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Archive for July 13th, 2013
Climate change is happening too quickly for species to adapt
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2013
Guardian: Among the many strange mantras repeated by climate change deniers is the claim that even in an overheated, climate-altered planet, animals and plants will still survive by adapting to global warming. Corals, trees, birds, mammals and butterflies are already changing to the routine reality of global warming, it is argued.
Certainly, countless species have adapted to past climate fluctuations. However, their rate of change turns out to be painfully slow, according to a study by Professor John Wiens...
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Fish Turn on One Another When Attacked by Predators
Posted by Nature World News: James A. Foley on July 13th, 2013
Nature World News: In the underwater world, self-preservation takes many shapes. Fish, for example, will avoid capture by swimming in a large mass that makes it difficult to single-out one individual. But according to the latest research on a small species of South American fish, the creatures will turn on one another when confronted by a predator on the hunt. Two-spot astyanax, are seemingly innocuous fish. Often kept as pets, the small fish tend to swim in schools of about 50 and have a diet of plankton, plants...
Study: Climate change causing trees to use less water
Posted by National Public Radio: Gretchen Frazee on July 13th, 2013
National Public Radio: Some trees seem to be adapting to climate change by using less water, according to a study by a team of researchers from several universities, including Indiana University, that was recently published in the journal Nature.
Using atmospheric devices on a 150-foot tower in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest, IU researchers measured how much water vapor and gases were being absorbed and released by the forest.
That information, combined with similar data from forests around the world, has led researchers...
Alarmist US report highlights risks of climate change to energy sector
Posted by Financial Post: None Given on July 13th, 2013
Financial Post: In a report supporting Barack Obama’s renewed push to fight climate change, the United States Department of Energy said its energy sector is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods and decreased water availability and needs to shore up its preparedness.
“The magnitude of the challenge posed by climate change on an aging and already stressed U.S. energy system could outpace current adaptation efforts, unless a more comprehensive and accelerated approach is adopted,”...
U.S., Alaska need to tackle climate change challenge
Posted by Anchorage Daily News: Kate Troll on July 13th, 2013
Anchorage Daily News: "We don't have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society."
With this line and a solid Climate Action Plan, President Obama has, at long last, brought the climate debate out of the closet and back to center stage. The president's plan has three pillars: cutting carbon pollution, preparing for the impact of climate change and leading international efforts to address global climate change. Upon these pillars, the climate plan weaves 15 concrete steps that federal agencies will take to effect a...
Our region’s extreme weather is the new normal, for a while
Posted by Hartford Courant: Marwa Eltagouri on July 13th, 2013
Hartford Courant: In a year that brought Connecticut the unlikely chaos of storm Sandy, severe flooding, a blizzard and - most recently - three tornadoes in one day and a fourth a week later, it turns out the weather's unpredictability is now predictable.
Extreme weather has become the new normal: the vicious storms Irene and Sandy, which caused flooding and devastation; the weekend blizzard in February that barricaded people in their homes and left more than 3 feet of snow in some towns; and the fourth tornado...
Vancouver ramps up extreme weather preparations following Alberta floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2013
Globe and Mail: When Sadhu Johnston recently saw images of water flooding through downtown Calgary - and a few weeks later, through Toronto - his mind turned to details: How much rain had fallen, what areas were worst hit, where the water was going?
And as the cleanup in Alberta got under way, Mr. Johnston, Vancouver's deputy city manager, kept a close eye on the aftermath, touching base regularly with city staff who had been sent to Calgary to lend a hand.
"We had over 55 of our staff on the ground in Calgary...
Mexico’s cities not ready for climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Towns on Mexico's Caribbean coast are behind schedule on the design and implementation of plans to face the challenges of climate change, in spite of the urgency of measures to reduce vulnerability.
The country's 2012 General Law on Climate Change requires state and municipal governments to implement programmes addressing issues like greenhouse gas inventories and adaptation and mitigation policies.
IPS visited 37 coastal municipalities in the southeastern states of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán...
Living in an extreme world
Posted by Hindu: T. R. Ramachandran, T.r. Shankar Raman on July 13th, 2013
Hindu: T.R. Shankar Raman
Government budget cuts threaten Pakistan’s climate change efforts
Posted by Reuters: Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio on July 13th, 2013
Reuters: A sharp cut in government funds for Pakistan's main climate change agency may mean little to thousands of people in homes perched along a flood-prone river in the city of Rawalpindi. But it could tip them into crisis during the monsoon season that has just begun.
The natural river - known as Leh Nullah - doubles as a drain, and is now contaminated with rubbish and sewage. It has burst its banks several times in the past, severely damaging houses. The last time this happened was in July 2001, when...