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Archive for April 5th, 2015
Will Turning Seawater Drinking Water Help Drought-Hit California?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
National Public Radio: ast week, Governor Jerry Brown made water conservation mandatory in the drought-stricken state of California. "As Californians, we have to pull together and save water in every way we can," he said. But if the four-year drought continues, conservation alone - at least what's required by the governor's plan - won't fix the problem. Across California, communities are examining all options to avoid running out of water. Some, like the coastal city of Santa Barbara, are looking to the past for inspiration....
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Climate change paradox: Rainforests are being felled… world is getting greener
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Independent: The dramatic demise of the world’s rainforests has caused concern for years while they have been chopped down at breakneck speed to grow crops and rear cattle – yet the planet has actually become greener in the past decade, with the total amount of plant coverage soaring.
The rise in vegetation is the result of a major tree-planting campaign in China and unintentional increases in grasslands and non-tropical forests in former Soviet states, Australia and Africa, as heavy rainfall and abandoned...
California’s Wasteful Water Habits Run Up Against a Dry Future – and Past
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
New York Times: You don’t know you’re in a megadrought until you’re many years, if not decades, into one. So conditions in California could still turn around (which could lead to a “shock to trance” effect on water conservation efforts). But lots of signs are pointing to the current extraordinary dry spell, likely exacerbated by heat from human-driven climate change, taking California into conditions unexperienced since long before the state’s water-dependent economy exploded during Gov. Jerry Brown’s father’s...
California drought: governor tells climate-change deniers to wake up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Guardian: As his state faces the worst drought in its history, with mandatory water rationing for residents and fears of destruction to the agricultural sector, California governor Jerry Brown had a message Sunday for climate-change deniers: wake up.
“With the weather that’s happening in California, climate change is not a hoax,” Brown said, on ABC news. “We’re dealing with it, and it’s damn serious.”
Snow pack in California this year, which historically has renewed the state’s water reservoirs each...
Severe storm kills 24, injures more than 50 in Bangladesh
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Reuters: A severe storm sweeping across Bangladesh killed at least 24 people and injured dozens more, mostly in Bogra district in the northern part of the country, police and officials said on Sunday.
Women and children were among the dead, who included some victims in the capital Dhaka, they said, and more than 50 people were injured and admitted to hospitals around the country.
Shafiqur Reza Biswas, Bogra's chief district administrator, told reporters storm killed at least 14 people killed alone in...
California Drought Tests History Endless Growth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
New York Times: For more than a century, California has been the state where people flocked for a better life — 164,000 square miles of mountains, farmland and coastline, shimmering with ambition and dreams, money and beauty. It was the cutting-edge symbol of possibility: Hollywood, Silicon Valley, aerospace, agriculture and vineyards. But now a punishing drought — and the unprecedented measures the state announced last week to compel people to reduce water consumption — is forcing a reconsideration of whether...
Climate Change Makes Droughts in Australia Worse
Posted by Guardian: Oliver Milman on April 5th, 2015
Guardian: Climate change is making drought conditions in southwest and southeast Australia worse, with serious ramifications for people's health and the agriculture industry, a new paper has warned. The Climate Council report says projected decreases in average rainfall are linked to reduced agricultural productivity and increased suicide risk in rural areas. The Climate Council report states that since the mid-1990s, southeast Australia has experienced a 15 percent drop in rainfall during late autumn and...
China to step up urbanization along Yangtze River
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 5th, 2015
Reuters: China's government released on Sunday a framework to develop sprawling urban areas along the Yangtze River as it moves forward with a decade-long ambition to turn the Chinese heartland into a major economic belt.
Although no specific investment details were released, the State Council, China's cabinet, said on its website it would designate 317,000 square kilometers along the river to become urban areas, hosting transportation and energy projects.
The designated urban development area will...
Calif drought: agribusiness, fracking untouched by water rationing
Posted by Ecologist: Evan Blake on April 5th, 2015
Ecologist: There are immense water efficiencies to be gained, but any rational reorganization is blocked by the US financial oligarchy, which, controlling the entire political system, will not abide any impingement on its profits.
The unprecedented drought gripping California has deepened for the fourth consecutive year, having already set new records for the lowest annual precipitation levels on record. 2014 brought the highest calendar-year temperature for the state, while this February was the hottest...