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Archive for February 20th, 2011
Climate projections show human health impacts possible within 30 years
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 20th, 2011
Science Centric: A panel of scientists speaking today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) unveiled new research and models demonstrating how climate change could increase exposure and risk of human illness originating from ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems, with some studies projecting impacts to be felt within 30 years.
'With 2010 the wettest year on record and third warmest for sea surface temperatures, NOAA and our partners are working to uncover how...
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Gore tells Aspen audience beetle-kill outbreak plaguing Vail, American West stems from climate change
Posted by Real Vail: Troy Hooper on February 20th, 2011
Real Vail: Forty years ago this spring, Al Gore first felt the magic of the forests around here. He had been honorably discharged from the U.S. Army and decided to motor west from his home in Tennessee.
“I put a tent in the trunk of my Chevrolet Impala and drove to the White River National Forest, no kidding, and camped there,” the former U.S. vice president told a room packed with cultural, scientific and political leaders at the Aspen Institute on Friday night. “In the following years I came back and I’ve...
Permafrost timebomb
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2011
Climate Central: For tens of thousands of years, huge amounts of plant matter--roots, leaf fragments and the like--have been kept in cold storage underground in the northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Europe and Siberia. They're embedded in permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. Even when the top few inches of ground thaw out in the Arctic summer, permafrost never does. As the planet continues to warm, however, the "perma" in permafrost is looking less eternal. Scientist have known for years, in fact, that rising...
Global Warming To Have Human Impact Within 30 Years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2011
redOrbit: US scientists, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington Saturday, said climate change could increase exposure to water-borne diseases originating in the world’s oceans, lakes and coastal ecosystems, adding that the impact will most likely be felt within the next 30 years, and as early as the next 10 years.
Numerous studies have shown that shifts from climate change make ocean and freshwater ecosystems more susceptible to toxic...
Indonesia: Moratorium to preserve only protected forest areas: Draft
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2011
Jakarta Post: Deforestation would continue in the country despite the pledged two-year moratorium, since it would only take effect in areas categorized as protected under the Forest Law, a civil society group said on Wednesday.
After analyzing drafts of presidential decrees on the forest moratorium, Greenpeace said the target of the moratorium would only be 41 million hectares of forests. “The 41 million hectares have been designated as protected areas under the 1999 Forest Law,” geographic information center...
Inconvenient Youth convenes to deal with climate change
Posted by Jakarta Post: Raden Ghea Garnita Dendadipura Moeis on February 20th, 2011
Jakarta Post: “Ice asks no questions, presents no arguments, reads no newspapers, listens to no debates. It is not burdened by ideology and carries no political baggage as it changes from solid to liquid. It just melts.” Dr. Henry Pollack, professor of Geophysics at University of Michigan, wrote that statement in his book A World without Ice as a counterargument for those who insist climate changing is a hoax. In his lecture on the first day of the Climate Project Asia-Pacific Summit 2011 in Jakarta, Dr. Pollack...
Climate change having impact on Alaska transportation
Posted by Associated Press: Molly Rettig on February 20th, 2011
Associated Press: "With over 6,600 miles of coastline and 80 percent of the state underlaid by ice-rich permafrost, you can certainly imagine we are at the forefront of climate change impacts," said Mike Coffey, maintenance and operations chief for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
Coffey discussed the impact of climate change on transportation in a recent webinar hosted by the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
New challenges include...
Sarawak government mocks its indigenous people
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2011
Mongabay: The Sarawak government mocked the plight of its rainforest people in a press release issued earlier this month, says a rights' group. The release says forest people are poised to benefit from massive dam and forestry projects under the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) scheme that will convert the Malaysian state's rivers into lakes and forests into open pit mines, wood-pulp plantations, and oil palm estates. "SCORE will develop 10 key industries including hydropower, heavy industry...
What does the Arab world do when its water runs out?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 20th, 2011
Guardian: Poverty, repression, decades of injustice and mass unemployment have all been cited as causes of the political convulsions in the Middle East and north Africa these last weeks. But a less recognised reason for the turmoil in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Yemen, Jordan and now Iran has been rising food prices, directly linked to a growing regional water crisis.
The diverse states that make up the Arab world, stretching from the Atlantic coast to Iraq, have some of the world's greatest oil reserves,...
Scotland’s wild salmon face ‘calamity’ from trade deal with China
Posted by Guardian: David Sharrock on February 20th, 2011
Guardian: China's appetite for Scottish farmed salmon is threatening dwindling stocks of sea trout and wild salmon, according to conservationists.
A new trade agreement was signed last month with the Chinese vice-premier, Li Keqiang, by Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, who boasted that "even if 1% of the people of China decide to eat Scottish salmon, then we'll have to double production in Scotland".
But the prospect of a massive increase in farmed fish production has horrified defenders of Scotland's...