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Archive for February 8th, 2013
Historic Blizzard Poised to Strike New England: What Role Is Climate Change Playing?
Posted by ThinkProgress: Joe Romm on February 8th, 2013
ThinkProgress: An epic blizzard is bearing down on New England - fed in part by relatively warm coastal waters.
I asked Dr. Kevin Trenberth, former head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, to comment on the role climate change has on this storm. He explained:
This is a perfect set up for a big storm, with the combination of two parts: a disturbance from the Gulf region with lots of moisture and a cold front from the west.
Ingredients for a big snow storm include...
Posted in 
Nemo And Climate Change Connection: Scientists Weigh-In
Posted by Huffington Post: Tom Zeller Jr. on February 8th, 2013
Huffington Post: A 2006 Nor'easter blotted out New England. Climate science suggests that such storms are becoming heavier -- and more common.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has posted an informative breakdown on the connections between the winter storm bearing down on the Northeast and the planet's changing climate.
"It’s Cold and My Car is Buried in Snow. Is Global Warming Really Happening?," notes that storms like this one -- a classic Nor'easter -- are well-known to residents along the nation's North...
Promised Land – first look review
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2013
Guardian: Here is an entertaining anti-corporate thriller directed by Gus Van Sant, very much in the mainstream-activist mode that gave us Milk and Good Will Hunting (rather than, say, the avant-gardist who directed Gerry and Paranoid Park, or the fey trendoid who brought us Restless or Last Days). The star is Matt Damon, who of course gained rather more than simply acting chops by co-scripting and producing Good Will Hunting (along with Ben Affleck, and look where he's ended up). Damon has produced this one...
Fog-catching fabric could improve water collection in deserts
Posted by SciDevNet: Joel Winston on February 8th, 2013
SciDevNet: A novel and affordable fabric may improve the efficiency of water collection from fog, helping to provide freshwater in desert areas.
Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology (EUT), in the Netherlands, and Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, turned a cotton fabric into a water-collecting material by coating it with a polymer called PNIPAAm.
The fabric switches between absorbing moisture directly from the air when it is foggy and cold, and releasing it as water at warmer...
Keystone XL: Pressure on Kerry ahead of meeting with Canada counterpart
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2013
Guardian: The US secretary of state, John Kerry, steps into America's biggest environmental controversy on Friday in his first meeting with a foreign minister since his swearing in.
Kerry's meeting in Washington with Canadian foreign minister, John Baird, will almost certainly touch on the Keystone XL pipeline project: a symbol of dirty oil for environmentalists, a route to market for land-locked Alberta. "I have no doubt that subject will come up, as it always does with our Canadian counterparts," the...
Corruption Muddies the Waters in Argentina
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Two corruption scandals -- one homegrown and the other originating in Spain - are again highlighting the connections in Argentina between irregular investments, the misuse of environmental remediation projects for private gain, and plans that contribute to the degradation of natural resources.
Pollution levels in the Matanza-Riachuelo basin have not dropped despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering its clean-up. Credit: Malena Bystrowicz /IPS
For the organisation Transparency International, climate...
Global warming bringing big changes to U.S. forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 8th, 2013
Associated Press: Big changes are in store for the nation`s forests as global warming increases wildfires and insect infestations, and generates more frequent floods and droughts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warns in a report released this week.
The compilation of more than 1,000 scientific studies is part of the National Climate Assessment and will serve as a roadmap for managing national forests across the country in coming years. It says the area burned by wildfires is expected to at least double over...
Canada: Environmental protection is tied to health of economy
Posted by Montreal Gazette: Editorial on February 8th, 2013
Montreal Gazette: In a speech last week to his Conservative caucus, Stephen Harper laid out four priorities for his government: citizenship, crime, the economy and families.
Following this week’s report to the House of Commons by Scott Vaughan, the federal commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, he would be well advised to add a fifth to that list: environmental regulation.
Vaughan’s report points out numerous weaknesses and confusions in federal environmental protection laws and monitoring...
Can Obama pair Keystone, climate action?
Posted by Politico: Andrew Restuccia on February 8th, 2013
Politico: President Barack Obama is approaching two of the most crucial energy decisions of his presidency: Should he disappoint climate activists by approving the Keystone XL pipeline? And should he anger industry groups by imposing tough greenhouse gas limits on existing power plants?
But the president may have a third option: trying to placate both sides.
Greenlighting Keystone while he moves forward with the power plant regulations could limit the political fallout from either move, handing Republicans...
Interior Department to Investigate Coal Exports
Posted by The Hill: Zack Colman on February 8th, 2013
The Hill: The Interior Department will investigate whether mining companies are gaming the federal government by skirting royalty payments, a pair of senior senators announced Friday.
The agency is looking into whether mining firms lowball the value of coal excavated from federal lands to minimize the fees they pay the government.
“The Department shares your concern that this matter should be taken seriously and be thoroughly investigated to determine if there is any merit to the allegations contained...