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Archive for October, 2014
Amazon rainforest losing ability to regulate climate, scientist warns
Posted by Guardian: Jonathan Watts , on October 31st, 2014
Guardian: The Amazon rainforest has degraded to the point where it is losing its ability to benignly regulate weather systems, according to a stark new warning from one of Brazil’s leading scientists.
In a new report, Antonio Nobre, researcher in the government’s space institute, Earth System Science Centre, says the logging and burning of the world’s greatest forest might be connected to worsening droughts – such as the one currently plaguing São Paulo – and is likely to lead eventually to more extreme...
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Danger: irreversible climate-change forces at work
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
Telegraph: Campaigners against global warming and their bitterest opponents are united by one word this weekend: irreversible.
It appears 48 times in the draft of the most important report so far on climate change, being finalised today in Copenhagen, signifying that unless the world takes speedy action to curb emissions of greenhouse gases their dire effect will last for thousands of years, at least.
Reversal also motivates a growing number of sceptics calling for repeal of Britain's Climate Change Act...
EPA: Climate change can’t be stopped, prepare for wildfires, hurricanes, rising seas
Posted by Blaze: None Given on October 31st, 2014
Blaze: The Environmental Protection Agency released a grim report Friday that said it must start planning for the worst possible effects of climate change, and predicted a future world filled with rising sea levels, raging wildfires and more severe storms.
All of these factors will combine to create droughts, expose humans to dangerous chemicals and create other conditions that will put the human race at risk.
The EPA says climate change can`t be stopped, and is preparing for the worst.
"These...
UN report: Climate change has permanently ruined farmland the size of France
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
Independent: There may be those who feel the apocalyptic plot of the new Hollywood film Interstellar seems a bit far-fetched, with humans forced to look for an alternative planet because this world can no longer feed them.
But it has been given credence by a new United Nations report that has found that the destruction of the environment has left an area of farmland the size of France useless for growing crops.
Batman director Christopher Nolan’s latest film may ultimately prove implausible – Matthew McConaughey...
A County Resents Oil Drilling, Despite the Money It Brings In
Posted by New York Times: Aman Batheja on October 31st, 2014
New York Times: Dennis Seidenberger has farmed cotton for 49 years in this close-knit community 40 miles southeast of Midland. Farming is a way of life that he passed on to his son, and one that he hopes will stay in the family for generations. But his outlook has changed over the past three years as a surge in oil drilling has transformed Glasscock County, where he lives. “They’ve totally ruined our way of life here,” Mr. Seidenberger said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.” His sentiments sum up how many...
Mystery of Earth’s Water Origin Solved
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 31st, 2014
National Geographic: The water that makes Earth a majestic blue marble was here from the time of our planet's birth, according to a new study of ancient meteorites, scientists reported Thursday.
Where do the oceans come from? The study headed by Adam Sarafian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, found that our seas may have arrived much earlier on our planet than previously thought.
The study pushes back the clock on the origin of Earth's water by hundreds of millions...
Californians will pay more for water, must still conserve: officials
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2014
Reuters: Californians face higher water prices and permanent conservation measures amid drought, global warming and population growth in a state that has long struggled to satisfy urban and agricultural needs, the administration of Governor Jerry Brown said Thursday.
It will take up to $500 billion to improve the state's water infrastructure to improve supplies, reduce flood risk and shore up the fragile ecosystems that provide water for people, farms and wildlife, the state's top natural resources officials...
Frack Waste Investigation Launched by Pennsylvania Congressman
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 30th, 2014
EcoWatch: In light of an increasing number of studies showing that fracking produces toxic emissions that have serious human health impacts throughout the entire process, Pennsylvania Congressman Matt Cartwright, a first-term Democrat, has opened an investigation into how toxic wastes from fracking are regulated.
"Preliminary reports indicate there are big gaps in protections and oversight that the federal government might have to fill," Cartwright told Inside Climate News.
Fracking is big business in...
U.S. to monitor turtle exports in face of booming global trade
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2014
Reuters: There were lots of snickers when a Chinese-Canadian man was caught trying to leave the United States with 51 turtles hidden in his sweatpants, but the case illustrated the serious threat facing native species from the booming international turtle trade, federal scientists said on Thursday.
To protect native species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a rule on Wednesday that would put four kinds of freshwater turtle under the protection of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered...
European newts and salamanders at risk from deadly skin-eating fungus
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 30th, 2014
Guardian: A craze for exotic pet newts has spread a deadly infection from Asia to Europe that could threaten to wipe out UK native amphibian species unless action is taken, scientists have warned.
One of the creatures most at risk from the fungal disease is the great crested newt, already an endangered and protected species in the UK.
The skin-eating fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, is believed to have originated in south-east Asia, where indigenous newts and salamanders are immune to its effects....