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Archive for August 5th, 2012
Alaskan Arctic villages hit hard by climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
Washington Post: Out late on a Friday night, teenage Inupiat Eskimos go ice-hopping on the Chukchi Sea, one of the rare distractions in Shishmaref, Alaska. The choice for the federal government — and state and local officials — is whether to try to preserve, if it is even possible, the heritage of the Inuit villages, their ice cellars, sod ancestral homes and cemeteries ringed with spires of whale bones. Or spend the hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost to move even one village.
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Ocean acidification could disrupt marine food chains
Posted by Reuters: Jim Drury on August 5th, 2012
Reuters: Ocean acidification caused by climate change is making it harder for creatures from clams to sea urchins to grow their shells, and the trend is likely to be felt most in polar regions, scientists said on Monday.
A thinning of the protective cases of mussels, oysters, lobsters and crabs is likely to disrupt marine food chains by making the creatures more vulnerable to predators, which could reduce human sources of seafood.
"The results suggest that increased acidity is affecting the size and...
Eastern Montana farmers’ ability to manage soil key as climate changes
Posted by Billings Gazette: Tom Lutey on August 5th, 2012
Billings Gazette: On an afternoon when the air presses against his face like a hot iron, Mitch Auer grabs a shovel from his pickup and lumbers into an old wheat stand that hasn’t seen 3 inches of moisture this year.
It’s the last day in July and the National Weather Service has just confirmed that Yellowstone County is experiencing one of its hottest summers ever. A couple of weeks earlier, the same meteorologists were declaring the first six months of the 2012 the county’s driest on record. The misery in farm...
Extreme heatwaves 50 to 100 times more likely due to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
Mongabay: A recent rise in deadly, debilitating, and expensive heatwaves was caused by climate change, argues a new statistical analysis published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Climatologists found that extreme heatwaves have increased by at least 50 times during the last 30 years. The researchers, including James Hansen of NASA, conclude that climate change is the only explanation for such a statistical jump.
"This is not a climate model or a prediction but actual observations...
New study ties heat waves to climate change
Posted by The Hill: Ben Geman on August 5th, 2012
The Hill: Extreme summer heat waves and droughts in recent years are the result of climate change, a top federal scientist concludes in a new peer-reviewed study.
The study by James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, could provide new political ammunition for environmentalists struggling to defend and advance climate regulations. Hansen touted the analysis he authored with two colleagues – which will be published Monday – in a weekend Washington Post column.
“These weather...
NER 300: Prize fund for carbon capture projects shrinks by £800m
Posted by Guardian: Simon Neville on August 5th, 2012
Guardian: The future of carbon capture and storage in Europe has been thrown into doubt after £800m was wiped off the value of a prize fund for developing the technology.
The NER300 fund was supposed to encourage firms across the continent to build commercially viable CCS projects in return for about EUR3bn (£2.4bn) but the cash was linked to the value of carbon credits, which have plunged 50% in the two years since the project was launched.
The UK leads the way in CCS technology, but now experts are...
Oklahoma wildfires destroy homes – in pictures
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
Guardian: Wildfires have burned out of control in Oklahoma, destroying homes and shutting down highways in a state that has suffered 18 straight days of sweltering temperatures and persistent drought. Emergency officials counted 11 different wildfires around the state, with at least 65 homes destroyed
Oklahoma wildfires prompt evacuations and destroy dozens of homes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
Guardian: Several wildfires raging around the parched Oklahoma landscape prompted more evacuations Sunday as emergency workers sought to shelter those forced out by flames that destroyed dozens of homes and threatened others in the drought-stricken region.
One roaring fire near Luther, about 25 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, destroyed nearly five dozen homes and other buildings before firefighters gained a measure of control Saturday. Authorities said several state roads remained closed early Sunday...
Insight: A year on, Nigeria’s oil still poisons Ogoniland
Posted by Reuters: Tim Cocks on August 5th, 2012
Reuters: A bright yellow sign above the well in this sleepy Nigerian village says 'caution: not fit for use', and the sulphurous stink off the water that children still pump into buckets sharply reinforces that warning.
"Can you smell it? Don't get any in your mouth or you'll be sick," said Victoria Jiji, 55, as she walked past the bore hole in her home village of Ekpangbala, one of several in Ogoniland, southeast Nigeria, whose drinking water has turned toxic.
Prosperity has flowed from Ogoniland,...
Is Climate Change Responsible For Record-Breaking June Heat?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
redOrbit: More than half of the contiguous states in the US were experiencing drought by early July 2012, and over 170 all-time American heat records were tied or surpassed during the month of June, according to new research released by NASA scientists on Friday.
Many of the record highs experienced during the sixth month of the year surpassed records originally set during the months of July and August, which historically have been hotter than June, Dauna Coulter reported in an August 3 piece entitled "The...