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Climate Change Working Group

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Thu, 2009-01-29 13:15 — mdmcdonald

The mission of this working group is to explore the evidence regarding points of leverage assisting human groups in coping with or reducing the risk of global climate change.

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This working group is focused on issues of Global Climate Change.
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admin Albert Gomez Amanda Cole Anthony ChrisAllen david hastings
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Maldives to build floating islands to save country from rising sea levels

Thu, 2012-08-30 17:47 — Corey Watts

photo courtesy of Troon Golf / Koen Olthuis/Waterstudio.NL

submitted by Samuel Bendett 

www.ibtimes.com - August 20, 2012 - by Mark Johanson

Maybe you've already heard: The Maldives is sinking. So what do you do when your tourist-dependent country is slowly disappearing into the sea? If you're the Maldivian government, you create a series of floating islands that include a hotel and convention center, private villas, yacht club and 18-hole golf course.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Adaptation
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Sea Level
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Solutions

Climate change the cause of summer's extreme weather, Congress told

Mon, 2012-08-06 23:04 — Maeryn Obley

guardian.co.uk - Suzanne Goldenburg - August 1st, 2012

Drought, wildfires, hurricanes and heatwaves are becoming normal in America because of climate change, Congress was told on Wednesday in the first hearing on climate science in more than two years.

In a predictably contentious hearing, the Senate's environment and public works committee heard from a lead scientist for the UN's climate body, the IPCC, on the growing evidence linking extreme weather and climate change.

"It is critical to understand that the link between climate change and the kinds of extremes that lead to disaster is clear," Christopher Field, a lead author of the IPCC report and director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institute for Science, said in testimony.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Ecocities Emerging

Fri, 2012-08-03 23:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

 

submitted by Jerry Erbach

Ecocity Builders

Mission and Vision

Ecocity Builders reshapes cities for the long-term health of human and natural systems.

We develop and implement policy, design and educational tools and strategies to build thriving urban centers based on “access by proximity” and to reverse patterns of sprawl and excessive consumption.

Ecocity Builders and associates’ definition of “ecocity” is conditional upon a healthy relationship of the city’s parts and functions, similar to the relationship of organs in living complex organism. We are concerned with city design, planning, building, and operations in an integral way and in relation to the surrounding environment and natural resources of the region, utilizing organic, ecological and whole-systems lessons to actually reverse the negative impacts of climate change, species extinction and the destruction of the biosphere.

We believe the form of the city matters, that it is within our ability, and indeed crucial, to reshape and restructure cities to address global environmental challenges.

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NASA - Satellites See Unprecedented Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Melt

Thu, 2012-07-26 21:05 — Kathy Gilbeaux

      

nasa.gov - July 2012

Extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on July 8 (left) and July 12 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. In the image, the areas classified as “probable melt” (light pink) correspond to those sites where at least one satellite detected surface melting. The areas classified as “melt” (dark pink) correspond to sites where two or three satellites detected surface melting. The satellites are measuring different physical properties at different scales and are passing over Greenland at different times. As a whole, they provide a picture of an extreme melt event about which scientists are very confident. Credit: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory
› Hi-res of left image
› Hi-res of right image

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How Climate Change is Increasing Cholera Outbreaks in Northern Europe

Tue, 2012-07-24 22:52 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Rising temperatures: The Baltic Sea represents the 'fastest warming marine eco-system examined so far anywhere on earth'

(SEE LINK TO STUDY BELOW)

 

  • Vibrio bacteria, which is normally found growing in warm and tropical waters, now thrives in the Baltic Sea

    •  

     

  • Bacteria strains will multiply as seas warm, predict researchers
  • The bacteria causes illnesses from cholera to gastroenteritis

    dailymail.co.uk - by Claire Bates - July 23, 2012

    Climate change could be driving an increase in illnesses such as cholera and gastroenteritis in northern Europe, scientists have warned.

    •  

    A rise in temperatures in the Baltic Sea has triggered the growth of the water-borne bacteria Vibrio.

    An international team examined sea surface temperature records and satellite data in the Baltic, as well as statistics on Vibrio cases in the region.

    (READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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    NOAA Report - State of the Climate in 2011

    Tue, 2012-07-10 20:48 — Kathy Gilbeaux

    noaa.gov - July 10, 2012

    Back-to-back La Niñas cooled globe and influenced extreme weather in 2011

    New NOAA-led report examines climate conditions experienced around the world

    Worldwide, 2011 was the coolest year on record since 2008, yet temperatures remained above the 30 year average, according to the 2011 State of the Climate report released online today by NOAA. The peer-reviewed report, issued in coordination with the American Meteorological Society (AMS), was compiled by 378 scientists from 48 countries around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments on land, sea, ice and sky.

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    Report: Global Warming Raises Chance of Events Like Texas Heat Wave and Warm British Novembers

    Tue, 2012-07-10 20:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

          

    Texas State Park Police Officer Thomas Bigham walks across the cracked lake bed of O.C. Fisher Lake, Aug. 3, 2011, in San Angelo, Texas. A combination of the long periods of 100-plus degree days and the lack of rain in the drought-stricken region has dried up the lake that once spanned over 5,400 acres. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

    washingtonpost.com - by Associated Press - July 10, 2012

    NEW YORK — Last year brought a record heat wave to Texas, massive floods in Bangkok and an unusually warm November in England. How much has global warming boosted the chances of events like that?

    Quite a lot in Texas and England, but apparently not at all in Bangkok, say new analyses released Tuesday.

    Scientists can’t blame any single weather event on global warming, but they can assess how climate change has altered the odds of such events happening, Tom Peterson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told reporters in a briefing. He’s an editor of a report that includes the analyses published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

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    Nuclear, coal-fired electrical plants vulnerable to climate change

    Thu, 2012-06-14 22:13 — Kathy Gilbeaux

    Submitted by Luis Kun

    homelandsecuritynewswire.com - June 5, 2012

    Thermoelectric plants, which use nuclear or fossil fuels to heat water into steam that turns a turbine, supply more than 90 percent of U.S. electricity and account for 40 percent of the U.S. freshwater usage; in Europe, these plants supply three-quarters of the electricity and account for about half of the freshwater use; warmer water and reduced river flows in the United States and Europe in recent years have led to reduced production, or temporary shutdown, of several thermoelectric power plants; a new study says this problem will only grow.

    Warmer water and reduced river flows in the United States and Europe in recent years have led to reduced production, or temporary shutdown, of several thermoelectric power plants. For instance, the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama had to shut down more than once last summer because the Tennessee River’s water was too warm to use it for cooling.

    (READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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    Global Environment Outlook 5 (GEO-5) - UN: Humanity Speeding Down "Unsustainable Path"

    Sat, 2012-06-09 21:10 — Kathy Gilbeaux
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    Can We Survive the New Golden Age of Oil?

    Thu, 2012-06-07 21:28 — Kathy Gilbeaux

    submitted by Robert G.Ross

          

    EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP/Getty Images - For more photos of new energy powers, click here.

    foreignpolicy.com - by Steve Levine - June 5, 2012

    A flurry of new finds has analysts giddy over a new age of energy abundance. Just don't ask about global warming.

    Energy experts are tittering about a prodigious new golden age of oil and gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Israel and Cyprus could become substantial oil and natural gas exporters, in addition to some other surprising places including French Guiana, Kenya, North Dakota, and Somalia.

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