Archive for August 8th, 2011

Rising Temperatures Cause Record Melting of Arctic Ice

International Business Times: "One year doesn't say too much in and of itself, but the long-term downward trend and the series of very low years is indicative of a thinner ice cover and warming temperatures," Walt Meier, a National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist said in an email to Bloomberg. The vanishing ice represents a significant piece of evidence for scientists who have been closely watching Arctic ice levels as an indication of the extent of climate change. "Arctic sea-ice decline is perhaps the best evidence...

Democrats Want Broad Definition of Diesel in Fracking Rules

Greenwire: Democratic critics of industry's hydraulic fracturing practices are urging U.S. EPA to broadly define diesel fuel as it decides how to regulate the use of the toxic fuel in oil and gas drilling. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and her colleagues say that if diesel is defined too narrowly, drillers will be able to evade regulation while still using diesel. Their fear is that benzene and similar toxic chemicals, often referred to as "BTEX," could contaminate drinking water. "It could result in a scenario...

Hunger pains: famine in the Horn of Africa

Guardian: The Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, now home to more than 400,000 Somalians. Kenya is not a lush country. Rains falls steadily and often heavily in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu, the three main cities and the best known to tourists. But 80% of the country is made up of semi-arid or arid land. In these parts of Kenya, life is hard. Few places are less hospitable than Dadaab, a once tiny town in the far north-east. The sun is fierce, and swirling winds whip up the fine sand underfoot. The vegetation...

Women need greater say in dealing with drought – officials

AlertNet: Internally displaced women wait to receive relief food from a distribution point in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on A lack of women in policymaking is worsening the impact of the Horn of Africa drought, U.N. and aid agency officials say. The region, which is seeing intensifying dry spells believed linked to climate change, is struggling with what aid agencies say is its worst drought in 60 years. Pastures and wells have dried, livestock are dying and thousands of families from southern Somalia...

Southern U.S. boils while Midwest threatened with storms

Reuters: The Southeast and southern Plains broiled under more record-breaking heat on Monday while heavy rain and gusting winds threatened to pummel the nation's midsection. Texas and Oklahoma confirmed more heat-related deaths and battled dozens of wildfires raging in the region. The outlook for relief in the next few days from the heat was bleak. Oklahoma said 14 deaths from the heat were confirmed across the state since May, three of which were last week. Another 11 heat-related deaths were suspected....

Emissions from Tar Sands Will Dwarf Carbon Cuts in Canada

Yale Environment 360: Carbon dioxide emissions from the exploitation of Alberta’s tar sands will far outweigh emissions reductions in other sectors of Canada’s economy and will be a major contributor to the country missing 2020 targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report. Environment Canada, the country’s chief environmental agency, said that the tar sands development -- which injects steam into thick oil deposits to produce oil -- will produce 62 million metric tons of CO2 emissions from 2005...

Effects of Texas Drought Could Be Felt for Years to Come

Yale Environment 360: Scientists predict the effects of a historic one-year drought in Texas could have profound ecological impacts that will be felt for years to come. Only about six inches of rain have fallen since January, compared with a norm of about 13 inches, making it the worst recorded drought in the state’s history. Compounded by weeks of record heat, many parts of Texas have seen reservoirs evaporate, large-scale crop failure, and animal die-offs. At least seven reservoirs are effectively dry, and more than...

Israel to build $423 million desalination plant

Reuters: Israel said on Monday it was building a 1.5 billion shekel ($423 million) desalination plant, which upon completion in 2013, will join four other plants in providing the country with three-quarters of its drinking water. The government signed with Mekorot, the national water company, to build and operate the reverse osmosis plant in the Mediterranean coastal city of Ashdod, which will produce 100 million cubic meters of desalinated seawater a year, or 15 percent of Israel's household water use....

Canada: Taking it to the extreme

Lethbridge Herald: The last decade has dished out some weird weather in southern Alberta. The pattern of flooding one year and drought the next is becoming the norm, and scientists want to know why. Climate change due to global warming has been one answer tossed around that scientists are now out to prove. Armed with $2.5 million from the federal government, a group of researchers will descend on southern Alberta's rural agriculture communities to find out if the weird prairie weather is connected to global warming,...

Ocean’s tides might supply endless stream of electricity

McClatchy Newspapers: Myers, a research engineer, is conducting his acoustical experiments in a laboratory on Sequim Bay, where scientists want to learn how to create electricity from an unusual source: the force of powerful ocean tides and waves. If all goes as planned, two large hydro turbines will be installed 200 feet deep in the harsh waters of Admiralty Inlet by late summer 2013, marking the first project of its kind in the state. But before then, scientists want to figure out how rockfish, diving birds, whales...