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Archive for July 25th, 2011
India: Changing rainfall linked to plague outbreaks – report
Posted by AlertNet: Soumya Karlamangla on July 25th, 2011
AlertNet: Outbreaks of the plague -- a relatively rare but deadly disease -- are linked to rainfall and may become more frequent in some areas as climate change alters weather patterns, scientists from Norway and China say.
In a research project, Norwegian and Chinese scientists analyzed data from the last major outbreak of plague, which originated in China around 1855 and lasted over 100 years. The researchers compared the number of cases per year between 1850 and 1964 against the level of rainfall in...
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United States: More big Yellowstone fires predicted with climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 25th, 2011
LA Times: The size and frequency of wildfires in the northern Rocky Mountains will increase so much with global warming that it will profoundly alter the landscape of Yellowstone National Park and its environs, predicts a new study.
The conifer forests of spruce, pine and Douglas fir that grow at elevations from 6,000 to 8,000 feet could give way to open woodlands, grass and shrubs, transforming the greater Yellowstone ecosytem that includes parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
The large, severe wildfires...
Somalia: Massive Aid Needed to Stave off Disaster
Posted by Inter Press Service: Denis Foynes on July 25th, 2011
Inter Press Service: International donors have given more than one billion dollars to ease the famine in Somalia and elsewhere in the Horn of Africa, but U.N. officials say another billion will be needed to prevent the situation from deteriorating in other areas.
"The crisis in the East of Africa could be spiraling into a larger catastrophe," Francis Kennedy, a spokesperson for the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), told IPS.
Tens of thousands are believed to have died already.
The disaster is a product of high...
Volleys Fly in House Debate on E.P.A. and Interior
Posted by New York Times: Joanna M. Foster on July 25th, 2011
New York Times: The House of Representatives began heated debate on Monday on an appropriations bill for the Department of Interior and Environmental Protection Agency that pits Republican critics of environmental regulation against Democrats who fear that landmark protections could be gutted.
The legislation, which could come to a floor vote this week, would cut Interior`s funds by $750 million, or about 7 percent, and the E.P.A.`s budget by $1.5 billion, or 18 percent. (The latter cut would bring reductions...
Replacing Coal With Clean Energy — Let Me Count the Ways
Posted by Climate Central: Alyson Kenward on July 25th, 2011
Climate Central: As I recently pointed out, Americans consume immense quantities of electricity each year. Depending on where you live, it might come from a coal or a gas-fired power plant, a nuclear plant, a hydroelectric dam, wind turbines or even solar panels. I must admit, though, that I have no idea where my electricity comes from (other than out of the wall). But since I live in central New Jersey, my electricity probably comes from both coal, gas, and nuclear power plants.
For the country overall, the relative...
Heat wave 2011: humidity the stunning hallmark
Posted by Washington Post: Andrew Freedman on July 25th, 2011
Washington Post: The heat wave that affected at least 200 million people in the United States during the past week and a half has finally subsided, but not before shattering or tying thousands of records. The geographic extent of the heat wave was highly unusual, with temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or greater and heat indices much higher than that stretching from Texas to North Dakota, and eastward all the way to Maine. Every heat wave has a particular calling card, be it furnace-like hot and dry heat, sopping...
Biting the Bullet, Vermont Yankee Orders Fuel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 25th, 2011
New York Times: Unless a court intervenes, the clock is winding down on the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. Its initial license expires next March, and the state of Vermont is blocking a permit that it needs to run beyond then.
But its owner, Entergy, which is suing the state in federal court over the permit, announced on Monday that it would order a new load of fuel for the plant, essentially betting that the legal proceedings will come out in its favor.
Fuel for reactors is ordered in batches, and at Vermont...
EARTH MEANDERS: Ecology Bubble Bursts
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on July 25th, 2011
End of ecosystems required for human habitat upon us, not many ways to sustain global ecology left
By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet
Earth Meanders come from Earth's Newsdesk
Ever since the human family embraced a growth based mentality and obsequious faith in liberal economics, we have witnessed a series of bubbles. The most recent boom-bust cycle has been the still unresolved financial and mortgage bubbles, but bubbles go as far back as the Dutch tulip mania of 1637. Exuberant yet clearly unsustainable growth, or inversely destruction, appears to be inherent to industrial, speculative, and growth obsessed capitalism. Bubbles represent the human proclivity for greed, to grow too fast, overshooting demand, while often exhausting key resources.
Global ecology, the biggest bubble of all, is now collapsing and will soon burst. Voracious economic and human growth have raged for three centuries upon the back of dismantling ecosystems globally. Humanitys economic outputs have been over-valued relative to the ecologically mediated resources incautiously razed for their production. Earths carrying capacity - meaning ecology's finite ability to provide ecosystem services and absorb pollution has been surpassed. Having grown beyond what Earth can bear, the human family is said to be in "overshoot", which can only lead to ...
Report: Climate change will have huge impact on Sahel
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Alex Thurston on July 25th, 2011
Christian Science Monitor: A new report, “Mapping Hotspots of Climate Change and Food Insecurity in the Global Tropics,” contains some grim news for the Sahel. Greg Mills and Terence McNamee of the Brenthurst Foundation write in the Independent Online about the report’s implications for Mali. Noting that the report “predicts that global climate change will curb agricultural output in Mali more than any other country, except its West African neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso,” Mills and McNamee outline the interlocking challenges...
US House Republicans propose to eliminate migratory bird conservation act
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 25th, 2011
Mongabay: The US House of Representatives has proposed an environmental spending bill that strips funds from many environmental agencies, including eliminating altogether the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act. The vote has been denounced by House Democrats.
If made into law the bill would change the way Americans fund environmental protection. In addition to killing the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act-which is the nation's only federal program aimed at migratory bird conservation-it...