A summary of today’s top climate and clean energy stories.
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(Pic: Brocken Inaglory)
Research: Scientists say the slowdown in global warming since 1998 can be explained by a natural cooling in part of the Pacific ocean. Covering just 8% of the Earth, researchers warn temperatures will rise again when the Pacific swings back to a warmer state. (BBC)
US: A coalition of over 100 environmental and populist groups is denouncing fracking legislation as too weak and calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to order an immediate halt to the controversial drilling practice. (LA Times)
Pacific Islands: French Polynesia’s assembly wants a global fund to be set up to help climate change refugees in the Pacific which it will propose to next week’s Pacific Islands Forum summit in the Marshall Islands. (Radio New Zealand International)
US: Fracking fluids leaked from nearby natural gas drilling wells caused the widespread death or distress of aquatic species in Kentucky’s Acorn Fork, according to a joint study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Forbes)
US: Research by environmental scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences wildfire seasons in the US will be about three weeks longer by 2050, up to twice as smoky, and will burn a wider area in the western states. (TGD Daily)
Research: Smartphones can now be used to collect weather data such as air temperatures through WeatherSignal, a crowdsourcing app developed by UK start-up OpenSignal which could one day help collect climate data in areas without weather stations, its developers say. (Sci Dev Net)
UK: The UK’s energy efficiency market has defied economic downturn, reaching sales of £17.6 billion in 2010/11, but a coherent governmental policy is needed if this upward spiral is to continue. (RTCC)