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Archive for December, 2013
Abrupt Climate Change Raises Concerns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
Voice of America: A National Research Council report is raising concern about the increased potential for abrupt climate changes in the near future, meaning change in a few years or decades - rather than centuries - leaving little time for society and ecosystems to adapt.
University of Colorado Geological Sciences Professor Jim White led the scientific committee assessing the risk.
"It is important to recognize that not only does climate change itself, but there are impacts, on human systems and on natural ecosystems,...
Tipping Point: Where May Abrupt Impacts from Climate Change Occur?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
ScienceDaily: Climate change has increased concern over possible large and rapid changes in the physical climate system, which includes Earth's atmosphere, land surfaces, and oceans. Some of these changes could occur within a few decades or even years, leaving little time for society and ecosystems to adapt. A new report from the National Research Council extends this idea of abrupt climate change, stating that even steady, gradual change in the physical climate system can have abrupt impacts elsewhere -- in human...
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Comments Off on Tipping Point: Where May Abrupt Impacts from Climate Change Occur?Federal study warns of sudden climate change woes
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
Associated Press: Hard-to-predict sudden changes to Earth's environment are more worrisome than climate change's bigger but more gradual impacts, a panel of scientists advising the federal government concluded Tuesday.
The 200-page report by the National Academy of Sciences looked at warming problems that can occur in years instead of centuries. The report repeatedly warns of potential ''tipping points'' where the climate passes thresholds, beyond which ''major and rapid changes occur.'' And some of these quick...
Indigenous Canadian anti-fracking protesters refuse to back down
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on December 3rd, 2013
Al Jazeera: Anti-fracking demonstrators set tires ablaze to block a New Brunswick highway Monday in a fiery response to a judge’s decision to extend an injunction limiting their protests against a Texas-based shale gas exploration company.
In a courtroom in Fredericton, the capital of New Brunswick, Judge Paulette Garnett ruled to continue through Dec. 17 the injunction obtained by SWN Resources Canada against a coalition of protesters led by Mi’kmaq indigenous people from the Elsipogtog First Nation.
The...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Indigenous Canadian anti-fracking protesters refuse to back downBotswana accused of allowing fracking in national parks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
LA Times: The government of Botswana has quietly allowed international companies to explore for natural gas in some of the country's most sensitive national parks using the controversial drilling method of hydraulic fracturing, according to a new documentary released in South Africa.
American filmmaker Jeffrey Barbee obtained a government map that appears to show that authorities in Botswana allocated vast exploration concessions in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Botswana accused of allowing fracking in national parksThreat ‘Abrupt’ Climate Impacts Warrants Early Warning System, Panel Finds
Posted by National Geographic: Dan Vergano on December 3rd, 2013
National Geographic: Climate change "tipping points" could be sudden and surprising, experts say. The threat of sudden climate change disaster-from the poles melting to farmlands failing-is real and requires an early warning system, an expert panel suggested on Tuesday. Looking at "tipping points" for global warming disasters, the National Research Council panel report on "abrupt" climate impacts finds noteworthy risks of sharp, sudden sea-level rise, water shortages, and extinctions worldwide in coming years and decades....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Threat ‘Abrupt’ Climate Impacts Warrants Early Warning System, Panel FindsInside the Oil-Shipping Industry That Brought Disaster to Lac-Mégantic
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
Globe and Mail: Long before disaster struck, the 5,900 residents of Lac-Mégantic had grown accustomed to the sight of large oil tankers rolling through their small, tightly knit community in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.
A shortage of oil pipelines in North America had created a new kind of railway industry traversing the continent. In just a few years, tankers carrying crude oil from the resource-rich West had grown from a mere 8,000 in 2009 to nearly 400,000, and Lac-Mégantic is located along one of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Inside the Oil-Shipping Industry That Brought Disaster to Lac-MéganticNorthern Gateway Opponents Preparing for Legal Battle with Canadian Government
Posted by Hill Times: Chris Plecash on December 3rd, 2013
Hill Times: Opponents of Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline project are preparing for a legal showdown with the federal government in 2014, even though the project's Joint Review Panel has yet to make its final recommendations.
The project would run directly through the riding of NDP MP and Opposition House Leader Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.), an outspoken critic of the project and intervenor in the panel's hearings.
Mr. Cullen said that he doesn't have much faith in the panel's forthcoming...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Northern Gateway Opponents Preparing for Legal Battle with Canadian GovernmentWisconsin Sandstorm Blows Through Minnesota
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2013
Wall Street Journal: LIFE’S A BEACH FOR SAND MINERS The U.S. shale bonanza is creating a boom in another, perhaps less likely, commodity—sand, a key ingredient in fracking. Sand use has increased 25% since 2011, The Wall Street Journal’s Alison Sider and Kristin Jones report, with a further 20% rise expected in the next two years. Oil companies need enormous quantities of sand to pour down oil and gas wells and flush out fossil fuels. It takes 25 railcars of sand, on average, to frack one well, and companies are experimenting...
Australia Must Cut Emissions 40% by 2020 Avoid “Dramatic Climatic Shifts”
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on December 2nd, 2013
Guardian: Australia must drastically increase its emissions reduction target to 40% by 2020 to avoid "almost unimaginable social, economic and ecological consequences' from climate change, a new book penned by leading scientists and economists, including Ross Garnaut, has warned.
The book, Four Degrees of Global Warming: Australia in a Hot World, sets out a series of stark scenarios facing the country should global temperatures rise by 4C above the pre-industrial average.
By 2100, annual rainfall in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia Must Cut Emissions 40% by 2020 Avoid “Dramatic Climatic Shifts”