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Archive for November 4th, 2013
Deforestation may hurt U.S. agriculture, affect monsoon cycle
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 4th, 2013
Mongabay: Unchecked deforestation will have far-reaching impacts on temperature, rainfall, and monsoon cycles in regions well outside the tropics, affecting agriculture and water availability, warns a new report published by Greenpeace International.
The report, titled An Impending Storm: Impacts of deforestation on weather patterns and agriculture, is a synthesis of dozens of recent scientific papers that assess the effects of forest cover loss on weather patterns, local climate, and agricultural productivity....
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Leaked IPCC Draft Cites Widespread Effects of Climate Change, Calls for Action
Posted by Nature World: Tamarra Kemsley on November 4th, 2013
Nature World: A leaked draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "Summary for Policymakers" cites "widespread and consequential" impacts throughout the globe as a result of climate change.
Published on the site No Frakking Consensus, the draft identifies a variety of impacts on ecosystems and societies the changing global climate has, and will have, in coming years.
Already, climate change has forced land and sea species to shift "their ranges, seasonal activities, migration patterns, and abundance,...
Coast Guard Proposes Policy to Transport Radioactive Fracking Wastewater by Barge
Posted by EcoWatch: Emily DeMarco on November 4th, 2013
EcoWatch: The U.S. Coast Guard, which regulates the country’s waterways, will allow shale gas companies to ship fracking wastewater on the nation’s rivers and lakes under a proposed policy published Wednesday.
Industry officials say barges are the safest, and cheapest, way to move fracking wastewater, but a spill would severely contaminate waterways. Photo credit: Keith Robinson/ Flickr
The Coast Guard began studying the issue nearly two years ago at the request of its Pittsburgh office, which had inquiries...
China’s Great Dam Boom: An Assault on Its River Systems
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Charlton Lewis on November 4th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: In their search for renewable electric power, China’s engineers have been building mega-dams at a rate unmatched in human history. Many far larger than the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River -- which is 221 meters high and capable of generating more than 2,000 megawatts of power -- are being constructed on China’s greatest rivers. Best known is the Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2008, which stretches a mile-and-a-half across the Yangtze and can generate ten times the hydropower of the Hoover Dam. Yet...
Can environmentalists and frackers be friends?
Posted by PBS: None Given on November 4th, 2013
PBS: SUMMARY In an unlikely alliance, natural gas companies and environmentalists have decided to work together to make fracking safer. Rick Karr travels to Pennsylvania to explore the tensions this has created among environmental groups.
ANNOUNCER:Environmentalists and oil and gas companies are used to finding themselves on opposite sides of debates about fossil fuel consumption, pollution, and global climate change. But in Pennsylvania, some environmental advocacy groups have formed an unlikely...
The West’s energy landscape, transformed
Posted by Daily Climate: Gary Braasch on November 4th, 2013
Daily Climate: Coal is still king in eastern Wyoming in the Powder River Basin, here shown at Alpha Coal's Eagle Butte Mine outside of Gillette. But oil and gas are starting to make a play.
Coal mines have torn into vast areas of the rolling hills, eating up grazing land and putting pressure on ranchers. But natural gas extraction – both from conventional drilling and coal bed methane – and oil drilling are fast expanding across the region.
Forty percent of American coal comes from this region of Wyoming...
Global warming is changing soil chemistry, to the detriment of plant growth in the world’s dry regions
Posted by Summit County: Bob Berwyn on November 4th, 2013
Summit County: After studying soil samples at more than 200 sites worldwide in a networked research projects, scientists say global warming is likely to change the balance of soil nutrients in drylands -- to the detriment of plant growth.
Drylands cover about 41 percent of the earth’s surface. The study suggests that people -- about 20 percent of the world`s population -- who depend on those ecosystems for crops, livestock forage, fuel and fiber will find their resources increasingly restrained.
The findings...
Why is Europe failing to take the energy-water connection seriously?
Posted by Guardian: Brooke Barton on November 4th, 2013
Guardian: Concerns are intensifying in the US about the troubling interdependence of the economy's water and energy needs. In particular, the vast quantities of water (about 40% of national water withdrawals) needed for cooling US power plants are making headlines, and proposals to build thirsty new generation plants in drought-stricken states like Texas are under heavy scrutiny. Hydropower is also under strain from climate change, as more and more "one in a hundred years" droughts are reducing rivers to a...
Fears for salmon farming after targets missed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 4th, 2013
Guardian: The Scottish salmon farming industry is struggling to meet a controversial target to rapidly increase production to help feed China's growing appetite for fresh and smoked salmon.
The Guardian has established that Scottish salmon producers have fallen way behind their goal of increasing production by 60,000 tonnes, or 50%, by 2020 to help meet surging demand for the fish from China's middle classes. Scottish ministers now admit that hitting the target is a "challenge".
It is central to a major...
Obama signs order on response to weather disasters & climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 4th, 2013
Associated Press: A year after Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, President Obama signed an executive order Friday to make it easier for states and local governments to respond to weather disasters.
The executive order establishes a task force of state and local officials to advise the administration on how to respond to severe storms, wildfires, droughts and other possible effects of climate change. The task force includes governors of seven states -- all Democrats -- and the Republican governor of Guam,...