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Archive for February 19th, 2011
India: Chhattisgarh climate change can hit Chennai
Posted by Deccan Chronicle: None Given on February 19th, 2011
Deccan Chronicle: With all-powerful coal lobby in the country almost getting permission to go for “phased mining” of lakhs of hectares of forest areas in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, environmentalists have sounded alarm bells about an impending ecological disaster.
“India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular will see the mercury crossing all previous records and rains coming to naught. If Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand sneeze, Tamil Nadu will catch a cold,” said Dr. Nanditha Krishna, noted environmentalist and director,...
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Montana bill would ’embrace’ global warming
Posted by Associated Press: Matt Volz on February 19th, 2011
Associated Press: A Montana legislator is proposing the state embrace global warming and wrest control of greenhouse gas regulation from the federal government, ideas that scientists and environmentalists call an indefensible denial of physics and a waste of taxpayer money.
Republican Rep. Joe Read of Ronan aims to pass a law that says global warming is a natural occurrence that "is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana."
Montana holds large tracts of coal reserves and fossil-fuel extraction...
$20M federal grant for U research on climate change, Midwest corn growing
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2011
Associated Press: Scientists at the University of Minnesota and other schools will studying how to keep Midwest corn-based cropping systems resilient amid climate uncertainties.
The work is funded by a $20 million grant announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forty-two scientists from 10 universities and two USDA institutions in eight north-central states, including Minnesota, will collect and analyze data over the next five years.
Among them will be soil science professor Jeff Strock, who...
United Kingdom: RSPB call for a tax on gardeners for using peat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2011
Telegraph: Peat bogs are full of rare wildlife and suck up carbon, helping to tackle climate change.
However the vital natural habitats, including many bogs in Ireland, are being dug up for compost to spread on gardens.
Peat bogs in upland areas of the UK such as the Penines and Exmoor have already been destroyed by demand for the fertile soil and the problem is now moving to Eastern Europe.
The compost is considered so environmentally damaging that the Government has asked garden centres to phase...
Disasters are proof of climate change
Posted by Statesman Journal: Daniel F. Bonham on February 19th, 2011
Statesman Journal: Cyclone Yasi, the most powerful storm in Australian history, hit the coast on top of record floods. Fires have ravaged the continent for the last two years.
Not one but two massive record-breaking snow storms hit the Midwest and Eastern seaboard in one season.
Massive, first-ever forest fires in Russia. Melting ice-caps. The top five hottest-ever-recorded global mean temperatures all occurring in the last 10 years.
Welcome to the world of global climate change. I've heard the naysayers scoff...
Multiple approaches necessary to tackle world’s food problems
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 19th, 2011
Science Centric: Researchers need to use all available resources in an integrated approach to put agriculture on a path to solve the world's food problems while reducing pollution, according to a Penn State biologist. Changes in national and international regulations will be necessary to achieve this goal.
'Using resources more efficiently is what it will take to put agriculture on a path to feed the expected future population of nine billion people,' said Nina Fedoroff, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Willaman...
Warming is altering anatomy of forests
Posted by Denver Post: David Frey on February 19th, 2011
Denver Post: ASPEN -- Global warming is reshaping forests throughout Colorado and across the West, scientists and public-land managers agreed at a symposium Friday, leaving foresters at pains to deal with a landscape that could look very different in the future.
While some still debate whether the changing climate is due to human-caused pollution, they said climate scientists agree the Earth is heating up, and dying aspen, spruce, piñon and other trees are fingerprints of a warmup.
"The climate is changing,"...
Brutal winters may become the norm
Posted by SI Live: Deborah E. Young on February 19th, 2011
SI Live: Although skeptics may point to the viciousness of this winter in New York as sound evidence against global warming, this type of battering succession of storms may actually become the norm in New York as the planet heats up, according to scientists.
The 10 warmest years after records began in 1854 have all occurred since 1998, according to new data released by the World Meteorological Organization -- with 2010 tying with 1998 and 2005 as the warmest.
This trend translates for Staten Islanders...
$20 million funds study to ensure NW wheat survives climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2011
Associated Press: The federal government has awarded a $20 million grant to universities in Washington, Oregon and Idaho that is designed to ensure that wheat farming in the Pacific Northwest will survive climate change.
The five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will study the relationship between climate change and cereal crops, primarily winter wheat. Wheat is the No. 1 export through the Port of Portland, the largest wheat-export harbor in the U.S.
The study will focus on northeastern Oregon,...
Montana bill would ’embrace’ global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 19th, 2011
Washington Post: A Montana legislator is proposing the state embrace global warming as good for the economy.
Republican Rep. Joe Read of Ronan aims to pass a law that says global warming is a natural occurrence that "is beneficial to the welfare and business climate of Montana."
Reaction by scientists and environmentalists to House Bill 549 has been harsh. University of Montana climate change professor Steve Running calls it an indefensible attempt to repeal the laws of physics.
The bill was to be heard...