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Archive for January 5th, 2012
Snow Drought? Wimpy Winter Weather Across U.S.
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 5th, 2012
Climate Central: The calendar may say January, but across much of the U.S., the ground is bare, with none of the epic snowstorms that were the hallmarks of the past few winters.
While some may be cheering the lack of snow as welcome relief, the widespread lack of it spells trouble for the ski industry, which pumps billions into the wintertime economy in states from California to Maine, and requires cooperation from Mother Nature to stay in business.
Ski area operators across the country are already reporting...
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Fracking will poison New York’s drinking water, critics warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 5th, 2012
Guardian: A former staffer at a state government agency responsible for regulating hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has warned that allowing the controversial gas drilling method in New York would lead to contamination of the state's aquifers and would poison its drinking water.
These stark warnings, issued by Paul Hetzler in a letter to an upstate newspaper, came as a current employee and union representative at the Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC) sounded alarm bells over the under-staffed...
Warm weather threatens to extend U.S. drought
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on January 5th, 2012
Reuters: A New Year's Eve "heat wave" melted away welcomed winter snow that had brought some drought relief to the U.S. Plains, reviving fears that harmfully warm and dry conditions will persist into 2012, U.S. climatologists said in a report issued Thursday.
"The return of warm, dry weather to the nation's southern tier could be suggestive of an increasingly La Nina-driven atmospheric regime," said the U.S. Drought Monitor report, issued weekly by a team of national, state and academic climatology experts....
A world organisation for an equitable green economy
Posted by SciDev.Net: Zakri Abdul Hamid on January 5th, 2012
SciDev.Net: The proposed UN World Environment Organisation is badly needed to give poor countries a strong voice in green policy, says Zakri Abdul Hamid.
The United Nations will be convening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next June to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit, held in the same city. The Rio+20 conference will assess progress since 1992 and aim to secure renewed political commitment to sustainable development.
One of the priorities is recognising that current governance systems to...
Uganda: Climate change leaves Uganda on cliffhanger
Posted by Observer: Edward Ssekika on January 5th, 2012
Observer: Evelyn Apolot pensively stares at nothing but a bleak future. Her wrinkled face is a clear testimony of years of toiling to fend for her growing family. Sadly, most of the property she had worked hard for many years to obtain was destroyed in a single night. Her tiny mud-and-wattle grass-thatched hut was first submerged and then razed to the ground by floods triggered by heavy downpour last November. Memories of that devastation are still fresh in her mind. “I lost a lot of property in the floods,”...
Australia: Evans Head to fight erosion
Posted by Northern Star: Jem Wilson on January 5th, 2012
Northern Star: EFFORTS to save the Evans Head surf club from the effects of coastal erosion and climate change will be boosted with a $44,000 grant from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Richmond Valley Council will use the grant to pay for 50% of a Coastal Zone Management Plan for the Evans Head Coastline and River Estuary.
Previous studies on the likely impact of predicted sea level rises showed a risk of potential erosion at the Evans Head-Casino Surf Life Saving Club by the year 2050.
The...
Five rare earths crucial for clean energy seen in short supply
Posted by Bloomberg: Jim Snyder on January 5th, 2012
Bloomberg: Limited supplies of five rare-earth minerals pose a threat to increasing use of clean-energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels, a U.S. Energy Department report found.
The substances -- dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium -- face potential shortages until 2015, according to the report, which reiterates concerns identified in a report a year ago.
The 2011 report studied 16 elements and related materials, including nickel and manganese, which are used to make...
United Kingdom: Scientists warn on damage to peatlands
Posted by Financial Times: None Given on January 5th, 2012
Financial Times: Scientists have warned that damaged UK peatlands – areas formed over thousands of years from dead and decaying plants in waterlogged conditions – are a significant source of carbon dioxide. They release the equivalent of almost 3.7m tonnes of CO2 a year – equal to the average emissions of about 660,000 UK households, more than all the households of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Leeds combined. A report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature describes peatlands as a “Cinderella” habitat:...
Analysis: Clock ticking for rains to save Argentine soy crop
Posted by Reuters: Hugh Bronstein on January 5th, 2012
Reuters: Unrelenting sun in Argentina has scorched as much as a fifth of its corn crop and the drought will start biting into the country's vast soy harvest unless rains come to the rescue this month or next.
Benchmark Chicago corn and soybean prices have both rallied more than 10 percent in the past three weeks as a hot, dry southern hemisphere summer has roasted grain fields across Argentina's legendary Pampas farm and cattle region.
Argentina is the world's second-largest corn exporter and third-largest...
Bangladesh: Farmers Bet on Climate-Proof Crops
Posted by Inter Press Service: Naimul Haq on January 5th, 2012
Inter Press Service: With floods, droughts and other calamities battering deltaic Bangladesh regularly, farmers need little prompting in switching to climate-resistant varieties of rice, wheat, pulses and other staples.
The crop diversification, actively supported by the government’s research institutions, is already benefitting the 145 million people of this densely populated, predominantly agricultural South Asian country.
Mosammet Sabera Begum, 38, a farmer in Purbadebu village, Rangpur district, about 370 km...