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Archive for April 10th, 2013
US congressman cites biblical flood to dispute human link to climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 10th, 2013
Guardian: The Texas Republican Joe Barton stands out even among his fellow conservative Republicans who have made it an article of faith to deny the existence of a human component to climate change.
On Wednesday, Barton cemented that reputation by citing the Old Testament to refute scientific evidence of man-made global warming, drawing on the story of Noah's ark.
"I would point out that if you are a believer in the Bible, one would have to say the great flood was an example of climate change," Barton...
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Controversy erupts as New Zealand plans to drop poison over Critically Endangered frog habitat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 10th, 2013
Mongabay: New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) is facing a backlash over plans to aerially drop a controversial poison, known as 1080, over the habitat of two endangered, prehistoric, and truly bizarre frog species, Archey's and Hochsetter's frogs, on Mount Moehau. Used in New Zealand to kill populations of invasive mammals, such as rats and the Australian long-tailed possum, 1080 has become an increasingly emotive issue in New Zealand, not just splitting the government and environmentalists, but...
Scientists use islands to gauge rainfall’s effect on landscapes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 10th, 2013
ScienceDaily: If you've ever stood on a hill during a rainstorm, you've probably witnessed landscape evolution, at least on a small scale: rivulets of water streaming down a slope, cutting deeper trenches in Earth when the rain turns heavier.
It's a simple phenomenon that scientists have long believed applies to large-scale landforms as well -- that is, rivers cut faster into mountains that receive heavier precipitation. It's thought that if rainfall patterns influence how rivers cut into rock, over time, the...
Texas Rep. Cites Biblical Flood as Example of Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 10th, 2013
ABC: In his five-minute remarks today on the Keystone Pipeline, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, pointed out a "divergence of evidence" on global warming, citing the biblical Great Flood as an example of climate change.
Barton delivered remarks today at the Subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing in support of the Northern Route Approval Act,legislation that would grant Congress the authority to approve the controversial Keystone petroleum pipeline.
"I would point out that people like me who support hydrocarbon...
Using aging, retrofitted pipelines to ship oil — what could go wrong?
Posted by Grist: Suzi Parker on April 10th, 2013
Grist: Until the Pegasus pipeline ruptured on March 29, leaking an estimated 147,000 to 210,000 gallons of heavy crude oil into the town of Mayflower, Ark., few Arkansans knew it was even there.
In fact, thousands of miles of pipelines snake through the heart of the United States. Proponents insist that pipelines are the safest way to transport oil - safer than trucks or trains or tankers. Yet, in recent years, the Yellowstone River spill in Montana, the Kalamazoo River spill in Marshall, Mich., and...
Heat to shift wine industry tradition
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporatin: Dani Cooper on April 10th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporatin: Bye bye bordeaux The French wine industry could lose Bordeaux as climate change pushes wine-growing regions in Europe north, a new study says.
At the same time, some of Australia's Barossa reds may become Devonport drops with the impact of climate change pushing prime wine-growing conditions further south.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, outlines a shift of wine growing areas around the world in response to climate change.
The international study...
Redford argues Keystone XL controversy obscuring truth about Alberta’s environmental record
Posted by Calgary Herald: Darcy Henton on April 10th, 2013
Calgary Herald: The polarized debate over the Keystone XL pipeline and global warming overlooks the fact that you can build the pipeline and still reduce greenhouse gas emissions and be good stewards of the land, air and water, Premier Alison Redford told a Washington think tank Tuesday.
Redford told the Brookings Institution that the dialogue over approval of the 1,800-kilometre pipeline between Alberta and the U.S. gulf coast "suffers from some glaring deficiencies, which cause essential truths to be overlooked."...
Study: Southern California slammed by weather disasters
Posted by KCET: Chris Clarke on April 10th, 2013
KCET: Twenty California counties have endured weather-related disasters since January 2007 that were damaging enough to merit 41 Federal disaster area declarations, and two-thirds of Californians live on counties struck by those disasters. That's according to a report released today by Environment California.
The report, entitled "In the Path of the Storm," crunches numbers acquired from FEMA disaster declarations to assess the frequency of extreme weather events and related disasters across the country....
Wild weather can send greenhouse gases spiralling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 10th, 2013
Nature: Climate change has a disconcerting tendency to amplify itself through feedback effects. Melting sea ice exposes dark water, allowing the ocean to soak up more heat. Arctic warming speeds the release of carbon dioxide from permafrost. And, as researchers discussed at a meeting last week in Seefeld, Austria, climate extremes -- heatwaves, droughts and storms -- can hamper plant growth, weakening a major buffer against the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere.
“Heatwaves and droughts will very likely become...
Andes’ tropical glaciers ‘going fast’
Posted by Daily Climate: Paul Brown on April 10th, 2013
Daily Climate: The glaciers of the tropical Andes have shrunk by between 30 and 50 percent in 30 years and many will soon disappear altogether, cutting off the summer water supply for millions of people, according to scientists studying the region's climate.
Their findings are particularly significant because glaciers in the tropics – 99 percent of which are in the Andes – are regarded as among the most sensitive indicators of climate change on the planet, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate...