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Archive for March 8th, 2015
Florida banned state workers from using term ‘climate change’ – report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Guardian: Officials with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency in charge of setting conservation policy and enforcing environmental laws in the state, issued directives in 2011 barring thousands of employees from using the phrases “climate change” and “global warming”, according to a bombshell report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting (FCIR).
The report ties the alleged policy, which is described as “unwritten”, to the election of Republican governor Rick Scott...
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Arctic sea ice near all-time minimum low and could break previous record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Independent: Sea ice in the Arctic is near its all-time minimum for the end of winter and could break the previous record within the next two weeks if it fails to grow, according to the latest satellite data.
The area of the Arctic covered by floating sea ice is already the lowest for this time of year, highlighting the long-term warming trend experienced by the region in both winter and summer months.
Sea ice expands and contracts with the seasons but satellite data collected since the 1970s shows that...
There’s a better option than Keystone XL pipeline to create jobs
Posted by Bangor Daily News: Tim Godaire on March 8th, 2015
Bangor Daily News: Since President Barack Obama’s veto of the legislation approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that Congress passed, there has been limited coverage and discussion by the Bangor Daily News and in the opinion pages. There was a Feb. 25 piece by Michael Bloomberg suggesting Obama use the pipeline as leverage to have Canada commit to a carbon emissions reduction plan similar to the agreement between China and the U.S. Jim Fossel provided the only other commentary in his Red207 blog. He referred...
Researchers Find Possible Link Between Food Safety & Climate Change
Posted by Tech Times: None Given on March 8th, 2015
Tech Times: Food safety used to be a matter involving proper food preparation. Now researchers have found that it is also linked to how food is grown, which could be affected by climate change. Problems with food security have been previously linked to climate change, but now researchers have found that food safety might also be a concern. In a study published in the journal Food Research International, researchers from Ghent University and Wageningen University have discovered a relationship between food...
Artificial Glaciers in India Help Drought Villages
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Guardian: Villagers of the high desert of Ladakh in India's Jammu and Kashmir states used to harvest bountiful crops of barley, wheat, fruits, and vegetables in summer. An artificial glacier made in the form of an ice stupa in Ladakh in an effort to help with water shortages. But for years the streams have run dry in spring, just when farmers needed water to sow seeds. They had water when it wasn't needed during the rest of the year, such as in winter, when Ladakhis let water gush from taps to prevent pipes...
Prices Fail to Reflect Fossil Fuels’ Real Costs
Posted by Climate News Network: Tim Radford on March 8th, 2015
Climate News Network: Forget the price of petrol at the pumps. The true cost of any fossil fuel is much greater if social costs are factored in, according to new research.
A climate scientist in the US reports in Climatic Change journal that American motorists get a gallon of gasoline for at least $3.80 less than it really costs, and the price of coal-fired electricity would quadruple if consumers had to pay the real price. In contrast, solar and wind power are much cheaper than they might seem.
Professor Drew Shindell,...
Syria war drought link
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Associated Press: The conflict that has torn Syria apart can be traced, in part, to a record drought worsened by global warming, a new study says. In what scientists say is one of the most detailed and strongest connections between violence and human-caused climate change, researchers from Columbia University and the University of California Santa Barbara trace the effects of Syria’s drought from the collapse of farming, to the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, and then to poverty and civil unrest....
Growing seasons changing across globe
Posted by IANS: None Given on March 8th, 2015
IANS: A new study using satellite data has found that the growing seasons have changed everywhere around the world during the last couple of decades.
The results may have significant impact on agriculture, interactions between species, the functioning of ecosystems among others.
"There is almost no part of the Earth that is not affected by these changes", explained Robert Buitenwerf, Ph.D. scholar at the Goethe University, Frankfurt.
He evaluated satellite data from 1981 to 2012 with regard to...
Why fresh water shortages will cause next great global crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2015
Guardian: Water is the driving force of all nature, Leonardo da Vinci claimed. Unfortunately for our planet, supplies are now running dry – at an alarming rate. The world’s population continues to soar but that rise in numbers has not been matched by an accompanying increase in supplies of fresh water.
The consequences are proving to be profound. Across the globe, reports reveal huge areas in crisis today as reservoirs and aquifers dry up. More than a billion individuals – one in seven people on the planet...