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Archive for March 24th, 2014
Global Warming Not Slowing Down, 2013 was Sixth Hottest on Record
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 24th, 2014
Nature World: Global temperatures in 2013 were the sixth warmest on record, the World Meteorological Organization reported Monday in its annual climate statement. The year was marked by a multitude of climate events and instances of extreme weather, including Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in the Philippines, one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, extreme heatwaves in the Southern Hemisphere, drought in Africa and southern China and record high sea levels.
The temperature record for last year ties 2007...
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Global warming not stopped, will go on for centuries – WMO
Posted by Reuters: Robert Evans on March 24th, 2014
Reuters: There has been no reverse in the trend of global warming and there is still consistent evidence for man-made climate change, the head of the U.N. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Monday.
A slow-down in the average pace of warming at the planet's surface this century has been cited by "climate sceptics" as evidence that climate change is not happening at the potentially catastrophic rate predicted by a U.N. panel of scientists.
But U.N. weather agency chief Michel Jarraud said...
Climate Change May Make Terrible Mudslides More Common
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
Atlantic: The death toll from this weekend's mudslide through Oso, Washington, is still climbing, with more than 100 still listed as missing.
The stories emerging are the definition of heart-rending. Here's one, from the Seattle Times:
One volunteer firefighter who had stopped working around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night said many tragic stories have yet to be told. He watched one rescuer find his own front door, but nothing else--not his home, his wife or his child.
They're in the "missing" category...
Wetter winters may pollute UK rivers, scientists warn
Posted by Blue and Green: Ilaria Bertini on March 24th, 2014
Blue and Green: Intense winter rainfalls might cause more agricultural chemicals to be washed away into waterways, polluting rivers and encouraging the growth of algae, according to UK academics.
Researchers from English and Welsh universities have suggested that if British winters continue to be mild and wet, much like the winter that has just ended, fertilisers and other soil chemicals from agricultural land will end up in waterways, with serious consequences.
Professor Phil Haygarth, the coordinator of...
Anti-fracking activist in court, fights ban from Pennsylvania land
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
Reuters: A Pennsylvania judge could rule as early as this week on whether to modify his five-month-old injunction banning an anti-fracking activist from approaching lands leased by a Texas-based natural gas producer that effectively prohibits her from visiting the local hospital or grocery store.
Judge Kenneth Seamans suggested at a hearing on Monday in the Susquehanna County Court of Common Pleas that he was not inclined to lift the injunction against Vera Scroggins, 63, of Brackney, Pennsylvania, but...
Water Scarcity Drives U.S. Communities Toward Smarter Use, Recycling
Posted by Bloomberg: Amena H. Saiyid on March 24th, 2014
Bloomberg: Virtually all of the water flushed down toilets and sent down drains in U.S. homes and businesses goes to wastewater treatment plants where it is cleaned up and then discharged into rivers, lakes, streams and oceans. Only a small percentage is directly reused. A conservation push spurred in part by drought, and expectations of greater shortages in the future, could change that. Soon, consumers could be irrigating their lawns or washing their cars with water that has come directly from a wastewater...
United Kingdom: Rain could increase river pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
BBC: Wetter winters in the future could increase agricultural pollution in Britain's rivers, say scientists. A research team from Lancaster University concluded that increased, more intensive winter rainfall is likely to wash more fertiliser out of soil and into rivers. This could artificially nourish plants, including toxic algae. The research team is now embarking on a project to help predict and ultimately mitigate agricultural pollution. Its study aims to work out how the changing climate and...
U.N. blames warming earth for extreme weather in 2013
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 24th, 2014
Associated Press: Much of the extreme weather that wreaked havoc in Asia, Europe and the Pacific region last year can be blamed on human-induced climate change, the U.N. weather agency says.
The World Meteorological Organization's annual assessment Monday said 2013 was the sixth-warmest year on record. Thirteen of the 14 warmest years have occurred in the 21st century.
A rise in sea levels is leading to increasing damage from storm surges and coastal flooding, as demonstrated by Typhoon Haiyan, the agency's...
La Nina Effect Curbed Sea Level Rise, say Experts
Posted by French Tribune: None Given on March 24th, 2014
French Tribune: Sea level rise is considered as one of the biggest indicators of climate change. In this process, water expands and parts of Greenland and Antarctica, Himalayan glaciers to the Alps are melting.
But climate scientists got confused when they got to know that the rate of sea level rise has decreased from 3.4 mm in 1994-2002 to 2.4 millimetres a year in 2003-2011. Many considered the decline as a pause in global warming.
Such is not the case, said experts in the journal Nature Climate Change....
US will keep pushing nations like Australia on climate change action, says former adviser
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on March 24th, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: The Obama administration will closely monitor how nations such as Australia tackle climate change, as the US President makes greenhouse gas emission cuts one of his signature policies, according to the White House's former top climate adviser.
Heather Zichal, who worked with Barack Obama from his 2008 election campaign until late last year when she resigned as chief climate and energy adviser, said the president viewed action to curb global warming as ''key to his legacy in his second term''....