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Archive for October 6th, 2013
Antarctica’s scars hold clues to hidden water
Posted by LiveScience: Becky Oskin on October 6th, 2013
Livescience: Deep furrows on Antarctica's floating ice shelves mark arch-shaped channels melted out under the ice. Thinner ice floats lower, and researchers can read the corrugated surface topography like a map that mirrors what lies beneath. Now, a new study published today (Oct. 6) in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that in some spots, these surface scars also signal where water drains from beneath Antarctica's giant ice sheets. "These features on the ice shelf are very long, so it suggests the water...
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Vast streams found beneath Antarctic ice sheet
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2013
Telegraph: The streams of water, some of which are 250m in height and stretch for hundreds of kilometres, could be destabilising parts of the Antarctic ice shelf immediately around them and speeding up melting, researchers said.
However, they added that it remains unclear how the localised effects of the channels will impact on the future of the floating ice sheet as a whole.
The British researchers used satellite images and radar data to measure variations in the height of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf...
UK’s natural environment in jeopardy
Posted by Al Jazerra: Gavin O'Toole on October 6th, 2013
Al Jazerra: The poet William Blake described Britain's landscape as a "green and pleasant land" but much of the countryside - from the mighty oak tree to the humble hedgehog - are at serious risk.
Conservation groups and scientists have warned in an alarming report that a staggering 60 percent of UK plant and animal species have declined in recent decades, while more than 10 percent are at risk of being lost entirely.
Intensive farming, sprawling urbanisation and climate change as well as an invasion of...
Warmer seas may raise mercury in fish
Posted by Climate News Network: Alex Kirby on October 6th, 2013
Climate News Network: Scientists in the US say they have found evidence suggesting that warmer sea surface temperatures may increase the ability of fish to accumulate mercury.
This could present a risk to the health of some consumers of seafood as the mercury rises up the marine food chain.
The scientists, based at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, report their research in the journal PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science ONE).
Until now science has known little about how global warming may affect mercury accumulation...
Climate change and how New Zealand cities are preparing for it
Posted by New Zealand Herald: Andy Kenworthy on October 6th, 2013
New Zealand Herald: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the battle for global sustainability will be won or lost in the world's cities.
Cities and urban areas are estimated to account for 80 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and more than half of the world's population live in them, so what we do in our urban centres will, to a large extent, define the future of our world. Governments are struggling to agree on action against climate change, but thankfully many city authorities are...
In decline, coal in crosshairs in Virginia governor’s race
Posted by Associated Press: Steve Szkotak on October 6th, 2013
Associated Press: Coal has emerged as a defining issue in the race for Virginia's governor, and the stark divide between Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe has grown wider with the release of new federal pollution limits on coal-fired power plants.
The political debate centers on potential job losses southwest Virginia's coal industry would sustain under the proposed pollution guidelines. Cuccinelli contends that McAuliffe is complicit with the Obama administration's proposed regulations, which...
Is NY fracking a good idea? Look at Pennsylvania
Posted by CNBC: Javier E. David on October 6th, 2013
CNBC: First was Texas. Next came Pennsylvania and North Dakota. Could New York become the next U.S. shale hotspot?
It's a tantalizing prospect for some, given that the Empire State sits atop not one but two prolific shale formations, the Marcellus and the Utica. According to the most recent data from the United States Geological Survey, both have more than a combined 100 trillion cubic feet of estimated natural gas reserves.
Should New York overcome its deep reluctance to drill for natural gas, some...
The quest for energy security: long, slow, increasingly successful
Posted by Christian Science: John Yemma on October 6th, 2013
Christian Science: Have you noticed this pattern when dealing with a complex, intractable problem? You work through all the variables – some of which you control, most of which you don’t. You furrow your brow, break a dozen pencils, hit your head against multiple walls, and frequently drift into magical thinking about a breakthrough that wipes the problem out.
Even if the best minds of a generation keep at it, the problem persists. Then one day, you look around and realize that the problem is gone.
That’s the...
Some anti-drilling activists change tactics, sign leases and try to work with industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 6th, 2013
Associated Press: For years, activists have warned that fracking can have disastrous consequences — ruined water and air, sickened people and animals, a ceaseless parade of truck traffic. Now some critics are doing what was once unthinkable: working with the industry. Some are even signing lucrative gas leases and speaking about the environmental benefits of gas. In one northeastern Pennsylvania village that became a global flashpoint in the debate over fracking, the switch has raised more than a few eyebrows. ...