The Progressive Mind

Ozone hole remains size of North America, NASA data shows

LIBertea — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 01:46:17 GMT

The Antarctic ozone hole, which was expected to reduce in size swiftly when manmade chlorine emissions were outlawed 27 years ago, is stubbornly remaining the size of North America, new data from Nasa suggests.

The hole in the thin layer of gas, which helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet solar radiation that can cause skin cancers, grows and contracts throughout the year but reached its maximum extent on 9 September when monitors at the south pole showed it to cover 24.1m square km (9.3m sq miles). This is about 9% below the record maximum in 2000 but almost the same as in 2010, 2012 and 2013.

But scientists remain unsure why the hole has not reduced more since the Montreal Protocol agreement was signed by countries in 1987.

This global treaty is considered one of the world’s most successful, having been pushed through in record time. It bans the use of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), substances that were widely-used in household and industrial products such as refrigerators, spray cans, insulation foam and fire suppressants.

“The ozone hole area is smaller than what we saw in the late-1990s and early 2000s, and we know that chlorine levels are decreasing. However, we are still uncertain about whether a long-term Antarctic stratospheric temperature warming might be reducing this ozone depletion,” said Paul A Newman, chief scientist for atmospheres at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“It’s broadly on track [to reduce in size],” said Dr Jonathan Shanklin, emeritus professor at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, one of the three scientists who discovered the hole in the 1980s. “We knew it was always going to take a long time to recover because the CFCs were long-lived.”

He said the reason why it was not healing more quickly was because the interaction between climate change and the ozone hole was complex. “The ozone hole itself is affecting the climate of Antarctica and Australia, and is being affected by it. It is changing the wind systems.

“As the ozone hole [gradually]fills in, so we can expect, over the next 50 or so years, the effects of climate change to increase. We will see different patterns of climate change”.

Last month the UN Environment Programme (Unep) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said there were “positive indications” that the ozone layer was on track to recovery, but warned it might take a further 35 years or more to recover to 1980 levels. They said that without the Montreal Protocol atmospheric levels of ozone depleting substances could have increased tenfold by 2050.

According to Unep, by 2030 the treaty will have prevented two million cases of skin cancer annually, averted damage to human eyes and immune systems, and protected wildlife and agriculture.

(VIDEO) The Gas that Could end the World

LIBertea — Sat, 18 Oct 2014 12:51:33 GMT

Forum: Health and Environment
Thread description: Thom Hartmann talks with Dr. Eric Kort
Thread starter: LIBertea
Last message posted by: LIBertea
Number of replies: 0

VIDEO prof. Mousseau: Fukushima Catastrophe - its Effects on Wildlife

LIBertea — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 20:15:39 GMT

Keystone pipeline 4x worse than State Department Estimate

LIBertea — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:29:00 GMT

p>The controversial Keystone XL pipeline could produce four times the amount of greenhouse gas emissions than the State Department originally estimated, according to a new study from the Stockholm Environment Institute, a nonprofit research organization.

According to the study, which was published Sunday in Nature Climate Change, the pipeline would increase global greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 121 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. The results could have a traumatic effect on the planet’s atmosphere, which is already reeling from the prolonged effects of climate change.

In February, the State Department estimated that the Keystone pipeline could increase emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by far less, 1.3 million to 27.4 million metric tons annually.

The study also says the pipeline could reduce oil prices to $3 a barrel, which would almost certainly increase consumption, and have a net negative effect on the environment. “If you give someone something cheaper, they’re going to use more of it; that’s certainly true on the global scale,” Donovan Power, a geologist, told Popular Mechanics.

“The sole reason for this difference is that we account for the changes in global oil consumption resulting from increasing oil sands production levels, whereas the State Department does not,” wrote the study’s authors, Peter Erickson and Michael Lazarus.

The pipeline is estimated to cost just over $5 billion and would carry oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Neb., where it would connect to an already existing structure that extends through the Gulf Coast of Texas. Because the pipeline would border Canada, it requires a green light from the federal government.

Whether or not the federal government will approve Keystone XL has become one of the longest, most contentious debates of President Barack Obama’s tenure in office. Progressives and environmentalists have staunchly opposed authorizing the pipeline, while conservatives and business interests have been pressuring the White House to step out of its way.

President Obama has repeatedly hedged his bets, saying he would allow the pipeline to be built “only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.”

Some have argued that this new study does nothing to suggest that Keystone will have more than a minimal effect on the climate change status quo. The 121 tons of carbon dioxide it allegedly could produce pales in comparison to the 36 billion tons the world generated in 2013. According to the Associated Press, University of Sussex economist Richard Tol believes that for anyone concerned about climate change, the pipeline “should be the furthest from your mind.”

In September, world leaders and environmentalists will rally in New York City for what’s being touted as “the largest climate march in history” to bring attention to the dangers of climate change.

Marine Economy Sinks as Ocean Acidity Rises

LIBertea — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 21:48:39 GMT

The waters off the US state of Alaska are some of the best fishing grounds anywhere, teeming with salmon and with shellfish such as crab.

But a new study, funded by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), says growing acidification of Alaska’s waters, particularly those off the southern coast, threatens the state’s whole economy—largely dependent on the fishing industry.

The study, which appears in the journal Progress in Oceanography, says that not only will the state’s commercial fishing sector be badly hit by a growth in acidification, but it will also affect subsistence fisherpeople whose diet mainly consists of the catch from local waters.

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The oceans act as a “carbon sink”, absorbing vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Acidification occurs when amounts of carbon dioxide are dissolved into seawater, where it forms carbolic acid.

Scientists say the oceans are now 30% more acidic than they were at the beginning of the industrial revolution about 250 years ago.

Among the sea species most vulnerable to acidification are shellfish, because a build-up of acid in waters prevents species developing their calcium shells. Alaska’s salmon stocks are also at risk as one of the main ingredients of a salmon diet are pteropods, small shell creatures.

Jeremy Mathis, an NOAA oceanographer and a lead author of the study, told the Alaska Dispatch News that whereas past reports had focused on the consequences of increased acidification on ocean species, the aim of this one was designed to examine the wider economic impact.

“This is an economic-social study,” Mathis said. “It focuses on food security, employment opportunity, and the size of the economy.”

Mathis said acidification is more likely in Alaskan waters than in many other parts of the world. He explained: “It’s all about geography. The world’s ocean currents end their cycles here, depositing carbon dioxide from elsewhere. The coastal waters of Alaska sit right at the end of the ocean conveyor belt.”

Elsewhere, acidification is already having a serious impact on fishing and shellfish industries.

Oysters dying

The New York Times reports that billions of baby oysters—known as spat—are dying off the coast of Washington state in the north-western US.

In May this year, the US government’s major report on climate change, the National Climate Assessment, said that waters off the north-west of the country are among the world’s most acidic.

Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington, says an industry worth US$270 million is at risk. “You can’t overstate what this means to Washington,” he says.

Inslee and many others in Washington state are fighting plans by the coal industry to build large coal ports in the region in order to export to China and elsewhere in Asia.

Climate scientists say greenhouse gas emissions resulting from coal burning are a main cause of global warming.

Climate Tipping Point: Here Comes The Methane From The Seafloor

LIBertea — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:26:38 GMT

Vast methane plumes spotted bubbling up from the Arctic Ocean floor

Methane bubbles rise up through the waters of the Arctic Ocean, in this photograph from the SWERUS-C3 program. Credit: Pete Hill

Scott Sutherland
Meteorologist, theweathernetwork.com

Thursday, July 31, 2014, 1:01 - An international team of scientists, who are studying the vast deposits of methane trapped on the floor of the Arctic Ocean, have captured their first look at plumes of this powerful greenhouse gas bubbling up through water. This discovery could lead to better forecasting, but it also has serious implications for Earth's climate in the years to come.

Much of the science of global warming has been focused on the study of carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the main culprit in the current trend of rising global temperatures and resulting climate disruption we're seeing today. This is only appropriate, since CO₂ is, by far, the largest contributor to the problem - at least by total amount of gas that's added to the atmosphere on a yearly basis. However, methane (chemical formula CH₄) is another greenhouse gas that's been 'on the radar' for climate scientists, because it is much better than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in our atmosphere. Over a 20 year span of time, kg for kg, methane traps over 85 times more heat than carbon dioxide. Over a 100 year period, that ratio drops, but even averaged over that long methane is still over 20 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO₂. Methane is only a small contributor to the overall climate change we're seeing now, but there are fears that this could change in the years to come.

Credit: Pete Hill, SWERUS-C3

Although there are natural sources of methane in the atmosphere, according to the US EPA, over 60 per cent comes from human activities - industry, agriculture and garbage. Scientists have also discovered large deposits of methane in the Arctic, where it has been locked away in a slushy frozen form on the sea floor called methane hydrates, which has also been called 'fire ice' due to the fact that it readily burns, even in its frozen form. These hydrates are kept frozen by the extreme low temperature and crushing pressure at the bottom of the ocean, but with our oceans accumulating more heat all the time now, these hydrates could 'melt' and release the methane in gas form. If that were to happen, all that methane bubbling up to the ocean surface and into the atmosphere would likely result in the accelerated rate of climate change we're seeing now turning into catastrophic abrupt climate change.

Since these methane hydrate deposits were discovered, scientists have been doing what they can to monitor and study them, and now a team from SWERUS-C3 - the Swedish–Russian–US Arctic Ocean Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere-Carbon Interactions program - have actually spotted methane bubbling up through the water, while measuring a concentration of methane dissolved in the water that's 10-50 times higher than background levels.

”This was somewhat of a surprise,” SWERUS-C3 chief scientist Örjan Gustafsson, from Stockholm University, wrote in his blog. “While there has been much speculation about the vulnerability of regular marine hydrates along the continental slopes of the Arctic rim, very few actual observations of methane releases due to collapsing marine hydrates on the Arctic slope have been made."

The short, 3-second video below actually shows the bubbles they caught rising through the water:

According to Gustafsson, scientists have noted that the 'end' of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, which is a relatively warm 'tongue' of water that flows past northern Europe and through the Arctic Ocean towards East Siberia, may have been warming up in recent years. "ur SWERUS-C3 program is hypothesizing that this heating may lead to destabilization of upper portion of the slope methane hydrates," he wrote. "This may be what we now for the first time are observing."

Does this mean that the disaster scenario is now developing? Unfortunately, at the moment, that's an unknown. The SWERUS-C3 team will be continuing to monitor the location as long as the weather holds out for their expedition. However, as the Stockholm University press release stated: "These early glimpses of what may be in store for a warming Arctic Ocean could help scientists project the future releases of the strong greenhouse gas methane from the Arctic Ocean."

Water level in Nevada's Lake Mead drops to all-time low

LIBertea — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 01:58:10 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Drought in the southwestern U.S. will deplete the vast Lake Mead this week to levels not seen since Hoover Dam was completed and the reservoir on the Colorado River was filled in the 1930s, federal water managers said Tuesday.

The projected lake level of about 1,080 feet above sea level will be below the level of about 1,082 feet recorded in November 2010 and the 1,083-foot mark measured in April 1956 during another sustained drought.

But U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regional chief Terry Fulp said water obligations will be met at least through next year without a key shortage declaration. The result will be full deliveries to cities, states, farms and Indian tribes in an area that's home to some 40 million people and the cities of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles.

"We continue to closely monitor the projections of declining lake levels and are working with stakeholders throughout the Lower Basin to keep as much water in Lake Mead as we can through various storage and conservation efforts," Fulp said in a statement.

The lake on Tuesday was just under 1,082 feet above sea level, and the reservoir was about 39 percent full, said Rose Davis, a bureau spokeswoman in Boulder City, Nevada.

The dropping level since the reservoir was last full in 1998, at just under 1,296 feet above sea level, has left as much as 130 feet of distinctive white mineral "bathtub ring" on hard rock surfaces surrounding the lake.

Davis said the bureau expects a slight increase in water level to about 1,083 feet by Jan. 1, 2015.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, 30 miles east of Las Vegas, is among the federal government's top tourist attractions. It drew some 6.3 million visitors in 2013, about the same number as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Boaters and swimmers have largely ignored the dropping water levels in a place where splashing in cold fresh water on 100-plus-degree summer days is a treat. But they've also dealt with marina closures in recent years. Visitors who used to feed scraps to carp from restaurant deck tables may now need to trek hundreds of yards with sandwiches and beach blankets to enjoy a waterside lunch.

"We projected this was coming," Davis said. "We are basically where we expected to be, given the dry winters in 2012 and 2013."

Lake Mead today stores about 10.2 million acre-feet of water and is managed in conjunction with Lake Powell, the reservoir farther up the Colorado River near the Utah-Arizona state line.

Davis said Lake Powell was at 52 percent capacity, holding about 12.7 million acre-feet of water.

Water officials say an acre-foot is about enough water to supply an average Nevada household for a year.

Fulp compares controlled management of the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado River to pouring tea from one cup to another.

Seven southwestern U.S. states reap the result under a 1928 allocation agreement that also provides shares of Colorado River water to Native American tribes and Mexico.

Las Vegas, with more than 2 million residents and about 40 million tourists a year, is almost completely dependent on Lake Mead for drinking water.

Federal and state water officials have negotiated plans for a shortage declaration triggering delivery cuts to Nevada and Arizona if annual projections for the Lake Mead water level drop below a 1,075 foot elevation. That projection is based on data being compiled by the Bureau of Reclamation.

Davis said the 1,075-foot trigger point is not expected this year or next. But last year, after back-to-back driest years in a century, federal water managers gave Arizona and Nevada a 50-50 chance of having water deliveries cut in 2016.

California, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming wouldn't see direct cuts in their share of river water, but officials have acknowledged there would be ripple effects.

Environmental groups call on Senate to reject dirty coal bill

LIBertea — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 12:33:31 GMT

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eleven environmental organizations sent a letter urging policymakers to reject a dirty coal bill proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D -W. Va), today. If enacted, the proposed bill would hamstring the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s ability to enforce climate policies. The agency has financed billions in coal-related projects abroad in recent years, but late last year adopted policies to restrict coal plant financing. By prohibiting the federal government’s largest trade promotion agency from enforcing this policy, the proposed bill would result in billions more for harmful coal projects abroad, and undercut efforts to curb public financing for coal projects globally.

Friends of the Earth Economic Policy Program Senior Manager Doug Norlen issued the following statement:

Sen. Manchin’s proposal to strip enforcement of the Ex-Im Bank’s climate policy puts corporate profits above the health and welfare of the climate and communities. Just when we saw the light at the end of the coal chute, this dirty coal bill threatens to send us back to the dark ages.

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Expert Contact: Doug Norlen, (202) 465-1650, dnorlen@foe.org
Communications Contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, edyson@foe.org

California approves use of pesticides linked to bee deaths

LIBertea — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 20:53:22 GMT

California Charged with 'Rubber-Stamping' Pesticides Linked to Bee Deaths

Attorney: “Unless halted, the use of these pesticides threatens not only the very survival of our pollinators, but the fate of whole ecosystems."

Environmental groups on Tuesday called out the state of California for illegally pushing new agricultural uses for certain pesticides despite mounting evidence that they are devastating honeybee populations.

A suit (pdf) filed by Earthjustice charges that the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) is "rubber-stamping" the approval of new pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids or neonics, "without first complying with laws enacted to ensure that they are safe."

“DPR has been saying for five years that neonicotinoid pesticides may be killing California’s honey bees, and yet the agency allows more and more of these pesticides to be used each year,” said Greg Loarie, an attorney at Earthjustice. In 2009, DPR began a scientific review of neonics in response to overwhelming evidence that linked the pesticides to bee decline.

The legal challenge, which was filed in the California Superior Court for the County of Alameda, demands that the court review DPR's June 13 decision to expand the use of two powerful neonics, known as Venom Insecticide and Dinotefuran 20SG, despite the office's still-pending review of their impact to pollinators.

“Unless halted, the use of these pesticides threatens not only the very survival of our pollinators, but the fate of whole ecosystems," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive Director of Center for Food Safety, which along with Beyond Pesticides and the Pesticide Action Network prompted the suit.

"Scientists have consistently documented widespread environmental contamination from neonicotinoids as they build up in our soil and waterways, especially in California," Kimbrell continued. "The DPR has a responsibility to step in and say no.”

In August, California lawmakers are expected to take up legislation that demands DPR complete their long-pending evaluation of neonics by July 1, 2015 and issue a final determination by January 2016.

“It’s past time for DPR to fix its broken evaluation system and protect our bees and our agricultural economy," Loarie added.

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2,500 Oklahoma Earthquakes Linked To Fracking, Scientists Say

LIBertea — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 17:03:32 GMT

In this Nov, 6, 2011 photo, Chad Devereaux examines bricks that fell from three sides of his in-laws home in Sparks, Okla., following two earthquakes that hit the area in less than 24 hours. A study published Thursday by the journal Science explains how just four wells forcing massive amounts of drilling wastewater into the ground are probably causing quakes in Oklahoma.

CREDIT: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

More than 2,500 small earthquakes have hit Oklahoma in the past five years, and nearly all of them can be linked to the process of drilling for oil and gas, according to a recent study published in the journal Science.

The study, led by Cornell University geophysics professor Katie Keranen, is the latest of many scientific studies showing a probable connection between earthquakes and drilling-related activity across the country. Specifically, the quakes are linked not to the fuel extraction itself, but to a process called “wastewater injection,” in which companies take the leftover water used to frack wells and inject it deep into the ground.

Scientists increasingly believe that the large amount of water that is injected into the ground after a well is fracked can change the state of stress on existing fault lines to the point of failure, causing earthquakes. Keranen’s study analyzed four prolific wastewater disposal wells in southeast Oklahoma City, which collectively inject approximately four million barrels of wastewater into the ground each month.

The research showed that fluid from those wells were migrating along fault lines for miles, and Keranen’s team determined the migration was likely responsible for earthquakes occurring as far as 22 miles away.

The link between earthquakes and wastewater injection from fracking is not definitive. As Jennifer Dlouhy in Fuel Fix notes, the research lacks necessary data on sub-surface pressure, which is rarely accessible.

However, Oklahoma is not the only place in America that has seen an unprecedented increase in small- to medium-sized earthquakes at the same time that fracking has increased in the area. A sharp increase in earthquakes corresponding with increased fracking activity has been seen in Ohio, Arkansas, Texas, and Kansas.

The quakes have been relatively small for now, but some scientists have warned that seismic activity stands to get stronger and more dangerous as fracking increases.

“I think ultimately, as fluids propagate and cover a larger space, the likelihood that it could find a larger fault and generate larger seismic events goes up,” Western University earth sciences professor Gail Atkinson said at a Seismological Society of America conference in May.

Because of this and other warnings, the U.S. government is beginning to track the risks that these so-called “frackquakes” pose, and start including them on official maps that help influence building codes. Though the U.S. Geological Survey is known for mapping regular earthquakes and alerting local governments about their risks, it has never taken man-made quakes into account. It made the decision to do so, however, after finding that two strong earthquakes in heavily-drilled areas of Colorado and Oklahoma in 2011 were likely the result of wastewater injection from fracking.

Keranen’s research adds to a list of scientific papers warning of fracking-induced quakes. Researchers at Southern Methodist University, for example, have linked a string of 2009 and 2010 earthquakes in Texas to the injection of fracking wastewater into the ground. In early 2013, fracking wastewater disposal was also linked to the 109 earthquakes that shook Youngstown, Ohio in 2011 — an area that hadn’t ever experienced an earthquake before an injection well came online in December 2010.