RSS Feed
Archive for September, 2011
Extreme weather: For once, Al Gore’s excellent timing
Posted by National Journal: None Given on September 16th, 2011
National Journal: Al Gore hasn’t always demonstrated impeccable political instincts, but his timing was right as rain this week when he organized a worldwide extravaganza on climate change.
Gore coordinated a global daylong series of 24 presentations exploring the links between the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the wave of extreme weather buffeting countries across the globe. The presentations began on Wednesday night in Mexico City and proceeded westward, with one occurring each hour...
Farmers helping manage Philippine rain forests
Posted by GMA News: Joe Galvez on September 16th, 2011
GMA News: Deep inside the rain forest of Silago in Southern Leyte, a people’s movement that aims to preserve a vast area that is rich in biodiversity is making its actions felt. Silago is a typical town in rural Philippines with a territory that stretches from beaches in the lowlands to upland forests. It is one of the project sites for a project called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), which aims to preserve forests and address the negative impact of climate change at the...
Global Gold Rush Brings Heightened Scrutiny
Posted by Inter Press Service: Fawzia Sheikh on September 16th, 2011
Inter Press Service: Bolstered by gold prices hovering above 1,800 dollars an ounce and a global economy slowly recovering, exploration activity for the precious metal in 2010 once again rebounded. Yet, with this surge comes the attendant scrutiny by activists, investors, and the media into the industry's human rights and environmental records abroad.
For Canada, there is much at stake under the uncomfortable gaze of mining watchdogs. The country accounts for more than 75 percent of the world's mining and exploration...
Taking it to the Extreme: 2011’s Off the Charts Weather and Climate Stats
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 16th, 2011
Climate Central: There are the unusual weather events that strike the U.S. during a typical year, and then there are the extreme weather and climate events of 2011. This year so far, it seems that mother nature is taking her cue from the cult classic film "This Is Spinal Tap", and is ratcheting up the severity of heat, drought, floods, and other extremes "all the way to 11."
This year is shaping up to be one of the most extreme -- if not the most extreme -- years in the United States since instrument records began...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Taking it to the Extreme: 2011’s Off the Charts Weather and Climate StatsMore Americans believe world is warming: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2011
Reuters: More Americans than last year believe the world is warming and the change is likely influenced by the Republican presidential debates, a Reuters/Ipsos poll said on Thursday.
The percentage of Americans who believe the Earth has been warming rose to 83 percent from 75 percent last year in the poll conducted Sept 8-12.
Republican presidential candidates, aside from Jon Huntsman, have mostly blasted the idea that emissions from burning fossil fuels and other human actions are warming the planet....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on More Americans believe world is warming: Reuters/Ipsos pollWill the Latest Gulf of Mexico Spill Report Prompt Any Legislative Action?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2011
Greenwire: The latest probe into last year's Gulf of Mexico blowout and oil spill -- a federal report that blames much of the disaster on poor management decisions by BP PLC -- has elicited strong but varied responses on Capitol Hill, but its chances of prompting immediate legislative action remain slim.
The highly anticipated report from the Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is the latest in a string of investigations that probed the causes of the April 2010 blowout...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Will the Latest Gulf of Mexico Spill Report Prompt Any Legislative Action?Texas Fire Evacuees Return To Find Only Ashes
Posted by National Public Radio: John Burnett on September 15th, 2011
National Public Radio: For 17 years, Linda and Roger Ward lived in their two-story dream house in a subdivision in Bastrop County, southeast of Austin, Texas. They loved to sit on their back deck and listen to the wind in the pines.
On the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 4, everything changed.
"I used to sit in the living room and decide which pictures on the wall "” that was my primary thing, important papers and pictures "” I was gonna get out," Linda Ward says. "And it happened so fast I didn't even have a chance to...
Long-Awaited Freedom Comes to Olympia NP’s Elwha River
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2011
Greenwire: Starting today, the National Park Service will begin the largest dam removal project in U.S. history as part of a sweeping effort to restore the Elwha River that runs through Washington's Olympic National Park. The Elwha and Glines Canyon hydroelectric dams, built in 1913 and 1927, respectively, supplied electricity for nearly a century to thousands of Pacific Northwest residents. But the dams also severed Pacific salmon migration routes that were once among the country's most robust. Prior to...
Arctic ice melts to second-lowest level, says study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2011
Reuters: Sea ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank to its second-smallest extent since modern records began, in keeping with a long-term trend, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center reported on Thursday.
The annual sea ice minimum was reached on September 9, the center said on its website here in a preliminary finding.
"Changing winds could still push ice flows together reducing ice extend further," the researchers said. A full analysis will be available in October, when monthly data are available for...
‘Deer Capital’ Of Texas Faces Drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2011
National Public Radio: Melissa Block talks with Llano, Texas, Mayor Mike Reagor about the ongoing drought in his city. The river that runs through town is extremely low. Llano has been dubbed the "deer capital of Texas" — and Reagor says the deer, with little to drink, are withering in the heat. Reagor is also a rancher, and he says he's selling cattle because of the drought.