Biology
Breach
December 14, 2011, from USA Today
...A monstrous bloom of toxic algae looming across the Texas coast has shut down oyster season. Fueled by Texas' ongoing drought, the algae -- known as Karenia brevis-- thrives in warm, salty water and has spread through the bays and islands along Texas' 350-mile coast...he size of the current bloom coupled with the state's ongoing drought and lack of rain could make it one of the biggest and most destructive in history...
December 14, 2011, from NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service via ScienceDaily
The science behind counting fish in the ocean to measure their abundance has never been simple. A new scientific paper authored by NOAA Fisheries biologist Eric Prince, Ph.D., and eight other scientists shows that expanding ocean dead zones -- driven by climate change -- have added a new wrinkle to that science. In the December 4 paper published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change, these scientists sound an alarm that expanding ocean dead zones are shrinking the habitat for high value fish such as marlins in the tropical northeast Atlantic Ocean.
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Climate
Chaos
December 14, 2011, from ClimateWire
One of the seemingly ideal and direct solutions to climate change is to efficiently vacuum up greenhouse gases straight from the atmosphere. But a new study finds that such a proposal is very far-fetched and tremendously expensive... in a paper published earlier this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that trying to scrub the air is much more expensive than keeping it from getting dirty in the first place.
December 14, 2009, from Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, California -- On a mountaintop clearing in the Sierra Nevada stands a tall metal platform holding a crude furnace and a box of silver iodide solution that some scientists believe could help offer relief from searing droughts.
This is a cloud-seeding machine designed to increase rainfall by spraying a chemical vapor into the clouds. Under the right conditions, it can help water droplets grow heavy, coalesce and fall to the ground.
Faced with water shortages, growing populations and the threat that climate change could make matters worse, governments around the globe have increasingly turned to cloud seeding in an attempt to wring more rain and snow from the sky.
December 14, 2009, from Agence France-Presse
An island-sized iceberg is breaking up as it drifts closer to Australia, producing hundreds of smaller slabs spread over a massive area of ocean, experts said Monday.
The 140-square-kilometre (54-square-mile) block of ice, known as B17B, was seen some 1,700 kilometres (1,054 miles) south-southwest of Australia's western coast on December 9, prompting a maritime alert for vessels in the area.
But as it has tracked further north and east the iceberg has shrunk to some 115 square kilometres -- still formidable at about twice the size of Manhattan.
December 14, 2009, from BusinessGreen
The G77 group of developing nations has reportedly staged a mass walk out at the Copenhagen Summit this morning, accusing rich nations of trying to ditch the Kyoto Protocol.
After several days of escalating tensions over perceived efforts by industrialised countries to replace Kyoto with a new deal, a group of African nations this morning led a boycott of the summit's main session. The move immediately secured the backing of the G77 group of 130 developing nations.
The group has said it will not continue negotiations until talks about extending Kyoto are given priority over the wider discussions on a new deal.... Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told Reuters that the walk out was "regrettable", but insisted that it was "a walk out over process and form, not a walk out over substance".
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Resource
Depletion
December 14, 2009, from New York Times
...The glaciers that have long provided water and electricity to this part of Bolivia are melting and disappearing, victims of global warming, most scientists say.
If the water problems are not solved, El Alto, a poor sister city of La Paz, could perhaps be the first large urban casualty of climate change. A World Bank report concluded last year that climate change would eliminate many glaciers in the Andes within 20 years, threatening the existence of nearly 100 million people.
For the nearly 200 nations trying to hammer out an international climate accord in Copenhagen, the question of how to address the needs of dozens of countries like Bolivia is a central focus of the negotiations and a major obstacle to a treaty.
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Recovery
December 14, 2009, from Sydney Morning Herald
AS IF swimming 9000 kilometres from Japan to the US is not enough of a challenge, Richard Pain is also planning to plough through the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mass of plastic junk almost the size of the Northern Territory.
"I realise it's completely mad," said the filmmaker, 45, who is selling his Randwick home to raise some of the money needed for the project.
"But I'm aware there is a lot of green fatigue in the broader population. This is a way to try and raise awareness by doing something more compelling. It's like trying to do an environmental version of Super Size Me."
Mr Pain, a keen ocean swimmer and environmentalist, said he was unfazed by the fact no one had ever managed to swim across the Pacific.
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