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Archive for December 15th, 2014
China’s Great Green Wall is Holding the Desert Back
Posted by Nature World: Brian Stallard on December 15th, 2014
Nature World: China's arid north is slowly being invaded by its own desert, which is the source of growing dust storms and nearly useless land. To fight it, they are planting whole forests - a living wall of hearty trees to keep the desert at bay... and it's working.
That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Land Use Policy, which details how China's "Great Green Wall" has helped shelter the country from dust storms while simultaneously helping to reintroduce vegetation into the...
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Greenland’s ‘Supraglacial’ Lakes Could Trigger Future Ice Loss
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on December 15th, 2014
Nature World: Previous predictions of Greenland ice loss may have been greatly underestimated, as new research shows the region's "supraglacial" lakes could trigger faster ice melt in the future. Supraglacial lakes are bodies of water that form on the ice sheet surface from melted snow and ice. According to the new study, these lakes will migrate farther inland over the next 50 years, potentially causing drastic changes in Greenland's ice sheet flow and contributing to rising sea levels. "When you pour pancake...
Coal Ash in the Spotlight as EPA Deadline Approaches
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 15th, 2014
EcoWatch: Coal ash is back in the spotlight. CBS just aired this blockbuster piece on 60 Minutes investigating the fallout from the coal ash spill into North Carolina’s Dan River, and this week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is due to release the first-ever national safeguards for disposal of this toxic industrial sludge, to meet a court-ordered deadline of Dec. 19.
We could see more and more ‘hot droughts’ like California’s
Posted by FiveThirtyEight: Christie Aschwanden on December 15th, 2014
FiveThirtyEight: Last week, California’s dry spell got a temporary reprieve thanks to an onslaught of Pacific storms. But the storms won’t be enough to turn back the state’s drought - one that, researchers say, is the region’s worst in the last 1,200 years.
California’s drought began in late 2011 and rapidly intensified. Reservoirs stand empty, and as of this month, the U.S. Drought Monitor has classified conditions in 79.7 percent of the state as being in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
To compare the...
Why America Should Invest in Renewables, Not Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 15th, 2014
EcoWatch: Callie Roberts is a senior, studying cancer biology and environmental policy, at Duke University. She has been awarded the Teens for Planet Earth Award, Ashoka Youth Venture Award, President’s Gold Volunteer Service Award, and President’s Environmental Youth Award for her work with biofuels and environmental health. She is currently a student in Dr. Rebecca Vidra’s environmental science & policy class. We have all heard about America’s energy crisis, “peak oil,” and anthropogenic climate change....
Surreal Aerial Photos Show Impact From Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: Anastasia Pantsios on December 15th, 2014
EcoWatch: Sometimes it takes a bird’s eye view to get a sense of the full scope of what’s being done to our land in pursuit of profit.
A few weeks ago we ran some photos by artist Mishka Henner who creates projects that make people think about how we interact with our environment. Those photos showed industrial-scale feed lots, factory farms where thousands of animals are raised, taken from the air. He discovered them while flying over the country working on another project: aerial photos of oil drilling...
Life On Earth Could Face Mass Extinction 100 Years
Posted by Business Times: India Ashok on December 15th, 2014
Business Times: What if someone told you that in a hundred years, life on earth would cease to exist? Imagine a mass extinction to rival that of the dinosaurs being wiped from the planet! That is the future awaiting us all, according to a recent scientific report. The alarming rate at which animal species are dying may only increase with time. The Nature magazine recently published an article that delivered a grim warning for all its readers. The scientific journal carried out an in depth analysis of all the...
North Dakota Aims Lift Ban on Radioactive Oil Waste
Posted by Bismarck Tribune: None Given on December 15th, 2014
Bismarck Tribune: Oaks Disposal, northwest of Glendive, Mont., is the first landfill in Montana licensed to handle Montana's new regulated limit of 30 picocuries per gram of radiation in oil field. Jeff Rahr, an employee at Oaks Disposal, meters an incoming load to make sure it doesn’t exceed the site’s approved limit for radioactivity. Rahr is metering for one parameter, the background of particles emitted, which can’t exceed 15 uR per hour. He said the load was reading at 4 uR.
The State Health Department is...