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Archive for February 9th, 2013
Indigenous resistance forces Malaysia to scale back twelve dam megaproject
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 9th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: A Malaysian state minister Friday said the government would not push ahead with building a dozen new dams on Borneo island, acknowledging they have caused outrage from local tribes and environmentalists.
The proposals sparked fears that the dams would destroy pristine rainforests, endanger wildlife, and displace natives in Sarawak, a Malaysian state crossed by powerful rivers with rich jungle habitats.
"It is not a firm plan to build 12 dams. I don't think we will need that. We will only need...
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Blizzard Buries New England, Breaks Snowfall Records
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 9th, 2013
Climate Central: Millions of New Englanders woke up to a staggering amount of snow as well as coastal flooding problems on Saturday after one of the worst winter storms on record slammed the region with whiteout conditions and hurricane-force winds, dumping more than 3 feet of snow in some places.
The storm shut down travel across the region, knocked out power to nearly 700,000 customers, stranded motorists in their vehicles on Long Island, and exceeded benchmarks set during the infamous Blizzard of 1978, which...
What You Need to See to Understand Blizzard ‘Nemo’
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on February 9th, 2013
Climate Central: The blizzard of 2013, named "Nemo" by weather.com, is unleashing a paralyzing blitz of heavy snow, strong winds, and coastal flooding in the Northeast. These images and videos help explain the dynamics powering the storm, as well as its potential consequences.
This three-day satellite loop from NASA shows how the blizzard grew out of a moisture-charged storm traversing the southern part of the country, and a northern system riding the polar jet stream down from the Midwest. Once those two systems...
The Scary Truth About Climate Change: Best #Cityreads of the Week
Posted by Atlantic: Amanda Erickson on February 9th, 2013
Atlantic: Our weekly roundup of the most intriguing articles about cities and urbanism we've come across in the past seven days. Share your favorites on Twitter with #cityreads.
"Life at the Top," Adam Higginbotham, New Yorker
When the architect Norman Foster initially presented sketches for the Hearst Tower, the first skyscraper approved for construction in Manhattan after September 11th, one of the questions the building's prospective owners asked was: How are we going to clean those windows?
In...
Impact Of Climate Change On Agriculture Will Be Mixed: USDA
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 9th, 2013
RedOrbit: Over the next 25 years, increasing temperatures will have a “generally detrimental” impact on most types of crops and livestock, according to one of two reports detailing climate change and adaptation strategies released earlier this week by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The report, entitled “Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation,” states that the effects of global warming will be mixed over the next 25 years.
Higher temperatures may force crop...
Kerry promises ‘fair, transparent’ review of planned Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 9th, 2013
Associated Press: Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday promised a "fair and transparent" review of a Canadian company's plan to pipe oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas.
In his first comments about the controversial Keystone XL pipeline since becoming secretary of state, Kerry said he is waiting for a review begun by his predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and hopes to make a decision in the "near term." The State Department has jurisdiction over the $7 billion pipeline because it crosses an international...
US to decide soon on Canada pipeline project
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 9th, 2013
Agence France-Presse: The United States will make a decision soon on the fate of a controversial Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, new Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Friday, as he met his Canadian counterpart.
In a sign of the strong ties between the two North American neighbors, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird was the first foreign leader to be met by Kerry at the State Department since he took over the job a week ago.
"The Keystone XL pipeline is a huge priority for our government and for the Canadian economy,"...
Migrating ocean microbe may help protect coastlines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 9th, 2013
Scientific American: From butterflies to lobsters, climate change is expected to spur migration of species, with potentially devastating consequences for ecosystems and economies.
But in the case of a one-celled organism dwelling in the oceans named Amphisteginid foraminifera, a change in its habitat may lessen the devastation to some coastlines at risk from erosion and powerful storms.
In a new study, scientists report that the discus-shaped creatures are likely to shift their ocean range by hundreds of miles...
Record snow in a warming world? The science is clear
Posted by Daily Climate: Marlene Cimons on February 9th, 2013
Daily Climate: As the Northeast digs out from under a mammoth blizzard, it might seem easy for climate change skeptics to point to such intense storms as evidence that global warming isn't real.
The reality is that such snowstorms often don't occur despite global warming, but because of it.
They would be wrong.
"Climate change contrarians and deniers love to cherry-pick individual events to argue that they are somehow inconsistent with global warming, when they are not," said Michael Mann, director of...
Saving a Shrinking Lake
Posted by Inter Press Service: Ngala Killian Chimtom on February 9th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Approaching the Lake Chad basin from Gulfe, a small locality 45 kilometres from Cameroon's Far North Regional capital Maroua, the atmosphere of despair is palpable: dusty air, fierce and unrelenting winds, wilting plants and sand dunes suggest that this once lush area is undergoing a terrible change.
Nothing breaks the expanse of sparse vegetation but the occasional withered tree and some scorched shrubs.
Bordered by Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, Lake Chad once spanned 25,000 square kilometres...