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Archive for March, 2015
Melting ice slows down ocean circulation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 29th, 2015
Living on Earth: The Atlantic Conveyor Belt is a system of ocean currents that bring warm temperatures and important nutrients to the waters off of East Coast America and Western Europe. But as global warming melts ice in Greenland, the influx of fresh water seems to be slowing the northward drift down and could shut the system down altogether. Climate scientist Michael Mann tells host Steve Curwood that could spell trouble for the ocean and the economy.
Transcript
CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth. I'm Steve Curwood....
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Wildfires Tied to Drought, Heat & Topography, Not Beetles
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on March 29th, 2015
Climate Central: In 2012, when the High Park Fire tore through a northern Colorado forest replete with dead trees left in the wake of a mountain pine beetle infestation, blame for the fire's spread across 87,000 acres was often placed primarily on the beetles.
The High Park Fire, which killed one person and destroyed 259 homes, and the attention to the beetles in its wake were part of the impetus for a new University of Colorado study showing that bark beetle infestations and the dead trees they leave behind have...
Antarctica is basically liquefying
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 27th, 2015
Grist: Antarctica`s icy edges are melting 70 percent faster in some places than they were a decade ago, according to a new study in the journal Science.
These massive ice shelves serve as a buffer between the continent’s ice-sheet system and the ocean. As they disintegrate, more and more ice will slip into the sea, raising sea levels by potentially huge amounts.
This study is just the latest bit of horrible news from the bottom of the world. Last year, we found out that the West Antarctic ice sheet...
Obama Unveils $1.2 Billion Plan Fight Superbug Crisis, But Is It Enough?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on March 27th, 2015
EcoWatch: President Obama is waging war against the superbug crisis, one of the “most pressing public health issues facing the world today,” causing tens of thousands of deaths and millions of illnesses every year in just the U.S. alone, the President said.
Today, the White House announced its first-ever National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria. The 63-page document outlines five specific goals to control the spread of superbugs over the next five years:
slow the emergence...
Stronger thunderstorms driving rise in tropical rainfall: Study
Posted by Reuters: Kyle Plantz on March 27th, 2015
Reuters: An increase in strong thunderstorms could be responsible for greater rainfall in the tropics as a result of climate change, new research says. The joint research, which was conducted by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (ARCCSS) and NASA, research found that even though other types of rainfall have decreased in frequency and the total number of thunderstorms has remained the same, the increase in big storms has elevated total rainfall. Thunderstorms...
In New York, Fracking Ban Fuels Secession Talk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 27th, 2015
LA Times: The national debate over fracking, which critics say can pollute groundwater and endanger public health, heated up last week when the Obama administration announced the first-ever federal regulations on the practice. But nowhere is fracking as heated an issue as in the stretch of New York known as the southern tier, where Cuomo's ban has spurred talk of secession.
Political leaders like Price, Windsor's town supervisor, say secession is not such a farfetched idea, and they are gathering feedback...
Pakistan Shelves 6 Coal-Fired Power Projects
Posted by RTCC: Aamir Saeed on March 27th, 2015
RTCC: Pakistan has halted work on six coal-fired power projects of some 14,000 megawatts due to environmental concerns, lack of needed infrastructure and foreign investment.
Prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari broke ground of the first mega coal power project in January 2014 to help the country overcome its energy crisis.
The cost of the entire project was estimated at US$6-8 billion and it was scheduled to be completed in 2017. The government was expecting to generate...
Eco-millionaire’s land grab prompts fury
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2015
Guardian: Douglas Tompkins calls himself a 'deep ecologist'. He is a millionaire on a quest to preserve some of Argentina's last frontier lands from human encroachment by buying them and turning them into ecological reserves.
But Argentina may not permit him such philanthropy. Opponents are branding him a new-age 'imperialist gringo' and claim he has a secret aim: to help the US military gain control of the country's natural resources. Tompkins, who sold his Esprit clothing firm in 1989 for a reported $150m...
Australia: Climate change: Coalition accused of politicising greenhouse gas target
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2015
Guardian: The Abbott government has been accused of politicising the release of official greenhouse gas projections that confirm Australia’s international climate change pledge for 2020 is becoming easier to reach, but which will also increase pressure for Australia to adopt a more ambitious post-2020 target. The official figures have shown that the total greenhouse gas reduction required to meet Australia’s bipartisan minimum target of a 5% cut by 2020 is now 236m tonnes, a decrease on previous estimates....
Cyclone on course to smash into Australian coast a second time
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 23rd, 2015
Reuters: Three days after making landfall, Cyclone Nathan continued to threaten Australian coastal communities, with 400 residents of a remote northern island on Monday ordered to evacuate after meteorologists warned the storm was intensifying.
It is the second time since late February that people living in Goulburn Island off Australia's Northern Territory have had to evacuate to escape a tropical cyclone.
"Police have the power to force people to evacuate," said regional controller Commander Bruce...