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Archive for July, 2014
United Kingdom: Tories target seats will be opened for fracking says Greenpeace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2014
Independent: More than three-quarters of the Tories’ top target seats in the next general election have been opened up for oil and gas exploration, Greenpeace has claimed.
As the Government launched the latest bidding round for onshore oil and gas licences, which covers around half the country, the environmental campaign group warned that the licensing area also covered freshwater aquifers and intruded on 10 national parks.
The analysis by Greenpeace comes after a ComRes poll of more than 1,000 people in...
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United Kingdom: Government pushes ahead with fracking plan despite wide opposition
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2014
Guardian: Overwhelming opposition to the government's plans to expanding fracking across Britain was expressed by interest groups during an official consultation, whose results were released a day after ministers signalled a go-ahead for shale gas drilling around the country.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change's report on the government's Strategic Environmental Assessment of its nationwide fracking plan recorded a wide range of objections, including from bodies such as Public Health England and...
Trees Save Lives and $7 Billion in Health Costs Annually, Forest Service Finds
Posted by Environment 360: None Given on July 28th, 2014
Environment 360: Trees are saving more than 850 human lives each year and preventing 670,000 cases of acute respiratory symptoms in the U.S., according to the first broad-scale estimate of trees' air pollution removal by U.S. Forest Service researchers. Looking at four common air pollutants -- nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 microns -- researchers valued the human health benefits of the reduced air pollution at nearly $7 billion annually in a study published...
Warming Threatens Roads, Ports and Planes, Report Says
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on July 28th, 2014
Climate Central: The transportation sector is a major contributor to climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions, and, worldwide, it's also one of the most vulnerable sectors to the effects of climate change, according to a new report.
In other words, climate change could mean "sun kinks' could warp train tracks in the heat, airplanes will be more expensive to fly, highway surfaces could soften in heat waves, roadways and bridges could be washed away in rising seas and storm surges, and storms in the open ocean...
U.S. coastal flooding on the rise, government study finds
Posted by Reuters: Ryan McNeill on July 28th, 2014
Reuters: Flooding is increasing in frequency along much of the U.S. coast, and the rate of increase is accelerating along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts, a team of federal government scientists found in a study released Monday. The study examined how often 45 tide gauges along the country’s shore exceeded National Weather Service flood thresholds across several decades. The researchers found that the frequency of flooding increased at 41 locations. Moreover, they found that the rate of increase was...
Climate Change A Greater Threat To Global Food Production Than Previously Thought: MIT Researchers
Posted by Business Times: Maria Gallucci on July 28th, 2014
Business Times: Climate change could pose an even greater threat to global food production than previously thought, according to new research. Rising temperatures will not only damage heat-sensitive crops – they’ll also increase toxic air pollution, which will harm crops even further.
The study, out this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to explore how this interaction between warming temperatures and air pollution affects staple crops. Scientists have long known that the two can independently...
Red Tide Threatens Gulf of Mexico Fish
Posted by Nature World: None Given on July 28th, 2014
Nature World: A "Red Tide" of harmful algae has been identified just off Florida's west coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials say that it is likely behind the large number of fish and sea turtle deaths recently reported by fishermen and beachgoers.
Red Tide, also known as "Rust Tide" or "Red Bloom," are most commonly characterized by a rusty red color of the blooming phytoplankton dinoflagellates Alexandrium or Karenia brevis - single celled algae.
Harmful algae blooms, (HABs) have been associated with...
10 Biggest Threats to Human Existence
Posted by AlterNet: Larry Schwartz on July 28th, 2014
AlterNet: AMC’s “The Walking Dead” is at the top of the cultural zeitgeist these days, one of the most popular television series on the air. In the show, a virus has ravaged the Earth, killing most of humanity, with the dead corpses rising to terrorize the few remaining living souls. While enormously entertaining, it is not a likely scenario for the end of the human race. Dick Cheney notwithstanding, zombies aren’t real. The end of humanity, however, could be. While it is difficult to envision a world without...
United Kingdom: Beauty spots still at fracking ‘risk’, say campaigners
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2014
BBC: Fracking licences can only be issued for beauty spots in "exceptional circumstances", according to new rules issued by the government.
It said the regulations for the new bidding round for licences - the first in six years - are stricter than before.
And companies applying to frack near beauty spots will have additional obligations.
But some environmental campaigners say the new rules are not tough enough.
Right to refuse
Fracking involves blasting water, chemicals and sand at high...
New study confirms water vapor as global warming amplifier
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 28th, 2014
PhysOrg: A new study from scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and colleagues confirms rising levels of water vapor in the upper troposphere - a key amplifier of global warming - will intensify climate change impacts over the next decades. The new study is the first to show that increased water vapor concentrations in the atmosphere are a direct result of human activities.
"The study is the first to confirm that human activities have increased water...