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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
Fiji cyclone disaster is a sign of future challenges
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
ClimateWire: Small island states and environmentalists say the devastating cyclone that lashed Fiji on Saturday illustrates why the world must get serious about helping climate-vulnerable countries cope with warming.
Cyclone Winston was the most damaging storm ever to hit the small Pacific nation. The death toll was at 36 yesterday. Fiji’s representatives spent yesterday assessing the damage and securing aid.
“The government of Fiji’s first concern is to provide humanitarian emergency assistance, food,...
Arctic warming: Rapidly increasing temperatures are ‘possibly catastrophic’ for planet
Posted by Independent: Ian Johnston on February 26th, 2016
Independent: The rapidly warming Arctic could have a “catastrophic” effect on the planet’s climate, a leading scientist has warned.
Dr Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute in California, said there was a growing body of “pretty scary” evidence that higher temperatures in the Arctic were driving the creation of dangerous storms in parts of the northern hemisphere.
According to a graph on the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre’s website, there were 14.2 million km squared of sea ice on 24 February....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Arctic warming: Rapidly increasing temperatures are ‘possibly catastrophic’ for planetCalifornia cut water use 17.1% in January, falling short of target for the first time
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
LA Times: When Gov. Jerry Brown called for a statewide 25% cut in urban water use last April, drought-weary Californians snapped quickly into compliance.
They slashed consumption enough to easily exceed Brown`s order for four straight months, cheering state water regulators.
But as temperatures cooled and the calendar turned to fall, conservation slowed. And on Thursday, officials said the state`s cumulative water savings fell below 25% for the first time in eight months of reporting, to 24.8%.
Officials...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California cut water use 17.1% in January, falling short of target for the first timeGreenpeace Launches Investigation Into Radiation Impacts of Fukushima Disaster on Pacific Ocean
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on February 26th, 2016
Blue and Green: Greenpeace Japan today announced it is conducting an underwater investigation into radiation contamination from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. The survey will be conducted from a Japanese research vessel using a one of a kind Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), fitted with sensitive gamma radiation spectrometer and sediment sampler.
On the opening day of the investigation, Mr Naoto Kan, the former Prime Minister of Japan and leader at the time of the nuclear accident,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Greenpeace Launches Investigation Into Radiation Impacts of Fukushima Disaster on Pacific Ocean18 elephants to be flown to US zoos as drought puts pressure on Swaziland wildlife
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
Guardian: Eighteen elephants, due to be culled because the intense drought in southern Africa has left a national park in Swaziland without food, could be flown to zoos in the US. It is hoped that moving them will give endangered rhinos more chance of survival.
The three male and 15 female elephants from parched Hlane national park are being held temporarily by a local conservation group pending a court case brought by US animal welfare groups concerned about their export.
But they are planned to be...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 18 elephants to be flown to US zoos as drought puts pressure on Swaziland wildlifeVital to food output, bees and other pollinators at risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
Reuters: Bees and other pollinators face increasing risks to their survival, threatening foods such as apples, blueberries and coffee worth hundreds of billions of dollars a year, the first global assessment of pollinators showed on Friday.
Pesticides, loss of habitats to farms and cities, disease and climate change were among threats to about 20,000 species of bees as well as creatures such as birds, butterflies, beetles and bats that fertilize flowers by spreading pollen, it said.
"Pollinators are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Vital to food output, bees and other pollinators at riskBiggest methane leak US history at old Calif well
Posted by ClimateWire: Gayathri Vaidyanathan and Debra Kahn on February 26th, 2016
ClimateWire: Southern California Gas Co.'s Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. The methane leak, plugged Feb. 12, is the biggest source of emitted gas in U.S. history, according to scientists. Photo courtesy of Flickr.
The well blowout in Aliso Canyon near Los Angeles was the largest methane leak in U.S. history and could cost the world more than $100 million in climate damage, experts said.
The well emitted 97,100 tons of methane over four months into the dry foothills just north of Los Angeles'...
Thailand plans steps worth $285 million to help drought-hit rice farmers
Posted by Reuters: Patpicha Tanakasempipat on February 26th, 2016
Reuters: Thailand, the world's second-biggest rice exporter, on Friday announced measures worth around $285 million to help farmers in the country who have been hit hard by a severe drought and low prices for their crop. The Southeast Asian nation is facing what some experts say is its worst drought in decades. While this has crimped rice output, it has not buoyed prices given huge stocks of about 12 million tonnes that Thailand is trying to offload, the legacy of a subsidy scheme undertaken by the previous...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Thailand plans steps worth $285 million to help drought-hit rice farmersMethane leak ‘largest in US history’
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on February 26th, 2016
BBC: A scientific analysis of a natural gas leak near Los Angeles says that it was the biggest in US history.
The Aliso Canyon blowout vented almost 100,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere before it was plugged.
The impact on the climate is said to be the equivalent of the annual emissions of half a million cars.
Researchers say it had a far bigger warming effect than the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
First detected on 23 October, the leak came from one of the 115 wells...
A chance for sphagnum is a chance for all
Posted by Guardian: Matt Shardlow on February 26th, 2016
Guardian: This fragile peat dome, halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is lacerated with a grid of channels, ripped through the fibres of its dark earth.
On a cold wet February day, in a biting wind, the summit of Fannyside Muir is an impressively wide expanse of nodding heather plants, but the prominent leggy heather is not the architect of the bog. A closer look is needed to discern the construction team: the resident array of Sphagnum mosses – a scatter of tightly packed pink hummocks and, in a little...