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Archive for September 15th, 2013
Doak: We need to focus on coping as climate fluctuates
Posted by Des Moines Register: None Given on September 15th, 2013
Des Moines Register: About the same time President Obama was addressing the nation about Syria last week, a state senator in Iowa was lecturing about climate change to a college audience.
The two talks weren’t as far apart as they might seem.
The state senator, Rob Hogg of Cedar Rapids, is a crusader who argues that climate change not only is the defining issue of our times but that response to climate change will shape almost everything that happens this century.
Syria is a case in point. Absent climate change,...
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Remote Antarctic glacier is disappearing from below
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2013
National Public Radio: Scientists watching Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier from space have noticed with some alarm that it has been surging toward the sea. If it were to melt entirely, global sea levels would rise by several feet. The glacier is really, really remote. It's 1,800 miles from McMurdo, the U.S. base station in Antarctica, so just getting there is a challenge. Scientists have rarely been able to get out to the glacier to make direct measurements. "This was a granddaddy of a problem," says Tim Stanton, oceanography...
New study of the Arctic Ocean finds alarming increase in acidity
Posted by Environmental News Network: Roger Greenway, Enn on September 15th, 2013
Environmental News Network: If you ever had a marine aquarium (or a swimming pool) you know that it is very important to keep the level of acidity (ph) within a narrow range for optimum results. In the case of the pool, to minimize corrosion of the metal parts in a heater and to reduce damage to the pool lining or paint. In the case of the aquarium, the ph is directly related to the health of coral and fish. The ocean is no different. Acidity is an important parameter that relates to many other parameters including the health...
Climate change not on Wisconsin politicians’ radar: Bill Lueders column
Posted by Wisconsin Rapids Tribune: Bill Lueders on September 15th, 2013
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune: The Wisconsin Federation of College Republicans made national news recently for taking an audacious stand: In a statement bashing President Barack Obama’s “nanny-state” climate-change initiatives, the state campus group argued that this is an issue the GOP should address. “It is time we apply conservative principles to climate policy,” the statement said, quoting a member who predicted, “Wisconsin will lead.” That may be overly optimistic. A recent study ranked Wisconsin 19th in the nation for...
Drought shines light on NM climate change
Posted by Silver City Sun-News: Vincent P. Gutschick, John Nelson and Loe Ellen Kay on September 15th, 2013
Silver City Sun-News: The current six-year drought in our area is demonstrating the effects of climate change in New Mexico. Farmers have been hit especially hard, with severely reduced irrigation allotments, and the Rio Grande is conspicuously dry over extended times and reaches.
We need to learn what can be done about climate change, either to slow it down or to help us to deal with its effects. Much work has been done already, so an important national hearing on climate change on Sept. 18 should have experts as...
Scarcity Reveals an Inaccessible Excess
Posted by Inter Press Service: Miriam Gathigah on September 15th, 2013
Inter Press Service: For decades Zakayo Ekeno has walked Turkana County's arid land, herding his livestock, and his father's before that. Yet nothing about the persistently drought-stricken land in northern Kenya could have given him an indication of the wealth beneath it.
"I have asked myself many times whether anything good can come out of this godforsaken land," Ekeno says. Turkana is the most arid and poorest of Kenya's 47 counties and in 2011 almost 9.5 million people of the mainly nomad community here were...
Colorado floods: rescuers rush to evacuate stranded communities
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2013
Associated Press: Rescuers broke through to flood-ravaged Colorado towns, issuing a stern warning to anyone thinking of staying behind: leave now or be prepared to endure weeks without electricity, running water and basic supplies.
National Guard helicopters and truck convoys carried the message into paralyzed canyon communities where thousands of stranded residents were eager to escape the Rocky Mountain foothills. But not everybody was willing to go. Dozens of people in the isolated community of Jamestown wanted...
Fifth fatality feared in Colorado floods as towns evacuated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2013
Reuters: Colorado authorities warned on Sunday that the death toll likely would rise from historic flooding in the state as a second person was confirmed missing and presumed dead, in addition to four deaths previously verified.
An 80-year-old woman whose home was washed away by floodwaters in Larimer County was the latest victim feared dead from the week-long rains, said sheriff's spokesman John Schulz.
"The woman was injured and couldn't get out of her house, and when neighbors went back to help her,...