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Climate scientists step up search ‘holy grail’ million-year-old ice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 9th, 2016
Guardian: The time capsule is ice that froze 1.5m years ago, capturing tiny bubbles of air, bringing a sample of the ancient atmosphere through time to the present day.
There are already dozens of ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland. They are tubes of ice, sometimes several kilometres long, drilled from the ice sheet, which reveal a timeline of what the atmosphere was like over hundreds of millennia.
Together those cores paint a detailed picture of the history of our atmosphere and climate. They’ve...
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Comments Off on Climate scientists step up search ‘holy grail’ million-year-old iceUS lawmakers seek independent review coal cleanup subsidy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2016
Reuters: Federal auditors should examine a program that has allowed leading coal companies to lower cleanup insurance costs and could leave taxpayers on the hook if the miners declare bankruptcy, Democratic lawmakers said on Tuesday.
Coal companies are responsible for spent mines and they typically use cash, bonds or other financing to cover future cleanup costs.
But some of the largest producers use self bonds, which are not backed by concrete collateral, to insure such costs. Regulators worry those...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US lawmakers seek independent review coal cleanup subsidyEastern US forests more vulnerable to drought than before 1800s
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Over thousands of years, most forests in the eastern United States evolved with frequent fire, which promoted tree species and ecosystems that were both fire and drought resistant. In little more than a century, humans upset that balance, suggest researchers, who blame the change, in part, on the well-meaning efforts of Smokey Bear. Since the 1930s, the composition of forests in the region has changed markedly, according to Marc Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology at Penn State. Drought-sensitive,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Eastern US forests more vulnerable to drought than before 1800sSea level rise threatens larger number of people than earlier estimated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 8th, 2016
ScienceDaily: More people live close to sea coast than earlier estimated, assess researchers in a new study. These people are the most vulnerable to the rise of the sea level as well as to the increased number of floods and intensified storms. By using recent increased resolution datasets, Aalto University researchers estimate that 1.9 billion inhabitants, or 28% of the world's total population, live closer than 100 km from the coast in areas less than 100 meters above the present sea level.
By 2050 the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sea level rise threatens larger number of people than earlier estimatedChina’s carbon emissions still increasing: China envoy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 7th, 2016
Reuters: China's carbon emissions did not peak in 2014 and are still increasing, China's senior climate change envoy, Xie Zhenhua, said at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.
Xie said the government's pledge that emissions would peak "around 2030" is based on national conditions and has a direct relationship with the country's stage of economic development.
A study published on Monday said China's emissions, the world's highest, may have peaked in 2014.
Leonardo DiCaprio the ‘eco warrior’ flew on private jet from NY to LA SIX times in SIX weeks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2016
Daily Mail: He's a high profile advocate of environmental causes, believes the world must act now to combat the effects of global climate change and is producing documentaries about endangered species.
But accusations of hypocrisy have also dogged Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, 40, with detractors accusing him of not practicing what he preaches.
Now with RadarOnline reporting Friday that he took six private jet flights in just six weeks last year, it may prove hard for the actor to justify the need...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Leonardo DiCaprio the ‘eco warrior’ flew on private jet from NY to LA SIX times in SIX weeksDirty water isn’t just a Flint problem
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2016
LA Times: Two days before primary voters go to the polls in Michigan, Democrats will bring the Bernie Sanders-Hillary Clinton debate road show to the put-upon city of Flint on Sunday, where they will doubtlessly discuss the city's well-publicized water crisis. Sanders and Clinton can take turns blaming Republican state officials for their sluggishness in protecting residents from the dangerous levels of lead that leached into their tap water, the result of a temporary cost-saving switch from a tried-and-true...
Does a ‘Western diet’ increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 6th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Recent research has established associations between certain environmental factors, including eating a western diet and being sedentary, with an increased susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease. In fact, it is estimated that a combination of diet and inactivity contributes to as many as 25% of Alzheimer's cases. Nonetheless, little is known about the exact disease mechanisms and how or why this increasingly common middle-age lifestyle can play such a big role in subsequent cognitive function. In...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Does a ‘Western diet’ increase risk of Alzheimer’s disease?Bill Gates Calls For ‘Energy Miracle’ In 15 Years. Do Experts Agree?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2016
National Public Radio: The annual letter from the Gates Foundation calls for an "energy miracle" - the creation of a cheap and clean source of energy to get power to the 1.2 billion people on the planet without electricity.
"We need to try lots of crazy-seeming ideas so we can find a few that help us solve the world's energy challenge," Bill Gates writes in the letter, urging today's high school students to take on this task.
We asked people who work on energy issues in the developing world: In your mind, what would...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Bill Gates Calls For ‘Energy Miracle’ In 15 Years. Do Experts Agree?Estrogen in birth control pills has a negative impact on fish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2016
ScienceDaily: A new doctoral thesis from Lund University in Sweden shows that hormones found in birth control pills alter the genes in fish, which can cause changes in their behaviour. The thesis also shows that nurse midwives, who are the main prescribers in Sweden, lack information about the environmental impact of hormonal birth control methods, which may affect the advice they provide.
The hormone ethinyl-estradiol (EE2) is an active substance in many birth control pills which affects aquatic organisms...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Estrogen in birth control pills has a negative impact on fish