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Archive for September 6th, 2013
Fracking industry says fracking made you $1,200 richer last year
Posted by Grist: John Upton on September 6th, 2013
Grist: If you keep a close eye on energy news, you probably know by now that fracking for oil and natural gas is injecting $1,200 a year into the bank accounts of American households. Fricking awesome, right? Go on out right now and buy that 65-inch plasma TV on credit — you’re good for it. Because of fracking. Or maybe not. A new report [PDF] from consulting firm IHS CERA claims that fracking increased household disposable income in the U.S. by more than $1,200 last year, and that the industry supports...
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New Report Connects 2012 Extreme Weather Events to Human-Caused Climate Change
Posted by World Resources Institute: C. Forbes Tompkins and James Bradbury on September 6th, 2013
World Resources Institute: As extreme weather events like wildfires, heat waves, downpours, and droughts continue to make headlines in the United States and around the world, many have wondered what their connection is to climate change. A new report sheds some light, firmly drawing correlations between several extreme weather events in 2012 and human-induced warming.
In a report published yesterday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
Climate Change May Have Impacted Half of 2012’s Extreme Weather
Posted by Wired: None Given on September 6th, 2013
Wired: 2012 was a rough year around the globe, and not for any of the Planet X/Mayan calendar doomsday reasons people feared. Instead, it was a year of extreme weather: drought and heat waves in the United States; record rainfall in the United Kingdom; unusually heavy rains in Kenya, Somalia, Japan, and Australia; drought in Spain; floods in China. And of course there was Superstorm Sandy.
One of the first questions asked in the wake of such an extreme weather event is: “Is this due to climate change?”...
Canadian PM offers Obama possible climate action to secure Keystone deal
Posted by Fox: None Given on September 6th, 2013
Fox: Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has written to President Obama to say that he is prepared to work on a joint plan between the two countries to reduce carbon emissions, in an attempt to secure approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Friday.
Harper reportedly wrote to Obama in late August, the Wall Street Journal reports, signaling his willingness to accept carbon-reduction targets proposed by the U.S. and to address concerns raised by the White...
Report Ties Climate to Extreme Events, But Shows Hurdles
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 6th, 2013
Climate Central: Climate scientists examining a dozen extreme weather events from 2012 found that manmade global warming likely contributed to at least half of them, including a record-breaking deadly heat wave in the U.S. The international report released on Thursday offers a demonstration of the new capabilities that scientists are developing in an emerging, complex area of climate science known as "extreme event attribution.'
On the whole, the scientists found that, as suspected, climate change has already...
Not just bats & frogs: snake fungal disease hits US
Posted by Mongabay: Tiffany Roufs on September 6th, 2013
Mongabay: A fungal outbreak in the eastern and Midwestern United States is infecting some populations of wild snakes. Snake Fungal Disease (SFD), a fungal dermatitis consistently associated with the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola, is showing recent spikes in occurrence according to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) and other diagnostic laboratories.
So far, the diseased snakes submitted by Wildlife Monitors to the NWHC are attributed to wild populations from nine states,...
Thirst: Water and Power in the Ancient World by Steven Mithen – review
Posted by Guardian: PD Smith on September 6th, 2013
Guardian: Today the world faces a water crisis. One billion people (a seventh of the population) don't have access to clean drinking water and 2 billion live without adequate sanitation. In the future, as the population increases and the effects of climate change become ever more severe, efficient management of water supplies will be essential. But we have been here before. As Steven Mithen shows, civilisations in the ancient world also solved challenging water supply problems: "the heroes of this book" are...
Is net positive feasible when it comes to water?
Posted by Guardian: James Dalton on September 6th, 2013
Guardian: New business terms and trends come and go. Net positive impact (NPI) is one of these engaging concepts. It's a relatively simple idea – business impacts on the environment and society need to be positive, to the point that they outweigh the negative impacts. Business should do more to reduce its impact, and not do less by just being reductionist. The question is, does it stand up to scrutiny when we consider water?
Imagine a mining company that has to remove forest to access minerals. This would...
South Korea bans fish imports from Japan’s Fukushima region
Posted by Guardian: Justin McCurry on September 6th, 2013
Guardian: South Korea has banned all fish imports from a large area of Japan in response to growing concern over the possible environmental impact of recent leaks of highly toxic water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
In Japan, the row over the plant operator's handling of the leaks deepened on Friday when the head of the country's nuclear watchdog issued a stern rebuke to Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) for causing unnecessary alarm overseas by releasing "scientifically unacceptable" information...
Oops: Illegal carcinogen found in nearly 100 shampoos
Posted by Grist: Holly Richmond on September 6th, 2013
Grist: You’d think that something you buy at the grocery store and slather on your head would be tested to make sure it won’t kill you. Or at least that it wouldn’t include a suspected carcinogen banned in at least one state.
Unfortunately, you’d be wrong.
Amanda Just of Ecorazzi writes:
The Center for Environmental Health, based in Oakland, California, did some independent laboratory tests on 98 shampoos and soaps to determine if they contained cocamide diethanolamine, also known as cocamide DEA,...