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Archive for December 5th, 2010
Subarctic wildfires a ‘runaway climate change’ risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 5th, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Global warming is driving forest fires in northern latitudes to burn more frequently and fiercely, contributing to the threat of runaway climate change, according to a study released Sunday. Increased intensity of fires in Alaska's vast interior over the last decade has changed the region from a sink to a source of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most responsible for heating up the planet, the study found. On balance, in other words, boreal forests in the northern hemisphere may now soak up...
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Climate change fans deep-burning fires in Alaska
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 5th, 2010
Reuters: Climate change is fanning longer- and deeper-burning fires in interior Alaska, changing the area from a carbon sink -- where planet-warming gases are stored naturally in the soil -- to a carbon emitter, scientists reported on Sunday.
The shift has occurred within the last 10 years and is due in large part to a longer burning season, according to a study published in Nature Geosciences.
The research was released at the start of a second week of international climate change negotiations in Cancun,...
Scientists aim to map and save endangered habitats
Posted by Associated Press: Ian James on December 5th, 2010
Associated Press: From mangrove swamps in Venezuela to lowland forests in Indonesia, entire communities of plants and animals are under threat. Now scientists are figuring out how to catalog and map the world's most threatened ecosystems -- just like their familiar list of endangered species.
Some experts say drawing up a global "Red List" of vanishing ecosystems would help them spot looming crises caused by everything from climate change to the cutting of forests, and would sharpen their focus on areas to conserve....
The curse of the Nile
Posted by Guardian: Khaled Diab on December 5th, 2010
Guardian: The curse of the Nile
The great river is creating tension between Ethiopia and Egypt, which is blocking changes to quotas. Don't rule out a water war
With the world's attention distracted by the latest WikiLeaks revelations, Ethiopia's prime minister Meles Zenawi did not need a whistleblower to cause his country diplomatic embarrassment: he proved more than capable of doing that all by himself.
Zenawi accused Egypt of backing anti-government rebels in his country and warned that Egypt would...
The sands of Canada: Oil supply salvation or sinkhole?
Posted by Oregonian: None Given on December 5th, 2010
Oregonian: In vast strip mines north of this Alberta boomtown, shovel machines bigger than five-story buildings rip out tar-soaked sand, dumping 400-ton loads in trucks that feed the voracious U.S. appetite for oil. Factories in Canada's "oil sands," site of the world's largest single oil deposit, use super-heated water to purify the rich black glop. Much of the petroleum is piped to U.S. refineries, making Canada -- not Saudi Arabia or Venezuela -- America's top oil supplier. A century and a half into the...
In Cancun, groping for lifelines ahead of the coming flood
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 5th, 2010
Inter Press Service: “The hurricane season officially ended on November 30,” a local shopkeeper told this journalist reassuringly as I entered his store with my hair blown in every direction by the wind on a drizzly, cloudy day.
The bad weather in the normally sunny resort city of Cancun, in southeastern Mexico, is an echo of the new wave of climate swings around the world that have practically coincided with the Nov. 29 to Dec.10 16th edition of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate...
Kenyan farmers using agriculture to fight climate change
Posted by Standard: Ally Jamah on December 5th, 2010
Standard: Thousands of farmers in Western Kenya are attracting global attention after being the first group in Africa to win financing from the World Bank (WB) to use agriculture to fight climate change.
The farmers, spread in 45,000 hectares of land in Bungoma, Malakisi, Bondo, and Kisumu, will receive Sh28 million (US$350,000) from WB's BioCarbon Fund to adopt environmentally-friendly agricultural practices that cut carbon emissions to the atmosphere.
Carbondioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted...
Pakistan calls for reforming Int’l environmental system to deal with climate
Posted by Associated Press of Pakistan: None Given on December 5th, 2010
Associated Press of Pakistan: Citing the recent devastating floods, Pakistan has called for “urgent reforms” of the International Environmental Governance (IEG) system aimed at protecting the countries that were vulnerable to climate change. “In the wake of several environmental emergencies including in particular the growing threat from climate change, Pakistan agrees that status quo is not an option,” Senate Chairman Farooq H. Naek said while intervening in the Annual Parliamentary Hearing at UN Headquarters in New York.
“Urgent...
The Continuing Climate Crisis: Israel’s On Fire
Posted by Wired News: Bruce Sterlin on December 5th, 2010
Wired News: The worst wildfire in Israel’s history has killed at least 41 people and was still raging out of control as night fell on Friday. Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Turkey were among the nations sending help to battle the disaster.
Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a telephone briefing organized by The Israel Project that flames up to 30 meters (98 feet) high continued to rage out of control in three different parts of the Mount Carmel area, south and east of Haifa, Israel’s...
Cancun: Climate change to affect India the most
Posted by Express Buzz: Gokul Chandrasekar on December 5th, 2010
Express Buzz: Nearly five million people may die due to climate change in the next 10 years if nations fail to put up an effective response to the problem says a study by the Climate Vulnerable Forum.
About a million fresh deaths will occur every year starting from 2030 if the problem is not addressed.
The report estimates that already 3,50,000 people are dying every year across the world due to climate change related issues.
The report titled ‘Climate Vulnerability Monitor’ has been backed by leading...