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Two New Studies Show Climate Change...

...Could Put The Heat On California Crops

"The agricultural scientists who support California's $10-billion annual fruit and nut crop, the largest in the nation, [are fearful]. A new study from UC Davis, to be published today, found that the number of winter chilling hours, essential to the flowering of orchards, has declined as much as 30% since 1950 in large swaths of the Central Valley, where most of the tree crops are grown...By the end of the century, it says, 'areas where safe winter chill exists for growing walnuts, pistachios, peaches, apricots, plums and cherries are likely to almost completely disappear.'"  [Los Angeles Times]

...Climate Change Threatens Colorado River Water Supply

"The Colorado River system -- which 30 million people depend on for drinking and irrigation water -- could fully deplete all of its reservoir storage by the middle of the century, a new University of Colorado study shows.  Under the most drastic climate change scenario, the study shows a 50 percent chance of depletion if current management practices continue while the West warms and the Colorado River dries up." [Daily Camera]

North Carolina to Ban Mountaintop Wind?

"A furious battle over the aesthetics of wind energy has erupted in North Carolina, where lawmakers are weighing a bill that would bar giant turbines from the state’s scenic western ridgelines."  [Green, Inc. - New York Times]

Quake, Tsunami Potential High On U.S. West Coast

"Scientists have underestimated the potential for a giant quake and tsunami that could swamp much the U.S. northwest and Canadian west coasts, British and U.S. researchers said on Monday. Geological evidence suggests there have been earthquakes in the past that were even stronger than a magnitude 9.2 quake -- the second-biggest ever recorded -- which caused a 42-foot-high (12-meter-high) tsunami in the Gulf of Alaska in 1964, they said. 'Our data indicate that two major earthquakes have struck Alaska in the last 1,500 years and our findings show that a bigger earthquake and a more destructive tsunami than the 1964 event are possible in the future,' Ian Shennan, a professor of geography at Britain's Durham University, who led the study, said in a statement." [Reuters]

Mountaintop Mining Legacy: Destroying Appalachian Streams

"The environmental damage caused by mountaintop removal mining across Appalachia has been well documented. But scientists are now beginning to understand that the mining operations’ most lasting damage may be caused by the massive amounts of debris dumped into valley streams."  [Yale Environment 360]