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Archive for July, 2014
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...
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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...
California drought dries up plans for historic gold rush celebration
Posted by Reuters: Shawn Hubler on July 28th, 2014
Reuters: California’s drought has claimed yet another historic casualty in this parched capital city - the annual heritage celebration known as Gold Rush Days.
Staged for the past 15 years by tourism groups who turn the city's Old Sacramento district into a dirt-paved scene from the 1850s, the Labor Day weekend tradition was canceled on Monday due to concerns about water use and fire.
Steve Hammond, president and chief executive officer of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau, said that up to...
Netflix about to hijack our evenings with grim environmental films
Posted by Grist: Samantha Larson on July 28th, 2014
Grist: Netflix has already burned weeks of our lives with its early ventures into original programming. You know what I`m talking about. Every episode of House of Cards or Orange is the New Black left you tearing out your hair screaming, “I NEED JUST ONE MORE, PLEEEASE!”
Now that the good people at Netflix have come to realize their power, they’re going to try to use it to show us something even more unnerving than murderous politicians: real life. As part of their new documentary push, they bought the...
GAO Report: Drinking Water Risk Underground Fracking Waste Injection
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on July 28th, 2014
EcoWatch: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) publicly released its report today finding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is "not consistently conducting two key oversight and enforcement activities for class II programs" for underground fluid injection wells associated with oil and gas production. The report shows that the EPA`s program to protect drinking water sources from underground injection of fracking waste needs improvement.
According to the report, "The U.S. EPA...
Study: Climate change increases chance slowdown in yields
Posted by Des Moines Register: None Given on July 28th, 2014
Des Moines Register: The odds of a major production slowdown of corn and wheat are as much as 20 times greater with climate change, according to researchers at Stanford University and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The authors used global climate computer models, along with data about weather and crops, to calculate the chances that climatic trends would slow the growth in yields by 10 percent during the next 20 years. The result, researchers found, would mean yields would grow about half as quickly as...
Climate warming may not drive net losses soil carbon from tropical forests
Posted by Environmental News Network: Carnegie Institute For Science on July 28th, 2014
Environmental News Network: The planet's soil releases about 60 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, which is far more than that released by burning fossil fuels. This happens through a process called soil respiration. This enormous release of carbon is balanced by carbon coming into the soil system from falling leaves and other plant matter, as well as by the underground activities of plant roots. Short-term warming studies have documented that rising temperatures increase the rate of soil respiration. As...
Crews make headway against destructive Northern California wildfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2014
Reuters: Firefighters began to gain the upper hand on Monday against a Northern California wildfire that has destroyed 13 homes and blackened nearly six square miles in the drought-parched foothills east of Sacramento, officials said.
Crews had built containment lines around roughly two-thirds of the so-called Sand Fire as of Monday morning, up from only 35 percent on Sunday evening, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
Some residents who were forced to flee their homes ahead...