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Archive for December 17th, 2013
Freshwater Loss Could Double Agricultural Losses Tied to Climate Change
Posted by Nature World: None Given on December 17th, 2013
Nature World: Freshwater shortages could double the effects of climate change on agriculture yields, a new study combining climate, agricultural and hydrological models found.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study estimates that climate change alone could result in a loss of between 400-2,600 petacalories of food supply, or 8 to 43 percent of present day levels. Add projected declines of freshwater into the mix and this could jump an additional 600-2,900 petacalories, the...
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Africa to build world’s largest dam, but who will benefit?
Posted by Mongabay: Liz Kimbrough on December 17th, 2013
Mongabay: The Congo River traverses the continent of Africa, ending its journey in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where it spills 1.5 million cubic feet per second into the Atlantic Ocean. Now, plans are underway to harness this tremendous force of water in what promises to be the world's largest hydropower scheme, The Grand Inga.
The Grand Inga Hydropower Project could produce up to 40,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, more than twice the power generated by the current most powerful dam in the...
Climate change puts 40% more people at risk of absolute water scarcity, study says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 17th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Water scarcity impacts people's lives in many countries already today. Future population growth will increase the demand for freshwater even further. Yet in addition to this, on the supply side, water resources will be affected by projected changes in rainfall and evaporation. Climate change due to unabated greenhouse-gas emissions within our century is likely to put 40 percent more people at risk of absolute water scarcity than would be without climate change, a new study shows by using an unprecedented...
Let it Snow, Let it Snow: U.S. Sets Benchmark
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on December 17th, 2013
Climate Central: Bitter cold and snow and ice storms have been the mantra for December across much of the U.S. And in fact, the country has seen a larger snowpack this month than at any point in the past decade.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 53 percent of the lower 48 states had some snow cover on Dec. 15. That topped all readings on that date since such records began in 2003.
The expansive snow cover stands in stark contrast to some of the milder early winters of...
Australia: Is the coal industry about to wreck the Great Barrier Reef?
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 17th, 2013
Grist: Here`s a conundrum for you: Would it be better to protect Australia`s Great Barrier Reef, which is visible from space, attracts more than a million visitors every year, and is home to thousands of species of fish, sharks, and other marine animals? Or would it be better to build one of the world`s largest coal ports near the reef, dredge the area around the port, dump millions of tons of dredged mud and sand into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and then create a coal-shipping superhighway through...
Drought and climate change: an uncertain future?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 17th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Drought frequency may increase by more than 20% in some regions of the globe by the end of the 21st century, but it is difficult to be more precise as we don't know yet how changes in climate will impact on the world's rivers. The results come from a study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which examined computer simulations from an ensemble of state of the art global hydrological models driven by the latest projections from five global climate models used for...
Australian Coal ProjectsThreatened by Drop in Demand From China
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 17th, 2013
Yale Environment 360: Major Australian coal projects risk losing value due to falling demand from China, where leaders are increasingly concerned about growing public anger over severe air pollution, a new analysis from Oxford University has found. Future coal mining projects are vulnerable to being "stranded" by a range of policy changes from the Chinese government, including environmental regulation, carbon pricing, investment in renewable energy, and energy efficiency, the report said. One expert told The Guardian...
United Kingdom: Half UK ‘suitable for fracking’
Posted by BBC: Roger Harrabin on December 17th, 2013
BBC: More than half of the UK could be suitable for shale gas fracking, according to a government-commissioned report.
Under the maximum scenario, up to 2,880 wells could be drilled for oil or gas in a new licensing round, the report says, generating 16,000 to 32,000 jobs.
This would markedly increase lorry movements and could squeeze water supplies for local communities.
But the environmental impact would be "manageable", say consultants AMEC.
A single well might create up to 51 daily lorry...
Study: Climate Change Could Drain Access to Water
Posted by National Journal: Ben Geman on December 17th, 2013
National Journal: A new study finds that climate change could jeopardize access to water for millions of people in places where scarcity is already a problem, according to U.S. News & World Report.
"The study, published Monday in a special issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that water resources will be affected by changes in rainfall and evaporation due to climate change, putting 40 percent more people at risk of absolute water scarcity," their story states.
Slate, meanwhile,...
‘Whole world at risk’ from simultaneous droughts, famines, epidemics: scientists
Posted by Guardian: Nafeez Ahmed on December 17th, 2013
Guardian: An international scientific research project known as the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), run by 30 teams from 12 countries, has attempted to understand the severity and scale of global impacts of climate change. The project compares model projections on water scarcity, crop yields, disease, floods among other issues to see how they could interact.
The series of papers published by the Proceedings for the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) shows that policymakers...