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Archive for December 21st, 2012
Prairie Resurgence in the Midwest
Posted by Environmental News Network: Allison Winter, Enn on December 21st, 2012
Environmental News Network: Suburban sprawl meant the introduction of lawn monoculture: perfectly cut, well-manicured lawns that became a part of pride for many American homeowners. However, in the Midwest, a new lawn resurgence is occurring: restoring yards to the native prairies that existed in pre-settlement days.
In an effort to manage yards and fallow farmland succumbing to invasive shrubs, more and more people are spending the time and resources to turn their property into the native ecosystem that once ruled the...
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U.S. releases initial report on fracking impacts on drinking water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2012
Reuters: The Obama administration issued the framework on Friday of a long-term study on whether fracking for natural gas pollutes drinking water, but will not make conclusions until 2014 about the controversial technique that is helping to fuel a domestic drilling boom.
Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency study, called for by Congress in 2010, complain it does not closely examine the impact of drillers' injecting waste water deep underground, a practice that has been linked to small earthquakes....
Barge en route to transfer oil from tanker aground in New York: Port
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2012
Reuters: Oil trapped in a tanker that ran aground on the Hudson River near Albany, New York will be transferred to a barge on Friday night, the Port of Albany said.
The Stena Primorsk, a 600-foot (182-metre) motor tanker, was carrying 11.7 million gallons (under 280,000 barrels) of light crude oil when it lost steering control on Thursday morning and hit land near Stuyvesant, New York, about 20 miles downriver from Albany, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The light crude oil on the tanker was from...
Antarctic lake bid set to restart
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2012
BBC: A tiny electronic component the size of a thumbnail holds the key to the future of an £8m search for life beneath the ice of Antarctica.
The project to drill through the ice-sheet to reach the hidden waters of Lake Ellsworth has been on hold for the past week after a boiler broke down.
The component just arrived after a journey of roughly 15,000km.
Engineers will now attempt to fit the part in the next few days in the hope of restarting drilling next week.
The drill is meant to be powered...
Fungus threatens French canal trees
Posted by BBC: Thomas Hannen on December 21st, 2012
BBC: The picturesque Canal du Midi in southern France is a recognised UNESCO World Heritage site. But the 42,000 plane trees which run along its sides may have to be chopped down due to the spread of the infectious Ceratocystis platani fungus. Thomas Hannen reports.
Ups and downs of biodiversity after mass extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2012
ScienceDaily: The climate after the largest mass extinction so far 252 million years ago was cool, later very warm and then cool again. Thanks to the cooler temperatures, the diversity of marine fauna ballooned, as paleontologists from the University of Zurich have reconstructed. The warmer climate, coupled with a high CO2 level in the atmosphere, initially gave rise to new, short-lived species. In the longer term, however, this climate change had an adverse effect on biodiversity and caused species to become...
Modern-Day Dust Bowls Devastate Regions Throughout the World
Posted by EcoWatch: Janet Larsen, Earth Policy Institute on December 21st, 2012
EcoWatch: Unfortunately, dust bowls are not just relics of the past. Today two new dust bowls are forming: one in northern China and southern Mongolia and the other in Africa south of the Sahara.
When most people hear the term “dust bowl,” they think of the American heartland in the 1930s, when a homesteading wheat bonanza led to the plowing up of the Great Plains’ native grassland, culminating in the greatest environmental disaster in U.S. history.
Despite warnings from researchers and some farmers,...
Climate Change: President Obama’s FDR Moment
Posted by Huffington Post: Frances Beinecke and Michael Brune on December 21st, 2012
Huffington Post: 2012 was a historic year for climate disasters. Between a devastating drought, raging wildfires and the superstorm Hurricane Sandy, millions of Americans saw the very real toll that climate disruption is having on our country. But it's not just extreme weather events - according to data from NOAA, 2012 is on track to be the hottest year ever for the contiguous United States.
As we enter 2013, President Barack Obama faces a major challenge on how to address climate disruption. The nation -- and...
2012 Second-Costliest Year for Weather Disasters, NOAA Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 21st, 2012
USA Today: Led by the devastation from Hurricane Sandy and the Midwest drought, 2012 will likely be the second-costliest year for weather and climate disasters on record, according to data released today by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The costliest year for damages in the USA was 2005, when four hurricanes lashed the nation, including Katrina.
The USA has endured 11 separate weather and climate disasters so far this year that led to damages of at least $1 billion, NOAA reported...
United States: When sea rises, should a neighborhood be abandoned?
Posted by ClimateWire: Anne C. Mulkern on December 21st, 2012
ClimateWire: For one town at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay, water has been the enemy for many years.
Floods have struck repeatedly in Alviso, a San Jose neighborhood of about 2,000 people. Lying about 8 feet below sea level, it's been inundated when nearby rivers overflowed during rainstorms, with water rising so high it filled up homes and destroyed businesses.
With climate change predicted to increase sea levels, some fear the water at some point could be unstoppable.
"Without this levee...