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Archive for February 2nd, 2015
Can Sun & Wind Make Salt Water Drinkable?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2015
National Geographic: The oceans have long taunted those who thirst.
Records dating to A.D. 200 show that sailors boiled seawater and used sponges to absorb fresh water from the steam. Today, desalination is more sophisticated: multistage flash distillation, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, and more.
But one thing hasn't changed since the time of the ancient mariners: It takes a lot of energy to squeeze drinkable water from salt water. So even though more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water,...
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Human Nature May Seal the Planet’s Warming Fate
Posted by LiveScience: Raghu Murtugudde on February 2nd, 2015
LiveScience: Slow changes are the bane of humanity. The metaphor of a frog in a pot being warmed slowly seems quite apt for the way humanity is struggling with global warming. 2014 is now the warmest year in the instrumental record. Even as the global warming hiatus continues and its causes continue to be debated -- record temperature years have occurred during the hiatus, even though globally averaged surface temperatures have shown little change -- the pause is not really a benign blessing to continue with...
Climate Change in Minnesota: More heat, more big storms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2015
Minnesota Public Radio: Three months later, the dazzling sunlight was nowhere to be found when rain sheets pummeled the Duluth area. Muddy torrents of chocolate, fuming floodwaters tore through town, leaving shock and devastation. Both extremes happened in a Minnesota our descendants never knew. It's warmer, especially in the winter, and rising global temperatures have stacked the deck in favor of heavier rains. Even in a land used to being wowed by the weather, the month-to-month, year-to-year roller coaster ride is...
UN confirms 2014 ‘hottest year on record’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2015
Agence France-Presse: The year 2014 was the hottest on record, part of a "warming trend" that appeared set to continue, the UN's weather agency said Monday.
Average global air temperatures in 2014 were 0.57 degrees Celsius (1.03 degree Fahrenheit) higher than the long-term average of 14 C (57.2 F) for a 1961-1990 reference period, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a statement.
"Fourteen of the 15 hottest years have all been this century," said WMO secretary general Michel Jarraud.
"In 2014,...
Abrupt Climate Change is Here
Posted by CounterPunch: Robert Hunziker on February 2nd, 2015
CounterPunch: Is abrupt climate change already here?
There are some serious scientists who believe it is already here. If their analysis is correct, the world could turn nearly uninhabitable within current lifetimes.
In that regard, the American public is overly, dangerously casual about the prospects/risks of abrupt climate change. This is found in numerous studies and polls, e.g. according to a Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, in an international survey of 39 countries, Americans were among the least...
Heat shock ahead for global croppers
Posted by Queensland Country Life: Gregor Heard on February 2nd, 2015
Queensland Country Life: AN international report has made a sobering finding, with computer models showing global wheat production could fall six per cent for every one degree of temperature rise.
The study, published online in Nature Climate Change, found that not only would production fall, but volatility would increase.
The rate of decreases in productivity is a massive concern for Australian producers, given a joint release from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Bureau...
Drought-hit Pakistan turns to solar water treatment
Posted by Reuters: Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio on February 2nd, 2015
Reuters: Worsening drought has led to over 80 percent of water resources in Pakistan’s southern Tharparker district becoming unfit for people to drink, a new study says.
That has led to plans by the Sindh provincial government to invest 5.4 billion Pakistani rupees ($53 million) in installing 750 solar-powered reverse osmosis water purification plants across the sprawling desert district, to help get safe drinking water to the region’s over 1.5 million people.
All of the facilities are expected to be...
United Kingdom: Labour promises to protect public forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 2nd, 2015
Guardian: Labour will pitch itself as the party that will protect nature and the British countryside this week, with a promise to prevent publicly owned forests from being sold.
In a speech at an RSPB nature reserve on Tuesday, shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle is expected to attack the coalition for overseeing a decline in the UK’s natural environment and to pledge to give more people access to green space.
Former Tory environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, was forced into a u-turn over plans...