.4bn in the UK in 2013, making up 8.5% of all household food sales.
By leveraging environmental credentials, such as local, sustainable and transparent production, a new wave of urban agriculture enterprises are justifying a premium price. But while a higher price point might better reflect the true cost of food production and help build a viable business, it can also exclude lower...
Want to fight climate change? Eat more beans
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Mahmoud Solh on February 14th, 2016
Christian Science Monitor: Climate change may seem to many of us a challenge too daunting to tackle directly through our own actions. But there is one small change each of us can do to play our part – shifting our diets to be healthier and more environmentally sustainable.
The type of food we choose to eat makes up a big part of our personal carbon footprint. The meat and dairy that make up 22 percent of developed world diets are responsible for emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly methane and nitrous...
Flint isn’t alone: America has a coast-to-coast toxic crisis
Posted by Grist: David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz on February 14th, 2016
Grist: “I know if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself if my kids’ health could be at risk,” said President Obama on a recent trip to Michigan. “Up there” was Flint, a rusting industrial city in the grip of a “water crisis” brought on by a government austerity scheme. To save a couple of million dollars, that city switched its source of water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a long-time industrial dumping ground for the toxic industries that had once made their home along its banks. Now,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint isn’t alone: America has a coast-to-coast toxic crisisThe eco guide to eating meat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2016
Guardian: Instead of the steaks and pork chops in our fridges, should we be investing in clean, green protein? Well, yes. Methane from livestock is responsible for 14% of global warming, and the gas is 25 times more potent than CO2. The more meat and dairy you eat from ruminants, particularly cows, the more burping and farting you are responsible for. The 2014 documentary Cowspiracy focuses on the idea that this is the great neglected greenhouse gas source.
By 2050, experts predict, the demand for meat...
New methane rule has support in northern New Mexico
Posted by Durango Herald: Edward Graham on February 13th, 2016
Durango Herald: A proposed rule from the U.S. Department of the Interior to reduce the venting, leaking and flaring of methane and other natural gases from oil and gas drilling operations on public lands has strong support among New Mexico leaders
In a news call on Thursday, local leaders and residents of northern New Mexico voiced their support for the new rule, which was developed by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management.
Kent Salazar, a lifelong resident of New Mexico and the western vice...