News: Archive for August, 2013
‘SACRAMENTO — A coalition of more than 100 environmental and political activist groups is denouncing oil fracking legislation as too weak and calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to order an immediate halt to the controversial drilling practice.’
via Coalition asks Gov. Jerry Brown to halt fracking in California – latimes.com.
‘The Canadian group is part of a debate about geoengineering – deliberate and sometimes sci-fi-like interventions designed to slow climate change. A U.N. panel of climate scientists says carbon dioxide and other gases are causing global temperatures to rise and change our climate and will lead to more heat waves, droughts, floods and rising seas. Geoengineers have proposed everything from brightening clouds to reflect more sunlight and heat back into space to – as in the case of the Haida – encouraging the oceans to soak up more carbon dioxide.’
via Special Report: Experimental climate fixes stir hopes, fears, lawyers | Reuters.
‘PORTAGE GLACIER, Alaska — As she marveled at the site of a shrinking Alaska glacier, the newly installed leader of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that the president told her that fighting climate change should be her primary focus.’
via EPA chief warns against climate change on visit to Alaska glacier | McClatchy.
‘WASHINGTON — The Interior Department has warned that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline could have long-term, damaging effects on wildlife near its route, contradicting the State Department’s March draft environmental assessment, which concluded the project would have only a temporary, indirect impact.’
via Keystone XL project could harm wildlife, Interior Department says – latimes.com.
‘An international panel of scientists has found with near certainty that human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warns that sea levels could conceivably rise by more than three feet by the end of the century if emissions continue at a runaway pace.’
via Climate Panel Cites Near Certainty on Warming – NYTimes.com.
‘Coastal flooding in cities around the world could cause damage totaling $1 trillion annually by the year 2050 if no mitigating steps are taken, new research suggests.’
via Coastal Flooding Damage: $1 Trillion a Year by 2050 – Yahoo! News.
‘The city of Whittier and a conservation group have reached an agreement to allow a controversial oil-drilling project under a nature preserve, a proposal that immediately drew fire from opponents.’
via Oil-drilling project under Whittier nature preserve rankles opponents – latimes.com.
‘California is feeling the effects of climate change far and wide as heat-trapping greenhouse gases reduce spring runoff from the Sierra Nevada, make the waters of Monterey Bay more acidic and shorten winter chill periods required to grow fruit and nuts in the Central Valley, a new report says.’
via Climate change woes already widespread in California, study says – latimes.com.
‘…A market-based approach, like a carbon tax, would be the best path to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, but that is unachievable in the current political gridlock in Washington. Dealing with this political reality, President Obama’s June climate action plan lays out achievable actions that would deliver real progress. He will use his executive powers to require reductions in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the nation’s power plants and spur increased investment in clean energy technology, which is inarguably the path we must follow to ensure a strong economy along with a livable climate.’
‘WASHINGTON A new massive federal study says the world in 2012 sweltered with continued signs of climate change. Rising sea levels, snow melt, heat buildup in the oceans, and melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheets, all broke or nearly broke records, but temperatures only sneaked into the top 10.’
via NOAA report card for 2012’s climate: More warming – CBS News.