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Archive for December 28th, 2012
United Kingdom: The rain falls – while the government pulls the plug on flood defences
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 28th, 2012
Guardian: Should the weather over the next three months be anything like normal, we are on course for Britain's soggiest winter since records began. In England, it is already the wettest year. Even people who like to deny climate change and wish to sweep away planning rules now understand that floods can strike almost anywhere at any time. Waterlogged homes are a regular feature of British life.
This year caps more than a decade of inundation. In 2012, 7,500 homes have been ruined, with one in six properties...
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Fifty years after Silent Spring, are we any closer to saving the world?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 28th, 2012
Telegraph: It's the end of an important anniversary year. You already knew that? Sure, but I'm not thinking of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. For 2012, far less happily, also marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the great and growing environmental slanging match.
On June 16, 1962 -- half a century before this summer's vapid Rio Earth Summit -- the New Yorker started serialising one of those rare books that make history. Published three months later, Silent Spring -- by a shy, studious scientist, Rachel...
United Kingdom: Forest Canopy Color Reveals CO2 Uptake
Posted by Scientific American: Karen Hopkin on December 28th, 2012
Scientific American: When autumn rolls around, the leaf peepers come out in force. Armed with digital cameras, they record the most spectacular displays of fall foliage. Well according to a study in the journal Functional Ecology [Toshie Mizunuma et al, The relationship between carbon dioxide uptake and canopy colour from two camera systems in a deciduous forest in southern England], those images may be more than just pretty pictures. They may represent a new way to monitor climate change. Trees take carbon dioxide,...
African scientists call for climate change evidence
Posted by SciDevNet: Emeka Johnkingsley on December 28th, 2012
SciDevNet: African scientists urgently need to build more evidence on the impact of climate change on the continent, a conference has heard.
A joint statement issued at the eighth Annual Meeting of African Science Academies last month (12--14November) in Nigeria, notes that Africa lacks much home-grown data about the impacts of extreme weather events and sea level rise.
It says: "Actions required of science include contributions to the development of risk assessments and mapping for various anticipated...
Scientist at Work Blog: A Fish With Nowhere to Hide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 28th, 2012
New York Times: The weather is much better, and we were able to do several dives and get a good grasp on just how bad the lionfish invasion in Belize really is. They are everywhere. We saw and collected them in all habitats we visited, including coral reef, sea grass and mangrove. Finding them in the last two is especially disheartening, as they are nursery habitats for many coral reef species. Lionfish are eating young reef fish before they can even get there.
In the morning we dove along the barrier reef to...
UK flooding: ‘It felt as if my house had died’
Posted by Guardian: Steven Morris on December 28th, 2012
Guardian: The days blur into one for pensioners Les and Sheila Seaton. They get up early, spend the day cleaning, scrubbing, organising and then collapse in front of the television on their borrowed armchairs.
"We get to see the first few seconds of the programme, then we fall fast asleep," said Les, a sprightly 79-year-old. "We wake up an hour or two later and go to bed, then it starts over again next morning. It's been hard work but we'll get there in the end."
The Seatons are just one of the tens...
Superstorm lessons for adapting to climate change
Posted by New Scientist: Hal Hodson on December 28th, 2012
New Scientist: PYRAMIDS of rubble still dominate the streets of Union Beach, New Jersey. Boats are parked in odd places, while a layer of glass and grit makes the sidewalks crunch. Down by the water everything is quiet. You can see Manhattan across the bay, framed by the skeletons of dwellings devoured by one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US east coast. Superstorm Sandy killed more than 100 people last October, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and stranded millions without power or heat. The...
Strong jet stream super-charged US Christmas storms
Posted by New Scientist: Victoria Jaggard on December 28th, 2012
New Scientist: The weather outside was truly frightful across much of the US and UK this holiday season. In the US, a powerful winter storm whipped up heavy snow, icy winds and a record number of tornadoes in late December, causing at least 15 deaths.
Such storms are not unusual at this time of year, but an especially strong jet stream made the storm more intense, says meteorologist Greg Carbin of the US National Weather Service.
"One of the more remarkable places was Little Rock, Arkansas," says Carbin....
International Aid Helps Cuba Adapt to Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 28th, 2012
Inter Press Service: "Adaptation to climate change is urgent and must be part of development," said Bárbara Pesce-Monteiro, the United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, assessing the damage done by hurricane Sandy in the eastern region of the country.
She said the damage was very serious, especially in Santiago de Cuba, a city of almost half a million people and a services hub for other towns. In order to support the country at such a difficult time, the United Nations system in Cuba designed an action plan that...
BLM approves Las Vegas water pipeline project
Posted by Associated Press: Sandra Chereb on December 28th, 2012
Associated Press: The Bureau of Land Management signed off Thursday on a massive pipeline project to carry billions of gallons of water to Las Vegas from rural counties along the Nevada-Utah line.
The record of decision, signed by Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes, authorizes the BLM to issue a right of way to Southern Nevada Water Authority for the 263-mile pipeline that will stretch from the rural areas to the desert gambling metropolis that is home to some 2 million people and attracts 40 million visitors...