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Archive for October, 2012
Hurricane Sandy: Scientists see extent of storm’s damage linked to climate change
Posted by Greenwire: Lauren Morello on October 31st, 2012
Greenwire: For many, reports of Hurricane Sandy's massive reach and destructive potential raised a simple question with a complex answer: Is this climate change?
The answer, experts say, is a qualified "yes."
Late-season hurricanes like Sandy aren't unusual. That the hurricane melded with a blast of Arctic air as it moved ashore, transforming into a powerful "post-tropical" nor'easter, is rare but not unprecedented. And scientists are quick to point out that they cannot yet definitively link an individual...
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Water professionals urge caution over shale gas
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on October 31st, 2012
BusinessGreen: Proposed shale gas projects in the UK should face mandatory environmental risk assessments, according to a water industry body that has become the latest organisation to warn the government it must tread carefully in developing the controversial energy source.
In the UK, there is currently a moratorium on the process used to extract the gas, known as fracking, until more is known about its potential impacts, which campaigners say extend to earth tremors, landscape degradation, water contamination,...
After Sandy’s New York Deluge, a Flood of Rats?
Posted by National Geographic: Johnna Rizzo on October 31st, 2012
National Geographic: New York City's rats have arrived. In the wake of superstorm Sandy, residents of the city are soon likely to see them by the thousands, since the rodents have been driven from flooded subway tunnels.
When weather is drier, the rats seem to love living under the soil, and can dig deeper than water can seep. They could even have been safe in their burrows as the storm swept the city Monday. But many likely were out on the hunt for food.
"They're in the subway, in spite of the subway," said exterminator...
Scientists look at climate change, the superstorm
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2012
Associated Press: Climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer stood along the Hudson River and watched his research come to life as Hurricane Sandy blew through New York.
Just eight months earlier, the Princeton University professor reported that what used to be once-in-a-century devastating floods in New York City would soon happen every three to 20 years.
He blamed global warming for pushing up sea levels and changing hurricane patterns.
New York "is now highly vulnerable to extreme hurricane-surge flooding,"...
Will elephant contraception work in South Africa?
Posted by BBC: Martin Plaut on October 31st, 2012
BBC: Birth control for elephants in South Africa is being hailed as a success, after the introduction of a contraception vaccine being trialled by researchers.
Wildlife conservationists believe it is likely to become the way to control South Africa's ever-expanding elephant population.
But the plans have provoked considerable controversy.
Some of the country's most eminent elephant experts are completely opposed to the contraception programme.
Elephants eat an estimated 270kg (600lbs) of food...
Food may cause almost a third of greenhouse emissions -study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2012
Reuters: Food production accounts for up to 29 percent of man-made greenhouse gases, twice the amount the United Nations has estimated comes from farming, a study published on Wednesday said.
Looking at emissions across the food system - including forest clearance, fertiliser production and transport - rather than just farming itself - agriculture research organisation CGIAR said much more work was needed to cut climate change emissions from food.
Its report, "Climate Change and Food Systems", estimated...
East Coast crippled by massive storm, death toll climbs
Posted by Reuters: Dhanya Skariachan and Martinne Geller on October 31st, 2012
Reuters: Millions of people were left reeling in the aftermath of the whipping winds and heavy rains of the massive storm Sandy on Tuesday as New York City and many parts of the eastern United States struggled with epic flooding and extensive power outages.
The storm killed at least 40 people, including at least 18 in New York City, and insurance companies started to tally billions of dollars in losses.
Sandy, which crashed ashore with hurricane-force winds on Monday near the New Jersey gambling resort...
When the chips are down: potato, maize and rice crop yields set to fall
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2012
Guardian: Farmers will need to grow different crops as rising temperatures and unpredictable rainfall lead to a drop in yields of maize, rice and wheat in developing countries, according to agricultural experts.
The three crops are the main source of calories globally, but all regions will have to change their approach to what they grow and eat, researchers said in a report, Recalibrating food production in the developing world, which analysed the potential effects of climate change on 22 of the world's...
You can’t blame the superstorm on climate change — not yet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2012
Associated Press: Climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer stood along the Hudson River and watched his research come to life as Hurricane Sandy blew through New York.
Just eight months earlier, the Princeton University professor reported that what used to be once-in-a-century devastating floods in New York City would soon happen every three to 20 years. He blamed global warming for pushing up sea levels and changing hurricane patterns.
New York "is now highly vulnerable to extreme hurricane-surge flooding," he...
Maybe We Should Talk About Climate Change Now
Posted by Esquire: Charles P. Pierce on October 30th, 2012
Esquire: Add Andrew Cuomo of New York to the list of east-coast governors who are willing to acknowledge reality when they wake up and discover that half the Grand Banks has decided to pay a visit inland.
"There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement, that is a factual statement ... Anyone who says there's not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality," Cuomo said.
And, of course, there is nothing new about any of this.
"Sea level...