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Archive for December 11th, 2012
Climate change adaptation can help save lives now
Posted by Toronto Star: Garry Comber and Sohel Khan on December 11th, 2012
Toronto Star: Absent from the global discussions in Doha last week were some of those hardest hit by climate change: the world’s smallholder farmers. In developing countries in particular, farming families struggle to deal with more erratic rainfall, increasing temperatures, and more frequent droughts or floods. All of these factors make families more vulnerable and affect their food security -- their ability to grow or buy the food they need to stay healthy. While the world has prioritized reducing emissions,...
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NOAA Forms Hurricane Sandy Review Team, Again
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 11th, 2012
Climate Central: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the formation of an interagency review team to study the National Weather Service's (NWS) performance leading up to and during Hurricane Sandy. According to a statement from David Titley, the NOAA deputy undersecretary for operations, the team will be led by a scientist with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, and will include two social scientists and 10 experts from NWS, FEMA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...
IPCC Predictions: Then Versus Now
Posted by Daily Climate: Glenn Scherer on December 11th, 2012
Daily Climate: Scientists will tell you: There are no perfect computer models. All are incomplete representations of nature, with uncertainty built into them. But one thing is certain: Several fundamental projections found in U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports have consistently underestimated real-world observations, potentially leaving world governments in doubt as to how to guide climate policy. Emissions At the heart of all IPCC projections are "emission scenarios:" low-, mid-, and high-range...
United Kingdom: ‘Misleading and dangerous’: Leading energy expert attacks Chancellor George Osborne’s over dash-to-ga
Posted by Independent: Tom Bawden on December 11th, 2012
Independent: Professor Paul Stevens, a recent winner of the prestigious OPEC award for outstanding oil and energy research, condemned Mr Osborne’s autumn statement for implying that gas would be cheaper in the future and that the price decline would be the result of tapping Britain’s shale gas resources.
He argued that the gas price could well increase significantly, while any decrease “will certainly not be the result of any shale gas revolution in UK or Europe”.
Furthermore, Professor Stevens slammed...
United Kingdom: David Cameron: ‘Britain must be at the heart of shale gas revolution’
Posted by Independent: Oliver Wright, Michael McCarthy, Tom Bawden on December 11th, 2012
Independent: Britain must be at the heart of a “shale gas revolution”, David Cameron has said, which could bring down energy prices and help “re-industrialise” the economy.
Giving his public backing for plans to exploit the country’s onshore gas reserves – which is expected to be given the go-ahead by the Government very shortly – Mr Cameron said the new technology could transform our energy supplies.
But his stance was attacked by climate change scientists and energy experts who warned his dash-to-gas...
EPA Lets Energy Firms Pollute America’s Underground Water Supply
Posted by ProPublica: Abrahm Lustgarten on December 11th, 2012
ProPublica: A primary concern about the proposed Keystone XL [3] oil pipeline is that a leak would contaminate the Ogallala aquifer, one of the nation's most important sources of drinking and irrigation water. InsideClimate News is republishing this investigative story from ProPublica [1] because it highlights another risk to U.S. aquifers: The EPA is allowing some of them to be used as dumping grounds. Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500...
Water Pollution and the Farm Economy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 11th, 2012
New York Times: An analysis shows that from 2008 to 2011, water quality was rated "poor" or "very poor" at 60 percent of the 98 stream segments monitored by the Iowa Water Quality Index.
As many people know, the astounding increase in agricultural output that marked the latter half of the 20th century came at a high environmental price. Agriculture is a major contributor to global warming, and runoff from farm fields helps pollute rivers and streams.
In the United States, nothing quite symbolizes this issue...
Toxic Fracking Wastewater Banned in White Plains, New York
Posted by EcoWatch: Grassroots Environmental Education on December 11th, 2012
EcoWatch: A coalition of health and environmental groups gathered in White Plains today to congratulate the Westchester County Board of Legislators for unanimously voting to prohibit the sale, application and disposal of waste products from natural gas drilling anywhere in the county.
The new law, which applies to all wastewater treatment plants and all roads within the county, bans the sale of fracking waste, the processing of fracking waste at wastewater treatment plants, and the spreading of fracking...
High school senior sues Alaska over climate change
Posted by Alaska Public Radio: Ed Ronco on December 11th, 2012
Alaska Public Radio: The snow is coming later in Kipnuk. The river doesn’t stay frozen all winter. And the riverbank is quickly eroding. Those are just a few of the changes 18-year-old Nelson Kanuk says he sees in his western Alaska hometown.
“My house back in Kipnuk, we live right in front of the river bank,” he said.
Nelson Kanuk stands on the river bank near his home, in this screen shot from a short documentary about his life in Kipnuk. Click the photo to view the eight-minute film. (Photo from YouTube)
The...
United Kingdom: Anger at climate aid ‘blank cheque’
Posted by Daily Mail: Nick Mcdermott and Tamara Cohen on December 11th, 2012
Daily Mail: Ministers were accused of 'signing a blank cheque` for climate aid to the third world as Britain agreed a global deal to repair 'loss and damage` caused by extreme weather.
Energy Secretary Ed Davey pledged to help people in poor countries 'who will be underwater` due to rising sea-levels and melting glaciers on the final day of UN talks in Qatar.
In a deal signed by 193 nations, rich countries for the first time agreed to accept responsibility for the consequences of rising temperatures. ...