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Archive for March, 2013
Evidence grows of rainforest resilience to global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2013
Reuters: The world's tropical forests are less likely to lose biomass, or plant material, this century due to the effects of global warming than previously thought, scientists said in a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience on Sunday.
This adds to growing evidence that rainforests might be more resilient to the effects of climate change than feared.
Tropical forests play an important role in the world's climate system because they soak up carbon dioxide and use it to grow leaves, branches...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Evidence grows of rainforest resilience to global warmingWarming Means Wetter Weather – and Drier Weather
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on March 10th, 2013
Climate News Network: Welcome to the see-saw world of climate change. Rainy seasons will get rainier. Dry seasons will tend to become more parched. Even if the total annual rainfall does not change very much, the seasonal cycles will -- with obvious consequences. Floods and droughts will become more frequent, according to Chia Chou of the University of Taipei, and colleagues from Taiwan and California.
Like all pronouncements about the future, this one comes with caveats: the research is based on climate simulations...
Canadian government gag order for scientists?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2013
Living on Earth: Canada's Harper Administration is allegedly restricting what environmental information government scientists can share with journalists, according to academics and media watchdogs. Host Steve Curwood learns more from Tyler Sommers, coordinator of Democracy Watch.
Transcript
CURWOOD: Canada's conservative government, which has been pressing the Obama Administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, has come under sharp criticism for allegedly muzzling Canadian government scientists who talk...
Thoreau, viewed as a scientist
Posted by Boston Globe: Kathleen Burge on March 10th, 2013
Boston Globe: The annual rituals of nature -- the date when the marsh marigold first unfurls its yellow petals or when the common alder pushes out its leaves -- are among the most sensitive indicators of climate change.
And Concord, known more for its rebellious history and its illustrious writers, also contains a valuable cache of data, spanning more than 150 years, about the habits of plants and animals in town. Henry David Thoreau was one of the first chroniclers, filling an estimated 2,000 pages of his...
How to Resurrect Lost Species
Posted by National Geographic: Brian Switek on March 10th, 2013
National Geographic: Will we ever see a woolly mammoth again? What about the striped Tasmanian tiger, once-prolific passenger pigeon, or the imposing wild cattle called aurochs?
Our species has played a role in the extinction of these and many other species. But now some scientists are proposing a radical turn of the tables: Bringing lost species back from the dead.
Three main methods for "de-extinction" have been proposed. Cloning gets the most attention, thanks in part to the science fiction of Jurassic Park....
UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology says rainforests will survive climate change
Posted by Telegraph: Malcolm Holland on March 10th, 2013
Telegraph: NEW research has challenged "catastrophic" climate change forecasts for the world's tropical rainforests, instead predicting that they will survive even if greenhouse gas emissions aren't cut.
An international team of computer climate modelling experts found rainforests in Asia, Africa and the Americas would not dramatically shrink, in contrast to warnings, including those from Australia's Chief Climate Commissioner Professor Tim Flannery, that global warming was a catastrophe for tropical rainforests....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology says rainforests will survive climate changeBills seek more disclosure, oversight of fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2013
Associated Press: The growing concern over hydraulic fracturing, the technology that has led to an oil and gas boom in many parts of the country, has caught the attention of California lawmakers as companies seek to expand production in the San Joaquin Valley oil fields.
At least eight bills proposing to regulate or tax the industry's expansion are under consideration in this year's legislative session. They include proposals that would require disclosure of the ingredients used in fracking, which uses a high-pressure...
Rwanda: How Farmers Cope With Climate Change
Posted by New Times: Jean Pierre Bucyensenge on March 10th, 2013
New Times: Tharcisse Semaguge might be 88 today, but to him, age is just a number. And the other numbers in his life that he proudly talks about beside the age makes the figure 75-the number of years he has spent farming. The resident of Save sector in Gisagara district says agriculture remains his sole bread winner and source of revenue. But, a few years ago, his fate came to stake mainly due to changes in temperature and precipitation which he says are affecting his production in terms of quality and quantity....
Dead pig mystery in Shanghai river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 10th, 2013
BBC: An inquiry has been launched in China after more than 900 dead pigs were found floating in a river near the eastern city of Shanghai.
No evidence has been found that the animals in the Huangpu river were dumped there or died of any animal epidemic, officials say.
But measures are being taken to monitor the quality of the water.
The authorities are trying to establish where the animals came from, after they appeared in the river on Friday.
Shanghai residents use the river as source of...
Ecuador: Saving Yasuni: Can a revolutionary plan protect the rainforest from commercial exploitation?
Posted by Independent: Stanley Johnson on March 10th, 2013
Independent: The flight from Quito to Coca, a small oil town in the Ecuadorian Amazon, takes off a couple of hours late, so we don't reach Coca until around noon. Then we have to take a helicopter up the Napo river to reach Añangu, in the heart of Yasuni, the extraordinary national park that is among the most biodiverse places on the planet.
If all had gone to plan, we would have been in our seats long before the president and his party arrived. As it is, as we hover over the endless jungle, I can see that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ecuador: Saving Yasuni: Can a revolutionary plan protect the rainforest from commercial exploitation?