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Archive for May, 2014
California’s fire fighters are braced for long, hot – & busy – summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 31st, 2014
Guardian: Fire Helicopter One skimmed over the roofs of Fullerton, rotors whumping, and banked east, crossing the 91 freeway into a national park which from a distance appeared lush and green. Scudding between two canyons, however, you could see it was brown scrub – a desolate vista of parched grass and stunted vegetation covering steep slopes. "In a normal year these hills would be covered with brilliant yellow and purple wildflowers," said David Lopez, pointing out of the cockpit window. "But because of...
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United Kingdom: Fracking company warns over access
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 31st, 2014
Press Association: A leading fracking company has warned that the industry will grind to a halt in Britain unless the Government allows it to drill under people's property without permission. Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan told The Times it would be impractical to negotiate access with every landowner where it wants to use the controversial pressure mining technique. David Cameron and George Osborne have hailed the potential benefits of fracking to the UK, and last week the coalition launched a consultation...
Calif. Senate vote falls short for moratorium on oil fracking
Posted by LA Times: Patrick McGreevy on May 30th, 2014
LA Times: The state Senate on Wednesday failed to muster the votes needed to set a moratorium on the oil drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, until a study determines that it does not pose a health risk for the public.
Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said her bill is needed because of public concern that the injection of water and chemicals into the ground to stimulate oil production may threaten health.
She said she does not want to increase California`s dependance on foreign...
Oil Lobby Overpowers Voters To Kill Statewide Fracking Ban In California
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on May 30th, 2014
ThinkProgress: A California bill that would have banned fracking while the state studied its risks was narrowly defeated in the state Senate on Thursday, despite polling that showed a majority of California voters favored the legislation.
SB 1132, authored by Democratic state senators Holly Mitchell and Mark Leno, failed to pass with a vote of 18-16. In all, seven Democrats prevented the bill from moving forward, with four voting against the bill and three more abstaining from voting.
The bill`s defeat was...
Toxins in the Environment Further Age Humanity
Posted by Nature World: None Given on May 28th, 2014
Nature World: Aging isn't just all about genes, exercise, and diet. Exposure to certain toxicants commonly found in the environment can accelerate physiological aging far more that you may think, a recent study suggests.
The study, published in Trends in Molecular Medicine, names arsenic in groundwater, benzene in industrial emissions, ultraviolet radiation in sunlight, and the estimated 4,000 toxins in cigarette smoke as "gerontogens" - toxins in the environment that can accelerate the aging process.
According...
Climate changes push native Montana trout toward extinction -study
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on May 28th, 2014
Reuters: Climate changes that have made Montana streams much warmer over the last 30 years are helping invasive trout push their native cousins toward extinction, researchers said on Tuesday, saying study is an example of global warming reducing biodiversity.
The study led by ecologists with the U.S. Geological Survey links warming streams and reduced spring flows in the Flathead River basin in western Montana and Canada to a sharp rise in interbreeding between rainbow trout introduced by government fishery...
Scientists discover ‘shark’ Sumatran forest
Posted by Mongabay: Morgan Erickson-Davis on May 28th, 2014
Mongabay: In early April, Indonesian scientists discovered an endangered freshwater fish in the Harapan rainforest of Jambi. The species had never before been observed in the region, and is declining elsewhere throughout its range.
The Harapan rainforest was the first and still-largest ecosystem restoration area established in the whole of Sumatra. It consists of lowland tropical forest at the border of Jambi and South Sumatra. The 100,000 hectares were formerly designated as timber concessions, locally...
Gov. Rick Scott climate change: ‘I’m not a scientist’
Posted by Bay News 9: None Given on May 28th, 2014
Bay News 9: Ask Florida Gov. Rick Scott about climate change and he will tell you exactly what he is not.
"I'm not a scientist," Scott said repeatedly when asked about the issue Tuesday during a stop in Miami.
The governor did talk about money for flood control and Everglades restoration.
His previous stance on the issue expressed more skepticism.
"I've not been convinced that there's any man-made climate change," Scott said in 2011. "Nothing's convinced me that there is."
Could the shift mean...
Satellite Images Reveal Scope of Massive Balkans Flooding
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on May 27th, 2014
Climate Central: The full, devastating scale of the downpour-driven flooding that tore across the Balkans in mid-May is evident in newly released images from a NASA satellite.
This image, taken by the Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellie, shows a close-up of the town of Vidovice, Bosnia and Herzegovina, surrounded by and inundated with water from the Sava River.
Torrential rains fell across parts of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina beginning on May 13, with some spots recording...
Hybridization Between Native And Invasive Species Of Trout Accelerated By Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 27th, 2014
RedOrbit: Scientists have discovered that the rapid spread of hybridization between a native species and an invasive species of trout in the wild is strongly linked to changes in climate.
In the study, stream temperature warming over the past several decades and decreases in spring flow over the same time period contributed to the spread of hybridization between native westslope cutthroat trout and introduced rainbow trout – the world’s most widely introduced invasive fish species –across the Flathead River...