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Archive for December 19th, 2012
How Bad Will Climate Change Get for the Eastern US? Look at These Crazy Maps
Posted by Atlantic Cities: Emily Badger on December 19th, 2012
Atlantic Cities: We know by now that climate change is capable of making bad weather events worse. Heat waves will become longer, hotter, more frequent. Droughts will get drier, flood levels higher, freakish storms less freakish in their regularity. But nothing makes this prospect sound quite so scary as some very specific numbers.
So here are some new ones to ponder. This latest data comes from a recent study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, which used a high-resolution climate modeling...
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Time is Short: Every Day, All Around the World
Posted by Deep Green Resistance: Alex Budd on December 19th, 2012
Deep Green Resistance: Despite the narratives that are drilled and forced into our heads--narratives of the exceptionality and futility of resistance--the history of civilization is chalk full of individuals, groups, movements that stood in the face of subjugation and cruelty to fight for a better world.
This is as true now as it has ever been, whether we’re talking about underground and aboveground groups finding indirect ways to collaborate in defending Russian forests, Ogoni militants attacking pipelines in the Niger...
Pinpoint climate studies flag trouble for Mexico, Central American farmers
Posted by Reuters: David Alire Garcia on December 19th, 2012
Reuters: A growing body of scientific evidence ranks Mexico and its southern neighbors near the top of the list of countries most vulnerable to global warming, and advances in micro-forecasting foresee a grim future in alarming detail.
According to two new studies, a deadly combination of warmer weather and less rainfall in the years ahead will devastate yields of traditional crops like corn and beans, as well as the region's market-critical coffee harvest.
The ultra-local projections with shorter time...
Obama’s Victory a Boon for Clear Air, Water Acts
Posted by Inter Press Service: Matthew Charles Cardinale on December 19th, 2012
Inter Press Service: With Barack Obama's re-election last month as U.S. president, key environmental protections escaped a likely Republican chopping block, and new regulations are expected when his second term begins in January.
Environmentalists say the situation would be much different had former governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, the Republican nominee, been elected president. Romney had sworn to roll back many, if not all, of the regulations enacted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during Obama's...
United States: A Wake-Up Call on the Hudson
Posted by EcoWatch: Riverkeeper on December 19th, 2012
EcoWatch: Riverkeeper released its second report on sewage contamination in the Hudson River Estuary today, How Is the Water? 2012 detailing the ongoing widespread problem of sewage pollution in our local waterways.
Twenty-four percent of Riverkeeper’s samples, taken from NY Harbor to Troy between 2006-2011, failed EPA guidelines for safe swimming. This is up from a failure rate of 21 percent for 2006-2010 and is three times greater than the 7 percent failure rate at beaches nationwide for the same time...
Climate Already Altering U.S. Ecosystems and Biodiversity, Report Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 19th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Climate change is causing plant and animal species across the U.S. to shift their geographic ranges and life events -- from flowering to migration -- are being transformed at a faster rate than observed even a few years ago, a new analysis by 60 scientists says. According to the report, “Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services,” some terrestrial species are moving up in elevation at rates 2 to 3 times greater than previously believed, while the range shifts for some marine...
India: Grabbing Water From Future Generations
Posted by National Geographic: Fred Pearce on December 19th, 2012
National Geographic: This piece is part of Water Grabbers: A Global Rush on Freshwater, a special National Geographic Freshwater News series on how grabbing land-and water-from poor people, desperate governments, and future generations threatens global food security, environmental sustainability, and local cultures.
Suresh Ponnusami sat back on his porch by the road south of the Indian textile town of Tirupur. He was not rich, but for the owner of a two-acre farm in the backwoods of a developing country he was doing...
Energy boom may yield geopolitical shift for U.S.: Obama
Posted by Reuters: Roberta Rampton on December 19th, 2012
Reuters: The sudden boom in U.S. oil and natural gas production could eventually lead to a shift in relations with the Middle East as the United States becomes a net exporter of energy, President Barack Obama said in an interview published on Wednesday.
The United States is on track to surpass Saudi Arabia as the world's top oil producer by 2017. As early as 2016, the government has said the U.S. could be a net exporter of natural gas, and the Obama administration is weighing whether to allow exports to...
Scientists See Big Impacts on U.S. Ecosystems from Global Warming
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on December 19th, 2012
New York Times: A new analysis by dozens of scientists provides a useful update on measured and anticipated impacts of human-driven climate change on ecosystems from western forests to coastal waters. The report, "Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services," is one of a suite of studies feeding into what will be the third National Climate Assessment, an overarching analysis of impacts on everything from transportation systems to public health. (Periodic assessments were requested...
Keystone protesters pay price for camping in Texas trees
Posted by Bloomberg: David Mildenberg on December 19th, 2012
Bloomberg: Protesters trying to save the world by sitting in trees or blocking equipment used to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline are learning that environmental activism can be a ticket to lengthy jail time in East Texas.
Matthew Almonte, Glen Collins and Isabel Brooks landed in jail in Tyler on Dec. 3, charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass, resisting arrest and illegal dumping, following efforts to stop work on the TransCanada Corp. (TRP) pipeline. Each has asked for a reduction in the $65,000 bond...