The Beginning of the Last Ice Age Melt
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Dec 6, 2011 - Share
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The end of the last ice age and the processes that led to the melting of the northern and southern ice sheets supply information on changes in our climate. Although the maximum size of the ice sheet in the northern hemisphere during the last ice age is relatively well known, there is little reliable data on the dimensions of the Antarctic ice sheet. A publication appearing in the journal Science on 1 December now furnishes indications that the two hemispheres attained their maximum ice sheet size at nearly the same time and started melting 19,000 years ago
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European Automakers Meet in Brussels
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Dec 6, 2011 - Share
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Last Friday, there was a gathering of the European Union's car manufacturers to discuss future cuts in CO2 emissions. In 2009, the EU set legally binding fuel efficiency standards for automobile CO2 emissions at 120 grams per kilometer (g/km). A binding emissions cap will be imposed in 2012 at 130 g/km. By 2020, the European Commission has the objective of reaching 95 g/km. This ambitious objective was supposed to be supported and confirmed at last Friday's meeting. But automakers could not reach a common position, and the issue has been left on the table
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Low Cost Solar Cells
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Dec 6, 2011 - Share
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The cost of a solar cell is given per unit of peak electrical power. Manufacturing costs necessarily include the cost of energy required for manufacture. Solar power must become more efficient and less expensive to compete with energy produced by fossil fuels. Silicon-based solar cells are the dominant technology in the field, but the widespread adoption of these cells has been slowed by their high costs
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At least 74 percent of current warming caused by us
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Dec 6, 2011 - Share
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http://www.enn.com/climate/article/43663
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BP says Halliburton destroyed evidence behind Gulf oil spill - CSMonitor.com
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Dec 6, 2011 - Share
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BP says Halliburton destroyed evidence that it did faulty cement work on the oil will that leaked into the Gulf. Halliburton denies claim.
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Another record breaker: 2011 warmest La Niña year ever
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Dec 1, 2011 - Share
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As officials meet at the 17th UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa, the world continues to heat up. The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that they expect 2011 to be the warmest La Niña year since record keeping began in 1850. The opposite of El Nino, a La Niña event causes general cooling in global temperatures. Despite La Niña, it was a very, very warm year to the point that it is the warmest decade on record," explained WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud during a press briefing in Geneva
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Global forestry loss is not as great as first feared UN study confirms
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Dec 1, 2011 - Share
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The rate of global deforestation, mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural land, averaged 14.5 million hectares a year between 1990 and 2005, according to a satellite-based survey released today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The findings of the global remote sensing survey show that the world’s total forest area in 2005 was 3.69 billion hectares, or 30 per cent of the global land area. Worldwide, the net loss of forest area between 1990 and 2005 was not as great as previously believed, since gains in forest areas are larger than previously estimated, according to the survey
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Ladybugs Changed Color in Response to Climate Change
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Dec 1, 2011 - Share
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Thirty years ago, if you were walking along the coast of the Netherlands and picked a two-spot ladybug off the leaf of a European lime tree, chances were that the bug would be red with black spots. If you were farther inland, you'd have had a good chance of finding a bug that was black with red spots. In the past 3 decades, however, researchers have been finding more red bugs inland. The reason, they believe, is that a warming climate and fewer sunny days might be driving a shift in ladybug color
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US considering using toxic fungi in war on drugs
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Dec 1, 2011 - Share
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Using fungi to kill coca and other illegal drug crops would be a risky tactic, as there is not enough data about how to control these killer molds and what effect they could have on people and the environment, according to a U.S. study released Wednesday
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The World Carbon Cycle in the Last Ice Age
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth. It is one of the most important cycles of the earth and allows for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms. Has it always been the same
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Mystery deepens over Europe-wide radiation alert
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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A Hungarian laboratory has denied claims made by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it is the most likely source of the outbreak of radioactive particles recently detected in the skies above Europe. Low levels of iodine-131 were measured in the atmosphere above the Czech Republic and several other European countries earlier this month and the IAEA moved swiftly with assurances it posed no danger to public health
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Can Electric Cars Help Automakers Reach 55 MPG
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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Under rules announced by the White House this summer, cars will have to get an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 — nearly twice what the current average is. Reaching that goal will take not only feats of engineering but also changing how Americans think about their cars and how they drive them
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African nations show leadership for action against climate change
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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Africa is leading the push for clean energy policy-making as climate change turns millions of its people into "food refugees," the head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) Achim Steiner said
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Pumping water from High Plains aquifer reducing stream flows threatening fish habitat
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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Suitable habitat for native fishes in many Great Plains streams has been significantly reduced by the pumping of groundwater from the High Plains aquifer -- and scientists analyzing the water loss say ecological futures for these fishes are "bleak."
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Delaware River Basin natural gas drilling vote postponed
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Nov 21, 2011 - Share
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A key vote to lift a ban on drilling for natural gas in the Delaware River Basin has been postponed, prompting claims of victory from environmentalists concerned about water contamination
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