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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
Flint water crisis could squeeze Michigan’s finances: S&P
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
Reuters: Costs related to the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan, could pressure the state's finances and derail recent efforts to build budget reserves, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said on Monday.
"At the state level, political costs for Michigan have been greater than financial costs at this point. However, we could see financial pressures on the state deepen as answers to the financing of infrastructure replacement and social services, coupled with potential legal settlements, unfold,"...
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Comments Off on Flint water crisis could squeeze Michigan’s finances: S&PClimate change the chief culprit for stormy winter weather
Posted by Irish Times: Dick Ahlstrom on February 1st, 2016
Irish Times: If the weather this winter seems stormier than usual, that is because it is.
It is every bit as bad as the storm-ridden winter of 2013-14, according to climate data from Met Éireann.
And climate change can now be blamed for the stormy conditions we have had to endure, at least during 2013-14. New research out of Oxford shows the extreme rainfalls that flooded the UK during that winter were associated with global warming.
Storm Henry, which cleared our shores this morning, counts as the eighth...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change the chief culprit for stormy winter weatherTasmania bushfires leave World Heritage Area devastated in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
Guardian: Pictures from Tasmania’s central plateau, shot by wilderness photographer Dan Broun, show the extraordinary damage wrought by more than a week of bushfires following lightning strikes in Australia’s southernmost state on 13 January. The world heritage area was home to a range of unique alpine flora including pencil pines, king billy pines and cushion plants, some more than 1,000 years old. Now more than 10,000ha of land has been incinerated, and ecologist say that, unlike eucalyptus trees, the ancient...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tasmania bushfires leave World Heritage Area devastated in picturesFlint Begins The Long Process Of Fixing Its Water Problem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2016
National Public Radio: In Flint, Mich., families are using bottled water to do everything - from cooking to bathing.
The tap water is still unsafe to drink after government officials allowed corroded lead pipes to poison the water.
People in Flint have lots of questions for those officials. Perhaps the biggest is the one Hattie Collins has.
"When are you gonna fix it? And I mean fix it right," she says.
On a recent day, Collins is distributing bottled water at Triumph Church in Flint. A massive 18-wheeler is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flint Begins The Long Process Of Fixing Its Water ProblemWhen Will Australia’s GHG Emissions Peak?
Posted by Age: Tom Arup on February 1st, 2016
Age: Australia's national greenhouse gas emissions are set to keep rising well beyond 2020 on current trends, with the projected growth rate one of the worst in the developed world, a new analysis has found. An assessment of recent government emissions data, carried out by the carbon consultancy firm RepuTex, says that in the 2014-15 financial year Australia's carbon pollution rose for the first time in almost a decade when compared to the previous year. From there they say separate government forecasts,...
Kenya: Climate change is drying up one of the world’s largest lakes
Posted by Mashable: Emily Johnson on February 1st, 2016
Mashable: The two men have been working their way through the nets for more than 30 minutes before they catch a fish.
Ekaale Ewoi pauses in the bow of the boat, silhouetted against the pink morning sky. He glances back at Ekai Longolan, who gently disentangles the small prize. It thuds to the floor of the boat at my feet and thrashes around. Without a word they resume their rhythmic motion, going hand over hand for thirty minutes more, until they reach the bobbing jerry can that means they’ve come to the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kenya: Climate change is drying up one of the world’s largest lakesEthiopia seeks donor support to meet drought needs
Posted by Reuters: Edmund Blair on January 31st, 2016
Reuters: Ethiopia urged international donors on Sunday to offer aid promptly for relief operations to support 10.2 million people critically short of food, and said it was committed to allocating as much of its own funds as necessary.
Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen was speaking beside U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a tour of an area where one of the worst droughts in decades has left children malnourished, killed livestock and damaged livelihoods.
The relief operation by the government,...
Human impacts on climate caused record warm years
Posted by Environmental News Network: Potsdam Institute For Climate Impact Research Via EurekAlert on January 31st, 2016
Environmental News Network: Recent record warm years are with extremely high likelihood caused by human-made climate change. Without greenhouse-gas emissions from burning coal and oil, the odds are vanishingly small that 13 out of the 15 warmest years ever measured would all have happened in the current, still young century. These odds are between 1 in 5000 and 1 in 170.000, a new study by an international team of scientists now shows. Including the data for 2015, which came in after the study was completed, makes the odds...
Scientists find some clues to climate change in plants
Posted by Bend Bulletin: None Given on January 31st, 2016
Bend Bulletin: The National Parks Service is partnering with citizen scientists to track when plant species flower, leaf out or set seed. The way plants grow gives clues to changes in the environment and the impact of climate change. “Plants, as we know, have the most sensitive biological responses to climate change,” said Nancy Fernandez, a climate change intern with Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. “They are sensitive to temperature change and precipitation.” Fernandez discussed plant responses to...
Like losing the thylacine: Fire burns Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area
Posted by Whyalla News: Adam Morton on January 30th, 2016
Whyalla News: Ancient alpine ecosystems unique to Tasmania's remote world heritage wilderness, including trees that lived for more than a millennium, have been killed by fires that scientists say are linked to climate change.
The first images of the damage on the state's central plateau have triggered calls for governments to do more to protect internationally recognised landscapes as part of their fire response.
Taken on Saturday near Lake Mackenzie at an altitude of about 1200 metres, the photographs show...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Like losing the thylacine: Fire burns Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area