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Archive for February 12th, 2015
U.S. Drought Risk This Century Worst in 1,000 Years
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on February 12th, 2015
Environment News Service: The worst persistent drought ever in the U.S. Southwest and Great Plains will parch the region during the second half of the 21st century, with the drying conditions "driven primarily" by human-induced global warming, new research predicts.
"We are the first to do this kind of quantitative comparison between the projections and the distant past, and the story is a bit bleak," said Jason Smerdon, a co-author and climate scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, part of the Earth Institute...
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Worst Drought 1,000 Years Predicted American West
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
National Geographic: Large parts of the U.S. are in for a drought of epic proportions in the second half of this century, scientists warn in a new study that provides the highest degree of certainty yet on the impact of global warming on water supplies in the region.
The chances of a 35-year or longer "megadrought" striking the Southwest and central Great Plains by 2100 are above 80 percent if the world stays on its current trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists from NASA, Columbia University, and Cornell...
U.S. Central Plains and Southwest will likely face apocalyptic drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
Mongabay: Dust storm in Texas during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. New research finds that the American West is set to face a megadrought, worst than the Dust Bowl, in the next century due to climate change. Photo by: Public Domain.
In the recent film Interstellar, a mysterious phenomenon known as "the blight" is wiping out agriculture around the world until only corn-for some reason-survives. Humanity is on the brink of starvation. While the blight may be science fiction, global warming is not, and a new...
Experts: Climate Change May Make Northeast Winter Storms Worse
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
CBS: The idea of a snow day is becoming less and less appealing as the city and surrounding areas suffer one winter storm after the other.
Snow has been no friend to the Northeast this winter, and as another storm is ready to pummel the Northeast this weekend, climate change experts offer an explanation of why record-breaking amounts of precipitation may become a norm for the region.
“Simple physical laws will tell you that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture,” Dr. David Robinson, a state...
95 Scientists and Economists Call on Obama to Veto Keystone XL Pipeline Bill
Posted by EcoWatch: Jennifer Skene on February 12th, 2015
EcoWatch: Yesterday, 95 scientists and economists released a letter urging President Obama and Secretary Kerry to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, calling it a “step in the wrong direction” if the Obama administration is serious about addressing climate change. The letter draws upon comments President Obama made at Georgetown University in June 2013 when he stated, “allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest. And our national interest...
Dispatches from the Seneca Lake Uprising
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 12th, 2015
EcoWatch: I told the guy at the wilderness outfitter store that I needed footwear appropriate for standing motionless in frigid temperatures with occasional bouts of below-zero wind chill. For possibly long periods of time. He asked if I was going ice fishing. There are no guidebooks for how to carry out a sustained civil disobedience campaign during winter—let alone one that involves human blockades that intercept trucks attempting to enter a compressor station site on a steeply sloping lakeshore with 18...
Fracking Will Be Allowed under U.K. National Parks, MPs Decide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
Guardian: Fracking companies will be allowed to drill horizontally under national parks and other protected areas if the wells start just outside their boundaries, after the government rowed back on its earlier acceptance of new environmental protections.
Ministers were forced to accept a series of new regulations from Labour on 26 January after facing defeat by concerned backbenchers, but the final amendments passed by MPs on Monday unpicked many of them. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas accusing ministers...
Activists Want Fracking Ban in Denver, CO; Oil Backers Ready to Fight
Posted by Denver Business Journal: None Given on February 12th, 2015
Denver Business Journal: Colorado's fracking wars arrived at Denver city hall Tuesday, with a coalition of 25 groups that included some of the standard bearers of the anti-fracking movement in the state delivering a statement calling for Mayor Michael Hancock and the City Council to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing within the city limits.
"We think it's just a matter of time before they start fracking in Denver," Sam Schabacker, the western region director for Food & Water Watch, who's been working on the fracking...
Vatican mulling new department to tackle environmental issues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 12th, 2015
Reuters: The Vatican is considering setting up an environmental think tank, a spokesman said on Thursday, which could influence the opinion of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics on such thorny issues as climate change.
Father Federico Lombardi said the proposal was discussed at a closed-door meeting of cardinals from around the world who are at the Vatican to deliberate a reform of the Church's central administration, known as the Curia.
"We see a growth in the awareness (of environmental problems)...
Extreme weather exposes the vulnerability of our cities to climate change
Posted by Conversation: None Given on February 12th, 2015
Conversation: Despite the Patriots winning the Super Bowl, January and February were not kind months for the people of Boston and New England. By February 10th, more than 60 inches of snow in 30 days fell on the city and parts of the wider region, closing schools, shuttering businesses and offices, interrupting road, rail and air travel, paralyzing the region.
Across the Northeast and down highway I-95 as far as Philadelphia, the massive snowfalls caused disruption and damage totaling millions of dollars. Factor...