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Archive for October 13th, 2014
Could California be facing a mega-drought?
Posted by Mongabay: Brittany Stewart on October 13th, 2014
Mongabay: I moved to San Francisco six months ago and my umbrella hasn’t left its dusty sleeve yet. Scientists and politicians, everyone agrees: California is in deep trouble. As the state enters its fourth year of drought and the soil has never been drier. Some look at the sky with hope that El Niño will bring much needed rain. But most are starting to wonder if this is just the beginning. Are we entering a mega-drought that could last for more than a decade? Agriculture, one of California’s strongest pillars,...
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What next for one of Europe’s great rivers?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2014
Independent: Heavily polluted by communism's industries, and with an ancient fish species in critical danger due to extensive damming and illegal fishing, the River Danube is no stranger to a turbulent time.
It meanders its way from Germany's Black Forest through 10 countries, its vast 2,860km ending in spectacular display at Romania's Danube Delta - a protected biosphere of exceptional biodiversity and natural beauty - where it enters the Black Sea.
But now the decades of abuse could be put to good use...
India: Need to conserve biodiversity: Expert
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2014
Times of India: Humanity comes together now to protect ecosystems, end fossil fuels, make peace, and equitably share or biosphere collapse, end of being
Climate change demands ‘national effort’ to protect Atlantic wild salmon
Posted by Irish Times: None Given on October 13th, 2014
Irish Times: Climate change impacts on Atlantic wild salmon are so severe that a “co-ordinated national effort” is required to protect the stock, according to Salmon Watch Ireland (SWIRL).
The non-governmental organisation, which is dedicated to conservation and “restoration to abundance” of wild salmon, has called on the Government to establish a national salmon conservation commission to deal with what it describes as a “crisis” in stock levels.
Changes in weather patterns including flash flooding and...
Some parts of state more vulnerable to health effects of climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 13th, 2014
National Public Radio: In the last century, Minnesota has generally grown warmer and wetter, changes that have big implications for human health.
Some Minnesota counties are much more vulnerable than others to health problems associated with climate change, concludes the first county-by-county Minnesota Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment.
The Minnesota Department of Health report, released Monday, looks at which counties are most vulnerable to extreme heat, flash flooding and bad air quality.
Since 1895,...
Canada: New reports shed light Fording River pollution problems
Posted by Globe and Mail: Mark Hume on October 13th, 2014
Globe and Mail: The Fording River seems to run through paradise in the wild Canadian Rocky Mountains, but Environment Canada experts say it is so heavily polluted that fish are hatching with terrible deformities and dying by the thousands.
Teck Coal Ltd. has long acknowledged their responsibility concerning a pollution problem in the Elk Valley, with the company spending $600-million over the next five years in an unprecedented effort to improve water quality.
But two Environment Canada reports prepared as...
Professor documents climate-change effects in Greenland
Posted by Stevens Point Journal: Sari Lesk on October 13th, 2014
Stevens Point Journal: A professor from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point traveled with one of his former students to Greenland over the summer to study peregrine falcons and document changes in their lives caused by climate change.
Biology professor Bob Rosenfield traveled with alumna Maddie Hardin to Greenland for two weeks to document the ages of nestling peregrines, based on the development of their feathers, and compared the data to information collected in previous years. Rosenfield said he believes the...