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Archive for October, 2011
Study: No evidence that climate change caused more severe floods in US
Posted by The Hill: Andrew Restuccia on October 24th, 2011
The Hill: A new study conducted by federal scientists found no evidence that climate change has caused more severe flooding in the United States during the last century.
But scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), who published their findings in the Hydrologic Sciences Journal Monday, said they will continue to examine the issue, noting that more research is necessary to better understand the relationship between climate change and flooding.
Scientists have long raised red flags about the impacts...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Study: No evidence that climate change caused more severe floods in USPopulation growth in Zambia: a view from the slums
Posted by Guardian: Georgina Smith on October 24th, 2011
Guardian: Three-week-old Mukuka Chanda is cradled in his grandmother's arms in George compound, Lusaka. He is one of 10 who live in a house of three small rooms. His grandmother, a widow, is HIV-positive and struggles to provide for the family.
Mukuka is born into the 64% of Zambia's population which live below the poverty line, and he, like the majority of Lusaka's residents, will start life in a slum area with poor access to water, sanitation, health care facilities and employment.
According to projections...
Report: Holding global warming to 2C increase still possible if nations act
Posted by Physorg: Bob Yirka on October 24th, 2011
Physorg: A new report published in Nature Climate Change, by an international group of scientists, suggests that the goal of holding the average global temperature increase (due mainly to carbon emissions) to 2° C, that the United Nations agreed on at separate meetings in 2009/10, can still be reached, but it's going to take an unprecedented effort by virtually all of the major countries of the world.
The group, comprised of European, Japanese, Chinese and Australian scientists and researchers, and led...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Report: Holding global warming to 2C increase still possible if nations actHigh in the sky, with a keen focus on changes below
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2011
Daily Climate: The message on the monitors was clear: Nine images from satellites circling the top of the globe, each showing summer ice extent for a different year from 2002 to 2011, yet none coming close to the historic average.
Then the screens flickered, and up came nine snapshots of a dying Aral Sea from 2000 to 2009, the blue-green waters never wetting more than a portion of the dry lakebed.
Some of it is showing how beautiful the planet is. But some of it is giving people a new way of looking at something...
A Rise in Fungal Diseases is Taking Growing Toll on Wildlife
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Michelle Nijhuis on October 24th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: On the southeastern outskirts of Washington, D.C., inside the Smithsonian Institution’s cavernous Museum Support Center, one can see some frogs that no longer exist. Alcohol-filled glass jars hold preserved specimens of Incilius periglenes, the Monte Verde golden toad; the Honduran frog Craugastor chrysozetetes, which in life was olive-brown with purple palms and soles; its Costa Rican cousin, Craugastor escoces; and Atelopus ignescens, a black toad not seen in the wild for decades.
All of these...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A Rise in Fungal Diseases is Taking Growing Toll on WildlifeBangkok floodwaters threaten central districts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2011
Associated Press: The governor of Bangkok has warned residents to prepare for floodwaters to reach further into the city from suburban areas.
Sukhumbhand Paribatra said the flood had moved faster than anticipated and was expected to reach the Don Muang area of the Thai capital, where Bangkok's second airport is located. The airport is being used as headquarters for the flood relief effort and as a shelter for evacuees.
On Monday, water flooded roads near the airport, though one lane was still passable. Thai...
United States: 2 Fisheries Collapsed Unnoticed, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2011
New York Times: Two popular Southern California fisheries have collapsed right under the noses of management agencies that had inadequate data, a new study suggests.
In an article in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, the authors say the population of barred sand bass and kelp bass began to shrink in the early 1980s amid regional changes in ocean conditions, including warmer temperatures.
But since then, a combination of environmental factors and fishing in seasonal spawning areas appears...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: 2 Fisheries Collapsed Unnoticed, Study SaysThais tense as floods set to swamp more of capital
Posted by Reuters: Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat and Martin Petty on October 24th, 2011
Reuters: More districts of Thailand's capital were on high alert on Monday with floods bearing down from northern Bangkok as authorities raced to pump water toward the sea and defend the business district.
Hundreds of people were evacuated over the weekend as water in residential areas of the northern Lak Si and Don Muang suburbs reached levels as high as two meters (six feet), testing flood defenses and spilling out of swollen canals and rivers.
Thailand's worst flooding in five decades has killed...
East Africa: Stop Lake Victoria Pollution – Experts
Posted by Monitor: Mudangha Kolyangha on October 24th, 2011
Monitor: An official from the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change has warned that the persistent pollution of Lake Victoria with impunity will complicate the national development planning.
According to Mr John Arimpa Kigyagi, the vice chairperson of the Parliamentary Forum on Climate Change, the continued pollution of the lake will lead to increase in water tariffs due to rising costs of treating water from L. Victoria.
"It is not surprising that the water body is considering increasing water tariffs...
Cuts Threaten to Close Center for Crop Safety in South Texas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 24th, 2011
New York Times: Within 80 miles of Weslaco, there are nine bridges linking the United States and Mexico. Tons of agricultural products move between the countries each day: vegetables from Mexico and cantaloupes from Central America arrive in Texas while beef and grains are sent to Mexican markets and beyond.
The Kika de la Garza Subtropical Agricultural Research Center, where researchers work to ensure the safety of products that cross the bridges, is in the middle of it all. Now, as Congress considers closing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Cuts Threaten to Close Center for Crop Safety in South Texas