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Archive for September, 2013
India: Green areas spreading in Rajasthan deserts after heavy rains
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 29th, 2013
Times of India: Global warming is set to change the climate of Rajasthan forever. According to leading London-based scientists, the deserts of Rajasthan will become swampy by 2030. The findings of these scientists, which are published in the journal, 'Nature', a few years ago, had also said the north-east areas of the state will change to drought-affected regions.
In the last one decade, several indications have been observed which are likely to cause the change, including heavy rains, in western Rajasthan, while...
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West Pensylvannia forests being fragmented by gas drilling
Posted by Trib: Jodi Weigand on September 29th, 2013
Trib: A U.S. Geological Survey study of Butler and surrounding counties found thousands of acres of land and forest disturbance because of Marcellus shale and traditional gas well drilling.
The USGS study examined aerial images from the National Agriculture Imagery Program taken between 2004 and 2010.
In Butler County, 109 natural gas extraction sites resulted in more than 324 acres of disturbance, including about 13 miles of new roads, according to the most recently released study.
The disturbance...
Fossil fuels need to stay unburned to meet climate target
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 29th, 2013
Bloomberg: Most known reserves of fossil fuels will need to stay unburned to stop temperatures rising beyond a United Nations target that seeks to curb climate-change dangers.
About 531 billion metric tons of carbon have been emitted by burning oil, coal and gas, cutting down forests and making cement since 1750, the UN said today. Capping greenhouse gas output at 840 billion tons gives a 50 percent chance of meeting the UN target of restraining warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), it...
Live in a heavily fracked area? Watch out for STDs
Posted by Fast Company: None Given on September 29th, 2013
Fast Company: Just in case news of the potential environmental damage didn't scare you, anti-fracking advocates say you should be concerned about your naughty bits.
In 1850, near the beginning of the California Gold Rush, the female population was perilously low in Northern California. In mining counties, they made up less than 2% of overall inhabitants. According to Sierra Foothills Magazine, one man wrote at the time: "Got nearer to a woman this evening than I have been in six months. Came near fainting."...
Heat is on as costs tackling global warming set to soar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 29th, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: The effects of global warming on Australia are well documented, and some are already being seen in the form of dry winters, unusual summer heat and early spring bushfires.
In the longer term, according to the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and universities, we can anticipate damaging sea level rise, changes in local weather that disrupt agriculture, and ocean acidification expected to severely deplete the Great Barrier Reef.
But the most immediate effects on Australia are likely to be financial....
ALERT! Stop Tar Sands Ecocide, Block Canada’s Energy East Pipeline
Posted by Water Conservation Blog on September 29th, 2013
TAKE ACTION HERE NOW!
Canadian tar sands [search] production, transport, and consumption represent continued fossil fuel addiction that guarantees runaway climate change and global ecosystem collapse. From the deforestation of old-growth boreal forests, to the fouling of land and water as the carbon intensive oil is mined and extracted, to the constant dangers of far-flung spills as the viscous oil is transported, through its burning and release of tar sand filth into the atmosphere: tar sands is the epitome of ecocidal industrial activity that must end to limit abrupt climate change and achieve global ecological sustainability. Albertas tar sands are landlocked, and keeping them from ocean ports is vital to eliminating their production, and keeping the toxic tar in the ground where it belongs. Ecological Internet has already taken the lead in delaying the Northern Gateway pipelines to the West join us now in stopping the Energy East pipeline to the Atlantic.
Discuss Alert: http://www.climateark.org/shared/alerts/sendsm.aspx?id=canada_energy_east#discuss
Reality of global warming is screaming at us
Posted by Age: Geoffrey Lean on September 29th, 2013
Age: The latest giant climate report was met with a dance and a scream.
The dance came when the governments and scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finally put the finishing touches to the most important analysis yet of its kind after a series of sessions that allowed them only six hours' sleep in the last 52. The conference manager, Francis Hayes - a former British Met Office scientist - donned a Russian hat and performed a Cossack caper in celebration.
The mass scream was...
Tokyo Electric sees profit without rate hike: paper
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 29th, 2013
Reuters: Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima plant, will likely turn a profit for the first time in three years in the current business year, without raising electricity rates or restarting reactors, its president was quoted as saying on Sunday.
Naomi Hirose's remarks in the Asahi Shimbun daily come after the utility on Friday applied to restart its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant in northwestern Japan, a key step in its planned recovery plan from the Fukushima disaster.
"There...
Food: The Key to Fixing Climate Change
Posted by Motley Food: Brian Stoffel on September 29th, 2013
Motley Food: Often when we think of pollution and climate change, we picture gas-guzzling cars or power plants spewing fumes into the atmosphere. Rarely, however, do we think of the food we eat. But according to two different sources, if we really want to get serious about climate change, food is exactly where we should start.
Differing estimates, same conclusion
In 2012, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security released a report stating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)...
Ads to Urge Obama to Reject Oil Pipeline
Posted by New York Times: Michael D. Shear on September 29th, 2013
New York Times: A new television ad scheduled for broadcast on Sunday will call on President Obama to “do the right thing” to prevent climate change by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. Produced and narrated by Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager from California, the ad is the latest attempt by his political action committee to put pressure on Mr. Obama and try to counter proponents of the pipeline. “Mr. President, you’ve had real accomplishments when it comes to fighting climate disruption,” Mr. Steyer...