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Archive for March 1st, 2016
Researchers develop realistic system to study impact of residential mold on health
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2016
ScienceDaily: Residential mold has increased in recent years, due to water damage from a rising frequency of flooding. But there is scant information on the impact of residential mold on human health. But now a team of Danish investigators has developed a modeling system that actually mimics indoor fungal aerosols. The research is published ahead of print Feb. 26, 2016 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. In the past, systems for modeling indoor mold have...
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Anti-fossil fuels activists to shut down UK’s biggest coalmine
Posted by Enterno: None Given on March 1st, 2016
Enterno: Activist group Reclaim The Power has pledged to shut down the UK's largest opencast coal mine in south Wales this May in protest against fossil fuels. Hundreds of people are planning to take part in a mass blockade of the UK’s largest opencast coal mine – Ffos-y-fran, near Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. It will coincide with the Welsh Assembly elections on May 5. Reclaim The Power spokeswoman Ellie Groves said in a statement: "The only way we can stop catastrophic climate change is taking action...
African drought tames Victoria Falls’ thunderous roar
Posted by Reuters: Joe Brock on March 1st, 2016
Reuters: Tourists staring in wonder at the full force of the Zambezi River cascading over Victoria Falls struggle to believe the region is suffering one of its worst ever droughts, but local guide Patrick Sakala knows all is not well. Flows have dropped to 30-year lows at the waterfall straddling Zambia and Zimbabwe's shared border, as poor rains and soaring temperatures take their toll across southern Africa. "At this time of year you usually wouldn't be able to hear me over the thunderous roar," Sakala...
Winter ‘was probably warmest ever in England and Wales’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2016
Guardian: This winter is on track to be the warmest ever recorded in England and Wales, according to preliminary figures from the Met Office.
The agency is due to process the final set of winter temperature readings from weather stations around the UK on Tuesday, with 2015/16 expected to beat records going back to the 17th century.
Preliminary data for the central England temperature series – the longest-running in the world – showed an average temperature of 7C (44.6F) this winter, beating a previous...
Climate activists threaten to shut down world’s major coal sites
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2016
Guardian: Climate activists will use direct action to try to shut down major coal sites across the world in May, including the UK’s largest opencast coal mine in south Wales.
The dozen international sites facing civil disobedience from the Break Free 2016 campaign span the globe from the US to Australia and South Africa to Indonesia.
The Ffos-y-fran opencast mine, near Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, is about halfway through extracting 11m tonnes of coal. Ellie Groves, from the Reclaim the Power network, said:...
Australia: WWF: Worst coral bleaching on Lizard Island since 2002 a cause for concern
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2016
Telegraph: Reports that Lizard Island is experiencing the worst coral bleaching since 2002 is a major concern for the Great Barrier Reef, WWF-Australia said on Tuesday.
The organisation today released photographs of the damage showing a wide variety of corals being impacted.
WWF Great Barrier Reef campaigner Louise Matthiesson said Lizard Island, in far north Queensland, is being hit amid forecasts of more risk of coral bleaching on the Reef in March.
"If conditions continue to worsen, the Great Barrier...
Australia: Feuds and infighting as nuclear waste dump plan tears communities apart
Posted by Guardian: Shalailah Medhora on March 1st, 2016
Guardian: Peter and Sue Woolford were born and bred in the small rural community of Kimba in South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The 1,000-strong town rallied behind the couple when their teenage son, Matthew, died in a farming accident 12 years ago.
The comfort provided by the practical and emotional support offered by friends and neighbours during this time of grief was immeasurable, Sue tells Guardian Australia, which makes it all the more difficult to see the community turning against each other now....
With pollinators in decline around the world, conservationists turn to traditional farmers for answers
Posted by Ensia: None Given on March 1st, 2016
Ensia: In northwestern India, the Himalaya Mountains rise sharply out of pine and cedar forests. The foothills of the Kullu Valley are blanketed with apple trees beginning to bloom. It’s a cool spring morning, and Lihat Ram, a farmer in Nashala village, shows me a small opening in a log hive propped against his house. Stout black-and-yellow native honeybees -- Apis cerana -- fly in and out.
For centuries, beehives have been part of the architecture of mountain homes here, built into the thick outside...
El Nino has eased to moderate levels: Australia weather bureau
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2016
Reuters: An ongoing El Nino weather pattern is now at moderate levels, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on Tuesday, as associated climate indicators have eased.
Pacific Ocean sea temperatures have eased in the last two weeks, the BOM said, pushing the severity of the El Nino down from strong to moderate levels.
The El Nino is expected to end by the second quarter of 2016, the BOM said.
The Australian weather bureau said a La Nina weather event remains a possibility, though neutral...