Drought threatens grazing on U.S. land – Federal land can’t continue to support livestock and wildlife – ‘To be honest with you, I think our way of life is pretty much going to be over in 10 years’

By Julie Cart15 June 2014 Snake River Plain, Idaho (Los Angeles Times) –  There’s not much anyone can tell Barry Sorensen about Idaho’s Big Desert that he doesn’t know. Sorensen, 72, and his brother have been running cattle in this sere landscape all their lives, and they’ve weathered every calamity man and nature have thrown […]

Friends of Science – ‘With Friends Like These…’

By Phil Plait 12 June 2014 (Slate) – Well, if there’s one thing you can always count on when it comes to organized global warming denial, it’s how Orwellian it is. After all, that’s the only reasonable explanation for the group that calls itself “Friends of Science”. Because friends certainly don’t act the way they […]

Californians scapegoat the drought for wandering lions … and bears – ‘This is the third year of drought, and that’s three bad years of reproduction for wildlife species’

By Haya El Nasser5 June 2014 LOS ANGELES (Al Jazeera) – A bear wandered into a public park in San Luis Obispo County and sent Little Leaguers scampering for shelter. Who’s to blame? The drought, of course. Mountain lions are jumping fences in northern California and killing goats. Whose fault? The drought again. In California, […]

NASA prepares to launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 – ‘Watching the Earth breathe from space’

By Keith Cowing 12 June 2014 (SpaceRef) – NASA’s first spacecraft dedicated to measuring carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere is in final preparations for a July 1 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission will provide a more complete, global picture of the human and natural sources of […]

Coal company CEO threatens to sue EPA for ‘lying’ about global warming

By Emily Atkin 10 June 2014 (ClimateProgress) – The owner of the largest independent coal producer in the U.S. is threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over its new regulations on carbon emissions from existing coal plants, saying the agency has been lying about the existence of global warming, and that the earth is […]

Disappearing puffins, stray whales, invading sailfish: The North Atlantic is in a bad way, and here’s why

By Rowan JacobsenMay/June 2014 Issue (Mother Jones) – The new poster child for climate change had his coming-out party in June 2012, when Petey the puffin chick first went live into thousands of homes and schools all over the world. The “Puffin Cam” capturing baby Petey’s every chirp had been set up on Maine’s Seal […]

Fewer polar bear cubs are being born in the Arctic islands, survey finds

Damian Carrington 28 May 2014 Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (theguardian.com) – The proportion of polar bear females around the Arctic islands of Svalbard who gave birth to cubs crashed to just 10% in 2014, according to a small scientific survey of the animals. It follows a series of warm years and poor sea ice. The Barents Sea […]

Half of world’s forest species at risk – FAO publishes first global study of forest genetic resources

4 June 2014 (PhysOrg) – Half of the world’s forest species are at risk from climate change and farming, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, as it called for “urgent action” to manage them better. In its first global study of forest genetic resources, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said woodland was shrinking […]

California drought yields only desperation – ‘It’s going to get worse. They’re not planting. Think what it will be like at harvest.’

By Diana Marcum30 May 2014 HURON, California (Los Angeles Times) – The two fieldworkers scraped hoes over weeds that weren’t there. “Let us pretend we see many weeds,” Francisco Galvez told his friend Rafael. That way, maybe they’d get a full week’s work. They always tried to get jobs together. Rafael, the older man, had […]

Australia experiences its hottest two years on record – ‘Climate change is here, it’s happening, and Australians are already feeling its impact’

2 June 2014 (Australian Associated Press) – Australia has experienced its hottest two years on record and high temperatures are set to continue through winter in a clear sign of climate change, a report warns. May 2012 to April 2014 was the hottest 24-month period ever recorded in Australia, but that is likely to be […]

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