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Archive for August 16th, 2015
What makes a planet habitable?
Posted by BBC: Christopher Watson on August 16th, 2015
BBC: Water in liquid form is thought to be a necessity for life on Earth.
Naturally, some say that life may flourish under other conditions, and perhaps even in the absence of water.
While that may be true, take a look around - life seems to do quite well here on Earth and we've yet to find it elsewhere in our Solar System.
Based on this, let's look at the classical definition for the habitable zone as the region around a star, such as our own Sun, where the temperature of any orbiting planet...
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As sea rise threatens Indian farmlands, scientists study saltwater plants as crops for future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 16th, 2015
Associated Press: On a sun-scorched wasteland near India's southern tip, an unlikely garden filled with spiky shrubs and spindly greens is growing, seemingly against all odds. The plants are living on saltwater, coping with drought and possibly offering viable farming alternatives for a future in which rising seas have inundated countless coastal farmlands. Sea rise, one of the consequences of climate change, now threatens millions of poor subsistence farmers across Asia. As ocean water swamps low-lying plots, experts...
Get ready for new normal: dry and drier
Posted by LA Times: William deBuys on August 16th, 2015
LA Times: California in the Great Drought is a living diorama of how the future is going to look across much of the United States as climate change sets in. Like hippies and "dude," wine bars and hot tubs, mega-churches and gay rights, what gets big in California goes national soon enough. Now, the large dark bruise spreading across the state on the U.S. Drought Monitor map is a preview of a bone-dry world to come.
Admittedly, recent summer rains have somewhat dulled the edge of this "exceptional" California...
A Week Since The EPA Spill, Coloradans Look Back On How It Happened
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 16th, 2015
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency accidentally released millions of gallons of pollutants into a Colorado river last week. John Flick, owner of a fishing shop in Durango, Colo., discusses the spill.
Heat wave scorches western US with record high temps
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 16th, 2015
CBS: Much of the West was smothered in a blanket of heat Saturday with triple-digit temperatures hitting Phoenix, Los Angeles and other cities.
Above-normal temperatures were expected through the weekend as a high-pressure system centered over New Mexico acted like a lid to block cooler air, leaving valleys, deserts and mountains high and very dry.
Authorities warned people not to leave small children or pets in cars, where temperatures can quickly soar. Los Angeles and other cities were keeping...
Vietnamese plea to Thailand: Don’t divert the Mekong
Posted by Asia One: None Given on August 16th, 2015
Asia One: The Mekong Delta is Vietnam's most important agricultural area. Each year, the area produces the most rice and fruit in the country. This region also nurtures many freshwater fish species, which are an important source of protein for local people. However, this key food production could be jeopardised by large water management projects upriver, Vietnamese experts have warned. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha voiced plans to use water from the Mekong and Salween rivers to fill dams that have run...
Climate Change: Food Shortage To Triple By 2040 Due To Extreme Weather
Posted by Headlines & Global News: Julie Sabino on August 16th, 2015
Headlines & Global News: The Global Food Security program, which monitors food security in 57 countries, released a report on Friday showing that global food shortage and price hikes will triple by 2040.
As global population continues to rise, the food demand is predicted to exceed the supply. The Taskforce on Extreme Weather and Global Food System Resilience estimated that the population would increase by 1.7 billion by 2050 and would need more than 60 percent additional food production to meet the demand and prevent...
Firefighters struggle to contain blazes as Soda Fire becomes largest in US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 16th, 2015
Associated Press: Winds helped stoke wildfires sweeping across the northern Rocky mountains, the Pacific northwest and elsewhere on Saturday, posing new problems for firefighters trying to contain flames that have been fed by drought.
One blaze, the Soda Fire near Nampa in south-west Idaho, had burned 265,000 acres to become the largest such blaze in the nation.
The weather was expected to worsen fires in some areas over the weekend, as the federal government said it would exhaust its firefighting budget next...
Heating up: July added to string of record hot months globally
Posted by Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on August 16th, 2015
Morning Herald: July was the hottest on record globally as a large El Nino event gathered strength in the Pacific, making it more likely that 2015 will exceed last year as the warmest year recorded.
Average land and sea-surface temperatures worldwide were 0.38 degrees above the 1981-2010 average, easily exceeding the previous record July anomaly of 0.30 degrees set in 1998, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The record for July is likely to be matched by other agencies in coming days, such as the US National...
Scientists says severe ‘food shocks’ more likely due climate change
Posted by Live Mint: Kate Kelland on August 16th, 2015
Live Mint: Extreme weather such as intense storms, droughts and heatwaves will cause more frequent and severe food shortages as the global climate and food supply systems change, British and American experts warned on Friday.
The pressure on the world's food supplies is so great, and the increase in extreme weather events so rapid, they said, that food shortages on a scale likely to occur once a century under past conditions, may in future hit as often as once every 30 years.
"The chance of having a weather-related...