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Archive for March 2nd, 2015
Climate Change Caused the War in Syria?
Posted by Nature World: None Given on March 2nd, 2015
Nature World: Wars are usually caused by struggles for land or power, but one new study is blaming climate change, at least in part, for the start of the Syrian war.
A nationwide drought, the worst Syria has ever seen, ravaged the region from 2006-2010, destroying the agricultural industry and driving farmers to poverty-stricken cities.
Coincidentally, in spring 2011, unrest escalated into a full-blown Syrian war that has since killed at least 200,000 people and displaced millions.
"We're not saying the...
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Deadly Frog Fungus Invades Madagascar
Posted by Nature World: Brian Stallard on March 2nd, 2015
Nature World: A deadly fungus which has been ravaging amphibian populations across the world has somehow found its way to the isolated island of Madagascar, according to new surveys. And that's the stuff of nightmares for conservationists, as the island happens to be countless frog species, 99 percent of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
A study, recently published in the journal Nature details how the fatal fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) seems to have first appeared in the Madagascar...
First Images of What May Be Smallest Bacteria on Earth
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on March 2nd, 2015
Nature World: Scientists have captured the first detailed microscopy images of what may be the smallest bacteria on Earth, according to a new study.
It has been debated for the last two decades whether or not ultra-small bacteria exist, and until now scientists have been unsuccessful in obtaining a comprehensive electron microscopy and DNA-based description of the microbes.
Described in the journal Nature Communications, the new bacteria have an average volume of 0.009 cubic microns. They are so small that...
Climate Change ‘Contributing Factor’ in Syrian Conflict
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2015
Climate Central: Moist air comes flowing off the Mediterranean into Syria each winter, unleashing rains that transform the dull brown countryside into myriad hues of green. But in 2005, the rains never fully materialized, the first of five consecutive failed rainy seasons that sparked the worst drought in Syria's history and directly preceded the country's descent into civil war.
A groundbreaking study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science shows that climate change doubled or...
Global Warming Upped Heat Driving California’s Drought
Posted by Climate Central: Brian Kahn on March 2nd, 2015
Climate Central: Despite a recent influx of snow and rain this past weekend, extremely low snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has conspired with warm temperatures to keep the state in the grips of one its worst droughts on record for at least another year. The precipitation has been the key ingredient to start the drought, but heat has played an important role in maintaining and intensifying it. A new paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science shows that human greenhouse gas emissions...
Global warming helped trigger Syria’s civil war
Posted by Mashable: Andrew Freedman on March 2nd, 2015
Mashable: Manmade global warming helped spark the brutal civil war in Syria by doubling to tripling the odds that a crippling drought in the Fertile Crescent would occur shortly before the fighting broke out, according to a groundbreaking new study published on March 2.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to attribute the drought in Syria in large part to global warming.
In doing so, it provides powerful evidence backing up the Pentagon and...
Kenyan fishermen embrace ponds as fish dwindles in lake
Posted by Xinhua: Robert Manyara on March 2nd, 2015
Xinhua: Sangorota beach along the shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya's biggest fresh water body, is no longer bustling with activity as has been the norm for many years.
The fishermen who used to flock the beach with boats and other fishing gear in search of the delicacy have deserted the trade as fish stock dwindles in the lake, which Kenya shares with neighboring countries Tanzania and Uganda.
"There is no value in going to fish in the lake anymore. Until recently, I would go there early in the morning...
Kew quest to prevent coffee dying out
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2015
Telegraph: Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew have begun a desperate bid to find a new bean of coffee which can thrive as the climate warms, before the world’s supplies run out.
Currently, just one variety of coffee bean – Coffea arabica – is primarily grown throughout the world by manufacturers. But it cannot survive at high temperatures, and botanists fear that up to 100 per cent of current crops will be lost by 2080 if climate change predictions for global warming hold true.
Now scientists...
TransCanada Seizing People’s Land to Build Keystone; Conservatives Silent
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on March 2nd, 2015
ThinkProgress: For Julia Trigg Crawford, watching TransCanada construct the southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline on a corner of her 600-acre farm was “gut-wrenching.”
Crawford, who lives in Direct, Texas, had been trying since 2011 to keep the pipeline company off her property. But she ultimately lost, the portion of her land needed for the pipeline condemned through eminent domain - a process by which government can force citizens to sell their property for "public use," such as the building of roads, railroads,...
In Drought-Stricken California, Market for Canada Gas Emerges
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 2nd, 2015
Bloomberg: Driven out of their best U.S. markets by the shale boom, Canada’s gas producers are turning to the power-hungry West Coast.
Canadian gas shipments to Washington state are the highest seasonally since at least 2008, and exports through a border point in Eastport, Idaho, surged in November to a winter record, data compiled by Genscape Inc. show. Demand from California gas-fired power plants is increasing as a drought now in its fourth year cuts hydroelectric production.
A flood of low-cost Marcellus...