China greenhouse gas cuts: Who is fooling who when it comes to combating climate change?

By David Biello11 June 2013 (Scientific American) – Here’s the scam. A Chinese company manufactures hydrofluorocarbons, the refrigerant gases responsible for the ozone hole and climate change. The gases can efficiently be turned into cash, either by using them in products like refrigerators or air conditioners or, more lucratively, by destroying them. In the early […]

U.S., China agree to limit potent greenhouse gas emissions

[But see: China greenhouse gas cuts: Who is fooling who when it comes to combating climate change?] RANCHO MIRAGE, 8 June 2013 (AFP) – The United States and China agreed to mount a joint effort to combat climate change Saturday, committing to work to cut hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), or “super greenhouse” gases. In a statement issued […]

Report: 800K residents and fourth of New York City could be in flood zone by 2050s due to global warming

By Jennifer Peltz, with additional writing by Meghan Barr10 June 2013 NEW YORK (Associated Press) – By the 2050s, more than 800,000 New York City residents could be living in a flood zone that would cover a quarter of the city’s land and New Yorkers could sweat out as many 90-degree days as is now […]

Tough spot for farmers: Adapting to change you don’t believe in

By Nathanael Johnson7 Jun 2013 (Grist) – Even the farmers who think climate change is a hoax have to adapt to it. Agriculture depends profoundly on the weather, and yesterday Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced a suite of new government programs to help farmers adjust to a more extreme climate. “The bottom line is […]

Record floods in central Europe continue to create havoc – Hungary PM Viktor Orban says ‘It is now clear that we are facing the worst floods of all time’

By Kirsten Grieshaber 8 June 2013 BERLIN (AP) – About 120,000 emergency personnel including firefighters and soldiers were on duty Saturday, working aggressively to contain the most dramatic floods in Germany in a decade. Thousands of residents were still unable to return to their homes, and bridges and streets were impassable in many regions of […]

Get used to killer heat waves, CDC warns – ‘The sheer magnitude of these weather events are a challenge to public health’

By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News6 Jun 2013 (NBC News) – Think last summer was bad? You better get used to it, federal health officials warned Thursday. Climate change means hotter summers and more intense storms that could knock power out for days — and kill people. New data on heat-related deaths suggest that […]

Rising sea levels, stronger storms fueled by climate change will threaten us through end of century, coastal panelists say

By  Mark Schleifstein4 June 2013 (The Times-Picayune) – With the United States coastline, its residents and businesses vulnerable to trillions of dollars of losses from catastrophic storms during the next 75 years, in part fueled by climate change, it’s time for the nation to focus on coastal resiliency, according to Lindene Patton, a risk management […]

One meteorologist’s come-to-Jesus moment on climate change – ‘Something ain’t right with the weather’

By Chris Mooney5 June 2013 (Mother Jones) – Ever since he was a kid, Stu Ostro has been, in his own words, “obsessed with the weather.” One day when he was around 11, he recalls, a lighting strike hit the house across the street in Somerville, New Jersey, while he and his brother watched from […]

Climate change to affect liveability of remote Australia

3 June 2013 (PhysOrg) – People living in remote Australia are likely to be more severely affected by climate change than other sectors of the national population. A new study, released today, by the CRC for Remote Economic Development (CRC-REP) and Ninti One warns that communities and outlying settlements on Cape York, in Central Australia […]

Deadly El Reno tornado widest on record, upgraded to EF5 with winds of 296 miles per hour

By Chris Cordt4 June 2013 EL RENO, Oklahoma – The National Weather Service is calling the May 31st El Reno tornado the widest tornado on record at 2.6 miles wide. That breaks the previous record of 2.5 miles held by the F-4 tornado that struck Wilber-Hallam, Nebraska on 22 May 2004. The NWS has upgraded […]

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