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Archive for July 5th, 2012
United Kingdom: Agency warns over severe flood risk
Posted by Independent: John Fahey , Lauren Turner on July 5th, 2012
Independent: A severe flood warning was issued last night as forecasters said up to a month's rain could fall over 24 hours. The Environment Agency urged communities in the north and east of England, the Midlands and much of Wales to be prepared for flooding as two bands of very heavy rain were set to cross the UK today and into Saturday.
The agency said the risk of flooding was expected to be the highest of a so-far wet year with properties and transport in some parts of the country likely to be hit. Yorkshire,...
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Heat wave bakes eastern half of the US but is climate change to blame?
Posted by Guardian: Harry J Enten on July 5th, 2012
Guardian: It's hot in the eastern United States. For those that live here, sweaty shirts and panting have become the norm. For those that don't, let me just tell you that for everyone, except air conditioning salespeople, it is a rather unpleasant experience. But just how hot is it?
There have been no fewer than 40,113 high temperature records set or tied this year already, compared to only 5,835 low records. With more weather stations recording data than ever, that stat might be somewhat misleading, but...
Napolitano on weird weather and climate change: ‘There’s a pattern here’
Posted by The Hill: None Given on July 5th, 2012
The Hill: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano this week linked climate change with the wildfires hitting Colorado.
Napolitano said “there’s a pattern here” as she noted the summer wildfires as well as the East Coast heat wave and the high-velocity winds that whipped through the mid-Atlantic late last week. Thousands of people remain without electricity because of the wind storm.
Asked point blank if the wildfires were caused by climate change, Napolitano responded, “It could be a lot of different...
A Chat on Conservation on a Human-Managed Planet
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on July 5th, 2012
New York Times: Monday was the last day of work at the Wildlife Conservation Society for Steven E. Sanderson, the president of the organization since 2001. The society runs conservation efforts and wildlife research projects around the world while managing the Bronx and Central Park zoos and New York (a k a Coney Island) Aquarium. Zoo and conservation work quintupled under his tenure. His successor, who starts work in August, is Cristián Samper, the former director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum...
India: Activists to Appeal U.S. Court’s Bhopal Verdict
Posted by Inter Press Service: Zoha Arshad on July 5th, 2012
Inter Press Service: After a controversial ruling Friday in favour of Union Carbide, NGOs and activists associated with the 1984 Bhopal, India industrial disaster are appealing the decision in the U.S. second circuit court of appeals.
Judge John Keenan`s dismissal of a lawsuit against Dow Chemical Company`s Union Carbide angered Indian activists the world over. Dow bought Union Carbide in 2001.
Keenan ruled that neither Union Carbide nor its former chairman, Warren Anderson, were liable for environmental remediation...
Drought hits 56 percent of continental US; ‘significant toll’ on crops
Posted by MSNBC: Miguel Llanos on July 5th, 2012
MSNBC: The prolonged heat across the Midwest has not only set temperature records, it is also expanding and intensifying drought conditions -- and relief isn't on the horizon for most areas, the National Weather Service reported Thursday.
Drought conditions are present in 56 percent of the continental U.S., according to the weekly Drought Monitor.
That's the most in the 12 years that the data have been compiled, topping the previous record of 55 percent set on Aug. 26, 2003. It's also up five percentage...
Historic Heat Wave Marches On as Drought Expands
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 5th, 2012
Climate Central: Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well. Heat warnings, watches, and advisories were in effect for more than two dozen states as of midday Thursday, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey.
The heat is also exacerbating a growing drought problem in the nation's heartland...
How Small Volcanic Eruptions Can Affect Global Climate
Posted by LiveScience: Douglas Main on July 5th, 2012
LiveScience: Even small volcanic eruptions could have a big impact on global climate, new research suggests.
A relatively small eruption in the summer of 2011 produced gases such as sulfur dioxide that reached high in the atmosphere and spread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, combining with water vapor and forming particles that reflect light and prevent it from reaching Earth, thus potentially resulting in a cooling effect, according to a study detailed in the July 6 issue of the journal Science.
Previously,...
Chinese scientists identify yield-boosting rice gene
Posted by SciDev.Net: Li Jiao on July 5th, 2012
SciDev.Net: Researchers in China have identified a rice gene that could improve both the quality and yield of the staple crop.
Xiangdong Fu, a geneticist at the Institute of Genetics and Development Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China, and colleagues first discovered the gene -- known as GW8 -- while studying basmati rice in Pakistan.
Basmati rice is well known for its good grain quality. The researchers found that this feature is influenced by the presence of a gene known as GW8,...
World leaders accused of backsliding on women’s rights
Posted by Guardian: Jane Martinson on July 5th, 2012
Guardian: Women's rights are under the greatest attack for almost 20 years after a failure of world leaders to continue to support reproductive rights, according to Mary Robinson, the first female president of Ireland.
Her comments come amid fears that religious conservatives are eroding support for family planning around the world. Objections from the Vatican and other states removed specific support for reproductive rights, such as family planning, from an international agreement reached in Rio de Janeiro...