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Archive for August 15th, 2014
Why Does Less Meat Mean Less Heat?
Posted by LiveScience: Josh Balk on August 15th, 2014
LiveScience: After long focusing on fuel economy and energy production, environmentalists and scientists are now promoting a diet of more plants and less meat to slow climate change — but why? It's a problem with efficiency. Industrial farm-animal production — getting animals from farms to our plates — is inherently inefficient. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, global animal agriculture produces vast amounts of crops to feed billions of farm animals long before they are...
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California Drought Spurs Groundwater Drilling Boom in Central Valley
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 15th, 2014
National Geographic: When Floyd Arthur moved to California's Central Valley as a child in the mid-20th century, his migrant worker parents found water by digging just a few feet into the ground. But now, the drilling company Arthur and his son own has to bore holes 1,000 or even 2,000 feet (300 to 600 meters) deep for water. "If we don't get a bigger snowpack soon, we're going to be in trouble. I don't know what we're going to do," Arthur said about the most serious drought in California's recorded history. The Arthurs...
Humans to Blame for World’s Melting Glaciers
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on August 15th, 2014
Nature World: As our world warms, glacial ice continues to retreat. However, scientists have now come to realize that humans are mostly to blame, rather than being able to solely peg it on natural climate fluctuations, according to a new study.
Glacier extent actually responds very slowly to climate changes. In fact, it typically takes glaciers decades or centuries to adjust. The global retreat of these massive chunks of ice started around the middle of the 19th century at the end of the Little Ice Age. Though...
Japan: The Fukushima Effect: Insidious Radiation Impact
Posted by Nature World: None Given on August 15th, 2014
Nature World: Compared to the Chernobyl meltdown, the levels of radiation released by the Fukushima-Daiichi power plant disaster in 2011 were a drop in the bucket. Even so, a new series of studies has shown that certain types of birds, plants and insects in Japan are all suffering from the impacts of fallout. Researchers say studying these organisms will help them better understand the complex dangers of radiation.
These studies were all recently published in the Journal of Heredity and detail observations...
Antarctica Could Raise Sea Level Faster Than Previously Thought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 15th, 2014
RedOrbit: Ice discharge from Antarctica could contribute up to 37 centimeters to the global sea level rise within this century, a new study shows. For the first time, an international team of scientists provide a comprehensive estimate on the full range of Antarctica’s potential contribution to global sea level rise based on physical computer simulations. Led by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the study combines a whole set of state-of-the-art climate models and observational data with various...
United Kingdom: Thousands to protest against fracking in Lancashire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 15th, 2014
Independent: From his bedroom Rod Knight can see the field which campaigners claim could be the first commercial fracking site in Britain.
Having been diagnosed with terminal cancer three years ago and after a lifetime in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, he says he is not a natural protester. But he does fear the arrival of energy company Cuadrilla and the potentially devastating impact it might have on his kennels business, his life and his property which he believes had already suffered cracks as a result...
United Kingdom: Blackpool anti-fracking camp: ‘I’m here for my 10 grandchildren’
Posted by Guardian: Ben Blosse on August 15th, 2014
Guardian: A group of local anti-fracking campaigners is set to be joined by up to 1,000 people this weekend as the nationwide protest against the controversial extraction process moves to Lancashire.
The group, which is mainly composed of mothers and grandparents, has occupied a local farmer’s field in Little Plumpton, five miles from Blackpool, since 5am last Thursday. The field is adjacent to two sites where Cuadrilla plans to drill.
“We’d put all over Facebook that we were in Preston so nobody would...
10 Places Where Climate Change Is Being Felt the Fastest
Posted by Weather Channel: None Given on August 15th, 2014
Weather Channel: In the future, Miami-Dade County could be one of the nation's most susceptible places to rising water levels from global warming. Some cities in the South Florida area are starting to plan for potentially catastrophic flooding events.
Where are the effects of global warming already having a major impact? In places like South Florida and especially Miami, which faces major long-term threats from a slow but stealthy adversary: sea level rise.
In this region, sea levels already have risen by about...
Rapid melting of world’s glaciers proven to be man-made
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on August 15th, 2014
Blue and Green: A study has found that more than two-thirds of the recent rapid melting of the Earth’s glaciers can be attributed to human activity.
In a new study, scientists have analysed glaciers’ melting activities since 1851, but did not find any evidence of man-made effects up until the middle of the twentieth century.
However, since 1991, there has been a huge increase in glacial melting, with 69% proven to be due to human activity.
Ben Marzeion, a climate scientist at the University of Innsbruck...
Canada: New oilsands test uncovers higher levels air pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 15th, 2014
Edmonton Journal: Warnings about higher levels of air pollution in the oilsands have emerged in a new provincial air quality report that calls for further investigation into possible pollution sources.
The report shows polluting emissions in 2012 did not surpass the legal limit set out in the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan. (Just two substances, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, were measured). But air pollution rose to levels two and three on a scale of four at several monitoring sites, mostly between Fort...