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Archive for February 14th, 2015
Threatened Smelt Touches Off Battles in California’s Endless Water Wars
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
New York Times: On a boat in the heart of California’s biggest river delta, a researcher pored over a sample of murky, weed-infested water, looking for a rare fish about the size of a finger. Spotting one, he shouted in triumph — then measured it and quickly tossed it overboard. “They’re very fragile,” explained the researcher, Greg Nelson, who works as a biological science technician for the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, as the silvery fish darted away. The tiny fish, known as the delta smelt, has helped...
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Bills in Washington State Seek to End Use of Coal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
Associated Press: Lawmakers hoping to wean Washington State off coal power are trying to ease the way for the state’s utilities to end the electricity they get from coal. Bills in the House and Senate would set favorable conditions for three private utilities if they decided to shut down a large coal-fired power plant in eastern Montana that provides power to a chunk of the Pacific Northwest. Supporters say the proposal gives the utilities the tools to begin divesting from coal power plants, including a way to issue...
Is fracking causing small earthquakes?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
Associated Press: Small earthquakes shaking Oklahoma and southern Kansas daily and linked to energy drilling dramatically are increasing the chance of bigger and dangerous quakes, federal research indicates.
This once-stable region now is just as likely to see serious damaging and potentially harmful earthquakes as the highest risk places east of the Rockies such as New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, which had major quakes in the last two centuries.
Still, it’s a low risk, about a 1 in 2,500...
India: Capital City Hotter than Jaipur, Delhi
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
Indian Express: Gradual disappearance of natural water bodies under the onslaught of development has made Bhubaneswar hotter than Jaipur or Delhi, said experts here on Saturday.
Though Bhubaneswar continues to retain its green canopy despite the Super Cyclone in 1999 and Phailin in 2013, mercury is shooting up during the summer, they said.
Though the city boasted of several water bodies in the past, many have shrunk causing change in climate. This can lead to erratic rainfall and even cloudbursts, Ajit Pattnaik,...
Study: Oklahoma’s daily small quakes linked to energy drilling raise risk of big ones
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
Associated Press: Small earthquakes shaking Oklahoma and southern Kansas daily and linked to energy drilling are dramatically increasing the chance of bigger and dangerous quakes, federal research indicates.
This once stable region is now just as likely to see serious damaging and potentially harmful earthquakes as the highest risk places east of the Rockies such as New Madrid, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina, which had major quakes in the past two centuries.
Still it's a low risk, about a 1 in 2,500...
NASA scientists predict global warming could dry up Southwest, Midwest America by 2050
Posted by Daily News: None Given on February 14th, 2015
Daily News: America the beautiful’s amber waves of grain could dry up and blow away if carbon emissions aren’t curbed, scientists predict. “Unprecedented drought conditions,” could leave much of California, the Southwest and Midwest dry as a bone by 2050 due to global warming, according to a study NASA scientists released Thursday. The epic dry spells would make current droughts look like a break in the clouds compared with the arid conditions predicted. “Nearly every year is going to be dry toward the end...
California to Face Mega-Drought of 35 Years from 20150, Warn Climate Scientists
Posted by MF Monitor: None Given on February 14th, 2015
MF Monitor: Last year was the warmest on record in California, its driest spell for more than 400 years but a new study says that’s nothing compared to what’s in store. In a paper, published by the journal Science Advances, researchers from Nasa and Columbia and Cornell universities warn that a vast swathe of the US, including the south-west states and the central plains, may face unprecedented drought conditions, unseen in the past 1,000 years. In about 35 years, the region’s millennia-long natural cycle...
NASA Predicts ‘Megadroughts’ Due To Climate Change
Posted by Newsy: Kate Grumke , Jasmine Bailey on February 14th, 2015
Newsy: A new NASA study found that parts of the U.S. are at risk for Megadroughts during the second half of this century because of climate change.
These droughts would hit the American southwest and great plains, and would be the worst the country has seen in the past 1,000 years.
Over the past four years, droughts in California and the southwest have cost the area billions of dollars in agricultural losses, fire damage and lost jobs.
NASA climate scientist Ben Cook says these naturally occurring...
NASA Researchers forecast decades long mega-drought to hit Southwest of the US
Posted by Westside Story: None Given on February 14th, 2015
Westside Story: A decades-long mega-droughts is likely to hit the U.S. Southwest and Central Plains regions during the second half of this century, if climate change issues go unattended – forecasts researchers from NASA, Columbia and Cornell universities. The study findings are published in the journal Science Advances. The new forecast is based on models of continued climate change and considers the lagging pace of many countries in mitigating the output of greenhouse gases. The study findings reveal that there...
Growing Valentine’s Day roses harming Kenya’s ecological site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 14th, 2015
Guardian: Consumer appetite for cut-price Kenyan roses for Valentine's Day is "bleeding the country dry" by threatening the region's precarious ecology.
University of Leicester ecology and conservation biologist, Dr David Harper, warned. Harper has spent over 30 years researching wetland conservation at Kenya's Lake Naivasha and said the growth of the flowers is draining the valuable water supply.
Seventy per cent of roses sold in European supermarkets come from Kenya, most from Naivasha. Harper called...