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Archive for November 19th, 2014
Why Is Record Cold and Epic Snow Hitting U.S. So Early?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 19th, 2014
National Geographic: It's only November, and half the U.S. is blanketed in snow-six feet deep and counting in and around Buffalo, New York-while parts of the Deep South have been waking up to temperatures that are just above freezing.
Temperatures are expected to remain well below normal from the Great Plains to the eastern seaboard over the next few days, while snow will likely continue downwind of the Great Lakes, according to the National Weather Service.
What's going on? Blame the so-called lake effect, the...
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David Suzuki: ‘Keen Observers of the Natural World’ Wanted
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 19th, 2014
EcoWatch: Our ancestors may not have called themselves “citizen scientists” or organized to collect data for scientific inquiry, but they were keen observers of the natural world. Their survival often depended on being able to tease apart nature’s complexity—where to find game and when to sow seeds, collect berries and prepare for winter or bad weather.
But our modern, technology-obsessed lives increasingly divorce us from nature, with consequences for our health and well-being. Numerous studies now remind...
Native Americans Arrested Following Keystone XL Pipeline Vote
Posted by EcoWatch: Anastasia Pantsios on November 19th, 2014
EcoWatch: Anyone following the Keystone XL pipeline vote in the Senate yesterday heard what appeared to be chanting or singing in the background when the final tally of 41-59 was announced, signaling that approval of the pipeline had failed to clear the bar of 60 votes and that congressional approval of the pipeline was delayed for the time being.
That sound was coming from Native Americans in the gallery, singing a traditional tribal tune. Five of them were removed from the gallery and arrested.
According...
NASA findings show no excessive methane emissions from Alaska
Posted by Anchorage Dispatch: Yereth Rosen on November 19th, 2014
Anchorage Dispatch: Though Arctic Alaska is warming and permafrost is thawing, the area so far has been spared from the scourge of excessive methane emissions, according to data collected by a NASA-managed research project.
Concentrations of methane measured in the atmosphere over Alaska from May to September 2012 -- the first of five seasons for NASA’s Carbon in Arctic Reservoirs Vulnerability Experiment, or CARVE -- turned out to be about equal to the global average for a similar-sized area.
The findings, gleaned...
United Kingdom: Local authority flood defence funding cut by third next year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 19th, 2014
Guardian: Funding for councils to deal with flooding has been slashed by a third by ministers, prompting community groups and Labour to say the government is going backwards on managing flood risk.
Last winter, the wettest on record, saw devastating flooding across the country and forced David Cameron to reverse earlier cuts to flood defence budgets.
The revelation of the new cuts to council flood budgets in England comes as the Met Office’s three-month outlook indicates this winter is likely to be wetter...
Frackers are terrorizing school kids in California
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Grist: Rodrigo Romo’s daughter is afraid because of the oil and gas drilling activity happening around her school, Sequoia Elementary School in Kern County, Calif. She has trouble sleeping at night and has difficulty focusing in class because she doesn’t know what the industry`s pollution might be doing to her and her classmates. Romo doesn’t know how to answer when she asks him if they’re going to be OK.
This is what happens when companies don’t care about the lives of young people of color.
The...
U.S. Senate votes no on Keystone oil project
Posted by Calgary Herald: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Calgary Herald: After a vigorous six-hour debate, the U.S. Senate failed, by one vote, to pass a bill authorizing the immediate construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.
The negative vote - just shy of the required 60 - comes five days after the House of Representatives voted to approve the pipeline. Final authorization now rests solely with U.S President Barack Obama, who has said he will make his decision following the resolution of a court case in Nevada. The $8-billion pipeline has been under...
Urban sustainability starts by bridging divides
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on November 19th, 2014
SciDevNet: Integrating tech and planning, urban with rural and formal with informal development can help transform cities.
For the first time in human history, more of us live in cities than in rural areas: 54 per cent of the world's population is now urban, a figure expected to increase to about 70 per cent by 2050.
It's easy to see why migration drives this trend -- cities offer economic opportunities that entice people in search of a better life. But growth and urbanisation bring with them a host of...
Urban planning will fail without integrating local action
Posted by SciDevNet: Marcus Moench on November 19th, 2014
SciDevNet: Informal adaptation transforms cities. It also challenges a growing emphasis on formal planning, says Marcus Moench.
The science is clear: the future holds more extreme climatic conditions. But what that means for people's lives in specific locations, or for the globalised systems we all depend on, is uncertain. This is particularly true in the world's growing urban areas, which also face rapid socio-economic and technological change.
To understand and to catalyse responses to the challenges...
Environmental movement not the Tea Party of the left
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 19th, 2014
Grist: Perhaps it was inevitable, in the current Tea Party era, that a noisy progressive movement would draw comparisons to the right-wing insurgents who have taken over the Republican Party. And so - with climate change in the headlines, thanks to historic pledges from President Obama and Congress voting on Keystone XL - The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank has asserted that environmentalists are taking the same uncompromising attitude toward moderate Democrats that Glenn Beck fans in tricornered hats have...