‘Dramatic decline’ warning for plants and animals – ‘Climate change will greatly reduce the diversity of even very common species found in most parts of the world’

By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent12 May 2013 (BBC News) – More than half of common plant species and a third of animals could see a serious decline in their habitat range because of climate change. New research suggests that biodiversity around the globe will be significantly impacted if temperatures rise more than 2C. But the […]

Rising temperatures increase health risks – Study finds hot days yield more respiratory ills for elderly

By Timothy B. Wheeler10 May 2013 (The Baltimore Sun) – Summer is almost here, and with it likely some blistering hot days. A recent study suggests the elderly should beware when the temperature spikes, because they face an increased risk of winding up in the emergency room short of breath on those days. And that’s […]

U.S. Senator Whitehouse rebuts colleague who said God won’t allow climate change – ‘Seeking magical deliverance from our troubles, not divine guidance through our troubles’

By Eric W. Dolan8 May 2013 (Raw Story) – In a nearly 17-minute speech on Wednesday evening, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) blasted an unnamed senator for saying God would protect the Earth from climate change. “I was recently at a Senate hearing where I heard a member of our Senate community say, ‘God won’t allow […]

Atmospheric carbon dioxide rises to 400 parts per million for the first time in human history – ‘We are creating a prehistoric climate in which human societies face huge and potentially catastrophic risks’

By Kerry Sheridan10 May 2013 WASHINGTON (AFP) – The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has broken above 400 parts per million for the first time in human history, US monitors announced Friday, indicating a record level for greenhouse gases. Climate scientists say that the symbolic threshold should serve as a call for action […]

Flood alarms threatened by U.S. budget cuts – ‘Without these observations, our forecast and warning operations will be impaired, reduced, or discontinued on a location-by-location basis’

By Jennifer Liberto10 May 2013 WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) – The U.S. flood alarm system is about to get smaller. On May 1, the U.S. Geological Survey began turning off some 150 stream gauges that monitor water levels on the nation’s rivers and streams, thanks to the federal spending cuts, also known as sequester. It’s a one-two […]

Internecine fight over climate change looms for U.S. Republicans – ‘There is a divide within the party. The position that climate change is a hoax is untenable.’

By Coral Davenport9 May 2013 (National Journal) – Kerry Emanuel registered as a Republican as soon he turned 18, in 1973. The aspiring scientist was turned off by what he saw as the Left’s blind ideology. “I had friends who denied Pol Pot was killing people in Cambodia,” he says. “I reacted very badly to […]

Decline in snow cover spells trouble for many plants, animals – ‘Snow cover is becoming shorter, thinner, and less predictable. We’re seeing a trend. The subnivium is in retreat.’

By Terry Devitt 6 May 2013 (UW–Madison) – For plants and animals forced to tough out harsh winter weather, the coverlet of snow that blankets the north country is a refuge, a stable beneath-the-snow habitat that gives essential respite from biting winds and subzero temperatures. But in a warming world, winter and spring snow cover […]

Rising seas in southern Caribbean offer dark preview of future amid climate change – ‘The sea will take this whole place down’

TELESCOPE, Grenada (AP) – The old coastal road in this fishing village at the eastern edge of Grenada sits under a couple of feet of murky saltwater, which regularly surges past a hastily-erected breakwater of truck tires and bundles of driftwood intended to hold back the Atlantic Ocean. For Desmond Augustin and other fishermen living […]

Giant swamp rats are literally eating Louisiana – ‘I just don’t know how these people who love their home so much are going to go on living here’

By Joanna M. Foster 7 May 2013 (Takepart.com) – On the southern edge of Louisiana, there is almost as much water as land. You can’t drive to anyone’s house, you have to travel by boat, and sometimes there are hours of water between neighbors. It takes a special breed to make a home here, in […]

A third year of drought threatens southwestern Oklahoma – ‘You either adapt or you sell out and move on’

By Joe Wertz 6 May 2013 (NPR) – “Extreme” and “exceptional” drought persists throughout much of the state, especially in southwestern Oklahoma. Low reservoir levels have forced city officials in Altus to issue emergency water restrictions, and Oklahomans throughout the region are worried about the future. Associated Press reporter Sharon Cohen interviewed Kent Walker, a […]

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