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Archive for January 19th, 2013
People Can Change, Home Should Not
Posted by Huffington Post: Rebecca Duncan on January 19th, 2013
Huffington Post: Google "Ohio," "fracking," and "map" and you'll get a drawing of the Buckeye State overlaid with digital pushpins that mark where the trucks are lumbering in with concrete and piping, bands of structural steel, and garage-sized compressors. Forests and pastures are giving way to massive drilling pads, where millions of tons of water will accelerate the slow, natural process by which oil and natural gas emerge from the brittle rock.
Most of the pins on this map run north and south, parallel to...
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United Kingdom: Battle for soul of the Lakes pits unspoilt nature against the lure of more jobs
Posted by Guardian: Mark Townsend on January 19th, 2013
Guardian: From the soaring crags of Scafell Pike to the black depths of Wastwater, the Lake District is one of Britain's most beguiling destinations.
Yet its landscape is now at the centre of an increasingly fractious dispute between those who insist that preserving the pristine qualities of the fells is the best blueprint for economic development and a group who say that new developments in the area would create more jobs and growth.
Britain's best-known mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonington, fired the first...
Midwest to feel the heat of global warming
Posted by Summit Voice: None Given on January 19th, 2013
Summit Voice: The Midwest could be among the regions hit hardest by climate change, according to a trio of University of Michigan researchers who authored sections of the recent national climate assessment.
The region is likely to face frequent and more intense heat waves, water quality degradation and public health threats, with increasing risks to Great Lakes ecosystems.
"Climate change impacts in the Midwest are expected to be as diverse as the landscape itself. Impacts are already being felt in the forests,...
Australia: Victoria’s south east faces destructive fires
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Tracy Bowden on January 19th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Bushfires in Victoria have destroyed a number of homes as the Country Fire Authority fights a 25,000-hectare blaze around Gippsland in the state's south-east.
Transcript
TRACY BOWDEN, PRESENTER: Tonight the heat is on for fire fighters across huge sections of the country, with bushfires burning in Victoria and New South Wales.
Scorching temperatures and strong winds sparked emergency after emergency, as fires broke containment lines, consuming tens of thousands of hectares of bushland. ...
Mayors focus on local warming, urge Obama to act
Posted by Reuters: Valerie Volcovici and Patrick Rucker on January 19th, 2013
Reuters: Reeling from an historic drought, the hottest year on record and more frequent wild weather, mayors from a number of U.S. cities urged the White House this week to take the lead on setting an agenda to address climate change.
City leaders said that only the federal government has the tools and clout to address greenhouse gases often blamed for warming the planet, while mayors focus on issues of "local warming" such as providing a reliable water supply or protecting citizens during dangerous weather...
Amazon imperiled by climate change droughts: Study
Posted by Epic Times: Alex Johnston on January 19th, 2013
Epic Times: A massive drought almost eight years ago is still affecting the Amazon rainforest to this day, according to a new study released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The continued impact of the 2005 drought, which is still affecting an area in the Amazon about the size of the state of California, could possibly be the first telltale signs “of potential large-scale degradation due to climate change,” NASA said in a press release. The laboratory analyzed satellite data collected between 2000 and...
Pakistan: Climate change affecting fish catch, warn experts
Posted by The News: M. Waqar Bhatti on January 19th, 2013
The News: Climate change is affecting fish catch in Pakistani waters as elsewhere in the world, as changes have been observed in the timing and duration of fishing seasons in the studies recently carried out in Jiwani, Keti Bunder and Kharo Chan districts.
This was stated by Ali Dehlavi, Project Manager, Building Capacity on Climate Change Adaptation in Coastal Areas of Pakistan (CCAP) project, while speaking on the second day of the three-day workshop titled "A Regional Perspective for Assuring Sustainable...
Report Analyzes Impact Of Climate Change On Great Lakes, US Midwest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2013
RedOrbit: Because of global warming, heat waves will become harsher and intense rainstorms will become more common in the US Midwest over the next couple of decades, claims a new report released by the federal government last week. The Midwest chapter of the over 1,100 page National Climate Assessment also revealed that the region would be subject to degrading air and water quality, an increased frequency of flooding, and potential public health risks, the University of Michigan announced on Friday. Three...
140 countries agree mercury treaty
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2013
Guardian: More than 140 nations have agreed on the first legally-binding treaty to curb mercury pollution.
Delegates at UN talks in Geneva approved measures to control the use of the highly toxic metal, which is widely used in chemical production and small-scale mining, in order to limit mercury emissions.
The executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, said: "To agree on global targets is not easy to do. There was no delegation here that wished to leave Geneva without drafting...
Countries agree UN mercury rules
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2013
BBC: More than 140 countries have agreed on a set of legally binding measures to curb mercury pollution, at UN talks.
Delegates in Geneva approved measures to control the use of the highly toxic metal in order to reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment.
Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system.
The UN recently published data that showed mercury emissions were rising in a number of developing nations.
The...