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Archive for November, 2014
How oil ate the heart of North Dakota
Posted by Grist: None Given on November 25th, 2014
Grist: Nothing completes a quiet morning drinking coffee and reading the paper like a multi-part investigative saga of pollution and the fracking boom in North Dakota, and boy howdy, did The New York Times deliver this weekend. In the two-part series, investigative reporter Deborah Sontag brings up one example after another of ways that pollution in North Dakota is on the rise.
There`s the old filling station filled with illegally dumped and radioactive oil filter socks. There`s the train crash that...
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Neither Rain Nor Snow Nor Heat Sways Views on Climate Science
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2014
LA Times: Think that people in upstate New York will more strongly believe climate change is upon us after an early November blizzard dumped 7 feet of snow, which then was turned to slush by spring-like temperatures? Think again.
Freaky seasons and drastic weather anomalies do little to convince most people that climate change is real - political ideology does much more, according to a study published online Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study found that people who saw the winter of...
Fast-Warming Arctic Proves Deadly Animals & People
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2014
ClimateWire: Migration and feeding is difficult for local reindeer during a critical time of year, as their vegetation food source became encapsulated in ice.
In the winter of 2012, the Svalbard archipelago was hit with an extreme weather event of record-breaking heat and rain--a slush avalanche knocked out bridges and roads. Reindeer carcasses littered the landscape, as permafrost warmed and snow-dependent tourism took a major hit.
Now, a group of scientists documenting the aftermath of the two-week event...
Water War Amid Brazil Drought Leads to Fight Over Puddles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2014
Bloomberg: Brazil’s Jaguari reservoir has fallen to its lowest level ever, laying bare measurement posts that jut from exposed earth like a line of dominoes. The nation’s two biggest cities are fighting for what little water is left.
Sao Paulo state leaders want to tap Jaguari, which feeds Rio de Janeiro’s main source. Rio state officials say they shouldn’t suffer for others’ mismanagement. Supreme Court judges have summoned the parties to Brasilia for a mediation session this week.
The standoff in a...
Australian Foreign Minister says reef not in danger but what do her own scientists say?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 25th, 2014
Guardian: Australia’s foreign minister Julie Bishop should apologise for claiming the Great Barrier Reef is “not in danger” from climate change, according to enough scientific evidence to form a small coral atoll.
Sorry. Too glib?
When the minister representing Australia at the next major United Nations climate change negotiations appears unwilling to accept the advice of her own government science and reef management agencies, then it’s time to worry.
Indeed, one of the world’s leading marine biologists...
Australia: Action needed to combat future biosecurity threats: CSIRO
Posted by SBS: None Given on November 24th, 2014
SBS: A bioterrorist attack or swine flu-like pandemic. Incursion of a new wheat disease or fruit fly crippling crops. An outbreak of foot and mouth or bluetongue disease, devastating farmers. Some scenarios sound like a plot from a Hollywood disaster movie, but these "megashocks" could pose a real threat to Australian biosecurity, the CSIRO says. In its report, Australia's Biosecurity Future, released on Tuesday, the scientific body outlines 12 potential megashocks it thinks could hit Australia in...
Q&A: INTERPOL Asks Public Help Nab Environmental Crime Fugitives
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 24th, 2014
National Geographic: On November 17, for the first time in its history, INTERPOL asked the public to assist in the capture of environmental crime fugitives. The landmark public appeal falls under INTERPOL's Operation Infra Terra, launched in October and targeting 139 criminals from 36 nations.
INTERPOL-the International Criminal Police Organization-is the world's largest international police organization, with 190 member countries.
The nine fugitives are accused of a range of crimes:
-Italian Adriano Giacobone...
Chameleon crisis: extinction threatens 36% of world’s chameleons
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 24th, 2014
Mongabay: Chameleons are an unmistakable family of wonderfully bizarre reptiles. They sport long, shooting tongues; oddly-shaped horns or crests; and a prehensile tail like a monkey's. But, of course, chameleons are most known for their astonishing ability to change the color of their skin. Over millions of years, these Old World reptiles have used this evolutionary trait for an astonishing variety of reasons, including camouflage, complex communication, and to keep warm in the cold or vice versa. But a new...
‘Monster’ Fracking Wells Guzzle Water Drought-Stricken Regions
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on November 24th, 2014
EcoWatch: The fracking industry likes to minimize the sector’s bottomless thirst for often-scarce water resources, saying it takes about 2-4 million gallons of water to frack the average well, an amount the American Petroleum Institute describes as “the equivalent of three to six Olympic swimming pools.” That’s close to the figure cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well.
But a new report released by Environmental Working Group (EWG) located 261 “monster” wells that consumed between...
World Bank releases damning report climate change
Posted by New Times: Kenneth Agutamba on November 24th, 2014
New Times: The extent of climate change resulting from human activities has gone beyond a point of 'no return' and the abnormalities, according to a new World Bank report released today. Experts will find these findings damning but it's exactly what scientists have been warning of for a long time and the poorest countries, majority of them from Africa, are set to suffer most from this new reality. "Today's report confirms what scientists have been saying - past emissions have set an unavoidable course to...