This article is about the possibility that methane could be released from the Arctic because of global warming. Methane can be even more serious than carbon dioxide when it is released into the atmosphere because it can trap as much as 25 times more heat, according to the article.

This article is tracking an issue that has been occurring for some time, but scientists are just beginning to look into the actual numbers. Since the research is still new, facts are a little harder to come by. I think that the reporter did a good job of finding as solid of facts and information for the subject.

The only thing I would change about this article is I would like to read more information about methane. Maybe others are better versed on this greenhouse gas, but I am not and would appreciate some information about it. Why is it even in the arctic shelf? How exactly would it contribute to global warming? Why is this not a topic I have heard much on before? Questions like that I would like answered as well. But other than that I thought the article was very interesting and had a lot of good sources.

From the Global Sun

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

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A federally mandated study has found that there would be "no significant impacts" to the environment through a U.S. Defense Department proposal to detonate a portion of the chemical weapons stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, the Pentagon announced Friday (see GSN, Feb. 19).

The environmental assessment was conducted by the Pueblo depot and the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program, which is preparing for disposal operations in Colorado and at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. The study examined the possible environmental effects of installing and operating the Army's Explosive Destruction System and other explosive detonation technologies at the weapons site, according to an ACWA release (U.S. Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives release, Feb. 26).

"The environmental assessment concludes that no significant environmental impacts would occur as the result of the construction and operation of the EDS and/or other explosive destruction technology systems," according to a release from the Pueblo installation.

Chemical weapons disposal operations at Colorado are projected to wrap up in 2017 and disposal work is slated to finish four years later in Kentucky. Current projections indicate that there will be periods when no chemical weapons disposal work would be occurring in the United States, following the destruction of the last materials overseen by the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency around 2012.

In order to bridge that gap, the Pentagon has proposed to use explosive technologies to eliminate a portion of the munitions stockpiled in Colorado and Kentucky while work on the chemical neutralization facilities in the two states continues.

Leaking munitions that have been placed in special containers would be destroyed in the initial phase of the proposed plan, according to the Pueblo release. The second phase would involve the blowing up of boxed munitions. When the Pueblo neutralization facility goes online, only troublesome ordnance and any remaining overpacked weapons would be destroyed by explosives.

"The proposed action would support the overall goals of (1) increasing the program's confidence to complete destruction of the [Pueblo Chemical Depot] inventory of chemical weapons by 2017, (2) maintaining the continuity of U.S. chemical weapons destruction operations and (3) conducting the destruction activities in a safe and environmentally acceptable manner," the release states (U.S. Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant release, Feb. 26).

Irene Kornelly, chairwoman of the Colorado Chemical Demilitarization Citizens' Advisory Commission, told the Associated Press that the study did not provide sufficient details.

"They say, 'Well, we're going to have enough water to do the process' ... but they don't tell us how much water the process needs," Kornelly said.

Another member of the advisory panel, Ross Vincent, said he would have liked to see the Defense Department undertake a more detailed assessment that would have provided a greater degree of documentation and specifics as well as have a longer public review process.

"Now they want to do a major change in the project and they want to blow it off with a superficial document and a finding of no significant impact," Vincent said.

The public has two months, from Feb. 27 to April 27, to comment on the document.

ACWA Program Manager Kevin Flamm said the study was comprehensive and pointed out that the public comment period extends a month longer than what is mandated by law.

"If the public feels we have overlooked some aspect, that's what the comment period is for," Flamm said (Dan Elliott, Associated Press/Google News, March 1).

Meanwhile, Pentagon officials and depot contractors informed the Pueblo City Council yesterday that they were on track to eliminate the 780,000 mustard munitions stockpiled at the depot between 2015 and 2017, the Pueblo Chieftain reported (Peter Roper, Pueblo Chieftain, March 2).

---------------------------------

Response: 

I had a couple of issues with this piece. Much of it focuses on the actual process of destroying these chemical munitions, but it also makes brief reference to "leaking munitions." I would have liked to know if there's an environmental issue to NOT destroying those weapons. Could the chemicals leak out and contaminate the environment if not disposed of? Part of that may be the study itself, which has been criticized by several people in the piece for being too vague, and even hurried. 

I'd also liked to have heard more about the specifics of the actual disposal. The general idea I got was that the Defense Dept. is simply going to blow up the weapons. How are they disposing in them in such a way that is not environmentally damaging?

New York Times

Darwin Foes Add Warming to Targets

By LESLIE KAUFMAN

Critics of the teaching of evolution in the nation's classrooms are gaining ground in some states by linking the issue to global warming, arguing that dissenting views on both scientific subjects should be taught in public schools.

more

 

Struck: No comment.

 

 

Washington Post 

By Juliet Eilperin

Thursday, March 4, 2010

The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish.

Sushi aficionados in Japan and elsewhere have consumed bluefin for decades, a demand that has caused its population to plummet. In a week and a half,representatives from 175 countries will convene in Doha, Qatar, to determine whether to restrict the trade of bluefin tuna -- valued for its rich, buttery taste -- and an array of other imperiled species under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Read on...

Photo Gallery...

This is a story that I've been following for quite some time and it's nice to see some serious action finally being taken.  As the amount of bluefin tuna in the water has decreased by roughly 90% since the 1970s there has yet to be any proper steps taken to aid the endangered species.  Finally there is an   that brings a slight sense of optimism to the issue.  The tone the journalists uses isn't necessarily a happy one, but the content proves positive.  Creating a ban on commercially fishing this rare boney fish could be a significant step in protecting other endangered species that have been over looked or taken for granted.  This will be the first time that such a major commercial fish is protected in such a fashion.  

The style of this article isn't anything special, but the content is important and proves a good example that a little something is being done in the way of conservation.  

By John M. Broder, New York Times

Chilean Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days

03.01.10

 

This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite. 
› Full resolution jpeg (180 Kb)

The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

JPL research scientist Richard Gross computed how Earth's rotation should have changed as a result of the Feb. 27 quake. Using a complex model, he and fellow scientists came up with a preliminary calculation that the quake should have shortened the length of an Earth day by about 1.26 microseconds (a microsecond is one millionth of a second).

Perhaps more impressive is how much the quake shifted Earth's axis. Gross calculates the quake should have moved Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches). Earth's figure axis is not the same as its north-south axis; they are offset by about 10 meters (about 33 feet).

Read more...

Hopefully this pertains to our environment, it does affect our planet at large. I found this to be absolutely fascinating. The idea of the earth shifting on its axis and possibly having to reevaluate out calendars is pretty mind-blowing. This article from Nasa was written by a Nasa official not a reporter for a paper like the Globe, but it was a very interesting quick read. It ends by saying predictions may change as new data comes to light so I'm interested to see where this story progresses from here.

Three massive earthquakes have struck in less than two months, raising the questions: Are they related, and are we living in a time of more and bigger temblors?

The Chile earthquake, 8.8 on the Richter scale, was by far the largest. But a little noticed 7.0 quake struck near Japan's Ryukyu islands just a few hours earlier, triggering its own tsunami warnings.

The Jan. 12 temblor in Haiti was also 7.0, about 500 times less powerful than the Chile quake, though it appears to have killed many more people. That prompts yet another question: Why did a much larger quake cause much less destruction?

Read more...

I already posted an article, but I just came across this one and I thought I'd share it. It explains why the Chilean earthquake, though larger in magnitude, resulted in less damage. To do this, the journalist first explains what earthquakes are, how they work, and gives some history of past earthquakes. The article doesn't have many quotes, but a lot of the information is paraphrased from various scientists. I think this works for this article though because there is just so much information and so much history. Quotes are used sparingly, but when they are used they are used to their full potential. The article is long, but I can only imagine how much of the information gathered by the journalist had to be left out.

BBC News A century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes - or a large forest's worth - of carbon into the atmosphere, scientists say. Whales store carbon within their huge bodies and when they are killed, much of this carbon can be released. US scientists revealed their estimate of carbon released by whaling at a major ocean sciences meeting in the US. Dr Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the "forests of the ocean". I chose this article because I thought it was interesting and unique. Also, it's very in depth and just jam packed with information, yet it's still readable. The journalist did a great job taking a whole bunch of facts and information from scientific presentations and compressing it all into one short article. This article is full of quotes from all sorts of different scientists, making it pretty well rounded.

Senators to propose abandoning cap-and-trade

By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 27, 2010; A01

Three key senators are engaged in a radical behind-the-scenes overhaul of climate legislation, preparing to jettison the broad "cap-and-trade" approach that has defined the legislative debate for close to a decade.

The sharp change of direction demonstrates the extent to which the cap-and-trade strategy -- allowing facilities to buy and sell pollution credits in order to meet a national limit on greenhouse gas emissions -- has become political poison. In a private meeting with several environmental leaders on Wednesday, according to participants, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), declared, "Cap-and-trade is dead."

read more

 

This article is from China Daily news. It is about China disagreeing to cap greenhouse gas emissions anytime soon. However, the government states that they are still committed to reduce "carbon intensity," just not necessarily in that method.

The reporter in this article talked a great deal about the developing countries and how a lot of them do not feel the need to instate environmental laws because they are not the ones that have caused the problem. I would've liked to have heard the reporter go into a bit more depth about this issue, as well as the issues between the United States and China when it comes to trying to cut emissions.

The article gave some good information but it left me asking a lot of questions about environmental laws in China and the progress they have recently made to try and clean up the air.

Los Angeles Times

According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), last year was tied for the second warmest year on record after 2005, the warmest year on record. If just looking at the southern hemisphere, however, 2009 proved the warmest yet recorded since record-taking began in 1880. Overall 2009 tied a total of five other years--four from the 2000s--for the second warmest on record. But, researchers say what is most important was that the past decade, from January 1st 2000 to December 31st 2009, proved the warmest on record.

Read on

This article, though short, was very to the point and direct in its meaning.  The article simply laid out the facts in an easily understandable way.  However, it wasn't dumbed down as if it were targeting an unintelligent audience.  I believed it to be informative and yet the message, that this decade is the warmest on record, still hit home in a very personal way.  There weren't a lot of quotes which helped the point because it left personal opinions up to the reader, but it implicitly forced the reader to agree with the author as he presented straight information and graphs (even if i can't read them).  

WASHINGTON, DC, January 27, 2010 (ENS) - Clean energy jobs and economic recovery took center stage in President Barack Obama's second State of the Union address tonight before a Joint Session of Congress that was televised and webcast across the country and around the world.

Saying, "I have never been more hopeful about America's Future than I am tonight," the President put clean energy jobs, high-speed rail and basic research for American innovation at the core of the economic recovery.

Read on

This article was focused around Obama's State of the Union Address and managed to praise every aspect of the speech regarding environmental issues.  The author used most of his article devoted to quotes from the speech rather than his own personal analysis or critique.  He gave a basic summary on other people's views on the issues proposed, but didn't leave any room for his own thoughts or the positives and negatives of the speech.  That's what I noticed journalistically, but as a "greenie" i thought that the way a lot of the environmentalist reporters handled this speech really spoke a lot on the hopefulness they have for the progress of this whole movement.  Reporters are not blindly accepting what was said in the speech and convinced that their work is done for them, but are able to see the government as an ally willing to help with the work that has already been started.  This way there isn't a clear enemy that is out to stop their ideas and prevent them from doing what they believe to be necessary in order to save the planet, but rather gives them a clear path sans interruption.  This way their focus can be solely on the environment and not strayed to the politics that could otherwise hinder their progress.  Although i thought some of the articles to be slightly biased i think that's what the public needs right now; a sliver of hope that their work isn't for nothing and that the rest of the country is behind them.

 http://http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-crisis/

A Clean Water Crisis

The water you drink today has likely been around in one form or another sincedinosaurs roamed the Earth, hundreds of millions of years ago.

While the amount of freshwater on the planet has remained fairly constant over time--continually recycled through the atmosphere and back into our cups--the population has exploded. This means that every year competition for a clean, copious supply of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and sustaining life intensifies.

Water scarcity is an abstract concept to many and a stark reality for others. It is the result of myriad environmental, political, economic, and social forces

This article is simple, concise and to the point.  It is well written and clear, getting the message across with the necessary amount of conviction and precision giving readers the opportunity to hear the story rather than just stare at words on a page.  The topic itself gives the readers the desire to read on, but by presenting the facts just as they are the author removes himself and his voice to allow the message to stand on its own.  In most articles I read, I find myself more interested if the writer is present and has a signature voice.  In many of the articles in National Geographic however, the topics can be so engrossing and dramatic that no exaggeration or falsities are needed.  This topic is important and potentially heart wrenching if the problem persists.  And as the  writer states, it will.  

from Nieman Reports

Winter 2005

 

Knowing Uncertainty for What It Is

In reporting on the science of global warming, journalists contend with powerful, well-funded forces using strategies created by tobacco companies.

By David Michaels

By Gabriel Nelson, Greenwire

By Constance Casey 

Our visceral reaction to eels, understandable but misinformed, is to see them as snakes. Eels on a plane would be frightening, but not dangerous. In fact eels are simply elongated fish, with small teeth like trout. They are more related to the guppy than the cobra. The misunderstanding began early on--Anguilla, the species name, comes from anguis, Latin for serpent.

NUMANSDORP, the Netherlands -- Doede Visser's eyes grow misty when he recalls eating eel as a child.

"Only the children of fishermen know what it's like to have it, when still warm, and the skin puts a tingling feeling on your lips," said Mr. Visser, 63. His very name, in Dutch, means fisherman, which, like many other men in the family, is what his father was.

"Mother steamed the eels with butter, or baked them," he said, a smile of satisfaction brightening his face. "Father also smoked them, always around Christmas."

Mr. Visser went into telecommunications, but two years ago, a group of eel fishermen who knew his father begged for his help. The North Atlantic eel, as much a cult as food in the Netherlands, is disappearing, mainly the result of overfishing as fresh markets for elvers, or baby eels, open in Japan and China. Environmental groups are pressing the government to restrict eel fishing, and the country's inland eel fishermen, a disappearing breed like their catch, turned to Mr. Visser to defend them

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/world/europe/16eels.html

This piece was relatively interesting.  The topic itself probably doesn't affect the readers in any way, but the subject is relatable when transferred to other people's situations and lives.  John Tagliabue, the journalist, did a good job of gauging the audience's attention by making this a feature piece along with an informative environmental angle.  Eels, like so many other marine species are disappearing due to food shortages and offbeat migrating patterns due to global warming and current changes.  This affects fishermen, fish farmers and fish salesmen directly, as their cash flow becomes limited.  Environmentalists have the animal's best interest at heart, but it then becomes a battle of humans versus nature.  Even though the fishermen should see the environmentalist's actions of restricting the months out of the year that they can fish for eels as productive in the future, it's their immediate welfare that they are concerned for.  It seems to be a never-ending cyclic ocean of worry.  Going off the actual topic and onto the journalist's interpretation of the issue, I think he did a good job of humanizing the issue rather than just focusing on "going green."  Instead of condemning the fishermen to a fishless life, he acknowledged their hard work, their devotion and overall tradition and lifestyle.  The author gets good quotes and even though he is humanizing the issue, he doesn't explicitly agree with either side.  Although I'm sure after having met with the actual people whose lives depend on the disgusting little snakes of the sea. (I am not the journalist for this piece so I think can show some bias).

Videos from Huffington Post.

ERpresentation.pdf

A few utility companies have been trying pilot programs that show customers how their energy use compares with their that of their neighbors. It turns out this peer pressure is proving successful:

read more here

90.9 WBUR website

CHELSEA, Mass. -- Wearing dark green waders and sloshing into a stream, Patrick Herron, a scientist from the Mystic River Watershed Association, collects monthly water samples from several sites along the Chelsea Creek and its tributaries.

In a concrete culvert in Chelsea, he scouts for sources of pollution, and while the lab results won't be in for a few weeks, troubling signs are all around.

Along the muddy creeks from East Boston to Chelsea, there are tires, rusted paint cans and an old television set. But even as a fuel barge pushed by a tugboat heads downriver, Herron sees the potential.  

Read more...

I chose this article for this week because of its local focus. It's a short article, but it has a great narrated slideshow to go with it. The journalist did a good job relaying information about the financial complications such as where the money is coming from and why that complicates things, but the environmental implication of the decision is lost. I like the fact that the journalist ties in the community to make it more meaningful to readers, but I think, especially considering how short the article it, he could have gotten more scientific facts about the benefits to promoting wildlife in the area.

Covering Climate Change

Recent layoff trends in the media market suggest that science and environment reporters are often the first to lose their jobs. CNN, for instance, laid off its entire science and technology staff in 2008. In the United States, two decades ago nearly 150 newspapers included a science section; today fewer than 20 do. The remaining reporters are expected to cover stories such as climate change along with their regular reporting duties.

read more

Struck notes: This is a glum survey of the decline of environmental and science reporting in the mainstream media.  It does, however, generally overlook the growth of possibilities in new and emerging media.  Also, this paragraph jumped out at me:

Worldwide, however, climate change coverage is on the rise. A 50-newspaper survey across 20 countries by University of Colorado and Oxford University researchers found "climate change" or "global warming" mentioned in about 400 stories in January 2004, mostly in the European, North American, Australian, and New Zealand press. Following the 2006 releases of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth and British economist Nicholas Stern's report on the cost of climate change inaction, coverage increased considerably. The survey found some 2,000 stories, on average, each January from 2007 through 2009, with an increase in reports from Asia and the Middle East.

 

 

 

 

HOUSTON - ConocoPhillips, BP, and Caterpillar Inc. won't renew their memberships in the US Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of companies and environmental groups seeking legislation to reduce greenhouse- gas emissions.

Reporting from Washington - As record snowfall buried the nation's capital this week, the quickest joke around town was, "So much for global warming."

The quip was timely, given the recent controversies over Climategate -- the release of e-mails allegedly showing some leading climate scientists trying to suppress criticism -- and new questions about the integrity of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

After 55-plus inches of snow fell in the Washington area, critics are delighting in the irony, and those who warn of climate change are taking pains to say the snow fits the pattern of a warming world.

Declining fog cover on California's coast could leave the state's famous redwoods high and dry, a new study says.

Among the tallest and longest-lived trees on Earth, redwoods depend on summertime's moisture-rich fog to replenish their water reserves. 

But climate change may be reducing this crucial fog cover. Though still poorly understood, climate change may be contributing to a decline in a high-pressure climatic system that usually "pinches itself" against the coast, creating fog, said study co-author James Johnstone, an environmental scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Read more...

By Charlie Devereux of the GlobalPost

Flying high over Venezuela's southeastern territories, a plane banks and fires into a mass of clouds.

Venezuela is not at war with the skies but with a severe drought that has caused an electricity crisis and forced the government to resort to unconventional methods to make it rain.

The government began "bombing clouds," or cloud seeding, late last year after it emerged that the country was facing a dire water shortage.

Read more...

LOS ANGELES - California has been deluged with rain and snow this winter, but its epic tug-of-war over water rages on, this time in the form of a plan by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein to divert more water to the state's farmers.

Feinstein has infuriated environmental activists, fishing groups and even fellow California Democrats by drafting federal legislation that would ease Endangered Species Act restrictions to allow more water to be pumped out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta for growers in the state's Central Valley.

Drastic cutbacks in irrigation supplies this year alone from both state and federal water projects have idled about 23,000 farm workers and 300,000 acres of cropland, according to University of California at Davis researchers.

Read more...

I chose to post this article because I thought it was very well reported. To sum it all up, the article covers what U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein plans to do for California's farmers about state's water supply shortage. The article started out making me feel sympathetic toward the environment, but then the journalist began writing about the job loss the three-year drought has caused. Some farming towns have unemployment rates as high as 40%, which makes it hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't be doing something to help the farmers. But then the article takes another turn and covers the issue from another point of view- that of the fishermen. Passing legislation that gives more water to the farmers will end up killing off even more salmon and trout and lead to more job loss in the fishing market which has already taken a heavy hit. By the time the article is over, I really didn't know who had it worse, the environment, the farmers, the fishermen, or the poor politicians who, in the end, would have no choice but to make one group unhappy. 

By Christine McConville Boston Herald
Publication: Boston Herald
Date: Sunday, December 20 2009 

Dec. 20--The nation's oldest park is going high-tech -- and soon so will the Hub.

In a well-traveled section of the Boston Common, Mayor Thomas M. Menino has begun what he hopes will be a city-wide conversion from traditional lightbulbs to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. And he's looking for the public's help in picking the best of the newest lighting options for Hub streets.

Read more...

I found this article to be pretty interesting. I think this is a great initiative that could potentially put a big dent in Boston's energy consumption. The City of Boston's official website says that "Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) use far less energy in producing more and better quality light than traditional lighting and last far longer. But it has only been recently that advances in LED technology have made street lighting retrofits viable." I think this is a big step in the right direction for the city in terms of energy conservation and its just a really neat idea that made for an interesting read. "These days, Boston's streetlights generate some 24,000 tons of carbon emissions a year. Conversion to LED technology would reduce that by about half, officials claim." Cutting those carbon emissions in half would reduce this city's impact on the planet in a big way and its a step in the right direction for our city.

By Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times

Just over two years ago, Rajendra K. Pachauri seemed destined for a scientist's version of sainthood: A vegetarian economist-engineer who leads the United Nations' climate change panel, he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the panel, sharing the honor with former Vice President Al Gore.

The editorial itself is not that controversial. True, it lambastes the US--"the world finds itself at the mercy of American domestic politics"--as a stumbling block to the treaty. And it threatens on-rushing doom--"climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security"--but this is largely liberal-editorialist global-warming boilerplate.

The more interesting question is not about the sentiment, but why US newspapers are so reluctant to join a bandwagon. 

www.enn.com...

 

This article, though short, was very to the point and direct in its meaning.  The article simply laid out the facts in an easily understandable way.  However, it wasn't dumbed down as if it were targeting an unintelligent audience.  I believed it to be informative and yet the message, that this decade is the warmest on record, still hit home in a very personal way.  There weren't a lot of quotes which helped the point because it left personal opinions up to the reader, but it implicitly forced the reader to agree with the author as he presented straight information and graphs (even if i can't read them).  

www.ens-newswire.com...

 

This article was focused around Obama's State of the Union Address and managed to praise every aspect of the speech regarding environmental issues.  The author used most of his article devoted to quotes from the speech rather than his own personal analysis or critique.  He gave a basic summary on other people's views on the issues proposed, but didn't leave any room for his own thoughts or the positives and negatives of the speech.  That's what I noticed journalistically, but as a "greenie" i thought that the way a lot of the environmentalist reporters handled this speech really spoke a lot on the hopefulness they have for the progress of this whole movement.  Reporters are not blindly accepting what was said in the speech and convinced that their work is done for them, but are able to see the government as an ally willing to help with the work that has already been started.  This way there isn't a clear enemy that is out to stop their ideas and prevent them from doing what they believe to be necessary in order to save the planet, but rather gives them a clear path sans interruption.  This way their focus can be solely on the environment and not strayed to the politics that could otherwise hinder their progress.  Although i thought some of the articles to be slightly biased i think that's what the public needs right now; a sliver of hope that their work isn't for nothing and that the rest of the country is behind them.

New York Times

February 9, 2010

A Federal Climate Service Is Created to Provide Data

By JOHN M. BRODER

WASHINGTON -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will create a new climate change office to gather and provide data to governments, industry and academia as part of a broad federal effort to prepare for long-term changes to the planet, officials said Monday.

The new unit, to be known as the NOAA Climate Service, will assemble the roughly 550 scientists and analysts already working on the issue at the agency into a cohesive group under a single leader.

The climate service is designed to be analogous to the National Weather Service, also part of NOAA, which celebrates its 140th birthday this month.

New York Times,

U.N. Climate Panel and Chief Face Credibility Siege 

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media

read more

 

D. Struck comments: This is a long piece on the travails of environmental journalism now. But toward the bottom, it mentions opportunities for the next generation of environmental reporters...

 

This article from the National Geographic talks about the aging dams in the United States. Scientists now think that dams can trigger huge storms that may in fact destroy the dam.

This article grabbed my attention very easily because of the opening. I thought the reporter did a good job at making a somewhat complicated problem easy to understand. It's also clear through the numerous sources in the article that the reporter did his homework.

This issue that the reporter talked about is not just relevant to the US because there are damns all over the world. The reporter does a good job of talking about many different countries and the work that scientists are doing there that are relevant to the topic.

I don't think that there is much I would change about this article except I would have liked to see a scientist quoted in the article that disagreed with the others who believe that dams have much more power than most originally thought.

The regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ventured into the dusty farming town of Kettleman City, Calif., on Wednesday for a three-hour tour that included a trip to a nearby toxic waste dump and emotional private meetings with mothers whose babies had birth defects.

The rare diplomatic foray by Jared Blumenfeld came less than a week after he ordered an internal investigation of his agency's oversight of the waste dump and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed the state Department of Public Health to conduct a comprehensive study of the community's environmental and health issues. Kettleman City residents and activists who have conducted health surveys say at least five of the 20 babies born in the community between September 2007 and November 2009 suffered serious birth defects, among them cleft palates and lips. Kings County authorities say 64 babies were born during that period, and six had birth defects of various kinds.

Blue whales have changed their songs.

It's the same old tune, but the pitch of the blues is mysteriously lower -- especially off the coast of California where, local researchers say, the whales' voices have dropped by more than half an octave since the 1960s.

No one knows why. But one conjecture is that more baritone whales indicate healthier populations: The whales may be less shrill because they're less scarce and don't have to pipe up to be heard by neighbors.

Read more...

DENVER -- In the last two weeks, more than 100 mostly tiny earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled a remote area ofYellowstone National Park in Wyoming, putting scientists who monitor the park's strange and volatile geology on alert.

Few places are as well suited for large-scale solar projects as California's Mojave Desert. But as mainstream environmental organizations push plans to turn the desert into a center for renewable energy, some green groups -- concerned about spoiling this iconic Western landscape -- are standing up to oppose them.

by todd woody

The U.S. Southeast and the Bahamas will be pounded by more very intense hurricanes in the coming decades due to global warming, a new computer model suggests.

Warmer sea surface temperatures--which fuel hurricanes--and shifting wind patterns are expected to strengthen the storms, the study says.

At the same time, rising temperatures should result in fewer weak or middling hurricanes in the western Atlantic. 

Read More... 

My Thoughts:

I found this story interesting and slightly shocking and I thought the writer, Mason Inman, did an acceptable job. My biggest issue with it though, was that it did not go into much detail about the technology behind the speculation. I found myself wanting to know how some deductions were made. Towards the end of the piece, a researcher is quoted implying they are using the best technology, but I am a bit skeptical to believe that claim. If this 'fantastic' technology was described, I would be less reluctant to trust the information in this article.

Here are a few of the better environmental news sites

 

·         some enviro news web sites.docx

WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Painting all the world's city rooftops white could significantly cool urban areas and perhaps ease the impact of global warming, according to a climate study released on Thursday.

Considered a fanciful notion by some critics, the white-roof idea was championed last year by U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, a Nobel Physics laureate, and research by scientists at the U.S. National Center for Climate Research indicates it has possibilities.

Read more...

It's always disconcerting when the local news tells you to boil your tap water before drinking it, especially if you consider that we've been experimenting with water filtration since 1627. But what if you found out--and you're about to--that there could be industrial pollutants, pesticides, and hormones floating in your tap water right now? There are federal laws that limit certain contaminants, but many toxins don't make those blacklists at all. While your water probably isn't making you sick, here is a guide to some potential offenders and how to keep them out of your cup.

            Walking through the Boston Public Garden, visitors will find an assortment of trees and greenery that take on a silver sheen in the winter months and tower over the snowy walkways of the park. Among these trees, the weeping beech rests at the east edge of the garden, casting its long gray limbs over the grass surrounding it.

            The tall tree, boasting long, drooping branches that almost meet the ground and more leaves remaining than most of the frozen trees in the garden, the weeping beech, or the fagus sylvatica pendula, is native to southern Sweden, central Italy, west France, southern England, northern Portugal, and most of Turkey. The weeping beech is a type of European beech tree.

The species is one of 80 types of plants that are cultivated in the Public Garden. The garden is known for growing multiple types of plants and trees that are not necessarily native to the area. While the beech is typically native to Europe, it is able to grow in Boston because of the beech's susceptibility to humid atmospheres and well-drained soils. The beech is also able to tolerate intense winter cold, which also makes it a good candidate for a self-sustaining addition to the Public Garden. After the tree reaches 30 years old, it typically begins to produce blossoms in the spring.

Uses for the tree range from aesthetic to construction and even to uses in the kitchen. All types of beech trees are popular ornamental trees in parks and large gardens in Europe as well as North America. It is also a useful wood for minor carpentry such as furniture, as it is easy to soak, dye, and glue. It can be used in almost anything dealing with construction except heavy structural support and anything that is left outdoors. The beech tree is also used for smoke flavoring, also known as Primary Product AM 01.

Some controversy has surrounded the flavoring produced from the beech tree. Certain meats and cheeses advertise their product to have a "smoky" flavoring to it, which is typically derived from the common beech tree. According to an investigation done by the European Food Safety Authority, this flavoring can pose health concerns when large concentrations are consumed. However, very large amounts of the flavoring must be consumed before any health effects were observed. While the topic is still under investigation, new restrictions may be placed in the future on such flavors and the amount manufacturers will be able to put in food.

The beech tree is at a very low risk of ever becoming extinct because of its aesthetic appeal and its popularity in gardens and parks in Europe as well as the United States. The tree is also easily sustainable in most environments, making it a strong and popular tree with many uses and will likely continue to grow in popularity.

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

A new modeling study published in this week's issue of Science projects a rise of about 30 percent in potential hurricane damage in the western Atlantic toward the end of the century as emissions of greenhouse gases rise. Although the overall number of storms in the region are expected to drop, the number of strong ones -- those reaching Category 4 or 5 in the hurricane index -- are expected to double from the number produced now, the study says. The projections are based on a midrange scenario for a rise in the heat-trapping emissions linked to global warming.

The two maps below, produced for the study by the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton, are based on a climate model comparing the production of strong hurricanes in conditions mimicking the current climate (basically, average climate conditions from 1980 to 2006) with hurricane production in conditions simulating those projected for the final two decades of the century.

Read more...

Reaction: 

One would think fewer hurricanes would be a good thing for the sake of humanity, however when the few hurricanes we have are more concentrated and devastating than in the past, then maybe this isn't such great news at all, bittersweet at best I'd say. "It's still early days in the effort to understand how hurricanes, which thrive or fade depending on local conditions, will fare in a globally warmed world." ...sounds like researchers are still a little hazy on this all and there are plenty of variables that can factor into the equation, but they do seem to think that global warming is at fault for this decrease in frequency and increase of potency with hurricanes. Pretty interesting stuff, I guess time will tell if their thoughts on global warming's relation to hurricane patterns are accurate or not.

By Kate Ravilious

National Geographic News

January 27, 2010

While most of the world has warmed, parts of the southern hemisphere have remained stubbornly cold--oddly enough because of a gaping hole in the ozone layer. Now new research shows that all the efforts made by scientists and environmental advocates to close the hole may actually increase warming throughout the entire southern hemisphere.

That's because, for decades, brighter summertime clouds, created by the hole, have reflected more of the sun's rays, acting as a shield against global warming.

As the ozone layer heals and the clouds dissipate, this "will lead to a rise in temperature [in parts of the southern hemisphere] faster than currently predicted by models," said study leader Ken Carslaw of the U.K.'s University of Leeds.

(Related: "Antarctica Heating Up, 'Ignored' Satellite Data Show.")

Mixed Success

In 1985 scientists from the British Antarctic Survey discovered a giant hole in the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica. Ozone in the upper atmosphere absorbs harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun.

The subsequent global agreement to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)--the chemicals largely responsible for the thinning of the ozone layer--reversed the growth of the ozone hole and was deemed one of the biggest environmental success stories of the 20th century.

(Related: "Laughing Gas Biggest Threat to Ozone Layer, Study Says.")

But the healing process is slow: Since the early 1980s changes in the upper atmosphere caused by ozone depletion have intensified circumpolar winds that whistle around Antarctica.

Using a computer model and two decades worth of meteorological data, Carslaw and colleagues discovered that the fiercer winds whip up more sea spray. This throws more salt particles into the air and encourages the formation of brighter clouds, which reflect sunlight back into space and have a cooling effect.

The summertime cooling caused by the ozone hole since 1980 has approximately cancelled out the warming caused by rising carbon dioxide emissions, Carslaw said.

Critique:

The irony here purely poetic. In the mid-80's, concern over the hole in the ozone layer rose, causing a major cutback on the use of aerosol sprays. Now, it turns out that hole in the ozone was keeping the southern hemisphere cooler.

Overall this article does a good job of explaining some complex topics--including the circumpolar winds and sea spray. The only criticism I have is that it tends to breeze over topics that I would have liked to hear more about--namely why ozone depletion (some 10-50 km above the Earth's surface) affects wind patterns in the lower atmosphere. 

~Jack Lepiarz

By Jack Lepiarz

At the center of the country's oldest botanical garden lies the Boston Public Garden Lagoon.

The 4-acre lagoon is a man-made lake, even though it rests in an area that was once a salt marsh. In the early 1800's, philanthropist Horace Gray petitioned the city to create what would eventually become the nation's first botanical garden. 

According to documents filed by historian James Charleton, the park has changed little since it was formally recognized by the city of Boston in 1859, 32 years after the city purchased the land. The only changes, Charleton says, were made in 1914, when the city absorbed a 40 foot strip along the park's southern tip to allow for road and subway construction.

The park's lagoon, however, has remained untouched for most of the park's 141-year existence.

One key change was made, however, shortly after the parked opened. Originally, the lagoon had a small peninsula jutting out from its northernmost side. The tip of that lagoon had become a popular spot for lovers, prostitutes, and other criminal activity, which led in 1880 to John Galvin, the city forester at the time, to drain the land around that peninsula, but in the lagoon's signature island that remains today.

The lagoon has undergone other changes. According to a press release by the Boston-based group, Friends of the Public Garden, which has helped maintain the Garden since 1970, the lagoon was originally used as a spot for ice-skaters in the winter, something that was moved to the Boston Common's Frog Pond.  Gardeners found themselves increasingly frustrated by tourists and visitors trampling the grass along the edges of the pond, so the decision was made to line the lake with concrete.

The lagoon itself is only about 4 feet deep, which means most of the water is evaporates in the winter. and snow do refill the lake area somewhat during the winter months, but rarely do more than simply leave a wet, muddy surface in their wake. The city maintenance department used to drain the lagoon each fall, but now conducts just one massive clean-up effort each spring. According to Boston Park Maintenance Department officials, the city drains the lagoon in mid-March, removes trash and debris, then refills it using a fill pipe on the northern side of the lagoon to allow the "swan boats" to be set up.

Originally invented by Robert Paget (who obtained his inspiration from the medieval tale "The Swan Knight," who rides on a swan-drawn boat) in 1877, the swan boats are still operated by the Paget family to this day. The original boats were based off of bicycle designs, and only sat 8 people at a time. The current boats, operated by Paget's Grandson, Paul, seat as many as 20 people.

Park officials say they plan to clean the lagoon to prepare it for the spring in a matter of weeks, but are simply waiting for warmer weather.

 

 

Christine Dell'Amore

January 22, 2009

A renewable-energy "oasis" slated to be built in 2010 may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert.

The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project--but that doesn't mean it'll be built in Africa. Sahara means "desert" in Arabic, and the center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

Read more...

I thought this article was very interesting.  Although the topic of alternative energy is not new, a green energy "oasis" in the desert is fairly new.  I think the writer, Christine Dell'Amore did a good job of presenting different viewpoints while maintain her objectivity.  Some environmentalists see this project as a way of providing a sustainable means of producing biomass for food and energy while mimicking nature in its structure and principle.  On the other hand, there are skeptics that challenge the project's feasibility.  I think this will continue to be an interesting story as future plans develop.  I think there is great potential here If scientistic and environmental engineers can find a way to make it  work.

Things got heated last week when the German edition of The Financial Times newspaper reported that clothing labeled as "organic cotton" and sold by major retailers contained genetically modified cotton from India.

The exposé caused a stir within the industry, and several companies and organizations mentioned in the article are now coming forward and questioning the validity of the newspaper's report.

The Control Union, a cotton certification group that works with the Swedish clothing company H&M -- one of the stores identified as selling mislabeled apparel -- issued a statement arguing that the data was skewed.

Read more...

My Comments:

I thought this article was very good and thought provoking. Like many consumers, I am always looking for simple ways to make my purchases "greener" and it is disheartening and upsetting to hear information like this. As a purchaser of organic cotton garments, I feel lied to by the industry, The NY Times did a good job of covering this story. While (for the most part) this issue does not change lives, it does affect the consumer market and it makes buyers more concerned where their money is going to.

Christine Dell'Amore

January 11, 2009

Global warming-induced indigestion could help make mountain gorillas and other leaf-eating primates sitting ducks for extinction, a new study says.

Annual temperatures are predicted to rise 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) by mid-century in some climate models. Leaves that grow in hotter air contain more fiber and less digestible protein, meaning leaf-eaters would take longer to process their food.

In addition, the higher temperatures may force the animals to spend more time lounging in the shade to avoid overheating.

Such changes may force some gorilla and monkey species to sit still for long periods--time that would otherwise be used for finding food, protecting territory, or maintaining social bonds, the study says.

more...

Article Critique:

Firstly, this article struck me because even though as a society we are constantly hearing about global warming and its effects, I'm still bewildered when studies like this emerge. It's mind-boggling to me to really think about how the small changes (like the makeup of a leaf) that occur because of climate change can wipe out an entire species. It makes me wonder about the literally billions of other undiscovered negative implications that climate change will have on our planet and the beings that occupy it.

Specifically to the article, I thought Dell'Amore did a great job taking a subject that is now very well known and making it intriguing just the same. Even though the issue is in-depth scientifically (i.e. the chemical makeup of leaves and its relation to the anatomy of primates), she was able to make it very comprehensible to the average reader.

She also offered an array of sources, using some that were a part of the study and research, while still consulting scientists that were outside of the study. Even though the findings suggested a certain outcome, Dell'Amore fairly entertained the notion of uncertainty. This was clear in her use of sources that spoke about the possibility of adaption and the uncertain degree of distress that would be caused.

Dell'Amore also played off of a readers emotions well. She finished the article with a quote from a concerned primate ecologists that effectively displayed legitimate fear for the species. This quote really caused the reader to dwell a bit, and allowed the article to have a bit more impact.

The article, which was very well flowing and fairly simple to understand, also gave the reader a chance to gain more insight on the subject. The use of multimedia was very present on the page and really gave the reader an option of how much they wanted to know about the topic. For those who would have found the article not in-depth enough, they could simply click a link to get more facts and figures.

Haiti's Few Trees at Risk as Survivors Flee to Rural Areas

Above is a link to an article from the ens-newswire website. I found this article particularly interesting because it put the Haitian disaster in a whole new light. Lately the news has been completely saturated with stories from Haiti, but this article is different because it talks about how the whole situation will affect Haiti's already fragile 'forests'. Journalistic aspects such as quotes, and facts and figures are present along with history about programs that were working, before the earthquake, to rebuild Haiti's population of trees.

However, the article is missing quotes from the Haitians themselves. Yes, it needs the quotes from officials, but one or two quotes from someone who has been displaced by the earthquake and has no option but to retreat to the countryside would definitely bring the article to life even more. 

DETROIT - General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will set up a $246 million facility backed by funding from the U.S. government to build electric motors to power hybrids and possibly pure electric vehicles

critique:

This article came with some good news from GM and Obama. The company is investing $246 million in a new facility which electric motors for hybrid cars and possibly for full electric cars.

General Motors is doing this to try and get a leg up against some of the Asian automakers. The reporter stated that Obama wants one million "rechargeable or plug-in hybrids" on the road in the US by 2015.

I think the reporter probably found most of this information pretty easily. He got most of his information from the GM Company as well as from the Obama administration. Although I enjoyed the article I thought it was a tad bit one-sided. The reporter gave GM a lot of time to talk and didn't provide much else.

However, I thought the flow of the story worked very well. It was easy to read and informative.

 

Yellowstone Park.pptx
The link to the article for National Geographic is on the last side. I definitely recommend checking the story out, it is very interesting.

A partial list of some on-line environmental news sources:  Please add to list as you come across good sites.

  some enviro news web sites.docx

 

 

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January 21, 2010, 2:50 pm

Warming Expected to Cut Atlantic Hurricane Tally but Boost Threat

By ANDREW C. REVKIN

Past Decade Warmest on Record, NASA Data Shows

By John M. Broder

more,,,  Past Decade Warmest on Record;