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Natural Gas Saves Water and Reduces Drought Vulnerability, Even When Factoring in Water Lost to Hydraulic Fracturing

By Guest PostDecember 27, 2013Environmentaustin, bridget scanlon, coal, coal steam turbine, coal technology, cst, economic geology, electric power supply, fracture surrounding rocks, horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing, jean philippe nicot, natural gas, ngcc, plants, reduces drought vulnerability, texas, texas power plants, university of texas, water, water lost

AUSTIN, Texas – A new study finds that in Texas, the U.S. state that annually generates the most electricity, the transition from coal to natural gas for electricity generation is saving water and making the state less vulnerable to drought.

Even though exploration for natural gas through hydraulic fracturing requires significant water consumption in Texas, the new consumption is easily offset by the overall water efficiencies of shifting electricity generation from coal to natural gas. The researchers estimate that water saved by shifting a power plant from coal to natural gas is 25 to 50 times as great as the amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing to extract the natural gas. Natural gas also enhances drought resilience by providing so-called peaking plants to complement increasing wind generation, which doesn’t consume water. (more…)

A Roly-Poly Pika Gathers Much Moss

By Guest PostDecember 26, 2013Environment, Natureasia, caecal, cascade range, columbia river gorge, denise dearing, douglas fir, earth, eastern europe, energy, forest, great basin, high elevation habitat, high quality protein, jo varner, journal of mammalogy, lagomorpha, low elevation pikas, moss, mountain ranges, nevada, North America, ochotona princeps, oregon, oregon zoo, pellets, rabbit relative, recycling factory, roly poly pika, university of utah, volcanoe, warming climate

High-Fiber Salad Bar May Help Lagomorphs Survive Climate Change

In some mountain ranges, Earth’s warming climate is driving rabbit relatives known as pikas to higher elevations or wiping them out. But University of Utah biologists discovered that roly-poly pikas living in rockslides near sea level in Oregon can survive hot weather by eating more moss than any other mammal.

“Our work shows pikas can eat unusual foods like moss to persist in strange environments,” says biology professor Denise Dearing, senior author of the new study, published online on Dec. 18, 2013 in the February 2014 issue of Journal of Mammalogy. “It suggests that they may be more resistant to climate change than we thought.” (more…)

Hack the planet? Geoengineering research, ethics, governance explored

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2013Environmentclimate emergency, counteract global warming, creating clouds, geoengineering research, iron fertilization

Hacking the Earth’s climate to counteract global warming – a subject that elicits strong reactions from both sides – is the topic of a December special issue of the journal Climatic Change. A dozen research papers include the most detailed description yet of the proposed Oxford Principles to govern geoengineering research, as well as surveys on the technical hurdles, ethics and regulatory issues related to deliberately manipulating the planet’s climate. (more…)

New Study Reveals the Biomechanics of How Marine Snail Larvae Swim

By Guest PostDecember 24, 2013Environment, Natureatlantic slipper limpet, biomechanics, cilia, crepidula fornicate, dianna padilla, epifluorescent microscopy image, Europe, evolution collected, houshuo jiang, karen chan, larvae, marine ecosystem, marine snail larvae, microorganisms freely swimming, microscopic video, nuisance, oceanographic institution, stony brook university, swim, vessel of seawater, video, whoi, woods hole

Equipped with high-speed, high-resolution video, scientists have discovered important new information on how marine snail larvae swim, a key behavior that determines individual dispersal and ultimately, survival.

Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Stony Brook University grew Atlantic slipper limpet larvae, which are slightly larger than a grain of sand, and recorded microscopic video of them swimming. In previous studies, it has been commonly thought that larvae swim faster when they beat their hair-like cilia faster. However, this new microscopic video and research shows that this is not the case. (more…)

2013 – Jahr wachsenden Engagements für Agrar- und Energiewende. Im Wahlkampf verquere “Veggie-Day”- und Mautdebatten. Hochwasser und leider nur Trippelschritte beim Klimaschutz

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2013Environment2013, agrar, bund, deutschland, donau, elbe, energiewende, gruenen woche, hochwasserkatastrophe, hubert weiger, jahr wachsenden, klimaschaeden, klimaschutz, klimawandel, pestizide

Berlin: Für den Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) stand das zurückliegende Jahr ganz im Zeichen großer Demonstrationen für eine andere Agrar- und Energiepolitik. Das Jahr 2013 hat gezeigt, dass sich die Zivilgesellschaft wieder deutlich sichtbar einmischt, wenn es um den Schutz unserer Lebensgrundlagen geht”, sagte der BUND-Vorsitzende Hubert Weiger in einer Jahresbilanz.

Anfang 2013 seien in Berlin schon zum dritten Mal anlässlich der “Grünen Woche” 25.000 Menschen gegen Massentierhaltung, den Einsatz der Gentechnik in der Landwirtschaft und Umweltschäden durch giftige Pestizide auf die Straße gegangen. Und Ende November hätten 16000 Demonstranten das Bundeskanzleramt umzingelt und gegen den Weiterbetrieb von Atom- und Kohlekraftwerken demonstriert. “Die Menschen wissen, was sich in den Tierfabriken abspielt, sie kennen die irreparablen Klimaschäden aus der Nutzung fossiler Energiequellen und sie verlangen mehr Entschlossenheit bei der Agrar- und Energiewende. Auf Veranstaltungen und Kundgebungen, in Blogs, über Twitter und Facebook wird von den Regierenden eingefordert, Lösungen für die Umweltprobleme zu finden anstatt mit Nebensächlichkeiten davon abzulenken”, sagte Weiger. (more…)

The Problem of Using Plastic Bags

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2013Environmentdisposable plastic bags, packages plastax, plastic bag consumption, plastic bags, recycle plastic bags, reusable bags

We are all familiar with plastic bags, but not many people are aware of the cruel truth hiding behind the using of plastic bags. The level of plastic bag consumption is estimated at more than 500 billion plastic bags per year, almost 1 million per minute. (more…)

Limited food may be significantly changing Great Lakes ecosystems

By Guest PostDecember 23, 2013Environmentdavid bo bunnell, Economy, great lakes ecosystems, inputs of phosphorus, invasive species, lake huron, microscopic water organisms, native invertebrates, phytoplankton, phytoplankton growth, predator, quagga mussels, suzette kimball, thomas f nalepa, thomas h johengen, U.S. Geological Survey, university of michigan, zebra

ANN ARBOR — Declines of the food resources that feed lake organisms are likely causing dramatic changes in the Great Lakes, according to a new study.

The study, led by the U.S. Geological Survey and co-authored by three University of Michigan researchers, found that since 1998, water clarity has been increasing in most Great Lakes, while phytoplankton (the microscopic water organisms that feed all other animals), native invertebrates and prey fish have been declining. These food web changes fundamentally affect the ecosystem’s valuable resources and are likely caused by decreasing levels of lake nutrients, and by growing numbers of invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels. (more…)

Alpine Glacier, Unchanged for Thousands of Years, Now Melting

By Guest PostDecember 22, 2013Environmentalpine glacier, melting ice, signs of melting, surface of glacier

New ice cores suggest Alps have been strongly warming since 1980s

SAN FRANCISCO — Less than 20 miles from the site where melting ice exposed the 5,000-year-old body of Ötzi the Iceman, scientists have discovered new and compelling evidence that the Italian Alps are warming at an unprecedented rate. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment