Global warming increases costs for American taxpayers – ‘Climate change is fundamentally changing the United States, and American taxpayers are paying a huge price for it’

BOSTON, 15 Apr 2013 (Ceres) – A growing chunk of American tax dollars is footing the bill for increasing floods, fires, droughts and other climate related changes taking place in the country, according to new figures compiled by Ceres, a nonprofit organization mobilizing business leadership on climate change. “Climate change is fundamentally changing the United […]

Southern California marching toward fourth-driest year since 1877, firefighters deploying early – ‘People are going crazy now. When you’re a farmer in Central California, you watch the water as much as you watch your kids.’

By Hector Becerra19 April 2013 (Los Angeles Times) – Southern California is marching toward its fourth-driest year since 1877, and that has firefighters increasingly girded for battle. In the hills of Los Angeles County, tests show the brush is drying out at a significantly quicker rate this year because of the lack of rain. In […]

U.S. scientists warn climate change will double wildfire risk in Western forests – ‘It’s just unprecedented things happening. We’re getting into extreme events that seem to be having more and more effects across broader landscapes.’

By Bruce Finley3 April 2013 (Denver Post) – The hotter, drier climate will transform Rocky Mountain forests, unleashing wider wildfires and insect attacks, federal scientists warn in a report for Congress and the White House. The U.S. Forest Service scientists project that, by 2050, the area burned each year by increasingly severe wildfires will at […]

Australia’s summer is hottest on record – Average temperature breaks previous summer temperature record, set in summer 1997/1998

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer1 March 2013 (LiveScience) – Australia’s summer of 2013 is the hottest on record so far, the country’s Bureau of Meteorology announced today (March 1). The country’s average temperature this summer has been 83.5 degrees Fahrenheit (28.6 degrees Celsius), 2 degrees F (1 degree C) above normal. That breaks the […]

The Angry Summer: Government report blames climate change for weather extremes in Australia

By MATT SIEGEL4 March 2013 SYDNEY, Australia (The New York Times) – Climate change was a major driving force behind a string of extreme weather events that alternately scorched and soaked large sections of Australia in recent months, according to a report [pdf] issued Monday by the government’s Climate Commission. A four-month heat wave during […]

Thin snowpack in U.S. West signals summer of fire and drought – ‘We’re running out of time’

By JACK HEALY22 February 2013       DENVER (The New York Times) – After enduring last summer’s destructive drought, farmers, ranchers and officials across the parched Western states had hoped that plentiful winter snows would replenish the ground and refill their rivers, breaking the grip of one of the worst dry spells in American history. No […]

Unable to stop climate change, EPA prepares for it – ‘Too bad we didn’t do more a few decades ago to keep all of this from happening’

By Philip Bump8 February 2013 (Grist) – “We live in a world in which the climate is changing.” This statement from the EPA, the first line in its draft “Climate Change Adaptation Plan” [PDF] released today, is basic. But that the EPA is saying it is important. For two reasons. The first is that the […]

Winds set to fan Victoria fires as mercury climbs – Extremely strong winds threaten Alpine area

By Adrian Lowe7 February 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Fire crews are battling to control large bushfires that have broken containment lines in the state’s east amid high temperatures. The Aberfeldy fire, near Licola, north-east of Mount Baw Baw, became more active because of a north-westerly wind, a spokesman from the State Bushfire Control Centre […]

Australia braces for days of high fire risk – ‘The lack of rain has completely dried most areas of grassland and bush across Victoria’

By Peter Hannam, Carbon economy editor5 February 2013 Victoria faces days of heightened fire risk with the return of hot weather and little sign of rainfall relief for much of the state. Fire resources have been mobilised to fight five continuing fires in expectation of warmer conditions lasting until Sunday. A “severe fire danger” rating […]

Graph of the Day: Beijing air pollution, January 2013

30 January 2013 (Bloomberg News) – Beijing’s air, which has exceeded the World Health Organization’s “healthy” limit every day this year, is similar to that in an airport smoking lounge. The CHART OF THE DAY shows Beijing’s daily peak and average concentrations of PM2.5, the airborne particulate matter that raises risks for lung and heart […]

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