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Archive for February, 2013
Study: Costly fire season caused by climate change
Posted by Idaho Mountain Express: Katherine Wutz on February 13th, 2013
Idaho Mountain Express: The Halstead Fire, shown above in September north of Stanley, burned some 181,000 acres of forest from late July through October 2012. A recent study by the National Wildlife Federation states that Idaho fire seasons are getting longer and more intense due to climate change. Photo by Kate Wutz
A study released by the National Wildlife Federation on Jan. 30 blames Idaho's costly 2012 fire season on climate change and states that things will only get worse as global warming intensifies.
The study,...
New Landsat Earth-monitoring satellite launched from California
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2013
Reuters: A new satellite to keep tabs on Earth's changing landscape rocketed into orbit on Monday, ensuring continuation of a 40-year-old photo archive documenting urban sprawl, glacial melting, natural disasters and other environmental shifts.
The eighth and most sophisticated Landsat spacecraft blasted off at 1:02 p.m. EST (1802 GMT) aboard an unmanned Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch was broadcast on NASA Television.
The so-called Landsat Data Continuity Mission,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on New Landsat Earth-monitoring satellite launched from CaliforniaObama speech provides no clues on Keystone pipeline
Posted by Globe and Mail: Shawn Mccarthy on February 13th, 2013
Globe and Mail: U.S. President Barack Obama urged Congress to pass sweeping "market-based" climate legislation - code for a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax - and threatened to regulate aggressively if it did not.
In his annual State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Mr. Obama said the United States must step up its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that he blamed for extreme weather that plagued the country last year.
"For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate...
Some drought relief seen from rains on U.S. Plains
Posted by Reuters: Sam Nelson on February 13th, 2013
Reuters: Crop-friendly rainfall and snow were moving across drought-stricken areas of the U.S. Plains hard red winter wheat region at mid-week, providing much-needed relief ahead of the growing season for the 2013 crop, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday.
"Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado now have the chance for two shower events over the next two weeks that would offer some improvement in topsoil moisture," said Commodity Weather Group (CWG) meteorologist Joel Widenor.
He said rain and snow...
Ethiopia looks to realise its geothermal energy potential
Posted by Guardian: Matthew Newsome on February 13th, 2013
Guardian: Ethiopia, like its fellow Great Rift Valley countries, has enormous geothermal energy potential. However, the costs involved and the need for skilled expertise have, until now, been major obstacles.
In late January, the Development Bank of Ethiopia announced that, over the next five months, it will offer an initial $20m to kickstart geothermal energy projects in the country's private sector as part of a programme funded by the World Bank. A further $20m is expected to be made available at a later...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ethiopia looks to realise its geothermal energy potentialKenya: Cutting food waste crucial to ensuring food security, experts say
Posted by AlertNet: Isaiah Esipisu on February 13th, 2013
AlertNet: Sticking to what's written on your shopping list, checking food expiry dates, cooking just enough but no more and a few other simple practices can help curb global food waste, which amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes of food every year, experts say. This is vital at a time when climate change and population growth are reducing the availability of food for millions of vulnerable people around the world, they add. "With the World Bank warning of the possibility of a four-degrees-centigrade temperature...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Kenya: Cutting food waste crucial to ensuring food security, experts sayObama Cries Out for Climate-Change Solutions, but What Happens Now?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2013
Atlantic: President Obama followed up his Inaugural Address with more strong words for climate protection in his State of the Union, delivering the lengthiest soliloquy on climate change in presidential history.
"The 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15," Obama said. "Heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and floods -- all are now more frequent and intense," he said, echoing the data frequently cited by scientists and environmentalists. President Obama lays out his second-term vision for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Cries Out for Climate-Change Solutions, but What Happens Now?Sierra Club leader to risk arrest in protest against Keystone XL oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2013
Associated Press: Prominent environmental leaders, including the head of the Sierra Club and the organizer of a public campaign to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline, are planning to risk arrest Wednesday at a protest outside the White House.
Executive director Michael Brune would be the first Sierra Club leader to be arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The club's board of directors approved civil disobedience for the first time in its 120-year history as a way to oppose the pipeline, which would carry oil derived...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sierra Club leader to risk arrest in protest against Keystone XL oil pipelineExtreme weather, climate change linked
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2013
Washington Post: President Obama made an explicit link between extreme weather and climate change during his speech Tuesday night, the way he did in his second inaugural address and during his victory acceptance speech. Obama intends to use the bully pulpit to emphasize the threat global warming poses, aides and supporters say, in order to build public support for future efforts to cut greenhouse gases.
“We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires...
Understanding risk essential at time of climate change and rising tide of claims
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 13th, 2013
Irish Times: It is more than six years since Hugh McElvaney, leader of the Fine Gael group on Monaghan County Council, was told that land proposed for rezoning outside Ballybay was located in a floodplain, and he responded by suggesting that houses could be "built on stilts".
Now the policy is that development in areas with a high probability of flooding "should be avoided and/or only considered in exceptional circumstances, such as in city and town centres" or essential infrastructure that cannot be be located...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Understanding risk essential at time of climate change and rising tide of claims