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Archive for February, 2013
New research takes a global look at methane emissions from oil and gas
Posted by EnergyWire: Gayathri Vaidyanathan on February 27th, 2013
EnergyWire: Concerns have cropped up in recent years that the methane leaks from oil and gas fields could be large enough to pose a significant climate threat. In various studies, scientists have estimated that anywhere between 1 and 10 percent of natural gas produced leaks through wellheads, transmission lines and compressor stations. Recent measurements from the Uinta Basin of Utah taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set leakage as high as 9 percent. Now, preliminary results are...
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Local warming: U.S. cities in front line as sea levels rise
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2013
Reuters: The signs of rising water are everywhere in this seaport city: yellow "Streets May Flood" notices are common at highway underpasses, in low-lying neighborhoods and along the sprawling waterfront.
Built at sea level on reclaimed wetland, Norfolk has faced floods throughout its 400-year history. But as the Atlantic Ocean warms and expands, and parts of the city subside, higher tides and fiercer storms seem to hit harder than they used to.
Dealing with this increased threat has put Norfolk at...
Murder of environmentalist ‘highlights Thailand’s failure to protect activists’
Posted by Guardian: Kate Hodal on February 27th, 2013
Guardian: An international rights group is pressing Thailand to investigate the recent murder of an environmentalist who exposed the dumping of toxic waste, and condemned the government's "fundamental failure" to protect activists fighting for social and environmental change in the kingdom.
Prajob Nao-opas, 43, was shot four times in broad daylight in Chacheongsao province, 20 miles east of Bangkok, after spending the past year fighting illegal toxic waste disposal by various industrial estates in the region....
Rice paddies synergise with fish farming
Posted by SciDevNet: Naimul Haq on February 27th, 2013
SciDevNet: By combining aquaculture with wet paddy farming in its coastal areas Bangladesh can meet food security and climate change issues, says a new report. The approach promises more nutritious food, without causing environmental damage, and has the potential for a 'blue-green revolution' on Bangladesh's existing crop areas extending to about 10.14 million hectares and an additional 2.83 million hectares that remain waterlogged for about 4--6 months. "The carrying capacities of these additional lands...
Ex-wildlife chief warns of climate change in SC
Posted by The State: Sammy Fretwell on February 27th, 2013
The State: Following revelations the state wildlife department has failed to release a major climate change report, the agency's former chief said the department should be leading efforts to brace South Carolina for the consequences of global warming.
John Frampton, who left the Department of Natural Resources last year, said that the Earth's rising temperatures will undoubtedly affect the state's landscape and wildlife in coming years and that the DNR is well qualified to examine the impacts in South Carolina....
Storm that buried Plains slams Great Lakes region
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2013
Reuters: A powerful winter storm that buried the U.S. Plains and left at least three people dead moved on Tuesday into the southern Great Lakes region, where it snarled the evening commute in Chicago and Milwaukee, created near-whiteout conditions and forced hundreds of flight cancellations.
Much of the region was under either a winter storm warning or a winter weather advisory, according to the National Weather Service, as the system's potent blend of wet snow, sleet and strong winds bore down on north...
Killer Heat Waves and Floods Linked to Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Killer heat waves, floods and storms are increasingly caused by climate change, new research reveals.
Scientists in Germany say they have found how greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are helping to trap the jet stream, resulting in extraordinary weather such as the 2010 Pakistan flood and the 2011 heat wave in the United States.
Human-driven climate change repeatedly disturbs the flow of atmospheric waves around the globe`s Northern hemisphere, said lead author Vladimir Petoukhov of...
Key component of China’s pollution problem: Scale of nitrogen’s effect on people and ecosystems reveal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2013
ScienceDaily: It's no secret that China is faced with some of the world's worst pollution. Until now, however, information on the magnitude, scope and impacts of a major contributor to that pollution -- human-caused nitrogen emissions -- was lacking.
A new study co-authored by Stanford Woods Institute biologist Peter Vitousek reveals that amounts of nitrogen (from industry, cars and fertilizer) deposited on land and water in China by way of rain, dust and other carriers increased by 60 percent annually from...
Court throws out much of $1.6 billion leak case versus Exxon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 27th, 2013
Reuters: Exxon Mobil Corp has won the reversal by Maryland's highest court of a $1 billion punitive damages award stemming from an underground leak at a gas station, and also won the reversal of portions of nearly $650 million of compensatory damages awards.
The Maryland Court of Appeals said in a ruling on Tuesday Exxon's "shortcomings" in remediation efforts did not rise to the level of fraud, removing the basis for the punitive damages award.
Some compensatory damages were reversed because the plaintiffs...
NASA: Climate change thins forests in eastern US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2013
USA Today: Years of drought and high temperatures are thinning forests in the upper Great Lakes and the eastern United States, NASA satellites show.
Nearly 40% of the Mid-Atlantic's forests lost tree canopy cover, ranging from 10% to 15% between 2000 and 2010, according to a NASA study released this week. Other afflicted areas include southern Appalachia, the southeastern coast and to a lesser extent, the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.
"There has been a series of summers — growing seasons for...