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Common plants, animals threatened by climate change, study says
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on May 12th, 2013
LA Times: Climate change could lead to the widespread loss of common plants and animals around the world, according to a new study released Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The study's authors looked at 50,000 common species. They found that more than half the plants and about a third of the animals could lose about 50% of their range by 2080 if the world continues its current course of rising greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate change affects the availability of nutrition and water for animals...
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Climate change may bring drought to temperate areas, study says
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on May 4th, 2013
LA Times: Climate change may increase the risk of extreme rainfall in the tropics and drought in the world's temperate zones, according to a new study led by NASA.
"These results in many ways are the worst of all possible worlds," said Peter Gleick, a climatologist and water expert who is president of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland research organization. "Wet areas will get wetter and dry areas will get drier."
The regions that could get the heaviest rainfall are along the equator, mainly over the...
Federal Plan Aims to Help Wildlife Adapt to Climate Change
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on March 27th, 2013
LA Times: The Obama administration Tuesday announced a nationwide plan to help wildlife adapt to threats from climate change.
Developed along with state and tribal authorities, the strategy seeks to preserve species as global warming alters their historical habitats and, in many cases, forces them to migrate across state and tribal borders.
Over the next five years, the plan establishes priorities for what will probably be a decades-long effort. One key proposal is to create wildlife "corridors" that...
Keystone XL effect on environment seen as minimal, U.S. says
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on March 2nd, 2013
LA Times: A long-awaited State Department review of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline released Friday concludes that he project would have minimal impact on the environment, increasing the chances it could be approved in the coming months.
The State Department underscored that the study, a supplemental environmental impact statement, is a draft and that it does not offer recommendations for action on the $7-billion project, which would bring petroleum from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to refineries...
Clean-air chief Gina McCarthy seen as likely pick to head EPA
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on February 16th, 2013
LA Times: President Obama is expected by environmental advocates to name Gina McCarthy, the controversial chief of the Environmental Protection Agency's air pollution arm, to head the agency.
The nomination of McCarthy, 58, who has served as the head of the EPA's clean-air division since 2009, could come as early as next week, according to officials of three environmental groups. Her boss, Lisa Jackson, left the administrator's post Thursday.
McCarthy's nomination is likely to draw fire from congressional...
Climate assessment delivers a grim overview
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on January 11th, 2013
LA Times: The impacts of climate change driven by human activity are spreading through the United States faster than had been predicted, increasingly threatening infrastructure, water supplies, crops and shorelines, according to a federal advisory committee. The draft Third National Climate Assessment, issued every four years, delivers a bracing picture of environmental changes and natural disasters that mounting scientific evidence indicates is fostered by climate change: heavier rains in the Northeast,...
Extreme summer heat linked to climate change, scientists say
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on August 6th, 2012
LA Times: Exceedingly high summer temperatures, longer summers and related catastrophes, such as wildfire and drought, are poised to be the norm, and they are driven by climate change, according to a new research paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In an opinion article over the weekend in the Washington Post that previewed the findings, the paper's lead author, James E. Hansen wrote: "It is no longer enough to say that global warming will increase the likelihood...
Keystone pipeline decision could be delayed until after election
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee on November 6th, 2011
LA Times: The Obama administration is considering a move that could delay a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline by requiring sponsors to reduce the project's environmental risks before it can be approved, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.
The step might put off a decision until after the 2012 election and be a way for the White House to at least temporarily avoid antagonizing either the unions that support the pipeline or the environmental activists who oppose it as...