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Archive for August 17th, 2013
Sea-level-rise map shows 30 Washington State towns inundated
Posted by KPLU: None Given on August 17th, 2013
KPLU: The warming climate is causing sea levels to rise as oceans expand, and, combined with more frequent storms, the effects could be devastating.
A new map shows more than 1,400 towns in the U.S., 30 in Washington state, where half the population will be displaced if current trends continue through the end of this century.
The map, based on analysis recently published by the National Academy of Sciences, looks at what would happen if we do nothing to change our pollution rates until 2100. Warming...
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Scientists look for climate change clues in wildfire soot
Posted by KUOW: Anna King on August 17th, 2013
KUOW: You may know that on a hot, sunny day it’s better to be sitting in a white car than a black one. White reflects sunlight, while black absorbs more of it.
The same concept applies to researchers trying to figure out what effect wildfires have on climate change. And part of the answer is whether the smoke particles are dark or reflective.
Outside of a white, paint-peeling hanger in Pasco, sits a glossy, small science plane. It looks like some kind of fancy jet airliner for executives. But onboard,...
Canada: Documents show oilsands pollution concerns
Posted by Leader-Post: Mike De Souza on August 17th, 2013
Leader-Post: Disappearing caribou, whooping cranes with "oily underbellies" and more than a dozen warning letters about alleged environmental infractions to a major Canadian energy company are among the concerns about oilsands development highlighted in newly released federal briefing material obtained by Postmedia News.
The documents, released through access-to-information legislation, also described ongoing concerns about water disruption and contamination, as well as the multibillion-dollar economic benefits...
China: Fish farms cause rapid sea-level rise
Posted by Nature: Nicola Jones on August 17th, 2013
Nature: Groundwater extraction for fish farms can cause land to sink at rates of a quarter-metre a year, according to a study of China’s Yellow River delta1. The subsidence is causing local sea levels to rise nearly 100 times faster than the global average.
Global sea levels are rising at about 3 millimetres a year owing to warming waters and melting ice. But some places are seeing a much faster rise -- mainly because of sinking land. Bangkok dropped by as much as 12 centimetres a year in the 1980s thanks...
State officials and community leaders discuss impact of climate change on New Jersey
Posted by Newsroom Jersey: Joshua Henne on August 17th, 2013
Newsroom Jersey: Today, community leaders, academics, and local, state and federal officials all gathered for a press conference at “Mad Dog Morgan’s” to highlight the devastating impacts of extreme weather and climate change on Brigantine, Atlantic County and throughout the state. They greeted the “I Will Act On Climate” Bus Tour as it makes it’s first New Jersey stop on a 27-state tour.
Today’s press conference comes on the heels of President Barack Obama’s historic national climate change plan announcement...
United Kingdom: Police drafted in to boost security at fracking protest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2013
Telegraph: Campaigners from the No Dash to Gas environmental group joined anti-fracking activists already there, erecting around 150 tents on a makeshift campsite about a mile from the drilling project.
Several activists manned the gate at the West Sussex site to vet people arriving.
Officers from Sussex Police, Thames Valley Police and other forces kept watch from outside the gate of the land which is being used without the owner's permission.
A 23-year-old man was arrested in connection with threats...
Fires, smoke, floods are drawbacks of Alaska’s hot summer
Posted by Reuters: Yereth Rosen on August 17th, 2013
Reuters: Alaska residents have been enjoying an unusually warm, sunny summer, but the pleasant weather has come at a cost: choking smoke from an extended wildfire season, flooding rivers due to fast-melting snow and glacial ice, and fish covered in algae.
Wildfires have burned 1.25 million acres across Alaska this summer, according to the state's fire-management center, the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center. Seventy fires were active on Friday, including a 57,870-acre (23,400-hectare) blaze near Delta...
In the heart of the Amazon with Alex Atala
Posted by Guardian: Allan Jenkins on August 17th, 2013
Guardian: Manaus, Brazil, where the Rio Negro and Solimões rivers meet and the Amazon as we think of it begins. It's a city built on long-gone fortunes from the rubber trade and home to the world's most remote opera house, the inspiration for Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. I am here with Alex Atala, flame-haired, heavily tattooed, No 1 cook in South America and the only chef to appear on Time's list of 100 most influential people on the planet earlier this year. From druggy, bad-boy beginnings, Atala is now...
Females Prefer Males that can Multitask
Posted by Nature World: None Given on August 17th, 2013
Nature World: Female frogs choose to mate with males that can multitask, a new study reported. The study supports the multitasking hypothesis, according to which females prefer males that can manage many tasks at a time. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Minnesota who found that male frogs belonging to the species Hyla chrysoscelis, produce a mating call that has a string of pulses. Hyla chrysoscelis or the gray treefrog species is native to North America. Usually the frogs' mating...
United Kingdom: Anti-fracking firebrand and his brother the senior barrister
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 17th, 2013
Telegraph: Jamie Kelsey-Fry, 49, a leading Left-wing protester, has refused to condemn those who break the law, describing them as brave heroes and likening them to the Suffragettes.
The former secondary school teacher, who was a member of the Occupy Movement campaigning against global capitalism in 2011, said some causes were worth risking liberty for.
Mr Kelsey-Fry, who lives in Islington, north London, said: "There comes a time when you have to risk your own liberty and your own safety if you are so...