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Archive for February 16th, 2014
United Kingdom: Fish farms are destroying wild Scottish salmon, says leading environmentalist
Posted by Guardian: Kevin McKenna on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: One of the world's most influential conservation bodies has accused the Scottish government of ruining the country's lucrative salmon-fishing industry.
In a strongly worded letter to all of Scotland's MSPs, Orri Vigfusson, chairman and founder of the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF), accuses Holyrood of contributing to a catastrophic decline in salmon stocks on Scottish rivers.
Vigfusson, who is lauded in Iceland for his work in salmon conservation, writes: "Your country encourages and supports...
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Floods and weather: How to survive a very English apocalypse
Posted by Telegraph: Cole Moreton on February 16th, 2014
Telegraph: The wind sounds like a jet engine as it tears across the floodplain. Yet another Atlantic storm is ravaging the West Country, but in the hamlet of Burrowbridge in Somerset there are dozens of men and women hauling sandbags in atrocious conditions to save the homes of people they don't even know.
"We are shocked and amazed and astounded at how well everyone has pulled together, the kindness of strangers and the generosity they have displayed,' says Rebecca Horsington, a 38-year-old farmer's wife...
Why is the US gripped by severe weather?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
BBC: New research suggests that the main system that helps determine the weather over Northern Europe and North America may be changing.
The study shows that the so-called jet stream has increasingly taken a longer, meandering path. This has resulted in weather remaining the same for more prolonged periods.
The BBC's science correspondent Pallab Ghosh reports from Chicago on why the US has been gripped by such extreme weather patterns.
Flooding crisis likely to get worse, warns David Cameron
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: David Cameron has warned that the flooding crisis is likely to get worse even though Britain is set for a respite from the devastating winter storms.
The prime minister said while the weather was due to improve, the sheer volume of rain over recent weeks meant groundwater levels would keep rising in many places.
The comments came as power firms struggled to reconnect tens of thousands of homes after the latest downpours and high winds.
Despite weather forecasters predicting an "improving...
United Kingdom: Climate change and its risks are not going away, Mr Cameron
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Independent: A scientist who co-wrote a report seven years ago predicting current levels of flooding says that ministers are still disinclined to do what is needed. The PM must show leadership as much as sympathy
The current flooding crisis is one of a succession to hit England. After the widespread flooding in 2000, the Department of Trade and Industry commissioned the Foresight “Future Flooding” study which involved some 90 national experts. The reports covered how flood risks would change up to the 2080s...
Climate change: time for sceptics to put up or shut up
Posted by Guardian: Henry Porter on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: Say I were to ask you to prove that the dinosaurs were wiped out when an asteroid collided with the Earth 66m years ago, in what is now snappily called the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
If you were as weirdly obsessed by these catastrophes as I am, you would maybe start by citing the worldwide layer of sediment known as K-Pg boundary, which was first discovered near Gubbio, in Italy, and is thought to be the fallout from a massive explosion. You would mention the soot that is associated...
Britain needs to learn to live with water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: Cornwall cut off; Chesil Beach remodelled; several thousand properties under water; tens of thousands of homes without power; and the number of deaths tragically rising. Fire and rescue services are caught up in the biggest mobilisation since the Second World War and still the wettest winter on record is not done. Currently, up to 3,000 homes could flood in the Thames Valley with 24 "danger to life" severe flood warnings in place and widespread disruption expected on road and rail as the half-term...
The Dutch solution to floods: live with water, don’t fight it
Posted by Guardian: Tracy McVeigh on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: Nol and Wil Hooijmaaijers have been watching the TV news from Britain with some horror. "It's terrible to see, very sad, I am so sorry. And when you see the cows up to their knees in the water," Wils tuts and shakes her head. "We are so lucky." Sitting at their oak dining table, looking out of the windows of their modern farmhouse at the newly planted saplings standing firm in the grey afternoon, the couple know what it is like to lose a home on a flood plain. .
Their old house and fields were...
United Kingdom: On Thames, centuries of history tell a less apocalyptic flood story
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 16th, 2014
Guardian: A British fixation with the weather seems to link readily with a pessimistic view of our vulnerability to flooding. This has been underlined through an outstandingly wet winter, with often protracted floods. For those directly affected, in Somerset especially, this has been a harrowing experience, and the impact on transport, agriculture and commerce has been severe.
Many believe that the cluster of major floods in the early years of the 21st century herald much worse as global temperatures continue...