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Archive for October 12th, 2013
Thanks to Marcellus Shale, ‘fracking’ becomes a household word
Posted by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Anya Litvak on October 12th, 2013
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Marcellus Shale preceded the founding of Pittsburgh by a good 350 million years. The rock layer laid safely tucked a mile underground until in the early 2000s, when the shale gas -- through a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing -- began its ascent to stardom. Now it all but defines the region.
Pennsylvania has been an oil and gas producing state since the late 1800s. Thirty years ago, gas wells in Pennsylvania pumped out a respectable 118 billion cubic feet of gas in...
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Cyclone Phailin pounds eastern India
Posted by LA Times: Mark Magnier on October 12th, 2013
LA Times: India was battered by a massive cyclone Saturday as more than half a million people in vulnerable coastal and low-lying areas spent a terrifying night in shelters amid power outages, large storm surges and canceled train trips and flights.
With roads blocked and communication down in many areas and the full extent of the damage still unknown early Sunday, news organizations reported that few people had lost their lives, most from flying trees and debris. The early death toll was five to seven....
Indians flee east coast as Cyclone Phailin makes landfall
Posted by Guardian: Jason Burke on October 12th, 2013
Guardian: Almost half a million people have fled the eastern Indian coast, many leaving just hours before a "super cyclone" hit the country.
The vast weather system – cyclone Phailin – was generating winds of up to 220km/h (136mph) and forcing huge waves far inland before it struck the shores of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh states just after 9pm local time.
Aid and disaster management officials estimated that up to 12 million people lie in its path. They forecast widespread destruction and disruption though...
Phosphorus Reduction in Lakes May Limit Their Ability to Remove Nitrogen
Posted by Nature World: Tamarra Kemsley on October 12th, 2013
Nature World: A study of a Minnesota lake reveals that while cleanup efforts aimed at reducing phosphorus have been highly successful, they could ultimately prove problematic. The report builds off of previous research regarding nitrogen levels in Lake Superior and could have implications for pollution control efforts throughout the world, according to the study's authors. The researchers found that as phosphorus levels dropped, so did the microbial processes responsible for removing nitrogen from the water....
Climate departure date
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 12th, 2013
Living on Earth: Scientists at the University of Hawaii have figured out a way to pinpoint when weather extremes at a given location will move outside the range of anything we've known in modern times. Geographer Abby Frazier, a co-author on the paper in Nature, tells host Steve Curwood it's going to be sooner then we might think.
Transcript
CURWOOD: From the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios in Boston this is Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood. When it comes to forecasts of global climate disruption, there...
What should be done about climate change refugees?
Posted by Toronto Star: None Given on October 12th, 2013
Toronto Star: A pending court case in New Zealand involving a man from the low-lying island of Kiribati could have profound implications worldwide on the future of migration due to climate change.
The 37-year-old is seeking refugee status, but not because he is being persecuted back home, one of the definitions of a refugee. Rather, he says, flooding and rising sea levels due to climate change are making it too dangerous for him, his wife and three children to return to Kiribati. The island nation, with a population...
Coal export from US sent via BC shorten lives in China
Posted by Vancouver Sun: Laura Benson and Jeremy Brown on October 12th, 2013
Vancouver Sun: Our son Henry’s best friend lives next door to us in Burnaby, but only for a few more months. Five-year-old Xiao Xiao, an earnest little boy with a quick and dimpled smile, is here with his mother, Wei, who is spending the year as a visiting scholar at SFU. Soon Wei and Xiao Xiao will return home to toxic air and a completely different lifestyle in Tianjin, a port city in northern China.
While Henry will continue to breathe clean air, play outside nearly every day and take natural beauty for granted,...
France upholds ban on fracking
Posted by Telegraph: Rory Mulholland on October 12th, 2013
Telegraph: The court rejected a case taken by the US company Schuepbach Energy which argued that the ban was “discriminatory.”
The ruling is a victory for President Francois Hollande's ruling coalition of Socialists and Greens, which has opposed the technology.
Fracking was banned in 2011 in France, which has some of the largest reserves of shale gas in Europe, under the conservative ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy because it was feared that it could pollute groundwater and even trigger earthquakes.
Energy...