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Archive for January 30th, 2015
California’s ‘Dismally Meager’ Snowpack Signals More Drought
Posted by National Geographic: Warren Cornwall on January 30th, 2015
National Geographic: After measuring California's mountain snow on Thursday, state officials described it as "dismally meager" and predicted that a fourth year of drought is on the way. Statewide, the water trapped in the form of snow is just a quarter of the amount usually found at this time of year, California's Department of Water Resources reported shortly after teams returned from measuring snow levels at Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada mountains, southwest of Lake Tahoe. (Watch a video about new technology California...
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Obama Orders Higher Flood Risk Standard for Federal Projects
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on January 30th, 2015
Environment News Service: Considering the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change, President Barack Obama today issued the nation`s first Federal Flood Risk Management Standard for taxpayer-funded projects. He described the Standard as "a flexible framework to increase resilience against flooding and help preserve the natural values of floodplains."
The new flood standard will apply when federal funds are used to build, retrofit or repair structures and facilities in and around floodplains to ensure that those...
Senators Vote in Circles about Global Warming and Keystone XL Pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Scientific American: The U.S. Senate voted 62 to 36 yesterday to build the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline that would bring oil from tar sands in Canada down through the U.S. Tar sands are one of the dirtiest forms of oil and expansion of their use would ensure too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, helping climate change wreak even more havoc. Yet this prospect is exactly what many of the same Senators who approved the pipeline voted to avoid, philosophically at least, just last week. How can that be? And who...
Thunderstorms Move Ozone Toward Surface of the Earth, Research Shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Thunderstorms move a significant amount of ozone from the stratosphere down toward the earth's surface — a process that could have important impacts on climate, according to a recent study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Ozone shields the planet from the sun's ultraviolet rays when it's in the stratosphere, the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere, but ozone acts as a powerful greenhouse gas and pollutant when it's nearer to the earth's surface, in the troposphere. Ozone is created...
Four Things to Know About Keystone XL
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on January 30th, 2015
Climate Central: The Obama administration is under pressure from Congress to decide on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline after the Senate approved a bill Thursday that would greenlight the pipeline's construction. A final bill could land on President Obama's desk sometime next week, but he is expected to veto the bill because he objects to Congress usurping his administration's authority over the pipeline's approval.
With the political pressure on, the U.S. State Department, which is in charge of the Keystone's...
Cleanup Yellowstone’s Icy Oil Spill Offers Cautionary Tales
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
National Geographic: On a muddy bluff overlooking the Yellowstone River, Paul Peronard watched as workers tried to mop up oil through holes drilled into the frozen surface. Nearby, a whirring vacuum truck held crude from the first serious U.S. spill into icy water in a quarter-century.
The week had begun sunny and unseasonably mild. Peronard, the Environmental Protection Agency's on-scene coordinator, asked for an update. The response: Ice was melting upstream, adding to the cleanup's danger.
"Oh," Peronard winced....
Racing Extinction: A Must-See Documentary of 2015, World Premier at Sundance
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 30th, 2015
EcoWatch: Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah is one of the largest independent film festivals in the world, attracting some 50,000 attendees. This year’s festival, its 31st anniversary, runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1. Robert Redford, founder of Sundance and a longtime environmental activist, sat down with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman yesterday to discuss this year’s festival and pressing environmental issues, including the Keystone XL pipeline. The festival always has a solid showing of environmental films...
Flame Retardant Chemicals Linked to Preterm Births
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on January 30th, 2015
EcoWatch: A new study finds expecting mothers who were exposed to a flame retardant chemical may have been more likely to have a premature birth. That’s a concern because premature babies may have more health problems and may need to stay in the hospital longer than babies born later. They also may have long-term health problems that can affect their whole lives.
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have determined that maternal exposure to high levels of flame-retardants may be a contributing...
Vertical Gardens Beat Soil Made Salty by Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2015
Scientific American: The soil in Knolkhol village in southwest Bangladesh has become increasingly salty because of incursions of seawater. The situation became particularly acute in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila in 2009, which brought storm surges that broke embankments and flooded farmland. After 2009 vegetable crops planted in the ground there yielded only meager returns--if they didn't fail completely.
But for the past three years hundreds of villagers have enjoyed the bounty of so-called vertical gardens--essentially...
Scientists rediscover endangered Andean toad in Ecuador
Posted by Mongabay: Joanna Parkman on January 30th, 2015
Mongabay: In 1970 researchers uncovered the Tandayapa Andean toad (Andinophryne olallai), previously unknown to science, in the Pichincha Province of Ecuador. Given that only a single individual was discovered, even after further exploration in the following years, the toad was soon presumed to be extinct. Forty-two years later, however, a research team rediscovered the species in Manduriacu, Ecuador. Their recently published study in Amphibian & Reptile Conservation describes new knowledge of the cryptic...