RSS Feed
Archive for June 21st, 2014
Massive malnutrition may come climate change
Posted by Israel21c: None Given on June 21st, 2014
Israel21c: Israelis were part of a multicenter study that tried to understand the potentially devastating effects of climate change on the world’s poor and hungry, and the crops they eat for basic sustenance. Their conclusions paint a grim picture. Writing about their results in Nature, one of the world’s most prominent science journals, the study leaders predict that as climate change progresses, crops grown in the second part of this century will become “hollow.” There will be lower levels of iron, protein...
Posted in 
Season record drought and heat ends; what’s next?
Posted by Tribune: John Lindsey on June 21st, 2014
Tribune: My family and I hiked to Valencia Peak in Montaña de Oro State Park last week. Three consecutive years of drought has taken its toll.
The poison oak leaves have already turned to hues of orange and red. Portions of the trail were covered with thick dust resembling talcum powder that rose with each step we took.
I kept thinking to myself, it's only June. Even though summer began Saturday as the sun reached its highest point in the Northern Hemisphere sky, the warmest months in San Luis Obispo...
California Drought: Snowmelt’s path shows impact from Sierra to Pacific
Posted by Santa Cruz Sentinel: Lisa Krieger on June 21st, 2014
Santa Cruz Sentinel: When a single snowflake falls peacefully atop a Sierra peak, it begins a turbulent journey to help quench the thirst of a drought-stricken state.
In most years, Sierra snow provides a third of California's water supply. But it is by far the least reliable portion -- and now, after three years of historically low snowfall, tensions are soaring over how we share the shrinking bounty of this great frozen reservoir.
Today, on the cusp of a long, dry summer, we follow the melting snow -- and meet...
Bulgaria struggles with flood damage and begins to count cost
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 21st, 2014
Reuters: The torrential rain and floods that swept Bulgaria this week have killed 12 people, wrecked part of the Black Sea city of Varna and badly hit agriculture and the important tourism sector, authorities said on Saturday.
The government has yet to estimate the full scale of the damage caused when rivers burst their banks in eastern and central Bulgaria, forcing mass evacuations, but is considering seeking EU aid.
On Saturday, over 1,000 rescue workers and volunteers were struggling to clear mud...
Fracking increases dangerous earth burps
Posted by Al Jazeera: Gregg Levine on June 21st, 2014
Al Jazeera: A study of derelict Pennsylvania oil and gas wells has spotted what is possibly a huge source of additional greenhouse gas emissions.
Methane, which is pound-for-pound a much more potent climate-warming gas than carbon dioxide, could be leaking from hundreds of thousands of abandoned wells. And that’s just in the Keystone State. A growing body of evidence says countless old wells across the country -- most poorly monitored -- could be belching up the same dangerous emissions.
The study by Mary...
Epic drought in California unlikely to ease
Posted by ClimateWire: Gayathri Vaidyanathan on June 21st, 2014
ClimateWire: California will remain in the stranglehold of drought at least until September, even as a climate system in the tropical Pacific Ocean that would have brought rainfall to the parched state appears to be weakening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's monthly climate update released yesterday.
Weather watchers had been hoping that an El Niño, which occurs when an area of the tropical Pacific Ocean warms by at least 0.5 degrees Celsius above normal, would bring moisture...
Australia: It’s the season for reason in climate of discontent
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Suzy Freeman-Greene on June 21st, 2014
Sydney Morning Herald: What`s happened to the seasons? It`s June but my backyard plum tree sprouts blossom while wearing a mantle of yet-to-fall leaves. Basil -- a summer herb -- is only just dying off in the tardy cold. Spring bulbs started coming up in a neighbour`s garden in May.
Bushfires in October. Sunburn in late autumn. The weather's changing and we monitor it furiously on phones and websites. Does this checking of hourly temperatures and rain forecasts offer a semblance of control when so much seems out of...
Siberia Global Warming Meets Lukewarm Reaction in Russia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 21st, 2014
Inter Press Service: People in Siberia must prepare to face frequent repeats of recent devastating floods as well as other natural disasters, scientists and ecologists are warning, amid growing evidence of the effects of global warming on one of the world’s most ecologically diverse regions. More than 50,000 people were affected by floods in the Altai region and Khakassia and Altai republics in southern Siberia at the end of May and early June. These came just over half a year since the worst floods in Siberia in living...
Iraq Crisis Should Make Us Thankful For America’s Oil Boom
Posted by Slate: None Given on June 21st, 2014
Slate: But the quiet response is also a sign of something bigger. It's a subtle demonstration of how North America's fracking-fueled oil boom is paying dividends by making the world market more resilient.
Energy traders always add a fear premium onto oil. When instability (a raging civil war, for instance) hits a major petro-producer, prices race up, as buyers start to fret about potential nightmare scenarios that would cut off their supply. In the case of Iraq, that might mean attacks on pipelines or...