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Archive for the ‘Water Conservation’ Category
This year’s El Niño not giving up
Posted by Environmental News Network: Jpl Nasa on January 4th, 2016
Environmental News Network: The current strong El Niño brewing in the Pacific Ocean shows no signs of waning, as seen in the latest satellite image from the U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 mission.
El Niño 2015 has already created weather chaos around the world. Over the next few months, forecasters expect the United States to feel its impacts as well.
The latest Jason-2 image bears a striking resemblance to one from December 1997, by Jason-2's predecessor, the NASA/Centre National d'Etudes...
Low water levels on Rhine hampers Danube shipping in Germany
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2016
Reuters: Low water levels mean cargo vessels still cannot sail fully loaded on the Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany, traders said on Monday.
Low levels since the summer have created logistical problems for buyers and distributors of commodities including diesel, heating oil and grains as vessels could at best sail half-loaded. An unplanned shut down of Switzerland's only oil refinery exacerbated the problem.
The Rhine is too shallow to allow vessels to sail with full loads in its entire length south...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Low water levels on Rhine hampers Danube shipping in GermanyInsurance cost of natural disasters falls in 2015: Munich Re
Posted by Reuters: Jonathan Gould on January 4th, 2016
Reuters: Insurance claims from natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes fell to $27 billion in 2015 as the overall cost of natural catastrophes dropped to its lowest level since 2009, reinsurer Munich Re said on Monday.
The climate phenomenon known as 'El Niño' last year helped reduce the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, which traditionally cause some of the heaviest claims for the insurance industry, the world's largest reinsurer said in its annual review of natural catastrophes....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Insurance cost of natural disasters falls in 2015: Munich RePermit for $1.4 billion telescope revoked by Hawaiians
Posted by Sentinel: None Given on January 4th, 2016
Sentinel: Earlier this month, the Hawaii Supreme Court revoked a construction permit to build the largest telescope in the world at the summit of a sacred Hawaiian mountain.
The construction of the $1.4 billion Thirty-Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, which is considered hallowed ground to native Hawaiians, was led by an international coalition of astronomers, including key personnel from UC Santa Cruz such as Michael Bolte.
Bolte is a UCSC professor of astronomy and a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope...
Missouri assesses flood damage, U.S. South still imperiled
Posted by Reuters: Sue Britt on January 3rd, 2016
Reuters: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon on Saturday toured communities ravaged by flooding that killed at least 31 people in several states and forced large-scale evacuations, as the danger of rising waters shifted to Arkansas and beyond.
Nixon visited Eureka and Cape Girardeau in eastern Missouri, where floodwaters caused widespread damage, and announced the federal government had approved his request to declare an emergency to help with the massive cleanup and recovery now under way.
The governor described...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Missouri assesses flood damage, U.S. South still imperiled2015: A year of progress and buffoonery on climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Editorial on January 3rd, 2016
Washington Post: LAST WINTER, bitter cold on the East Coast prompted Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) to take a snowball onto the Senate floor in mockery of climate scientists. This winter, the weather is so warm that there are not two snowflakes in the Washington area for Mr. Inhofe to scrape together.
Just as last winter’s cold did not disprove global warming, this winter’s warmth does not, in itself, establish that humans are raising Earth’s average temperature. Rather, it is the long-term trend that matters...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 2015: A year of progress and buffoonery on climate changeUnited Kingdom: The Observer view on the floods and budget cutting
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2016
Guardian: Inundated; crumbling; overwhelmed: there could hardly have been a more graphic physical representation of the fragile state of Britain’s infrastructure than the floodwaters surging down the streets of our towns and cities and into shops and living rooms in the past few days.
And the government can’t say it wasn’t warned. Our story today reveals that experts had left ministers in no doubt that skimping on flood defence spending was exposing a growing number of households to risks.
In 2014, too,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: The Observer view on the floods and budget cuttingImpacts of Deepwater Horizon oil spill on sea turtles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 2nd, 2016
ScienceDaily: Researchers investigating the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on sea turtles found that over 320,000 juvenile sea turtles from populations throughout the Atlantic Ocean were likely present in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the 87-day oil spill. The study, led by researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, has important implications for international management and restoration efforts following oil spills. "There is a perception...
Buffer strips, water, carbon top Minnesota’s environmental agenda
Posted by LaCrosse Tribune: None Given on January 2nd, 2016
LaCrosse Tribune: Major decisions on copper-nickel mining, a water quality summit and a push to reduce carbon emissions by Minnesota's utilities will be among the top issues on Minnesota's environmental agenda for 2016. Some of the debate will be very public, while much of the work on issues such as oil pipelines and wild rice will take place behind the scenes, within state agencies that will be conducting environmental reviews and developing regulations. Here's a look ahead: Buffer strips Officials will be working...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Buffer strips, water, carbon top Minnesota’s environmental agendaRevealed: how Tory cuts wrecking UK flood defence
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 2nd, 2016
Guardian: Many of Britain’s flood defences are being abandoned or maintained to minimal levels because of government cuts that could leave almost twice as many households at “significant risk” within 20 years, according to a leaked document submitted to ministers. The paper, written by the body representing all major organisations responsible for flood defences, was presented to ministers on 30 November last year – days before Cumbria was hit by the heaviest rainfall recorded in 24 hours in Britain. It was...