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Archive for January 16th, 2015
Global warming made 2014 a record hot year – in animated graphics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2015
Guardian: NASA and NOAA have just reported that global surface temperatures in 2014 were the hottest on record. That also means 2014 was likely the hottest the Earth has been in millennia, and perhaps as much as 100,000 years.
But what’s really remarkable is that 2014 set this record without the aid of an El Niño event. El Niño events create conditions in which sea surface and hence global surface temperatures are anomalously hot. We call this part of the Earth’s “internal variability” because these events...
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2014 Was Hottest Year on Record, Surpassing 2010
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2015
New York Times: Last year was the hottest in earth’s recorded history, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring scientific warnings about the risks of runaway emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped. Extreme heat blanketed Alaska and much of the western United States last year. Several European countries set temperature records. And the ocean surface was unusually warm virtually everywhere except around Antarctica, the scientists said, providing...
2014 officially hottest year on record, US government scientists say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2015
Guardian: The numbers are in. The year 2014 – after shattering temperature records that had stood for hundreds of years across virtually all of Europe, and roasting parts of South America, China and Russia – was the hottest on record, with global temperatures 1.24F (0.69C) higher than the 20th century average, US government scientists said on Friday.
A day after international researchers warned that human activities had pushed the planet to the brink, new evidence of climate change arrived. The world was...
United Kingdom: Regulators grant environmental permits Lancashire fracking site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2015
Guardian: A proposed site for controversial fracking for shale gas has been granted environmental permits by regulators.
The permits set out the conditions that shale company Cuadrilla must follow to protect groundwater, surface water and air quality and safely manage and dispose of waste at Preston New Road, Plumpton, in Lancashire, the Environment Agency said.
It is one of two new sites in Lancashire where Cuadrilla is seeking permission to drill, frack and test gas exploration wells, with Lancashire...
In shadow of glacial lakes, Pakistan’s mountain communities look to climate adaptation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 16th, 2015
Inter Press Service: Khaliq-ul-Zaman, a farmer from the remote Bindo Gol valley in northern Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has long lived under the shadow of disaster. With plenty of fertile land and fresh water, this scenic mountain valley would be an ideal dwelling place - if not for the constant threat of the surrounding glacial lakes bursting their ridges and gushing down the hillside, leaving a trail of destruction behind. "We can safely say that over 16,000 have been displaced due to [glacial lake outburst...
For vulnerable barrier islands, a rush to rebuild on US coast
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Rona Kobell on January 16th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Six years ago, Hurricane Ike nearly wiped the barrier island of Bolivar off the Texas map. A 17-foot storm surge destroyed nearly every home in some communities and killed at least 15 people. Long-time residents feared the wild, sandy spit of land between the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay would never recover.
Today, Bolivar is definitely back, and bigger than ever. Small fishing cabins and trailers have given way to candy-colored homes that sit on pilings more than a dozen feet above the ground....
Climate change is biggest reason oppose Keystone pipeline
Posted by Anchorage Daily News: None Given on January 16th, 2015
Anchorage Daily News: Not all pipelines are the same; not all oil projects are good energy projects. Yet we tend to associate any North American oil project with greater energy security/stability and thousands of jobs. While there is no polling data to confirm it, I think this is why a majority of Americans say “yes” when asked a simple question about supporting the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. They might answer differently if they knew that the Keystone XL pipeline will only transport oil to Gulf Coast refineries...
Study says sea levels rising quicker than thought
Posted by Deutsche Welle: None Given on January 16th, 2015
Deutsche-Welle: US researchers have used probability theory to calculate that the global mean sea level rose slower throughout most of the 20th century than previously thought. But more recently, it may be rising faster.
A new study helps clarify the mystery of why the sea levels seem to have risen faster than was expected during most of the 20th century.
So far, researchers assumed that worldwide, the oceans have been rising constantly by 1.6 to 1.9 millimeters per year. But this was far more than could be...
Methane rules hint Obama is taking a tougher line on oil and gas
Posted by EnergyWire: Mike Soraghan on January 16th, 2015
EnergyWire: The Obama administration's approach to regulating methane could signal a tougher approach to the growing domestic oil and gas industry as President Obama tries to build his environmental legacy. Administration officials came down mostly on the side of environmental groups in the debate, hinting at an end to the kid-gloves approach they've taken with producers since before Obama's 2012 re-election. The White House disappointed environmentalists by leaving out -- for now -- existing oil and gas wells....
Tribes in three states ask Obama administration to reject Keystone XL
Posted by Huffington Post: Kate Sheppard on January 16th, 2015
Huffington Post: An association representing 16 American Indian tribes in three states along the Keystone XL pipeline route sent a letter to President Barack Obama this week urging him to reject the pipeline permit application.
The association represents tribes in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska, and is also seeking a meeting with Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to discuss their concerns about the pipeline.
John Steele, chairman of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association and the...