May 2013
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Drop in U.S. underground water levels has... →
WASHINGTON, May 20 (Reuters) - Water levels in U.S.aquifers, the vast underground storage areas tapped foragriculture, energy and human consumption, between 2000 and 2008dropped at a rate that was almost three times as great as any time during the 20th century, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The accelerated decline in the subterranean reservoirs is due to a combination of factors, most of them...
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Sponsor shout-out: New, nonprofit, open-access... →
Elementa is one of my favorite projects and I’m honored that they are one of my sponsors. It’s an open access (free) peer-reviewed science journal that focuses on, among other things, adaptation and climate change. They’re holding an open call for submissions.
Spread the word on your university’s listserv or wherever you can! Overview and instructions:
Elementa is an...
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“Be of service. You are taking your degree into a society dominated by...”
–
Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry’s advice to Class of 2013 (Via)
Refreshing straight talk.
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Glacier melt causes third of sea-level rise ›... →
Water from the world’s shrinking glaciers was responsible for almost a third of the rise in sea levels between 2003 and 2009, shows new research.
An international team of scientist compared data gleaned from two NASA satellites as well as traditional ground measurements from glaciers around the world.
Their work, published in the journal Science , is the most accurate estimation of how...
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New report: Public Support for Climate and Energy... →
Summary findings:
A large majority of Americans (87%, down 5 percentage points since Fall 2012) say the president and the Congress should make developing sources of clean energy a “very high” (26%), “high” (32%), or medium priority (28%). Few say it should be a low priority (12%). ...
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“Just because you’re offended, that doesn’t make you right…”
– Ricky Gervais (video)
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Interior Department Releases Strategic... →
Note, this includes DOI’s Adaptation Plan, at bottom!
Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan
President Obama signed Executive Order 13514 on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance in October 2009, directing Federal agencies to become more sustainable, and create climate action plans.
Under Executive Order 13514, Federal agencies are required to develop,...
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WatchPopulation growth and climate change explained by Hans Rosling – The Guardian.
He’s been called the Jedi master of data visualisation, dubbed a statistics guru and introduced as the man in whose hands data sings. When it comes to celebrity statisticians, Hans Rosling is firmly on the A-list.
In the years since his first TED talk (Stats that reshape your worldview), which thrust him into...
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WatchMile-wide tornado shreds Moore, Oklahoma. via CBS Last Updated Monday at 6:10 p.m. ET
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Thanks for your support everyone!
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“Christopher Alberts, the Senior Vice President of Communications for the...”
– The Guradian’s Adam Welz eviscerates NatGeo, Discovery, Animal Planet, and the History Channel’s horrific violence against animals, including shooting bears, wolves, wolverines, crocodiles, snakes, and many other animals in full view of the camera.
Welz’s piece struck a cord with...
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True Nature: Revising Ideas On What is Pristine... →
A new book, Novel Ecosystems, edited by Richard Hobbs of the University of Western Australia and others, shows how many superficially natural ecosystems are heavily influenced by the introduction of alien species. Whether intentional or accidental, most introductions seem to have human origins. This is disconcerting. “Over large parts of the globe, the ‘wilderness’ that people refer back to never...
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WatchDiscovery Channel exploits wolf killing, garners highest cable TV ratings among males 25-54.
Lately, these shows have also filmed killing of wolverines, lynx, grizzly bears, rattle snakes, and crocodiles for no reason other than ratings. The wolf, above, was no threat to Tanana. The show exploits viewer’s naivete about guns by shooting this animal with an AR-15 semi-automatic gun....
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“Mr. Obama has a firm grasp of the climate issue, and no one doubts that he cares...”
– New York Times editorial board. (via poptech)
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Discovery, Animal Planet, and History Channel... →
These channels are failing the spirit of conservationism and education. They are failing inspiring awe in young people. Failing much needed inspiration in a very confused and conflicted world.
These shows are failing their core values, their main purpose, which is leadership in environmentalism and cultural education. Far worse, they are failing millions of young people - millions - who look up...
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Alabama city destroying ancient Indian mound for... →
llamastash:
City leaders in Oxford, Ala. have approved the destruction of a 1,500-year-old Native American ceremonial mound and are using the dirt as fill for a new Sam’s Club.
Oxford’s Mayor Leon Smith — whose campaign has financial connections to firms involved in the $2.6 million no-bid project — insists the mound is not man-made and was used only to “send smoke...
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WatchDiscovery Channel exploits wolf killing, garners highest cable TV ratings among males 25-54.
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Climate and Conquest: How Did Genghis Khan Rise? ... →
Great read and video of the researchers in Mongolia.
Eight hundred years ago, relatively small armies of mounted warriors suddenly exploded outward from the cold, arid high-elevation grasslands of Mongolia and reshaped world geography, culture and history in ways that still resound today. How did they do it?
Tree-ring scientists at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have...
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Rebuilding the Coastline, but at What Cost? →
Beach nourishment projects will restore shorelines but require expensive upkeep and affect ecosystems; federal taxpayers will foot the bill.
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Has anyone come across a defense or positive... →
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NYTimes to Obama: Climate Warnings, Growing Louder →
Given new evidence on carbon pollution, President Obama should get moving on global warming.
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Bloodthirsty 'factual' Discovery, NatGeo, History... →
Journalist Adam Welz blows the lid off of how major US TV networks are depicting killing animals for profit. Wolves, grizzly bears, lynx cats, and other animals are being trapped, shot with AK-47s, and painted as dangerous threats on national networks NatGeo, Discovery, and other “reality TV” shows. Click through for more.
There is a storm brewing.
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Peru declares environmental state of emergency in... →
In declaring the state of emergency, Peru’s environment ministry said tests in February and March found high levels of barium, lead, chrome and petroleum-related compounds at different points in the Pastaza valley.
Pluspetrol, the biggest oil and natural gas producer in Peru, has operated the oil fields since 2001. It took over from Occidental Petroleum, which began drilling in 1971, and,...
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BLM Fails to Comply with Court Order, Refuses to... →
ecowatchorg:
“It is inconsistent with BLM’s position as a public agency and steward of our public resources that it continues to put up such a fight to withhold information about the corporations interested in extracting public resources.”
More fracking shenanigans from the Obama admin. National parks and public lands, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, are slated to be aggressively...
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Obama to weaken fracking rules →
rtamerica:
The federal government has proposed a new set of national fracking rules that would weaken disclosure requirements. The proposal allows ‘trade secrets’ to remain unknown from the public, which has distressed environmental groups.
I called it. Last month, environmental groups were doing handstands and backflips over Sally Jewell, who is Obama’s pick to lead the BLM (US Interior...
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UNFPA - The Demography of Adaptation to Climate... →
Now reading (devouring).
Politics and an oversimplified understanding of demographic dynamics have long kept population issues out of serious discussions in the framework of climate negotiations. Within adaptation actions, however, this is beginning to change, and this volume is intended to provide a framework for taking that change forward, towards better, more evidence-based adaptation.
It...
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Conservationists to count breeding birds after... →
waldramings:
Nipped fingers and handfuls of guano will be the order of the day for wildlife rangers on the Farne Islands as they embark on an epic census on Friday to discover whether puffin numbers have plummeted after a year of extreme weather.
Plus watch a video of a puffin laying an egg
I am guilty of eating puffin in Iceland.
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Yahoo! is in talks to purchase Tumblr for...
bitshare:
Could this be the end of a good thing? It’s quite possibly so, if the news about Yahoo! being in serious talks to purchase Tumblr for an estimated $1 billion is true.
Read More
Welp, it’s been a good run…
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Watchforatv:
Having completed more solo trips to the Poles than anyone else on the planet, Børge Ousland is sometimes surprised by who he runs into crossing the vast Arctic tundra.
Bizarre.
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Daily climate change/politics news source: "Clean...
I get asked what I read all the time. I haven’t yet compiled a list of climate/environmental news or blog sites (too lazy, tbh!), though I have a FAQs, made a bookstore, and wrote some book recommendations,
I am subscribed to countless climate listservs, and I skim around 25 climate/environment news websites as part of my daily routine (this doesn’t include work or research, which...
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“The loss of tropical rain forests is likely to reduce the energy output of...”
– Felicity Barringer, NYTimes. Good, quick read.
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America's first climate refugees →
It’s a choice confronting more than 180 native communities in Alaska, which are flooding and losing land because of the ice melt that is part of the changing climate.
In a special three part series on the imminent crisis, the Guardian has visited Newtok and spoken to the villagers, politicians and climate scientists about their plight. You can read about it here.
The Guardian covers...
