Archive for July 19th, 2014

March against climate change crosses pipeline’s path

Lincoln Journal Star: Corn grew to the left, soybeans to the right and gravel crunched under their feet on Road 22 Saturday afternoon as about 70 Nebraskans met 35 marchers who are on a cross-country trek to inspire action in combating climate change. The Great March for Climate Action, which started in Los Angeles, reached Nebraska soil on June 30 and participants have been slowly winding their way through the state. By Saturday, their shoes' souls had covered about 1,800 miles -- about 20 miles a day -- with about...

LA River: From Concrete Ditch to Urban Oasis

National Geographic: There's a stretch of the Los Angeles River in the Elysian Valley, roughly midway along its 51-mile route to the sea, where native willows rise from the east bank and arundo-an invasive grass-closes in from the west. If you're lucky enough to be out there in a kayak, and there's no train rushing past on the tracks above, you will hear something very strange in this city of millions: quiet. On a recent evening, Omar Brownson, the head of the L.A. River Revitalization Corporation, leaned back in...

Drought Conditions Linked to Human Activity

Environmental News Network: US Government scientists have developed a new high-resolution climate model that shows southwestern Australia's long-term decline in fall and winter rainfall is caused by increases in manmade greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion. "This new high-resolution climate model is able to simulate regional-scale precipitation with considerably improved accuracy compared to previous generation models," said Tom Delworth, a research scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton,...

Melting permafrost and Global Warming

Environmental News Network: The study, published this week in the journal Nature, focuses on thermokarst lakes, which occur as permafrost thaws and creates surface depressions that fill with melted fresh water, converting what was previously frozen land into lakes. The research suggests that arctic thermokarst lakes are "net climate coolers" when observed over longer, millennial, time scales. "Until now, we've only thought of thermokarst lakes as positive contributors to climate warming," said lead researcher Katey Walter...

It ain’t over… Texas city blocks fracking ban but… voters get their say in November

UK Progressive: ThinkProgress details a Texas city’s overturning of a fracking ban. But the issue will be on the ballot in November. Denton, Texas blew its opportunity to become the first community in the state to ban hydraulic fracturing but will get a second chance for the title at the ballot box in November. After an emotional eight-hour public hearing on Tuesday, the city council in the north Texas community voted 5-2 against a citizen proposal to stop issuing permits for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking,...

Worst wildfire season in decades in Canada’s Northwest Territories

Radio Canada: The wildfire season continues to get worse in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Already listed as the worst season for fires in memory, it’s now estimated to be costing the territorial government Canadian $1 million (U.S. $931,000) a day to fight the fires. “What we are seeing in the Northwest Territories this year is an indicator of what to expect with climate change,” says Mike Flannigan, a professor of Wildland Fire in the University of Alberta’s renewable resources department. “Expect more...

United States: Wildfire threat only going to get worse, says premier

Daily Courier: Climate change is drying out B.C.’s Interior and the province has to prepare for what’s likely a drier future, Premier Christy Clark said Friday in West Kelowna. Within sight of the wispy clouds of smoke rising from the Smith Creek fire, Clark told reporters this year’s fire season started far earlier than usual and she expects a greater threat of wildfires in the coming years. “I don’t anticipate, given the realities of climate change and the drying climate here in B.C., that we’re going to see...