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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
Rocky Mountain meltdown: CU scientists find glaciers shrinking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2016
Denver Post: Colorado scientists using ground-penetrating radar have found climate change is shrinking glaciers and other icy terrain in the Rocky Mountains -- raising concerns about water supplies.
The Arikaree Glacier -- likely more than 1,000 years old -- has been thinning by about 1 meter a year over the past 15 years and will disappear completely in 25 years, a team of scientists concluded.
Their peer-reviewed research, unveiled Tuesday, found that rock glaciers and other ice that holds water west...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Rocky Mountain meltdown: CU scientists find glaciers shrinkingThe coal industry is off to a terrible, no good, very bad year
Posted by Mother Jones: Tim McDonnell on January 14th, 2016
Mother Jones: During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama reiterated his call to eliminate federal subsidies for fossil fuels in an effort to speed up the transition to cleaner energy sources. It's something he's asked for nearly every year of his presidency, and it hasn't happened yet. But this year, he added something new: a plan to charge oil and coal companies more for leases on federal land, to offset the damage their products do to the climate.
It was just the latest piece...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The coal industry is off to a terrible, no good, very bad yearLook at the oil spilled in the world’s 2nd ‘Best Place for Wildlife’
Posted by Guardian: David Hill on January 14th, 2016
Guardian: Walk into one of the many tour agencies in Iquitos, the biggest city in Peru’s Amazon, and you’ll hear many wonderful things about the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. “Best place to see animals in their natural habitat,” one guide says. “An abundance of parrots, paiche and monkeys, and all kinds of bird species,” cries another.
“Pacaya-Samiria”, as it’s dubbed, extends for just over two million hectares and is the second largest of Peru’s 170 “protected natural areas.” In 2015 USA Today’s travel...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Look at the oil spilled in the world’s 2nd ‘Best Place for Wildlife’Study: Deadly amphibian fungus may decline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2016
EurekAlert: A new study by WCS and other groups offers a glimmer of hope for some amphibian populations decimated by the deadly chytrid fungus: climate change may make environmental conditions for the fungus unsuitable in some regions and potentially stave off the spread of disease in African amphibian populations struggling to adapt to changes brought about by global warming.
Chytrid or Bd - short for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis - can cause a disease called chytridiomycosis, which is found worldwide and...
South Africa weather service says 2015 driest year on record
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 14th, 2016
Reuters: The South African Weather Service said on Thursday that 2015 was the driest calendar year since complete nationwide records began in 1904, underscoring the severity of a drought that threatens the staple maize crop and economic growth.
The data showed that annual average rainfall in South Africa 2015 was 403 mm, about a third below the annual average from 1904 to 2015 of 608 mm.
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on South Africa weather service says 2015 driest year on recordMountains west of Boulder continue to lose ice as climate warms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2016
ScienceDaily: New research led by the University of Colorado Boulder indicates an ongoing loss of ice on Niwot Ridge and the adjacent Green Lakes Valley in the high mountains west of Boulder is likely to progress as the climate continues to warm. The study area encompasses the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, thousands of acres of alpine tundra, subalpine forest, talus slopes, glacial lakes and wetlands stretching to the top of the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. The Niwot Ridge...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Mountains west of Boulder continue to lose ice as climate warmsGrazing towards sustainability
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The first international Global Farm Platform conference hosted by the University of Bristol will highlight the benefits of utilising pasture and robust cows over high-yield, intensive systems. Research findings from data shared between Vet School researcher, Professor Michael Lee and farmer, Neil Darwent, Director of the UK's Free Range Dairy Community Interest Company (CIC), will form part of a keynote address to be given by Professor Lee. The Global Farm Platform is a multidisciplinary group...
Greenland ice sheet melts more when it’s cloudy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 12th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Clouds play a bigger role in the melting of the Greenland ice sheet than was previously assumed. Compared to clear skies, clouds enhance the meltwater runoff by a third. Those are the findings of an international study that was coordinated by KU Leuven and published in Nature Communications.
Greenland's ice sheet is the second largest ice mass in the world -- the largest is Antarctica. The ice sheet is losing mass at a high speed and increasingly contributes to the sea level rise on our planet....
BNDES: Corruption guided award huge Amazon dam contracts in Brazil
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on January 12th, 2016
Mongabay: Brazil’s BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social) is the largest development bank in the world. Its annual disbursements of US$50 billion in 2014 were greater than those of the World Bank and Ex-Im Bank (Export-Import Bank of the United States) taken together. Although the bank has played a key role in Brazil’s development over the decades, its hasty expansion in recent years has created widespread concern that the bank is out of control and causing damage to Brazil’s people and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on BNDES: Corruption guided award huge Amazon dam contracts in BrazilCalls Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top Staffers
Posted by Common Dreams: Sarah Lazare on January 12th, 2016
Common Dreams: Calls for Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's ouster--and arrest--are growing after internal emails showed that his high-level staffers were aware of lead poisoning in Flint's public water supply six months before the administration declared a state of emergency.
According to the newly-released emails, which were obtained by NBC News, Snyder's chief of staff at the time, Dennis Muchmore, wrote to an unnamed high-level health department staffer: "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint."
"These...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Calls Michigan Gov. Snyder’s Arrest as Flint Poisoning Scandal Implicates Top Staffers