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Archive for June 27th, 2013
UK wildlife and nature hit hard by erratic weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 27th, 2013
Guardian: One week past midsummer's day and nature still has not recovered from the misearable, wet winter and the cold, late spring, say wildlife experts and gardeners.
"Spring got seriously behind and was the latest since 1996; with bluebells still in bloom in early June and many butterflies very late to emerge," said National Trust naturalist Matthew Oates. "Summer is now running two to three weeks late."
The long spell of cold weather caused insects to struggle, with a knock-on effect on tree and...
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Failure Becomes an Option for Infrastructure Engineers Facing Climate Change
Posted by Daily Climate: Jennifer Weeks on June 27th, 2013
Daily Climate: Civil engineers build rugged things designed to last for decades, like roads, bridges, culverts and water treatment plants. But a University of New Hampshire professor wants his profession to become much more flexible.
In a changing climate, civil engineer Paul Kirshen argues, facilities will have to adapt to changing conditions over their useful lives – and, in some instances, be allowed to fail. A leading example of this approach: The Netherlands' Room for the River project: Decades of thinking...
United Kingdom: Government agrees flood protection deal with insurers
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on June 27th, 2013
BusinessGreen: Hundreds of thousands of homeowners in areas at high risk of flooding will be able to insure their properties, after the government struck a deal with insurance companies just weeks before the current agreement was set to expire.
The news of the long-awaited deal came as the government introduced its new Water Bill, which contains plans to increase competition in the water market and new measures to improve drought resilience, as well as proposals for a new national water network.
Lengthy negotiations...
EPA tells Ohio to stop keeping fracking secrets from first responders
Posted by Grist: John Upton on June 27th, 2013
Grist: Ohio firefighters, cops, and local officials might soon learn a little bit more about the poisons that frackers are storing and injecting into the ground beneath their feet.
The U.S. EPA told the state that a 12-year-old Ohio law that lets the fracking industry conceal information from emergency-management officials and first responders violates federal law. From The Columbus Dispatch:
The state law, passed in 2001, requires that drilling companies share information about hazardous chemicals...
More species at risk from climate change than thought
Posted by CBS News: Vance T. Vredenburg on June 27th, 2013
CBS News: Climate change predictions paint a bleak picture for much of the world's flora and fauna: Species that can't keep up with a warming world will be pushed toward extinction unless conservation efforts can save them, the thinking goes. But a new study warns that many of the creatures most vulnerable to climate change are not currently considered conservation priorities. A group of researchers with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessed all of the world's birds, amphibians...
UK Earmarked for Fracking, Massive Public Backlash on Horizon
Posted by Greenpeace UK: None Given on June 27th, 2013
Greenpeace UK: According to Greenpeace research almost two-thirds of England has been earmarked for potential fracking, and local opposition, particularly in Conservative constituencies, is expected to be fierce. Local hostility in Balcombe, West Sussex is already delaying the fracking process, with the Campaign to Protect Rural England warning of a massive backlash if large areas of countryside are "transformed into industrial sites."
Commenting on today’s announcement, Lawrence Carter, energy campaigner at...
Climate Change May Radically Transform Desert Bacteria
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 27th, 2013
LiveScience: Climate change may transform the community of microbes that forms the crucial top layer of soil, known as a biocrust, in deserts throughout the United States, new research suggests.
The study, published today (June 27) in the journal Science, found that one type of bacteria dominates in warm climates, whereas another is more prevalent in cooler areas. Combined with climate models, the findings suggest that the cold-loving bacteria could completely disappear from their current habitats as the climate...
The significance of Obama’s cryptic Keystone comments
Posted by Grist: David Roberts on June 27th, 2013
Grist: In his climate speech on Tuesday - long since swept away by the news cycle, as I predicted - Obama delivered one big surprise: a passage on the Keystone XL pipeline. Not just that, but an utterly inscrutable passage, one that has proven a kind of Rorschach blot for the energy world.
Here`s what he said:
I put forward in the past an all-of-the-above energy strategy, but our energy strategy must be about more than just producing more oil. And, by the way, it`s certainly got to be about more than...
Obama Shares Plan for Action on Climate Change
Posted by National Geographic: Tim Profeta on June 27th, 2013
National Geographic: In a speech at Georgetown University Tuesday, President Barack Obama outlined a long-awaited executive strategy--comprised mostly of initiatives already underway--to curb greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
“As a president, as a father and as an American, I’m here to say, ‘We need to act,’” Obama said. “I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing.”
The plan includes measures previously speculated to be a part of the...
Renewable energy to eclipse gas by 2016
Posted by New Scientist: Peter Aldhous on June 27th, 2013
New Scientist: The dash for gas is being outrun by the race for renewables. According to the latest projections from the International Energy Agency, by 2016 global electricity generation from wind, solar, hydro and other forms of renewable power will exceed that from natural gas - and should be double that provided by nuclear plants.
This surge is being driven in large part by emerging economies. China is leading the way, accounting for 40 per cent of the projected global growth in renewables between 2012 and...