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Archive for January 18th, 2014
Study sheds light on effects of clouds on warming
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on January 18th, 2014
Climate News Network: Australian and French scientists believe they have cracked one of the great puzzles of climate change and arrived at a more accurate prediction of future temperatures.
One of the great unknowns of climate science is what effect clouds have in accelerating or slowing warming. A new study sheds light on their possible impact.
The news is not good, according to Steven Sherwood of Australia's Centre for Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of New South Wales. If carbon emissions...
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Becker, White House staff meet on pressing climate change challenges
Posted by Deseret News: Amy Joi O'Donoghue on January 18th, 2014
Deseret News: The White House came to town on Friday to hear what climate change challenges are uniquely problematic for Salt Lake City: air pollution, wildland fires, and protecting the watershed.
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker hosted White House Director of Intergovernmental Affairs David Agnew and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Nancy Sutley during a discussion on choices leaders can make to craft more climate-resistant communities, and where and how the federal government should...
Australia: Bees not coping with extreme weather
Posted by Examiner: Jayne Richardson on January 18th, 2014
Examiner: EXTREME weather conditions this year have wreaked havoc on the honey industry nationwide.
Honey Tasmania manager Tristan Campbell says the honey season is shorter in Tasmania and apiarists across the state are averaging about 30 per cent of their annual yield.
EXTREME weather conditions this year have wreaked havoc on the honey industry nationwide.
The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council said this year's wet spring and hot summer would deliver the lowest national honey yields for 10 years...
Australia fire chief says ‘worst behind us’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: The worst of the bushfires in Australia's state of Victoria appeared to be over Saturday, officials said, as firefighters battling the blazes welcomed cooler conditions after days of extreme heat.
Four homes were lost in a fire in the Grampians region, in western Victoria, where a massive 52,000-hectare blaze had threatened townships and prompted the evacuation of holiday spots.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the fires across the state, most of which were sparked by lightning,...
Next 15 years vital for taming warming: UN panel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Agence France-Presse: The next 15 years will be vital in determining whether global warming can be limited to 2C (3.6F) by 2100, with energy and transport presenting the heftiest challenges, according to a draft UN report. "Delaying mitigation through 2030 will increase the challenges.... and reduce the options," warns a summary of the report seen by AFP. The draft is the third volume in a long-awaited trilogy by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Nobel-winning group of scientists. Major efforts...
Kerry: No rush to decide on Keystone XL pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Associated Press: At a joint appearance with Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird, Kerry said he has not received a crucial environmental report on the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas.
"My hope is that before long, that analysis will be available, and then my work begins," Kerry said, referring to a recommendation he is expected to make on whether the pipeline is in the U.S. national interest. The State Department has jurisdiction over the pipeline...
Heatwave: Australia’s grape growers watch their fortunes wither
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: Rod Gribble looks at his horror harvest through the haze of another 40-plus degree day. He's been up working since the early hours to beat the heat, only to be mauled by mosquitoes.
Sunburnt grapes are shrivelled and brown on his farm on Savage Road at Bilbul, near Griffith in the state's south west. This season's yield of chardonnay grapes is so poor it's cheaper to let them rot on the vine than harvest what remains.
''No matter how much you water, the heat just dries them up,'' Mr Gribble,...
Fukushima’s operator says spin-off an option only for the future
Posted by Reuters: Mari Saito and Kentaro Hamada on January 18th, 2014
Reuters: Spinning off the clean-up project at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant from the rest of operator Tokyo Electric Power's business could be an option in the future if the decommissioning runs smoothly, the company's president said.
Nearly three years after a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, Tokyo Electric (Tepco) is still struggling to contain radioactive water at the site and turn around its battered finances.
"Paying compensation (to evacuees), decontamination, and the...
Will California frack? Not without water
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Nick Cunningham, on January 18th, 2014
Christian Science Monitor: Drilling for oil in California dates back to the late 19th Century, allowing it to become the country’s top producer by the beginning of the 20th. One hundred years later, California still ranks third, but its aging fields have been in decline for decades.
Yet the state is sitting atop the largest tight oil formation in the United States. The Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas may be leading the resurgence in U.S. oil production, but the reserves sitting in California’s Monterey...
Firefighters hold line against southern California wildfire
Posted by Reuters: Alex Dobuzinskis on January 18th, 2014
Reuters: Firefighters sought to prevent a wildfire in the foothills near Los Angeles from flaring up on Saturday, as they put out embers from a blaze that has destroyed five homes, officials said.
The so-called Colby Fire, which officials said started from a campfire early on Thursday, has blackened nearly 1,900 acres of drought-parched chaparral and is 30 percent contained, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Robert Brady.
That was the same level of containment firefighters reported on Friday, but officials...