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Archive for May, 2013
How climate scientists are being framed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Have you seen the spirited new game being played by a few right-wing columnists in high profile media outlets of late? The game is called "You've been framed" and it's available at a toyshop or conservative-leaning news outlet in an alternative reality near you. Another name for this game might be "What's the most offensive and ridiculous thing we can get away with saying about climate scientists?" To play, you need to first pretend thousands of studies, inquiries and reports into climate change...
Bonn climate change talks going ‘surprisingly well’, say delegates
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2013
Irish Times: “The most surprising thing is that there’s an awful lot of common sense being spoken on a whole range of issues, and it’s getting better as the week goes on,” said Matthew Kennedy, of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
There is a relaxed atmosphere at the talks, which are being held in the former West German Bundestag (parliament) on the right bank of the Rhine – built in the late 1980s just prior to German reunification and the move back to Berlin.
“It’s been a reasonably good start,”...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Bonn climate change talks going ‘surprisingly well’, say delegatesExxon’s Pegasus Pipeline Leaks 40 Gallons into Missouri Yard
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 2nd, 2013
Reuters: Exxon Mobil Corp's near 70-year-old Pegasus oil pipeline leaked a small amount of crude into a residential yard in Ripley County, Missouri on Tuesday, a month after the same pipe spewed thousands of barrels of crude in Arkansas.
A resident notified the company of the spill after spotting a patch of oil and dead vegetation seven miles (11 km) south of Doniphan in the southeast of the state, Exxon and state officials said on Wednesday.
About one barrel of crude leaked and the cleanup is "close...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Exxon’s Pegasus Pipeline Leaks 40 Gallons into Missouri YardWho Paid For Last Summer’s Drought? You Did
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 1st, 2013
National Public Radio: Say the words "crop insurance" and most people start to yawn. For years, few nonfarmers knew much about these government-subsidized insurance policies, and even fewer found any fault with them. After all, who could criticize a safety net for farmers that saves them from getting wiped out by floods or drought? But consider this: According to a , crop insurance allowed corn and soybean farmers not only to survive last year's epic drought, but it also allowed them to make bigger profits than they would...
Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study Finds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 1st, 2013
New York Times: The rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing to retrieve once-inaccessible reservoirs of oil and gas could put pressure on already-stressed water resources from the suburbs of Fort Worth to western Colorado, according to a new report from a nonprofit group that advises investors about companies’ environmental risks. “Given projected sharp increases” in the production of oil and gas by the technique commonly known as fracking, the report from the group Ceres said, “and the intense nature of local...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Spread of Hydrofracking Could Strain Water Resources in West, Study FindsStudy links insecticide use to invertebrate die-offs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 1st, 2013
Guardian: The world's most widely used insecticide is devastating dragonflies, snails and other water-based species, a groundbreaking Dutch study has revealed.
On Monday, the insecticide and two others were banned for two years from use on some crops across the European Union, due to the risk posed to bees and other pollinators, on which many food crops rely.
However, much tougher action in the form of a total worldwide ban is needed, according to the scientist who led the new study.
"We are risking...
Climate Change-Driven Prostitution Claim In House Resolution Makes For Misleading Headlines
Posted by Huffington Post: Lucia Graves on May 1st, 2013
Huffington Post: The Internets were abuzz this week with tales of how Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), that notorious Berkeley liberal, introduced a resolution claiming that climate change forces women to be prostitutes. Another development in the Democrats' elaborate climate change hoax! Conservatives were righteously outraged.
Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller led with the headline, "Democrats: Global warming means more hookers." Michelle Malkin's Twitchy settled on, "We're screwed: Cong. Dems fear that climate change...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change-Driven Prostitution Claim In House Resolution Makes For Misleading HeadlinesGlobal networks must be redesigned, experts urge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 1st, 2013
ScienceDaily: Our global networks have generated many benefits and new opportunities. However, they have also established highways for failure propagation, which can ultimately result in human-made disasters. For example, today's quick spreading of emerging epidemics is largely a result of global air traffic, with serious impacts on global health, social welfare, and economic systems.
Helbing's publication illustrates how cascade effects and complex dynamics amplify the vulnerability of networked systems. For...
How plants may offset global warming
Posted by Mother Nature Network: Marc Lallanilla on May 1st, 2013
Mother Nature Network: Could plants help to slow the march of global warming? It's possible, suggests a new study, which finds that as climates warm around the world, plants may respond by releasing more aerosol particles into the atmosphere. The research, published online April 28 in the journal Nature Geoscience, finds that these natural aerosols can fuel cloud formation, which may help cool a warming climate. [The Reality of Climate Change: 10 Myths Busted] Aerosols are fine particles of solid or liquid matter,...
Amphibians living close to farm fields are more resistant to common insecticides
Posted by Scienc Daily: None Given on May 1st, 2013
Scienc Daily: Amphibian populations living close to agricultural fields have become more resistant to a common insecticide and are actually resistant to multiple common insecticides, according to two recent studies conducted at the University of Pittsburgh.Amphibian populations living close to agricultural fields have become more resistant to a common insecticide and are actually resistant to multiple common insecticides.
In a study published today in Evolutionary Applications, the Pitt researchers demonstrate,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Amphibians living close to farm fields are more resistant to common insecticides