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Archive for February, 2016
Methane leak ‘largest in US history’
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on February 26th, 2016
BBC: A scientific analysis of a natural gas leak near Los Angeles says that it was the biggest in US history.
The Aliso Canyon blowout vented almost 100,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere before it was plugged.
The impact on the climate is said to be the equivalent of the annual emissions of half a million cars.
Researchers say it had a far bigger warming effect than the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
First detected on 23 October, the leak came from one of the 115 wells...
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A chance for sphagnum is a chance for all
Posted by Guardian: Matt Shardlow on February 26th, 2016
Guardian: This fragile peat dome, halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is lacerated with a grid of channels, ripped through the fibres of its dark earth.
On a cold wet February day, in a biting wind, the summit of Fannyside Muir is an impressively wide expanse of nodding heather plants, but the prominent leggy heather is not the architect of the bog. A closer look is needed to discern the construction team: the resident array of Sphagnum mosses – a scatter of tightly packed pink hummocks and, in a little...
Australia: Feral cats targeted to protect turtle hatchlings
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Rangers and conservationists concerned for the welfare of turtle hatchlings have carried out a feral cat trapping program in Exmouth.
The Jurabi coastline, located on the point of the Cape Range National Park in Western Australia, is a major nesting ground for local turtle populations.
In a trapping program undertaken last week, seven cats were captured and destroyed using cages and soft jaw leg traps, designed to restrain the animals without causing any physical pain.
Department of Parks...
Zika Epidemic Offers Sanitation a Chance in Brazil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
Inter Press Service: Three decades of dengue fever epidemic did not manage to awaken a sense of urgency in Brazil regarding the need for improving and expanding basic sanitation. But the recent surge in cases of microcephaly in newborns, associated with the Zika virus, apparently has.
Both dengue and Zika are transmitted by the same vector, the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Back in the 1950s this kind of mosquito was supposedly eliminated in this country in a campaign against yellow fever.
But it made a comeback two...
Report says climate change will cut farm, ranch earnings
Posted by Great Falls Tribune: None Given on February 26th, 2016
Great Falls Tribune: A new report highlights economic threats faced by Montana's farmers and ranchers as average temperatures rise and growing conditions change.
The report, "The Impacts of Climate Change on Montana's Agriculture Economy," was completed for the Great Falls-based Montana Farmers Union, a 100-year-old statewide farmers group.
"You have to know what you're facing, and you need education from somewhere, which is why we've done some research to help people plan," said Chris Christiaens, project specialist...
Mountaintop mining, crop irrigation can damage water biodiversity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Aquatic life can suffer when high concentrations of dissolved salts enter freshwater ecosystems, a process known as salinization.
An international, multi-institutional team of researchers that includes a Virginia Tech graduate student recommends ways that humans can protect freshwater from salts in an article Friday (Feb. 26) in the journal Science.
The recommendations include the use of less water for agricultural practices, less salt for road de-icing, less discharge or sequestering salts...
Scientists find new large lizard species on remote Papua New Guinea island
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2016
Yale Environment 360: Scientists have discovered the first new large lizard species in Papua New Guinea in over 20 years. The lizard was found on Mussau Island, one of the northernmost islands in country, by a team of Finnish and Australian researchers. The scientists have dubbed the new species, Varanus semotus, a “biogeographical oddity” because it is separated by several hundred miles from its next of kin. Islands in the Pacific Ocean lack predatory mammals, so large lizards, commonly known as monitor lizards, the...
Fracking stopped in Florida Senate — for now
Posted by Palm Beach Post: John Kennedy on February 25th, 2016
Palm Beach Post: A measure which supporters say would provide a framework to regulate hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - in Florida, but opponents denounce as a welcome mat for the high-risk industry was rejected Thursday by a key Senate panel.
The Appropriations Committee killed the measure (SB 318) after three hours of debate. But a procedural move kept the bill alive - and the prospect it may gain another review by the committee in the Legislature`s scheduled closing two weeks.
A similar bill (HB 191)...
How Northern European waters soak up carbon dioxide
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 25th, 2016
BBC: The seas around the UK and the rest of northern Europe take up a staggering 24 million tonnes of carbon each year. It is a mass equivalent to two million double-decker buses or 72,000 747 jets. The number was produced by scientists studying the movement of carbon dioxide into and out of the oceans. The team, led by Heriot-Watt University and Exeter University, has produced a software "engine" that will allow other scientists to do the same for different parts of the globe. "It's a software toolbox...
Farm report: Montana to lose millions to climate change
Posted by Billings Gazette: Tom Lutey on February 25th, 2016
Billings Gazette: Montana agriculture losses to climate change could total $736 million a year, estimates an economic study prepared for Montana Farmers Union.
Warmer temperatures and drier summers are withering the future of Montana spring wheat, a major cash crop for state farmers, according to the report released Wednesday.
Over time, those changing conditions will cost the state $372 million on labor earnings due to 12,167 jobs lost to declined production. Range land losses due to dry conditions and changing...