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Archive for August 29th, 2014
Swirls of Dust and Drama, Punctuating Life in the Southwest
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2014
New York Times: The best way to explain a haboob is to say it is a tsunami of sand, in the sense that there is no stopping it or outrunning it. It is a supreme spectacle. The fierce winds that precede it make the leaves on palm trees stand as if they are hands waving an effusive goodbye, the sky darkens and the world takes the color of caramel as the dust swallows everything in its path.
Last week, a dense dust storm turned daytime into night in Palm Springs, Calif., “blowing so bad that I could not even see...
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Thanks to fracking, there’s something in the water in Pennsylvania
Posted by Grist: None Given on August 29th, 2014
Grist: It’s been a bad, bad summer for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. But arguably, it’s been a much worse summer for the actual citizens of Pennsylvania, because they have been repeatedly and consistently screwed over by an unhappy combination of corporate interests, bureaucratic incompetence, and methane. That’s quite a cocktail of misery - when life gives you a Long Island iced tea, if you will.
The latest development: The DEP has released a list of 243 reports of drinking...
Climate Change Ups Odds of a Southwest Megadrought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2014
Climate Central: If you think the drought in California is bad, you ain't seen nothing yet. New research indicates that climate change is giving a boost to the odds of long-term drought across the Southwest.
The research, published Thursday in the Journal of Climate, puts the chances of a megadrought lasting 35 years or longer at up to 50 percent in the region. It would be a drought of epic proportions that would wreak havoc on the region's already tenuous water supply for its growing population.
"It's been...
New Database Tracks Ecologic Health Impacts of Dams on World’s Rivers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 29th, 2014
Yale Environment 360: A newly launched online database illustrates the impacts of nearly 6,000 dams on the world's 50 major river basins, ranking their ecological health according to indicators of river fragmentation, water quality, and biodiversity. The "State of the World's Rivers" project was developed by the advocacy organization International Rivers and created using Google Earth. Users can compare the health of individual river basins, see the locations of existing and planned dams, and explore 10 of the most significant...
5 Terrifying Facts Leaked UN Climate Report
Posted by Climate Desk: James West on August 29th, 2014
Climate Desk: Even if we slash greenhouse gases immediately, the dangerous effects of global warming will continue for centuries to come.
How many synonyms for "grim" can I pack into one article? I had to consult the thesaurus: ghastly, horrid, awful, shocking, grisly, gruesome.
This week, a big report from the UN`s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was leaked before publication, and it confirmed, yet again, the grim--dire, frightful--reality the we face if we don`t slash our global greenhouse gas...
Court rules in favour Cuadrilla in anti-fracking protest dispute
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on August 29th, 2014
Blue and Green: Manchester High Court Judge, David Hodge QC has imposed an interim injunction against a group of anti-fracking protestors in Lancashire after a court battle with gas firm Cuadrilla.
Cuadrilla took up legal proceedings alongside ten local farmers earlier this week, claiming protestors were trespassing and affecting business for landowners.
The anti-fracking campaigners, also known as ‘nanas’, camped on farmland at Little Plumpton in Lancashire from August 7 – 27 to protest against proposed shale...
Officials Confirm Fracking Caused Water Contamination In Penn Wells
Posted by Gothamist: None Given on August 29th, 2014
Gothamist: As Governor Cuomo continues to mull over the current statewide moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, some disturbing fracking-related news has come out of Pennsylvania: fracking has contaminated private drinking wells a previously undisclosed 243 times over six years, according to the state's Department of Environmental Protection.
The Associated Press reported this week that the 243 cases were reported between 2008 and 2014, thanks to the DEP's "thorough review" of statewide files [pdf]. Contamination...