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Archive for February 21st, 2013
Prolonged Drought Threatens Western Water Supplies
Posted by Climate Central: Lauren Morello and Andrew Freedman on February 21st, 2013
Climate Central: Time is running out to avert a third summer of drought in much of the High Plains, West and Southwest, federal officials warned Thursday.
Without repeated, significant bouts of heavy snow and rain in the remaining days of winter, a large part of the country will face serious water supply shortages this spring and summer, when temperatures are hotter and average precipitation is normally low.
The drought already ranks as the worst, in terms of severity and geographic extent, since the 1950s....
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Nearing a Tipping Point on Melting Permafrost?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 21st, 2013
Climate Central: Nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere's land surface is covered in permanently frozen soil, or permafrost, which is filled with carbon-rich plant debris -- enough to double the amount of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere if the permafrost all melted and the organic matter decomposed.
According to a paper published Thursday in Science, that melting could come sooner, and be more widespread, than experts previously believed. If global average temperature were to rise another 2.5°F (1.5°C),...
Icy Siberian caves show tiny warming, may mean big thaw
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 21st, 2013
Reuters: Ancient records from icy caves in Siberia show that a small amount of global warming can thaw vast areas of frozen ground and release harmful stores of greenhouse gases, a study showed.
Any melt of permafrost, or permanently frozen soil that covers almost a quarter of the northern hemisphere from Alaska to China, can also destabilize everything from oil and gas pipelines to buildings and roads.
"Global climates only slightly warmer than today are sufficient to thaw significant regions of permafrost,"...
Caves point to thawing of Siberia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 21st, 2013
ScienceDaily: Evidence from Siberian caves suggests that a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius could see permanently frozen ground thaw over a large area of Siberia, threatening release of carbon from soils, and damage to natural and human environments.
A thaw in Siberia's permafrost (ground frozen throughout the year) could release over 1000 giga-tonnes of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, potentially enhancing global warming.
The data comes from an international...
Will Climate Hawk Kerry Have the Courage to Reject the Keystone XL Pipeline?
Posted by EcoWatch: Joe Romm, ThinkProgress on February 21st, 2013
EcoWatch: A month ago I wrote that the “confirmation of climate hawk Kerry as Secretary of State may doom dirty Keystone XL Pipeline.”
Now John Kerry has delivered his first big foreign policy speech as Secretary of State and he shows no sign whatsoever of backing down from the moral urgency that has made him a true climate champion.
Watch this video which captures the passion behind Kerry`s words:
Here’s the key excerpt (from prepared text):
The stories we need to tell--of standing up for American...
Fracking Our Farms: A Tale of Five Farming Families
Posted by EcoWatch: Alexis Baden-Mayer on February 21st, 2013
EcoWatch: [Author’s note: On Sunday, Feb. 17, I marched with the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) at the Forward on Climate rally in Washington, DC. At one point, our banner, “Cook Organic Not the Planet,” caught the eye of a dairy farmer. He approached. I handed him a flyer and launched into my pitch about how organic agriculture has the power to bring dangerous carbon dioxide levels back down to the safe level of 350 parts-per-million. He nodded politely, then stopped me short with this “If they frack...
Science Over Politics: Cuomo’s Delay on Lifting Fracking Moratorium is Applauded
Posted by EcoWatch: Physicians Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy on February 21st, 2013
EcoWatch: Yesterday, Anthony Ingraffea, president of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE), and Seth B. Shonkoff, executive director of PSE, sent a letter applauding Gov. Cuomo`s decision to delay lifting the moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until the science is complete.
Dear Governor Cuomo:
Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) applauds your move to delay your decision on lifting the moratorium on shale gas development in New York until the science...
Fracking Emissions Get Review After EPA Watchdog Report
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem on February 21st, 2013
Bloomberg: Federal environmental regulators said they will more closely study air emissions from hydraulic fracturing after the agency’s auditor concluded current information is insufficient to make policy decisions.
The Environmental Protection Agency has already begun an inter-agency study of methane, air toxic and other pollutants released when oil and gas are tapped using the process, called fracking, Gina McCarthy, the head of the agency’s air office, said in a letter to the Inspector General’s office,...
Crunch Time Looms for Decision on Keystone Pipeline
Posted by Epoch Times: Shar Adams on February 21st, 2013
Epoch Times: Approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline is shaping up to be a pivotal issue for President Barack Obama, with pro-oil groups arguing that it is critical to national security and environmentalists declaring it a dangerous contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama highlighted climate change in his State of the Union Address, saying that rising temperatures and extreme weather events have made action inevitable.
“For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change,”...
Drought forecast to linger, spread in Plains, West
Posted by Associated Press: Josh Funk on February 21st, 2013
Associated Press: Climate experts say the drought affecting more than half of the nation will persist in the Great Plains and West through the spring and spread over more of California, Texas and Florida.
Experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center and the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln released their latest predictions Thursday.
Currently, 56 percent of the continental U.S. is covered by some form of drought. That's an...