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Archive for February 25th, 2013
Dog food recall underscores toxic danger in drought-hit U.S. corn
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam and Julie Ingwersen on February 25th, 2013
Reuters: High levels of a dangerous toxin found in bagged dog food on a grocery store shelf in Iowa have highlighted the prevalence of a problematic mold in last year's U.S. corn crop, as state and federal officials work on limiting the food safety concern.
"Last year's corn crop - it is a huge issue. We test every load coming in. And we reject a lot of loads," said Michael Wright, chief executive officer of Pro-Pet, an Ohio-based pet food manufacturer that learned last week some of its product was tainted...
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Weather extremes provoked by trapping of giant waves in the atmosphere
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The world has suffered from severe regional weather extremes in recent years, such as the heat wave in the United States in 2011 or the one in Russia 2010 coinciding with the unprecedented Pakistan flood. Behind these devastating individual events there is a common physical cause, propose scientists of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The study will be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and suggests that man-made climate change repeatedly...
Rise in 1.5 degrees Celsius likely to spark massive greenhouse gas release from permafrost
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2013
Mongabay: While nations around the world have committed to keeping temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era, new research published in Science suggests that the global climate could hit a tipping point at just 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit). Studying cave stalactites and stalagmites in Siberia, scientists found that at about 1.5 degrees Celsius the Siberian permafrost melts, potentially releasing a greenhouse gas bomb of 1,000 giga-tonnes,...
Global warming may cause extremes by slowing “planetary waves”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2013
Reuters: Global warming may have caused extreme events such as a 2011 drought in the United States and a 2003 heatwave in Europe by slowing vast, wave-like weather flows in the northern hemisphere, scientists said on Tuesday.
The study of meandering air systems that encircle the planet adds to understanding of extremes that have killed thousands of people and driven up food prices in the past decade.
Such planetary air flows, which suck warm air from the tropics when they swing north and draw cold air...
New Documentary Celebrates the Voices of the Tar Sands Blockade
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 25th, 2013
EcoWatch: Blockadia Rising: Voices of the Tar Sands Blockade is an hour-long documentary film written and directed by Garrett Graham in collaboration with the Tar Sands Blockade and features exclusive video footage shot by the blockaders during the course of more than six months of sustained resistance.
In 2012, Texas landowners and environmental activists came together to organize resistance against a dangerous pipeline being built by a Canadian corporation to bring tar sands oil from Alberta Canada to...
Protecting Illinois From Fracking
Posted by Huffington Post: Jack Darin on February 25th, 2013
Huffington Post: The prospect of the gas industry coming Illinois to extract gas from beneath our state using high-volume hydraulic fracturing has caused a great deal of controversy and concern, especially in parts of Illinois where leasing for drilling rights has been underway for well over a year. Horror stories from other states about open pits of toxic wastewater, secret brews of toxins injected into the earth, air emissions sickening neighbors, and contaminated drinking water are just a few of the impacts seen...
Atmospheric Waves Trapped by Emissions Caused Extreme U.S. Heat
Posted by Bloomberg: Stefan Nicola on February 25th, 2013
Bloomberg: Man-made greenhouse gas emissions trapped giant air waves in the atmosphere, causing extreme weather events such as a heat wave in the U.S. in 2011 and floods in Pakistan in 2010, researchers in Germany said.
The waves usually ship warm and cold air from the Tropics and Arctic to places such as Europe, Russia or the U.S, according to an article to be published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Man-made climate change repeatedly disturbs the waves’ patterns and can trap...
Investors Demand Climate-Risk Disclosure in 2013 Proxies
Posted by Bloomberg: Avery Fellow on February 25th, 2013
Bloomberg: Shareholders are filing resolutions asking companies to disclose physical risks posed by climate change for the first time this proxy season, according to representatives of sustainable investor groups. Shareholders also are continuing to file an increasing number of sustainability related resolutions asking companies to set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, publish sustainability reports, pursue energy efficiency, and disclose information about hydraulic fracturing operations. Although...
CEOs back more oil drilling and Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2013
Reuters: A group of top business executives on Monday urged U.S. officials to cut red tape for drillers and open more federal land to oil and gas interests and approve the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline which is opposed by some environmental groups.
The Business Roundtable, which speaks for chief executives at major U.S. companies, said too much regulation is hindering a true domestic energy renaissance even as domestic oil and gas output is booming due to new technology such as fracking.
"Technology,...