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Archive for September 16th, 2013
Which ecosystems are most vulnerable to climate change?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 16th, 2013
Mongabay: New research highlights the world's most (and least) vulnerable ecosystems to climate change. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, is the first to combine anticipated climatic impacts with how degraded the ecosystem is due to human impacts, creating what scientists hope is a more accurate list of vulnerable regions. The most endangered regions include southern and southeast Asia, western and central Europe, eastern South America, and southern Australia. James Watson, lead author of the...
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Fracking Emits Less Methane than Estimated Says Study
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on September 16th, 2013
Climate Central: Fracked natural gas wells leak much less methane -- a potent climate change-driving greenhouse gas -- at certain points during the production process than previous studies and the Environmental Protection Agency have estimated, according to a University of Texas study released Monday.
Methane is one of the chief components of natural gas locked up in underground shale formations -- the target of a natural gas drilling boom stretching from Pennsylvania to the Rockies and beyond. Energy companies...
Study: Natural Gas May Be Easier On Climate Than Coal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 16th, 2013
National Public Radio: From the standpoint of global warming, burning natural gas can be better than burning coal, a study published this week suggests.
This is a contentious issue among people who are opposed to the natural gas drilling practice known as fracking. That technique involves injecting water, sand and chemicals into wells to release far more gas than conventional drilling can. Opponents of fracking have been concerned not only about local environmental issues, but also about the potential for methane leaks...
Study: Natural gas industry can cut fracking emissions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 16th, 2013
USA Today: The booming U.S. production of natural gas can be less environmentally harmful than estimated if gas companies take certain steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions, says a major study Monday that was done with industry participation.
The study, billed as the first to measure the actual emissions of heat-trapping methane from natural gas wells, finds these emissions are slightly less than the most recent national estimate by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In some cases, the emissions were...
Flood-Ravaged Boulder, Colo., Sets Annual Rainfall Record
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 16th, 2013
Climate Central: As the largest U.S. rescue airlift since Hurricane Katrina continued along the northern Front Range of Colorado, more rainfall in the flood-weary city of Boulder pushed it to a new milestone on Monday, with 2013 going into the record books as the city’s wettest year — with three and a half months still remaining. With 30.12 inches of rain and counting, more than half of which fell since Sept. 9, the city has already eclipsed its previous mark of 29.93 inches, set in 1995. Boulder's average yearly...
Oil and fracking chemicals spill into Colorado’s floodwaters
Posted by Grist: None Given on September 16th, 2013
Grist: Heavy rains returned to Colorado on Sunday and hampered rescue efforts after last week`s flash floods. The confirmed death toll has risen to seven, and hundreds are still unaccounted for. An estimated 1,500 homes are destroyed. Some 1,000 people in Larimer County, north of Boulder, were awaiting airlifts that never came on Sunday - they were called off because of the foul weather.
The floods have also triggered other problems that have gotten a lot less media attention: Fracking infrastructure...
Canada bans researchers from discussing snowflakes, findings. Scientists protest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 16th, 2013
Guardian: The Canadian government in recent years has banned government scientists from talking about a growing list of research topics including snowflakes, the ozone layer, salmon, and previously published work about a 13,000-year-old flood.
Now it seems the scientists are talking back.
Researchers in 16 Canadian cities have called protests on Monday against science policies introduced under the government of Stephen Harper, which include rules barring government researchers from talking about their...
Antarctica is Melting from the Bottom Up
Posted by Nature World News: James A. Foley on September 16th, 2013
Nature World News: As much as 90 percent of the ice loss in some parts of Antarctica happens beneath the water, according to researchers who report that much more ice is melting from the undersides of submerged ice shelves than previously thought.
Every year 2,800 cubic kilometers leave the Antarctic ice sheet, but for decades the general consensus among scientists was that calving -- where huge chunks of ice break off from glaciers and float out to sea -- was the main source of Antarctic ice loss.
Using satellite...
Study Delivers Good, Bad News on Methane Leaks from Fracking Operations
Posted by InsideClimate: Lisa Song and Jim Morris on September 16th, 2013
InsideClimate: A long-awaited study led by the University of Texas at Austin shows that methane emissions from natural gas drilling sites are about 10 percent lower than recent estimates by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The research adds fresh fuel to the debate over whether natural gas is less carbon-intensive than coal. Although natural gas power plants emit smaller quantities of greenhouse gases than coal-fired plants, the production and distribution of natural gas release large amounts of methane,...
An Ecologist Explains His Contested View of Planetary Limits
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on September 16th, 2013
New York Times: It’s no surprise that Erle C. Ellis, an ecologist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, faced resistance when The Times published his Op-Ed article titled “Overpopulation is Not the Problem.” After all, his views clash with decades of assertions that we’re in “overshoot” as a species, sucking up far more resources than the planet can continue to offer. His answer to my enduring question here — “Which Comes First, Peak Everything or Peak us?” — is the latter. We are different than bacteria...