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Archive for October 29th, 2013
Extent of Peruvian Amazon lost to illegal goldmines mapped first time
Posted by Guardian: Dan Collyns on October 29th, 2013
Guardian: The area affected by illegal gold mining in Peru's south-eastern Amazon region increased by 400% from 1999 to 2012, according to researchers using state-of-the-art mapping technology.
Using airborne mapping and high-satellite monitoring, researchers led by the Carnegie Institution for Science also showed that the rate of forest loss in Madre de Dios has tripled since the 2008 global economic crisis, when the international price of gold began to rise to new highs.
Until this study, thousands...
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Hurricane Sandy Animations Could Improve Flood Forecasts
Posted by Scientific American: Mark Fischetti on October 29th, 2013
Scientific American: Soon after superstorm Sandy struck New York and New Jersey a year ago today, the public became aware that a half-dozen U.S. weather models had incorrectly predicted that the storm coming up the coast would veer northeast out to sea. Only the so-called European model predicted that Sandy would "turn left' and threaten the coast of the nation's most populous city and the surrounding metropolitan area. Less was heard about another set of models that had attempted to predict how high the storm surge...
Grizzly Bears May Benefit From Effects Of A Warming Climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2013
RedOrbit: In contrast to many species, including our own, global warming and forest disturbances may have a silver lining for threatened species of grizzly bears in Alberta, Canada.
University of Alberta biologist Scott Nielsen and his team monitored 112 bears in Alberta`s Rocky Mountain region over the course of 10 years. He and his colleagues found that warmer temperatures and easier access to food associated with forest disturbances helped the grizzlies to build more body fat, known to increase the chances...
5 highly polluted urban areas you don’t want to live if you can help it
Posted by Grist: Brentin Mock on October 29th, 2013
Grist: You may have heard that Americans are pumping less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than we were a few years ago, which is great for mitigating climate change. But as Ben Adler pointed out in a post for Grist on Sunday, we still have a long way to go. CO2 isn`t the only greenhouse gas, and its often-overlooked “co-pollutants” have more immediate, localized effects on human health, particularly for poor communities and people of color.
During an address to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation...
The Next Superstorm: Will Congress Protect Us?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2013
Huffington Post: One year ago, Superstorm Sandy ripped through the Northeast with unprecedented force. I still remember the harried calls to loved ones, the anxious waiting to hear from friends in harms way, and the heartbreak for those who lost so much. More than 159 Americans died in the storm, and 72,000 homes and businesses were damaged in New Jersey alone. The official price tag topped $65 billion, but people's drained nest eggs and lost business may never be fully accounted for -- or recovered.
Still, this...
Missing logic of Australian prime minister’s denial of climate change link to bush fires
Posted by Guardian: Graham Readfern on October 29th, 2013
Guardian: o wanders into a classroom full of five-year-olds, sits down, pulls out a packet of cigarettes and starts to smoke them, exhaling puffs of cancer-inducing haze that waft into the little kids' faces.
"Please stop that," pleads one of the children. "My mummy says smoking gives you cancer."
"Rubbish," replies the smoker. "People have been dying of cancer ever since humans have walked the Earth. How did the cavemen die of cancer before cigarettes were invented, eh?"
Clearly, our cancer-stick...
Melting Arctic sea ice means it’s only going to get wetter for northern Europe
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 29th, 2013
Independent: The unprecedented run of wet summer weather in recent years could be due in part to the melting sea ice in the Arctic, which appears to be affecting the movement of high-altitude winds over Britain, a study has found.
Scientists believe they have discovered a “causal link” between the loss of Arctic sea ice in summer months and variations in the jet stream that have brought a series of very wet summers to Britain and northern Europe.
The six summers from 2007 to 2012 were all wetter than average...