RSS Feed
Archive for October 20th, 2015
Fracking Demand Creates Rural Water Lines
Posted by Water Online: None Given on October 20th, 2015
Water Online: Natural gas companies, which require massive amounts of water for fracking, are trying to make friends in the water sector. These alliances may hold benefits for water customers.
"Some gas companies working in the Marcellus and Utica shales are paying to extend public water lines into rural areas to provide the millions of gallons needed for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of their wells, and in some cases building treatment plants as well,' the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Southwestern...
Posted in 
Water Remains Largely Marginalized in Climate Talks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2015
Inter Press Service: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry last week turned the spotlight on the "record number" of extreme weather-related events the world is witnessing these days.
With an eye on the upcoming climate change talks in Paris, he warned that in the South Pacific, entire islands are at risk, largely threatened by a sea-level rise.
In southeast Brazil, they're suffering through the worst drought in 80 years. In California, it's the worst drought in a century - plus wildfires.
In Malawi, there are record...
Predator Defenses Backfired Poisonous Frogs Higher Risk Extinction
Posted by Nature World: None Given on October 20th, 2015
Nature World: Sometimes, being the most poisonous in the bunch isn't the best defense, it seems. In order to escape predation, many species have evolved to use special defenses that include camouflaging themselves, mimicking other species or using chemicals. For some amphibians that use toxins to protect themselves, the self-defense plan has backfired. Researchers from the University of Liverpool recently discovered that this predatory defense puts animals such as the iconic poison-dart frogs at a higher risk...
With organic rice in demand, scientists to help farmers improve production
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2015
ScienceDaily: Organic rice is increasingly desired by U.S. consumers, but farmers know that growing the grain chemically free can mean providing a feast for insects, diseases and weeds. That's why the U.S. Department of Agriculture has put $1 million on a multi-state team of scientists with a track record of battling pests toward the goal of making organic rice profitable for farmers and more available for consumers. The grant also establishes the first Center of Excellence for organic rice research in the U.S....
Alaskan Forest Fires Could Make Climate Change Much Worse
Posted by Gizmodo: Maddie Stone on October 20th, 2015
Gizmodo: If humans want to limit global warming, we’ll need to drastically reduce our carbon pollution. We might need to do so even faster than our models suggest, because as scientists are now discovering, there’s an additional factor working against us: fire.
Last week, we learned that Indonesia is in the midst of a devastating fire season, one that’s sending as much carbon skyward as the entire US economy. Indonesia isn’t alone -- Western North America is currently recovering from one of the most brutal...
Dirty pipeline: Methane from fracking sites can flow to abandoned wells, new study shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2015
ScienceDaily: As debate roils over EPA regulations proposed this month limiting the release of the potent greenhouse gas methane during fracking operations, a new University of Vermont study funded by the National Science Foundation shows that abandoned oil and gas wells near fracking sites can be conduits for methane escape not currently being measured. The study, to be published in Water Resources Research on October 20, demonstrates that fractures in surrounding rock produced by the hydraulic fracturing process...
For California drought towns, next challenge is growth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2015
Atlantic: In the 600-person, unincorporated community of Lanare, travel options are limited. One bus heads 30 miles to Fresno in the morning, then comes back in the evening. It takes roughly two hours each way.
So Isabel Solorio, a 50-year-old housekeeper and community activist, relies on her old Chevy Suburban to get to doctors` appointments, clients` homes, and stores. Though tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, and grapes all grow within miles of Lanare, there`s nowhere to buy truly affordable produce short...
Trudeau’s victory may not mean huge shift in Canada’s climate policy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 20th, 2015
Guardian: Well before his stunning victory in Canada’s elections, Justin Trudeau, the Liberal party leader, telephoned David Suzuki, the country’s best-known science broadcaster, environmentalist - and a national treasure - to ask for his endorsement. The conversation did not go well. Suzuki admitted to journalists he called Trudeau a twerp, and the Liberal leader dismissed his critique of the party’s climate policy as “sanctimonious crap.” Those hoping for a U-turn in Canada’s climate change policy after...
Residents allowed to return areas hit by central Texas wildfire
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on October 20th, 2015
Reuters: Some of the hundreds of residents evacuated last week in a Texas wildfire that hit a pine forest southeast of Austin are being allowed to return to stricken areas, officials said on Tuesday.
The so-called Hidden Pines fire in Bastrop County has scorched nearly 4,600 acres, or about 7 square miles, and was 80 percent contained as of Tuesday, the Texas A&M Forest Service said. The blaze destroyed nearly 70 homes, it added.
"The fire conditions are such that we will be able to allow a qualified...
Exxon Knew Everything Was to Know About Climate Change Mid-1980s & Denied It
Posted by Nation: None Given on October 20th, 2015
Nation: A few weeks before the last great international climate conference-2009, in Copenhagen-the e-mail accounts of a few climate scientists were hacked and reviewed for incriminating evidence suggesting that global warming was a charade. Eight separate investigations later concluded that there was literally nothing to "Climategate," save a few sentences taken completely out of context-but by that time, endless, breathless media accounts about the "scandal" had damaged the prospects for any progress at...