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Archive for July 29th, 2014
Florida wants federal help to combat climate change
Posted by News-Observer: Chris Adams on July 29th, 2014
News-Observer: Citing South Florida's unique view on climate change, a Broward County commissioner told a Senate panel Tuesday that the issue is one of the most pressing the region now faces _ and that local governments will help usher in necessary changes.
Kristin Jacobs, a Democrat, is also a member of President Barack Obama's task force on climate change, which recently offered a range of steps federal officials could take to reduce carbon pollution and mitigate the impacts of climate change. The Obama administration...
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Right Breathe Fresh Air, Drink Clean Water and Eat Healthy Food
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 29th, 2014
EcoWatch: A now-famous 1972 photo of Earth taken by Apollo 17 astronauts from 45,000 kilometres away became known as “the blue marble.” The late scientist Carl Sagan described a 1990 picture taken from six billion kilometers away by the unmanned Voyager 1 as a “pale blue dot."
The vision of Earth from a distance has profoundly moved pretty much anyone who has ever seen it. “When we look down at the earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet,” International Space Station astronaut...
Firefighters in California gain ground against Yosemite blaze
Posted by Reuters: Sharon Bernstein on July 29th, 2014
Reuters: Firefighters gained ground on Tuesday against a blaze burning on the western edge of Yosemite National Park and an adjacent national forest, where flames have forced the evacuation of several dozen homes and the closure of three campgrounds.
The El Portal fire has scorched more than 3,000 acres since it erupted on Saturday, destroying a duplex home and threatening dozens of other dwellings around the western park boundary, a spokesman for the federal fire command said.
By Tuesday morning, a...
Climate change, air pollution may increase risk of malnutrition
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2014
CBS: The world will need 50 percent more food by 2050 due to both an increasing population and a shift toward a more Westernized diet in developing countries. But as our need for food rises, our ability to produce that food may be lowered by climate and air quality changes, according a to a study just published in Nature Climate Change. Researchers from MIT and Colorado State University found that if everything else stays as it is today, by 2050 global warming may reduce world crop yields by about 10...
Widely Used Insecticides Are Leaching Into Midwest Rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2014
National Public Radio: A class of insecticides called neonicotinoids, which are used on a lot of big corn and soybean fields, has been getting a pretty bad rap lately.
Researchers have implicated these chemicals, which are similar to nicotine, as a contributor to the alarming decline of bee colonies. That led the European Union to place a moratorium on their use, and environmentalists want the U.S. to do the same.
In a study published July 24, researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey found that these chemicals are...
Could California Go All in On Renewable Energy?
Posted by Discovery: Sheila M. Eldred on July 29th, 2014
Discovery: A Stanford professor has presented a plan to power all of the Golden State’s energy needs with renewable energy by 2050.
“If implemented, this plan will eliminate air pollution mortality and global warming emissions from California, stabilize prices and create jobs -- there is little downside,” said Mark Z. Jacobson, the study’s lead author and a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering, in a press release.
It would take 25,000 onshore 5-megawatt wind turbines, 1,200 concentrated...
Groundwater depletion & western US water supply
Posted by Environmental News Network: Nasa and Uc Irvine on July 29th, 2014
Environmental News Network: A new study by NASA and University of California, Irvine, scientists finds more than 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin since late 2004 came from underground resources. The extent of groundwater loss may pose a greater threat to the water supply of the western United States than previously thought. This study is the first to quantify the amount that groundwater contributes to the water needs of western states. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the...
Agriculture Affects River Flow Rates
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on July 29th, 2014
Nature World: Changes in agriculture affect river flow rates in both rainy and dry times, according to two University of Iowa researchers. While it may seem obvious that river flow rates in the Midwest can change depending on how heavy or light rainfall is, what's not so clear is how changes in land use can impact these river flows. "We wanted to know what the relative impacts of precipitation and agricultural practices played in shaping the discharge record that we see today," lead author Gabriele Villarini...