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Archive for January, 2011
Climate change could happen much faster than previously thought
Posted by Telegraph: Louise Gray, on January 14th, 2011
Telegraph: The US study predicted that if society continues burning fossil fuels at the current rate, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide could rise from the current level of 390 parts per million (ppm) to 1,000 by the end of this century.
The last time the world had such high levels of carbon dioxide temperatures were on average 29F(16C) above pre-industrial levels. Evidence has been found of crocodiles and palm trees at the Poles and only small mammals were able to survive.
Jeffrey Kiehl, of the National...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate change could happen much faster than previously thoughtMore than 500 die in Brazil flood
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2011
BBC: More than 500 people are now known to have died in floods in south-eastern Brazil, the country's worst natural disaster for several decades.
Heavy rain has led to massive mudslides hitting several towns, resulting in thousands being made homeless.
Police say the number of dead is likely to rise further.
The death toll has now surpassed the devastating 1967 mudslides in Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo state, in which up to 430 people perished. 'Thousands trapped'
Rescue workers will resume searching...
Virus, genetic link eyed in Canadian salmon deaths
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2011
Reuters: Sockeye salmon in one of Canada's key but troubled fisheries on the Pacific Coast may have a genetic flaw that makes them more susceptible to disease, according to a study released on Thursday.
Researchers have found a genetic profile in some of sockeye in British Columbia's Fraser River that indicates some are more likely to die before they are able spawn, according to the study published in the journal Science.
It is still unknown what is killing the salmon, but a genetic flaw may make them...
Agency Revokes Permit for Major Coal Mining Project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2011
New York Times: The Environmental Protection Agency revoked the permit for one of the nation's largest mountaintop-removal coal mining projects on Thursday, saying the mine would have done unacceptable damage to rivers, wildlife and communities in West Virginia.
Arch Coal's proposed Spruce No. 1 Mine in Logan County has been the subject of controversy since the Bush administration approved its construction in 2007, issuing a permit required under the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists and local residents strongly...
Earth’s hot past could be prologue to future climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2011
ScienceDaily: The magnitude of climate change during Earth's deep past suggests that future temperatures may eventually rise far more than projected if society continues its pace of emitting greenhouse gases, a new analysis concludes.
The study, by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Jeffrey Kiehl, will appear as a "Perspectives" piece in this week's issue of the journal Science.
Building on recent research, the study examines the relationship between global temperatures and high levels...
Australia flood clean-up starts; risk of more floods
Posted by Reuters: Ed Davies on January 14th, 2011
Reuters: Australia's third-largest city started cleaning up stinking mud and debris on Friday after some of the country's worst floods on record, but in a sign of the task ahead, it could take six months to pump flood waters out of Queensland's coal mines. Many suburbs in the state's capital Brisbane, a city of two million people, remained submerged after floodwaters inundated the riverside city on Thursday. The Queensland floods, which started in December, have killed 20 people, left 53 missing and affected...
How can we feed 9 billion?
Posted by Telegraph: Clive Aslet on January 13th, 2011
Telegraph: Some friends had a memorable Christmas. They spent it with family in Belfast, where water could only be obtained by melting the snowman. Providentially they and the children had made a large one and it kept them going for two days, until the water supply returned.
They were of course infinitely better off than my relations in Brisbane, of whom I still anxiously await word. Both cases, however, illustrate how easily the life we all take for granted can be turned upside down. True, Queensland has...
Climate change is a much closer reality in India now
Posted by Deccan Herald: Rajesh Deol on January 13th, 2011
Deccan Herald: Climate change projections for India have now been brought closer to foreseeable reality from the realm of an unfathomable future.
For the first time, a comprehensive assessment on what climate change would manifest in over the next two decades -- by 2030 -- has been made available to the country as compared to earlier scenarios that projected climate change far beyond 2050s.
Higher temperatures, heavier precipitation, rise in sea levels and adverse impacts on agriculture productivity and human...
GasLand – review
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 13th, 2011
Guardian: 1. GasLand 2. Production year: 2010 3. Country: USA 4. Runtime: 107 mins 5. Directors: Josh Fox 6. More on this film It hardly seems possible that former US vice-president Dick Cheney could be made to seem any more of a villain that he already is. But documentary-maker Josh Fox manages it with his film GasLand, executive-produced by Debra Winger. It is a grim study of how the current new push to drill for natural gas in the United States – to avoid what one legislator calls "being...
Climate Changes Linked to Fall of Roman Empire
Posted by Discovery News: Emily Sohn on January 13th, 2011
Discovery News: A prolonged period of wet weather spurred the spread of the Bubonic plague in medieval times, according to a new study. And a 300-year spell of unpredictable weather coincided with the decline of the Roman Empire.
Climate change wasn't necessarily the cause of these and other major historical events, researchers say. But the study, which pieced together a year-by-year history of temperature and precipitation in Western Europe, dating back 2,500 years, offers the most detailed picture yet of how...