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Archive for August, 2012
Opinion: Is It Hot Enough for Ya?
Posted by New York Times: Eric Klinenberg on August 5th, 2012
New York Times: CLIMATE change is hardly a seasonal issue, but summer is the only time of year when Americans and the news media regularly fix their attention on the everyday heat emergency that’s already altering life on our planet. Indeed, this summer’s record-shattering weather across the United States has created a heightened level of interest in and concern about the consequences of climate change. For the moment, we have an opportunity to make fundamental changes to the way our country deals with the environment,...
Fairs, Like Crops, Are Drooping With the Heat
Posted by New York Times: Monica Davey on August 5th, 2012
New York Times: The cheese curds were sizzling in vats of oil, the cartoon-colored carnival rides were spinning, and the tractors, ready to pull something heavy, were revving. Yet all was not right last week at the Ozaukee County Fair, age 153. Inside the barns here, the entries competing for top vegetable and flower were fewer than usual. The rabbits vying for prizes were scarcer, too, said Elaine Diedrich, supervisor of the rabbit tent, as she paced the aisles, ready to submerge overheated animals up to their...
New study links heat waves to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 5th, 2012
Associated Press: The relentless, weather-gone-crazy type of heat that has blistered the United States and other parts of the world in recent years is so rare that it can't be anything but man-made global warming, says a new statistical analysis from a top government scientist.
The research by a man often called the "godfather of global warming" says that the likelihood of such temperatures occurring from the 1950s through the 1980s was rarer than 1 in 300. Now, the odds are closer to 1 in 10, according to the...
Obama Silent On Climate
Posted by BuzzFeed: None Given on August 5th, 2012
BuzzFeed: In an April interview with Rolling Stone, President Barack Obama promised to make the changing global environment a central topic in this year's presidential campaign.
"I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we're going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way,' he said at the time. "I'm deeply concerned that internationally, we have not made as much progress as we need to make.'
But mentions of climate change have been almost entirely absent from this...
Climate change to blame for worsening summer heat, drought, NASA scientist says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
GlobalPost: Human-driven climate change is to blame for extreme heat and drought seen in the US, Europe and other regions in recent years, a top NASA scientist has said.
James Hansen, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, added in a Washington Post editorial that even his "grim" predictions of a warming future, delivered before the US Senate in 1988, were too "optimistic."
"I have a confession to make: I was too optimistic," Hansen wrote.
"My projections about increasing global temperature...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate change to blame for worsening summer heat, drought, NASA scientist saysUnited Kingdom: Act now or species will be lost, environment groups warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
Guardian: Many species in some of the most remote vestiges of Britain's overseas territories face extinction unless a government plan to protect them sets out clearly defined preservation targets, according to wildlife experts.
A newly unveiled government white paper pledges to "cherish the environment" in its 14 overseas territories, which include the British Virgin Islands, the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the Falkland Islands.
However, the RSPB – which claims that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Act now or species will be lost, environment groups warnHeatwave turns America’s waterways into rivers of death
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
Independent: The cruel summer heat-wave that continues to scorch agricultural crops across much of the United States and which is prompting comparisons with the severe droughts of the 1930s and 1950s is also leading to record-breaking water temperatures in rivers and streams, including the Mississippi, as well as fast-falling navigation levels.
While in the northern reaches of the Mississippi, near Moline in Illinois, the temperature touched 90 degrees last week – warmer than the Gulf of Mexico around the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Heatwave turns America’s waterways into rivers of deathWildfires burn dozens of homes in Oklahoma as temperatures reach 113F
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
Associated Press: Wildfires whipped by gusty, southerly winds have swept through rural woodlands north and south of Oklahoma City, burning dozens of homes as firefighters struggled to contain some of the fires amid 113F heat.
Hundreds of people were told to leave their homes in at least four counties on Friday, while smoke and flames prompted authorities to close parts of Interstate 44, the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and two state highways.
"A man refused to leave. From what I know, he wanted...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildfires burn dozens of homes in Oklahoma as temperatures reach 113F6 Ways California Is Planning to Adapt to Climate Change
Posted by Mother Jones: Erika Eichelberger on August 4th, 2012
Mother Jones: North Carolina is dealing with sea level rise by banning science. California is doing something else: actually making plans.
The Golden State has made itself a leader on climate change in recent years, with initiatives to slash greenhouse gas emissions and amp up renewable energy, and has now just released a hefty report on global warming's impacts on the state and how it plans to adapt to a hot new West.
The report, put out by the California Energy Commission and Natural Resources Agency on...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 6 Ways California Is Planning to Adapt to Climate ChangeThis Drought’s No Dry Run: Lessons Of The Dust Bowl
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 4th, 2012
National Public Radio: This summer's drought continues to wilt and bake crops from Ohio to the Great Plains and beyond. Under a baking, late-afternoon sun just outside of the tiny east-central Illinois town of Thawville, John Hildenbrand walks down his dusty, gravel driveway toward one of his corn fields.
"You can see on the outer edge, these are a lot better-looking ears on the outside rows. Of course, it's not near as hot as it is inside the field," he says.
Walking deeper into the 7-foot-high corn stalks, the...