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Archive for March 21st, 2016
Human carbon release rate is unprecedented in the past 66 million years of Earth’s history
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
ScienceDaily: The earliest instrumental records of Earth's climate, as measured by thermometers and other tools, start in the 1850s. To look further back in time, scientists investigate air bubbles trapped in ice cores, which expands the window to less than a million years. But to study Earth's history over tens to hundreds of millions of years, researchers examine the chemical and biological signatures of deep sea sediment archives.
New research published today in Nature Geoscience by Richard Zeebe, professor...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Human carbon release rate is unprecedented in the past 66 million years of Earth’s historyClimate Change Accelerating At ‘Unprecedented’ Rate
Posted by HNGN: Samantha Mathewson on March 21st, 2016
HNGN: A new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) suggests global climate change is advancing at an alarming and "unprecedented" rate.
Last year's extreme weather broke a series of records, including global temperatures, exceptional rainfall, devastating droughts, unusual cyclone activity and intense heat waves. And while 2015 proved to be the warmest year worldwide, 2016 is expected to far exceed those records.
"The year 2015 will stand out in the historical record of the global...
Solar fuels: Refined protective layer for the ‘artificial leaf’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
ScienceDaily: The team was able for the first time to produce a hybrid structure that converts 12 per cent of the incident solar energy into the form of hydrogen. The results have now been published in Advanced Energy Materials.
The "artificial leaf" consists in principle of a solar cell that is combined with further functional layers. These act as electrodes and additionally are coated with catalysts. If the complex system of materials is submerged in water and illuminated, it can decompose water molecules....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Solar fuels: Refined protective layer for the ‘artificial leaf’Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists say
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on March 21st, 2016
Guardian: Growing food for the world’s burgeoning population is likely to send greenhouse gas emissions over the threshold of safety, unless more is done to cut meat consumption, a new report has found.
A widespread switch to vegetarianism would cut emissions by nearly two-thirds, it said.
In three decades, emissions related to agriculture and food production are likely to account for about half of the world’s available “carbon budget” - the limited amount of carbon dioxide and its equivalents that can...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Eat less meat to avoid dangerous global warming, scientists sayForests Help Quench Urban Thirst
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
Inter Press Service: The next time you turn on the tap to fill the kettle, you might want to spare a thought for the forest that made it possible. It may be a hundred kilometres away or more from where you are sitting, but the chances are that you owe your cup of tea, in part at least, to the trees that helped to capture the water, and to filter it on its long journey to you the consumer.
The importance of forests to the water cycle cannot be overstated. They slow down the flow of water, percolating it gently through...
Rougher Atlantic storms to pound Western Europe – study
Posted by Climate Home: Tim Radford on March 21st, 2016
Climate Home: The Atlantic seas could be getting rougher, with winter storms capable of causing dramatic changes to the beaches of Western Europe. And new research shows that the pounding delivered to the shorelines of the UK and France in the winter of 2013-2014 was the most violent since 1948. Gerd Masselink, professor of coastal geomorphology at Plymouth University School of Marine Science and Engineering, UK, and colleagues report in Geophysical Research Letters that they decided to switch focus from sea...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rougher Atlantic storms to pound Western Europe – studyAustralia: Climate Council call for action against global warming amid record-breaking March heat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
AAP: AUSTRALIA’S record-breaking autumn heat is just a taste of what’s to come if we continue to lag behind global powers who are moving away from fossil fuels to combat climate change. Environmental experts have warned Australia will continue to experience record-breaking heat and extreme weather in the wake of a damning report that reveals a notable climb in average temperatures across the country at the start of March. Maximum temperatures in the first four days of this month were four degrees above...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Climate Council call for action against global warming amid record-breaking March heatADB commits $123.3 million to improve Manila’s water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 21st, 2016
Reuters: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday it would lend $123.3 million to the Philippines to modernize water supply in the capital, Manila, to reduce the risk of shortages as demand for water rises in the megacity. The loan will allow the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, a government-owned company supplying raw water to Manila to build a fourth tunnel, allowing it to upgrade other existing tunnels, the Manila-based lender said in a statement. "The Angat transmission system provides...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ADB commits $123.3 million to improve Manila’s water supply10 facts about forests for International Forest Day
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on March 21st, 2016
Mongabay: Today is International Forest Day, which was launched by the United Nations March 21, 2012 to promote the importance of forests and trees. In recognition of the designation, below are ten facts about forests. Forests cover around 4 billion hectares or 30 percent of Earth’s land surface Forests cover about four billion four billion hectares (16 million square miles). That represents about 30 percent of Earth’s land surface or eight percent of its total surface area. Ten countries hold about two-thirds...