RSS Feed
Archive for February 17th, 2016
Kashmir’s snowfall deficit has got everyone worried
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2016
Indian Express: For the second consecutive year, Jammu and Kashmir is receiving lesser snowfall during winter compared to earlier years thereby affecting the Valley`s fruit industry and migration of birds.
Experts say it is rare for Kashmir to receive such low quantity of snowfall with negligible precipitation in the plains. According to meteorological data, the Valley for the 13th time since 1901 witnessed a rare dry January. Chillai Kalan, the 40-day coldest period in Kashmir’s winter also failed to provide...
Posted in 
Fracking’s Costs Fall Disproportionately on the Poor and Minorities in South Texas
Posted by InsideClimate: Brian Bienkowski on February 17th, 2016
InsideClimate: Chavel Lopez lives just a few miles north of Texas' Eagle Ford--one of the many regions in the country recently given a makeover from the fracking industry. "I just have to drive a bit south and see the wells and the flames," he said.
For Lopez, rather than a booming industry, these are signs of yet another pollution burden for the region's people of color.
"We already had issues. Right here in San Antonio, fuel storage tanks were all located on the eastside, predominantly African American...
How climate change will affect western groundwater
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2016
PhysOrg: By 2050 climate change will increase the groundwater deficit even more for four economically important aquifers in the western U.S., reports a University of Arizona-led team of scientists.
The new report is the first to integrate scientists' knowledge about groundwater in the U.S. West with scientific models that show how climate change will affect the region.
"We wanted to know, 'What are the expectations for increases and decreases in groundwater as we go forward in this century?'" said lead...
New study is ‘a leap forward’ in our understanding of ice sheet behavior
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2016
ScienceDaily: In recent years, climate scientists have grown increasingly concerned that massive rivers of ice flowing into the ocean from Greenland and Antarctica could accelerate as the planet warms, leading to a catastrophic collapse of Earth's ice sheets. This grim scenario would cause the world's oceans to rise rapidly, putting many island nations and coastal communities around the world under water. But a new paper in Nature by C.R. Stokes and colleagues presents an alternative narrative of the manner...
Pesticide mixtures may increase health risks but still unregulated by Calif
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2016
ScienceDaily: A UCLA study has found that the state agency responsible for protecting Californians from the dangers of pesticides is failing to assess the health risks likely posed by pesticide mixtures, which are believed to be more harmful than individual pesticides.
The report was published by the Sustainable Technology and Policy Program, which is based in UCLA School of Law and the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. It recommends the California Department of Pesticide Regulations do more to protect...
California’s drought led to less hydropower and more carbon emissions
Posted by Grist: Laura Bliss on February 17th, 2016
Grist: Climate change intensified California’s current drought, and the drought may be intensifying climate change. A new report by the Pacific Institute finds that the state’s energy portfolio has continued to shift away from hydropower and toward dirtier sources of electricity (CityLab covered its 2015 report on the same subject). That’s led to a 10 percent uptick in carbon emissions from California’s power plants, and an extra $2 billion for ratepayers.
Between 1983 and 2013, hydropower accounted...
Global satellite map highlights sensitivity of Australia’s plants
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 17th, 2016
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: The study suggests the vegetation of our interior does not respond to sudden increases in rainfall because it has "learned" that drought will soon follow.
It also indicates the Murray-Darling Basin is one of the world's most ecologically sensitive zones, and highlights the fact that Australian flora is most sensitive to changes in water availability.
The maps are part of a study, published today in the journal Nature, that analyses 14 years of satellite data measuring the key climate variables...
Which Species Will Survive Climate Change?
Posted by Conversation: Regan Early on February 17th, 2016
Conversation: It’s mid-February and along Britain’s south coast gilt-head bream are drifting from the open sea into the estuaries. Meanwhile, thousands of little egrets are preparing to fly to continental Europe for breeding season, though a few hundred will remain in the UK.The Conversation
Across northern Europe, young wasp spiders will soon scamper out of their silky egg sacs. And this summer, countryside visitors throughout the south of England will catch sight of iridescent blue flashes as small red-eyed...
Better Water Use Can Cut Global Food Gap
Posted by Climate News Network: Paul Brown on February 17th, 2016
Climate News Network: Although growing human numbers, climate change and other crises threaten the world‘s ability to feed itself, researchers believe that if we used water more sensibly that would go a long way towards closing the global food gap.
Politicians and experts have simply underestimated what better water use can do to save millions of people from starvation, they say.
For the first time, scientists have assessed the global potential for growing more food with the same amount of water. They found that...
Nestlé Pumps Millions of Gallons for Free While Flint Residents Pays for Poisoned Water
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 17th, 2016
EcoWatch: As Flint residents are forced to drink, cook with and even bathe in bottled water, while still paying some of the highest water bills in the county for their poisoned water, we turn to a little-known story about the bottled water industry in Michigan. In 2001 and 2002, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality issued permits to Nestlé, the largest water bottling company in the world, to pump up to 400 gallons of water per minute from aquifers that feed Lake Michigan. This sparked a decade-long...