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Archive for September 9th, 2014
Almost Half North American Bird Species Threatened By Climate Change
Posted by ThinkProgress: Katie Valentine on September 9th, 2014
ThinkProgress: Nearly half the bird species in North America are threatened by climate change, according to a new report.
The report, published Monday by the National Audubon Society, found that as the the climate of North America changes, 126 bird species will lose more than half - with some at risk of losing 100 percent - of their current ranges by 2050, and will have no possibility of colonizing new areas if warming continues unabated. That`s about 21 percent of North America`s 650 or so bird species. On...
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Report: Globe could pass UN warming target
Posted by Hill: Laura Barron-Lopez on September 9th, 2014
Hill: If carbon emissions continue at current rates, the globe is set to surpass the United Nations's (U.N.) temperature target, hitting roughly 4 degrees Celsius, according to a new report.
The sixth Low Carbon Economy report by international consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released late Sunday estimates the current rate of carbon emissions will "burn" through the 2 degrees Celsius marker set by the U.N. within 20 years.
If countries are unable to reach an ambitious agreement during...
Canada: With groundbreaking, large-scale carbon capture finds home in oil patch
Posted by EnergyWire: Nathanial Gronewold on September 9th, 2014
EnergyWire: The elusive dream of commercial carbon capture and storage may finally be moving closer to reality, in part thanks to the nation's crude oil boom.
NRG Energy Inc. and its partner JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. broke ground Friday on a project here that both companies believe will be one for the record books. The 50-50 venture aims to pull carbon dioxide from the waste stream coming from a coal-fired power plant just southwest of Houston and make money by selling the CO2 to nearby oil producers....
One more heave! Ministers’ pre-election fracking drive
Posted by Ecologist: Alex Stevenson on September 9th, 2014
Ecologist: Ministers are determined to get fracking under way in the UK as fast as possible, so it's a 'fait accompli' in time for the election, writes Alex Stevenson. With a firm pro-fracking concensus in Parliament, only one thing can frustrate their plans - strong local campaigns to turn around MPs desperate for re-election in 2015. It even has a name: democracy. It's a question of fear. What secretly worries pro-fracking Conservative ministers, The Ecologist has learned, is that a Labour administration...
How conversion of forests to cropland affects climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2014
ScienceDaily: The conversion of forests into cropland worldwide has triggered an atmospheric change that, while seldom considered in climate models, has had a net cooling effect on global temperatures, according to a new Yale study.
Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, Professor Nadine Unger of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) reports that large-scale forest losses during the last 150 years have reduced global emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which...
Amid Ukraine crisis, Europe weighs fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 9th, 2014
Christian Science Monitor: Fracking has transformed the United States into the world’s largest producer of natural gas, and now Europe is weighing the pros and cons of the controversial technique as it seeks greater energy independence from its chief gas supplier, Russia.
The move comes amid the unprecedented crisis in relations between Russia and Ukraine that began when Moscow annexed Crimea earlier this year and then threw its support to pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists battling Kiev.
An estimated 16 percent of Russian...