RSS Feed
Archive for January 12th, 2013
Major report warns climate change could raise temperatures by 10 degrees
Posted by The Hill: None Given on January 12th, 2013
The Hill: A major draft federal report concludes that climate change is already affecting U.S. residents through heat waves, droughts and other changes, and warns that temperatures could increase as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit if global carbon emissions keep soaring.
The third National Climate Assessment, released Friday, said there’s “unambiguous evidence” that earth is warming, and that climate change over the past 50 years is driven primarily by human activity, especially from burning fossil fuels....
Posted in 
Climate panel says coast, midwest at risk of extreme weather
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem on January 12th, 2013
Bloomberg: Average U.S. temperatures may jump as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 Celsius) in the coming decades, and efforts to combat the effects are insufficient, a government advisory panel on climate change said.
The 60-member panel approved and released a draft report today that says many coastal areas face “potentially irreversible impacts” as warmer temperatures lead to flooding, storm surges and water shortages.
“The chances of record-breaking, high-temperature extremes will continue to increase...
Federal report links man-made emissions to ‘unambiguous’ changes in U.S. life, landscape
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2013
Greenwire: Man-made climate change is already altering the way Americans live and work, according to a new federal report that projects the country could warm another 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century if emissions of heat-trapping gases continue to rise.
"Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans," says the report, the third national assessment of climate change impacts in the United States. "The sum total of this evidence tells an unambiguous...
The greenest office building in the world is about to open in Seattle
Posted by Fast Company: None Given on January 12th, 2013
Fast Company: Seattle’s Bullitt Center is being heralded as the greenest, most energy-efficient commercial office building in the world. It’s not that the six-story, 50,000-square-foot building is utilizing never-before-seen technology. But it’s combining a lot of different existing technologies and methods to create a structure that’s a showpiece for green design--and a model for others to follow.
A project of the Bullitt Foundation, a Seattle-based sustainability advocacy group, the Bullitt Center has an...
US study warns of extreme heat, more severe storms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: A government report warned the United States could face more frequent severe weather including heat waves and storms for decades to come as temperatures rise far beyond levels being planned for.
The draft Third National Climate Assessment, a scientific study legally mandated to advise US policymakers, made few bones that carbon emissions have been causing climate change -- a source of controversy among some lawmakers.
"Evidence for climate change abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the...
How Australians survive the raging bushfires
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Barry Parker on January 12th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: Dozens of out-of-control fires have burnt vast tracts of Australia, destroying homes and crops and killing animals, but not a single person has died.
The success of the operation to safeguard lives has much to do with a detailed guide to surviving bush blazes, along with an official danger rating system that was introduced after 173 people perished in the 2009 Black Saturday firestorm.
In addition the Rural Fire Service (RFS) is extremely proactive in promoting safety precautions and warns...
Insuring for climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2013
Living on Earth: 2012 Was the hottest year ever recorded in the United States as well as one of the most costly in terms of weather disasters like Hurricane Sandy. Ernst Rauch, head of the Corporate Climate Center for reinsurance company Munich Re tells host Steve Curwood that insurance companies are taking note of an increase in claims as a result of climate change.
Transcript
CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston, this is Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. Well, it's official: 2012...
Australia: Heatwave exacerbated by climate change says Climate Commission
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Simon Lauder on January 12th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: A new report from the Federal Government's Climate Commission says the heatwave and bushfires that have affected Australia this week have been exacerbated by global warming.
The report - Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat - warns of more extreme bushfires and hotter, longer, bigger and more frequent heatwaves, due to climate change.
It says the number of record heat days across Australia has doubled since 1960 and more temperature records are likely to be broken as hot conditions...
California cold snap threatens $2 billion citrus harvest
Posted by Reuters: Brandon Lowrey on January 12th, 2013
Reuters: An Arctic air mass has sent temperatures plunging across California, threatening the state's lucrative citrus harvest, its winter vegetables and its more cold-sensitive strawberry crop, weather and agricultural experts said on Friday.
Temperatures throughout the state fell by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius) below normal on Thursday and Friday as snowfall and sub-freezing conditions forced a 17-hour closure of a key highway, Interstate 5, through the mountains north of Los...
Australia: Record heat, low rain leave regions ‘primed’ to ignite
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on January 12th, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: A LEADING weather researcher says Australia's great heatwave this year and low rainfall have left some regions ''primed to go''.
The weather bureau's rainfall maps for the past three months show virtually all the southern and eastern parts of the country have posted below or very-much-below average rainfall.
And the past fortnight of record-breaking heat across much of the continent meant fuel loads in bushfire areas were ''trumping the situation'' due to lowering moisture levels, said Jeff...