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Archive for November 16th, 2012
Researcher: The clocks are ticking and the climate is changing
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2012
PhysOrg: Dartmouth plant biologist C. Robertson (Rob) McClung is not your typical clock-watcher. His clocks are internal, biological, and operate in circadian rhythms-cycles based on a 24-hour period. Living organisms depend upon these clocks to keep pace with the Earth's daily rotation and the recurring changes it imposes on the environment. These clocks allow the plant or animal to anticipate the changes and adapt to them by modifying its biology, behavior, and biochemistry.
"If you know that the sun...
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Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture and food security in West – Research
Posted by African Press Organization: None Given on November 16th, 2012
African Press Organization: Climate change is a major challenge for agriculture and food security in West Africa. Complex relationships and interactions exist between agriculture and climate change. The FAO estimates (2011) show that agriculture produces 14% of carbon emissions, the equivalent of 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Given the high population growth and increasing demand for food, agriculture must adapt and also contribute to reducing carbon emissions through climate-smart management practices.
In...
40 Communities Worldwide Organize Actions to Protest Dirty Energy
Posted by EcoWatch: Tar Sands Blockade on November 16th, 2012
EcoWatch: Solidarity actions are taking place in more than 40 communities around the world protesting dirty energy and spotlighting an urgent need to address the climate crisis during the week of action Nov. 14 to Nov. 20. Following a summer of unprecedented extreme weather and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy the Tar Sands Blockade, a sustained direct action campaign based in Texas against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has called for this week’s actions.
The closing of the hottest year...
Drought, water scare has agribusiness giant worried
Posted by Associated Press: David Mercer on November 16th, 2012
Associated Press: At the height of this year's drought, decision-makers at the agribusiness giant Archers Daniels Midland kept an uneasy eye on the reservoir down the hill from their headquarters.
At one point, the water level fell to within 2 inches of the point where the company was in danger of being told for the first time ever that it couldn't draw as much as it wanted. The company uses millions of gallons of water a day to turn corn and soybeans into everything from ethanol and cattle feed to cocoa and a...
Scientists: Record temperatures will alter landscape
Posted by Cape Code Times: Doug Fraser on November 16th, 2012
Cape Code Times: Given the Katrina-like devastation after Superstorm Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey, it was no surprise Thursday when panelists at a global warming symposium were told that water temperatures in the Northeast for the first half of 2012 were the warmest in more than 150 years of record keeping.
The region experienced record heat on land in 2012, and water temperatures hit all-time highs from top to bottom, all along the continental shelf from the Mid-Atlantic states to Canada. This was...
In Sandy’s wake, a reshaped coastline
Posted by National Public Radio: Adam Cole on November 16th, 2012
National Public Radio: New Jersey's most affluent community, Mantoloking, sits on a narrow barrier island 30 miles north of Long Beach. As Sandy approached, most of the residents fled inland. But Edwin C. O'Malley and his father, Edwin J. O'Malley Jr., hunkered down in their 130-year-old house.
They tied a boat to their porch and then watched the storm surge break over the dunes and flood the streets.
"Overnight that night, lying in bed, I could actually hear waves hitting the side of the house - which obviously...
Human waste still pouring into NY Harbor after Sandy
Posted by NBC: Brian Thompson on November 16th, 2012
NBC: The operator of the fifth largest sewage treatment plant in the nation says it can make no promise as to when the plant will stop polluting the New York harbor.
A 12-foot surge of water swamped the Newark plant that serves some 3 million people when Sandy struck on Oct. 29 and repairs are not incomplete.
Mike DiFrancisci, executive director of the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission, would only say "ASAP" when asked when repairs to the sprawling facility could be made.
Until then, the main...
BP to pay record $4bn for Deepwater oil disaster
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on November 16th, 2012
BusinessGreen: Oil giant BP has been fined a record $4bn and will plead guilty to 14 criminal charges over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in the United States' history.
The US Department of Justice yesterday confirmed BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress for actions that led to the disaster.
As part of its guilty plea, BP agreed to pay $4bn in criminal fines and penalties, which...
Less fortunate in U.S. hit hardest by extreme weather – report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 16th, 2012
Reuters: U.S. droughts, floods and heat waves likely fueled by climate change in the last two years hit the people who can afford it the least - the poor and middle class, a report published on Friday said.
In affected areas of U.S. states hit by five or more extreme weather events in the last two years, the median annual household income was a bit over $48,000, or 7 percent below the national median, according to the report by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the...
Catching up on climate change in Idaho
Posted by Idaho Statesman: Rocky Barker on November 16th, 2012
Idaho Statesman: Hurricane Sandy and other recent natural disasters have put climate change back into the national discussion even though it was ignored throughout most of the presidential campaign.
Bloomberg Businessweek Magazine went beyond the scientific consensus linking the storm to the trend with this month's cover story headline "It's Global Warming, Stupid." But hydrologists, biologists and foresters in Idaho have been documenting the reality of climate change for the past two decades.
They are seeing...