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Archive for December 11th, 2014
Climate Change Too Fast for Ectotherms?
Posted by Nature World: None Given on December 11th, 2014
Nature World: Ecotherms like reptiles, amphibians and fish are normally able to adapt to changes in the climate, and have done so in the past, but this time around climate change may be moving too fast for these animals to keep up, a new study suggests.
Many animals can adapt to a warming world by modifying the function of their cells and organs in order to compensate for such environmental shifts. But with the overall global temperature expected to climb 3.6 degrees Celsius (38.5 Fahrenheit) by the end of...
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Why Didn’t Toxic Waste Cause a Cancer Epidemic, Like We Expected in the 1970s?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 11th, 2014
National Geographic: Like so many people who fear their health has been damaged by living near a hazardous waste site, the veterans of Camp Lejeune, a polluted Marine Corps base in Jacksonville, North Carolina, have had a long time to wait and stew.
For decades, until 1987, drinking water at the 244-square-mile (632-square-kilometer) coastal camp, home to 130,000 people, was contaminated with gasoline and cleaning solvents. The Environmental Protection Agency listed the camp as a Superfund site in 1989. (Read about...
Oil pipelines are so last year, says Wall Street Journal
Posted by Grist: None Given on December 11th, 2014
Grist: What a difference a year makes. At the end of 2013, Keystone XL looked like a done deal. KXL South (a.k.a. the Gulf Coast Pipeline) was already built and weeks away from being turned on.
Now, a year later, that renowned pinko/green publication known as the Wall Street Journal writes that the fight against Keystone XL has been so successful that it`s become the training model for at least 10 other anti-pipeline fights. Seriously. There`s a slideshow and everything.
National groups provide access...
California’s Drought: Don’t Blame Climate Change, NOAA
Posted by Nature World: None Given on December 11th, 2014
Nature World: The NOAA has just released a new report on the historic drought that has been affecting California for the last three years. Stunningly, investigators are saying that human-driven climate change is not to blame, and it is instead the consequence of natural phenomena.
That comes as a big surprise, even for experts, as the ongoing drought was recently revealed to be the worst the region has seen in more than a millennium, with 2014's summer being the driest seen in a whopping 1,200 years.
So...
Oil and Gas Industry Faces Its Methane Problem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 11th, 2014
National Geographic: Seen with the naked eye, a natural gas facility's storage tanks and pipes appear fairly innocuous-boring, in fact. Switch to an infrared camera, and it looks like a five-alarm fire. Clouds of gas billow upward, spewing methane gas into the atmosphere.
This month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will decide on new rules aimed at the oil and gas industry's emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that often comes from leaky or inefficient equipment. But as the industry awaits possible...
Dried Out Amazon Could Speed Up Climate Change
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on December 11th, 2014
Nature World: A new NASA-funded study has found that a dried out Amazon, which has experienced a decline in rainfall over the last decade, could speed up global climate change due to the subsequent drop in vegetation.
And global climate models predict that things are only going to get more arid for the region in the future.
The Amazon's tropical rainforests are one of the largest sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on the planet. They store an estimated 120 billion tons of Earth's carbon - that's...
Great Lakes water level slump over, future unclear
Posted by Associated Press: Charlotte Malone on December 11th, 2014
Associated Press: Two unusually wet years have finally ended the lengthiest period on record of low Great Lakes water levels ? a blessing for long-suffering cargo shippers and recreational boaters ? although scientists said Tuesday it's uncertain whether the recovery is temporary or heralds a trend.
Four of the giant lakes ? Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie ? were above their average monthly levels in November, while Lake Ontario was slightly below. In September, all five were simultaneously above average for...