Distant Quakes Can Trigger Temblors at US Fracking Sites or geothermal sites, says a new study, reports Brian Bienkowski of the Daily Climate at Climate Central. The study indicates that injecting water underground -- common in fracking, as well as geothermal power production -- can destabilize faults, allowing distant quakes to cause local earthquakes of a magnitude of 4 or 5: another reason why fracking is a shakey deal.
Expect Bigger, Fiercer Wildfires In West say experts, reports Alicia Chang and Seth Borenstein of the Associated Press at ABC News. More heat, more drought, more fuel and more people in the way are adding up to increasingly ferocious fires; Wildfires are chewing through twice as many acres per year on average in the United States compared with 40 years ago, says the US Forest Service Chief.
Climate Change Will Disrupt US Energy Supplies, DOE Warns, reports Wendy Koch at USA Today. The new federal report says rising temperatures make it more difficult for some power plants to operate while sea level rise threatens others. Climate change and extreme weather have already caused blackouts and lowered production at power plants. Time to switch to new clean energy supplies, like wind and solar!
Trees Best Left To Generate Carbon Credits says a new study, reports Ben Cubby at the Sydney Morning Herald. It makes better financial sense for the native forests of southern New South Wales to remain un-logged and left to generate carbon credits. It also makes better climate sense for all remaining native forests.
Rainforest tree in Indonesia, credit Rhett Butler at www.mongabay.com
Amazon Deforestation Increasing in Countries Outside Brazil shows a new analysis based on satellite data, reports Rhett A. Butler, at Mongabay.com. After a dramatic peak loss of over 1,500,000 acres in 2010, new total losses are lower, but still higher than losses in previous years. Weep for the trees, the wildlife, and us, who continue to lose valuable carbon sequestration systems this way...
Amazonian deforestation in countries outside of Brazil (in hectares). Credit Rhett Butler at www.mongabay.com
Hurricanes Likely to Get Stronger & More Frequent says a new study, reports Andrew Freedman at Climate Central. This is true for both the western North Pacific and the North Atlantic, which can expect up to 20 additional hurricanes a year by 2100, notes Joe Romm at Climate Progress. Feeling wet yet?
Credit Climate Central
☼☼☼ On the Bright Side ☼☼☼
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OO Democrats and Republicans Agree: Corn Ethanol Is Absurd - something we indicated 5 years ago in our free downloadable book at www.CoolTheEarth.us. Ah, well, better late than never. Plants transform sunlight into stored energy at 2 percent efficiency at best (solar cells average 14 percent) - and then you have to pour energy into growing the plants ...
OO New Breed Of Politically Active US Clean Energy Company Emerges
OO Climate Change Courses Increasing in US Classrooms
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OO US Military Testing Life-Saving Smart Energy Grid In Afghan Outposts
OO US Marines Push to Front Lines in Renewable Energy Innovation
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OO US EPA Set To Unveil Host Of New Climate Regulations
OO US Dept of Energy Releases New Efficiency Standards - that will toughen efficiency requirements for new federal buildings and save close to $2 billion in energy costs over the next 30 years.
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OO Young Republicans Launch Climate Campaign
OO Republican Insider Urges Action on Climate Change - anonymously, for job safety reasons.
OO Famous Republican Conservative Son Fights for Arizona Solar Power - Barry Goldwater Jr., specifically.
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OO US Passed 10 Gigawatts Of Solar Capacity - grow, you solar-baby, grow!
OO Solar Installation In California Increased By 26 Percent In 2012
OO Rooftop Solar Takes Off Across California As Costs Come Down
Credit Dennis Schroeder/NREL
OO Solar Power Cheaper Than New Coal, Foresees German Solar CEO
OO US Dept of Interior Approves Big Arizona Wind Energy Project - on public lands.
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OO Google Invests $1 Billion In Renewable Energy
OO Electric 3-Wheelers Deliver Up To 600 Lbs Of Cargo - in Portland, OR.
OO Website Tracks 20 Minnesota Cities' Greenhouse Gas Emissions
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OO Clean Energy and Efficiency R & D Booming in China
OO More Chinese Cities Likely To Curb Auto Sales - in bid to further curb air pollution.
OO US, China Agree on Climate Steps to Curb Emissions - the kind of smart diplomacy from which the entire world benefits.
OO Obama Plan Gives US Leverage In Climate Talks With China, Official Says
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OO Austria: Greener Electric Buses On Existing Infrastructure
OO Germany: New Record of National Solar Production - Almost 24 Gigawatts
OO Costa Rica Looks To Lead On Climate-Friendly Agriculture
OO Peru Unveils Plan To Use Solar Panels To Provide Electricity To 2 Million People
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OO Green Highways: New Strategies To Manage Roadsides as Habitat - to foster biodiversity.
OO Nigeria Kickstarts Efforts To Head Off Climate Disasters
OO Australia's Power Use Decreased With Adoption Of Carbon Tax - the 2.2 percent drop nationwide, prevented 12.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
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***** US Climate Change News *****
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OO Valley Fever Spreading As Climate Change Prolongs Drought and Dust - the fungal infection is sometimes lethal.
OO With Rising Temperatures, City Infrastructure Falters
OO Essential US Fossil Fuels Highway Threatened By Rising Seas, Erosion
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OO Remarkable 'Climate Disconnect' In House GOP Voting Record - a study shows: as constituents experience a rise in record-breaking heat, many GOPpers vote against acting on climate change...
Credit Climate Progress
OO Mapping The Climate Change Deniers Making Our Laws - A map shows where climate-denying legislators come from--and how many weather-related disasters their states have faced in the past few years.
Credite Climate Progress
OO Koch Brothers Try To Undermine Tea Party Support Of Solar Energy - in Georgia, one of many KB campaigns across the US to combat action on climate change and promotion of clean energy.
OO House Republicans Vote Against Light Bulb Efficiency - another bright idea from the GOPpers.
OO Republican House Cuts Renewable Energy Budget
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OO 75 Percent Of Colorado's Air Pollution Violations Due To Oil, Gas - in first quarter 2013.
OO Colorado Contemplates New Pollution Regulations - to reduce the health risk of fossil fuel emissions.
OO ExxonMobil: Arkansas oil spill Due to Outdated Welding
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OO Gas Industry fights Energy Efficient Buildings Law - well, you would, too, if you made money from burning energy.
OO Fairytale of Gas Being "Cleaner Bridge" to Clean Energy Future Ends - but then, NOAA told us that months ago because of high rates of methane leakage...
OO Polluting Utilities Suing For The Right To Pollute - claiming the clean air act is too expensive to obey, while telling investors that the price of lowering pollution is dropping significantly...
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OO Alaska Wildfires Force Evacuations
OO How Cheap Is Solar Power In Your State? Where you live makes a big difference how much you pay for solar - compare your state with others here.
OO Bigger, More Destructive Wildfire Seasons, And Links To Climate Change
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OO Enbridge Plans to Expand US Tar Sands Pipelines
OO Michigan Officials Step Up Scrutiny Of Enbridge After Water Law Violations
OO US Well Sites In 2012 Discharged More Than Giant Valdez Oilspill - more than 6,000 spills and other mishaps were reported at onshore US oil and gas sites in 2012, an average of more than 16 spills daily, and a significant increase since 2010.
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OO Climate Change Planning, Prevention Needed To Protect Maine Fisheries say officials.
OO Firefighters Lose Ground To 2 Big Nevada Wildfires
OO Climate Change's Heat Intensifies Drought In The USA - fifth in a series.
OO Climate Change In The Desert Southwest
OO Shell Tops Fortune 500 List But Exxon Most Profitable - and just think of how much greenhouse gas emissions those 2 companies caused on their way to the top...
OO Google Hosts Fundraiser For Climate Change Denying US Senator - Google violated their "do no evil" clause... why, google, why???
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OO Central Valley Farmworkers Still Vulnerable To Heat-Related Illnesses - Study
OO Steep Drop In Coastal Fish Found In California Power Plant Records - which experts relate to a regional oceanographic climate effect.
OO Wealthy Donors In His Corner As Obama Comes Out Swinging On Climate Change
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<<<< Climate Change Round the World >>>>
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OO Europe Must Tackle Air Pollution, Warn U.N. Scientists
OO A Plague of Deforestation Sweeps Across Southeast Asia
Credit Rhett Butler at www.mongabay.com
OO Rainstorms Flood Sichuan Province In China
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OO Record Heat Waves, Sea Level Rise, Superstorms And Wildfires Endanger Electric Grid
OO Fossil Fueled Air Pollution Kills Over 2 Million People Worldwide Yearly - Study
OO Climate-Changing Pollution Creates Over 100 Serious Threats - says a Scottish review.
Credit Paul Chiasson, the Canadian Press, Associated Press
OO Canada: Crude Oil Train Derails, Explodes, Destroying Quebec Town Center the disaster is not just a tragedy, but a corporate crime, says the UK Guardian.
OO Canada Rail Crash Stirs Debate Over Keystone XL Pipeline Delay
OO Canada: Extreme Downpour Causes Flooding, Power Outages in Toronto
OO Canada: 2nd Largest Wildfire, Over 1,600,000 Acres, Causes Power Outages in Quebec
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OO Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Pine Island Glacier In Antarctica
OO Britain: Ash Dieback Fungus Decimating Trees, Spreading Under Surging Temperatures
OO Failure To Prevent Floods Could Push Up Food Prices - as floods become more common under continuing climate change.
Courtesy of NOAA
OO Living Laboratory For Coping With Drought In Brazil - farm weathers drought with diverse water conservation techniques.
OO Tidal Surges, Drought Batter Pacific Islands - the Marshall Islands, in fact.
OO Extreme Weather: How Will Europe Prepare For The Next Flood?
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OO EU And China Close In On Solar Panel Deal
OO Vietnam Rice Boom Destroying Barriers to Sea Level Rise, Storm Surges - by destroying protective coastal mangroves.
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OO EU Lawmakers Deal A Blow To Crop-Based Biofuels
OO English Trees Moving North Under Climate Change - as climate change concertinas the seasons, bringing more droughts, storms and diseases and causing stress to the trees, says an arbor expert.
OO Coal-Burning Shortens Lives In China - new study shows.
Coal burning in China. Credit www.treehugger.com
OO Canada: Oil-Sands Expansion Conditionally Approved Despite 'Significant' Effects On Wildlife
OO Foreign Policy Labels Canada 'A Rogue, Reckless Petrostate'
OO Recessions Make Climate Change Costlier - even though emissions decrease, because people have less money to cope with the effects ...
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(((((((( Seeking the Science ))))))))
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OO Vast Reservoirs Of Arctic Carbon Could Be Released By Global Warming - further accelerating it.
OO Acidic Oceans Of The Future Show Extinction - Study
Credit Rhett Butler at www.mongabay.com
OO Jellyfish Threaten The World's Seas - proliferating in part from warming waters, previous studies indicated.
OO Acidic Oceans Will Not Support Corals by 2100, But Reefs May Be Gone by 2050 - although a recent study indicates oceans will be too acidic to support corals by 2100, a 2011 study indicates coral reefs could be gone by 2050.
OO More Extreme Drought, Not Beetle Epidemics, Fuel Wildfires - trees killed by bark beetle epidemics (in turn fueled by longer warmer summers) are usually less flammable than living evergreens, since they quickly lose the flammable biochemicals present in green needles.
Drought is a big driver of western wildfires. Credit Mary Ellen Harte
OO Climate Change Could Spark Small Mammal Invasion In New Zealand
OO Rising Temps, Shrinking Snowpack Fuel Western Wildfires - this interactive tool illustrates how warming temperatures and changing spring snowpack influences fires each year.
OO Casualty Of Climate Change: The Red Knot Shorebird - this small bird has one of the longest-distance animal migrations known, flying to the Canadian Arctic from the tip of South America. And it's declining.
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OO Some Trees Use Less Water Amid Rising Carbon Dioxide
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@@@ Climate Change in the Media @@@
Via Climate Nexus
OO @@ WEEKLY CLIMATE CHANGE VIDEO SERIES!! @@ Entitled "In Case You Missed It" via the good folks at Climate Nexus on Vimeo - select headlines delivered in less than 90 seconds with good graphics. Cool watching -- spread the word!!
@@ Media: From Fiction To Reality - Scenes from a melting planet: On the climate-change novel. Today, novels that would once have been called science fiction can be read as social realism.
@@ PICTURES: Activists Scale London's Tallest Building To Protest Arctic Drilling
@@ Video: Communicating Climate Change - a great youtuber on how to discuss and frame climate change with people to mobilize them to action... a must see, with Hunter Cutting of Climate Nexus
@@ Film: Must-See Gasland Part II : Natural Gas, Once A Bridge, Now A Gangplank
@@ 'Gasland' Sequel Accuses Energy Industry Of Corrupting Government
@@ 'Gasland' Sequel Has More Fracking Horror Stories
@@ Media: Obama Shifts Message from Green Jobs to Climate - as climate change has forced people, including Obama, to notice it...
@@ Video: Listen To This Graph: You'll Hear 'A Song Of Our Warming Planet'
@@ Film: Greedy, Lying Bastards is now available digitally:
"...some are likely just liars, others greedy and some bastards. But as a whole, this is a group of people that has purposefully fought, funded and profited from the attack on climate science." Says Kevin Grandia at Desmogblog. This film documents the way they do it.
*****Ready to Invest Your Bucks in Solar? Check out Mosaic opportunities here!
☼☼☼Acting Like You Care: The XL Keystone pipeline will make possible far more climate change, but President Obama might okay it anyway. Credo, 350.org and others are asking people to stand up and be counted as nonviolent resisters or help in other ways. I did. If you ever wanted to do something big for your future, now's your chance - here. 
To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!
Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by these wildflowers I photographed recently. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.
