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Archive for December 3rd, 2014
Hard California Rains Provide Little Relief Record Drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
National Geographic: Rain has been soaking much of California this week, but the inches of much needed water are only a drop in the bucket amid the worst drought in the state's recorded history, experts warn.
"The rain is welcome-it sure helps-but one good storm is not enough," says Jeffrey Lorens, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Western Region. "We're still in a drought, and we will be for some time."
The rain threatens many areas of California with floods and mudslides, largely because of...
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WMO Warns Lima Delegates 2014 May Be Hottest Year
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on December 3rd, 2014
Climate Central: As negotiators at the latest global climate meeting gather this week in Lima, Peru, to hammer out a new international agreement to limit emissions of the greenhouse gases fueling global warming, they are receiving a stark reminder of that warming.
Global annual average temperature anomalies (relative to the 1961-1990 average) for 1950-2013, based on an average of the three data sets from NASA, NOAA and the U.K. Met Office. The January-to-October average is shown for 2014. The colouring of the...
EU vote puts Canadian tar sands label back on agenda
Posted by Reuters: Barbara Lewis on December 3rd, 2014
Reuters: Europe moved a step back towards a plan to stigmatize Canada's tar sands as highly polluting on Wednesday, despite years of Ottawa's lobbying the EU bloc as part of its export drive.
European Parliament lawmakers put the plans back on the agenda by voting against the EU executive's proposal to abandon the scheme.
The veto vote was passed at committee level, meaning it still has to get through a full session of the European Parliament in the coming weeks in order to force the European Commission...
A Scientist’s Call for Civility And Diversity in Conservation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
Yale Environment 360: For the past few years, an acrimonious debate has been ranging between two camps of conservationists. One faction advocates protecting nature for its intrinsic value. The other claims that if the degradation of the natural world is to be halted, nature’s fundamental value -- in other words, what nature can do for us -- needs to be stressed. The tone of the rhetoric has Joy Leighton Jane Lubchenco led to a petition, published this month in the journal Nature, that criticizes both sides for indulging...
This year may be warmest on record as oceans heat up-WMO
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
Reuters: This year is on track to be the hottest on record, or at least among the very warmest, the United Nations said on Wednesday in new evidence of long-term warming that adds urgency to 190-nation talks under way in Lima on slowing climate change.
Including this year, 14 of the 15 most sweltering years on record will have been in the 21st century, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said of the findings presented during the Dec. 1-12 climate negotiations in Peru.
"There is no standstill...
World must cut meat consumption to curb climate change
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on December 3rd, 2014
Blue and Green: If the world is to curb dangerous levels of climate change then more must be done to cut meat and dairy consumption, a sector that contributes greatly to greenhouse gas emissions, and raise awareness of the issues, according to a report for think-tank Chatham House.
The report – Livestock –Climate Change’s Forgotten Sector – notes that greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector are estimated to account for 14.5% of the global total, more than direct emissions from the transport sector....
Meat consumption risks climate goals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
BBC: An "awareness gap" about emissions from livestock could hamper efforts to curb climate change, a report warns.
A survey showed that twice as many respondents thought emissions from transport were greater than from the global livestock sector.
Yet emissions from the two sectors are almost equal, the study explained.
It added that the goal of keeping the global temperature rise below 2C (3.6F) would be "off the table" unless there was a change in consumption patterns.
"Unless something...
2014 poised for hottest year on record: UN
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
Agence France-Presse: This year may end as the hottest on record, the UN's weather agency said on Wednesday as it recounted a tale of rising seas, crippling droughts and floods since January.
"The year 2014 is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the hottest, on record," the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reported on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Lima.
Provisional data for 2014 shows that 14 out of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century, it added.
"There...
Drought in US and Brazil Linked to Hottest Year Ever
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2014
Bloomberg: Drought in California and Brazil, the U.K.’s wettest winter and floods in the Balkans are among the extreme weather patterns that marked what’s on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. Temperatures this year are on course for their highest globally since records began, with oceans bearing the brunt of the heat and the U.S. and Canada spared the worst, according to the World Meteorological Organization. “More and more people around the world are confronted with catastrophic climate change,”...
Eat less meat, dairy to slow climate change, study says
Posted by Reuters: Chris Arsenault on December 3rd, 2014
Reuters: Meat and dairy consumption are rising rapidly across the developing world, and consumers are unaware that their appetite for animal products contributes as much to climate change as exhaust emissions from the transport sector, a new survey shows.
Climate-changing emissions from livestock are estimated to account for 14.5 percent of the global total, according to Chatham House, a UK-based thinktank.
A survey of 12,000 people in 12 countries released by Chatham House late on Tuesday showed that...