LA Times, April 2017 Rong-Gong Lin II and Paige St. John California’s climate has long been dominated by cycles of intense dry conditions followed by heavy rain and snow. But never before in recorded history has the state seen such an extreme drought-to-deluge swing. Experts and state water officials say California is seeing more of […]
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Re: Drought to Deluge
To All, The “tunnel transportation solution” is simply another promotion for transporting more water from Norther California to Southern California. Jerry Brown is from Southern CA and the primary political clout in CA seems to reside in Southern CA. Personally, I think it was a big mistake to reverse the water conservation measures that the […]
Read MoreScientists to Launch Global Hunt for ‘Line in the Rock’ Marking the ‘Scary’ New Man-made Epoch
A worldwide hunt for a “line in the rock” that shows the beginning of a new geological epoch defined by humanity’s extraordinary impact on planet Earth is expected to get underway in the next few weeks. The idea that we are now living in the Anthropocene epoch has been gaining ground in recent years. The […]
Read MoreWorking Sessions on Climate and Hydrology
To All, You are invited to participate in one or more working sessions for North Bay Watershed Association’s Climate Ready North Bay project. You may attend one or more working sessions. Each will be tailored to a North Bay watershed or county. Petaluma River watershed: Tuesday, September 13, 10am – Noon, Petaluma Community Center, Conference […]
Read MoreTree Growth Never Slows
Richard Schultz/Corbis Trees — including California’s giant redwoods — add an increasing amount of mass every year. Many foresters have long assumed that trees gradually lose their vigour as they mature, but a new analysis suggests that the larger a tree gets, the more kilos of carbon it puts on each year. “The trees that […]
Read MoreStream Condition Databases
Hi Everyone, Just sending word that the stream temperature database and scenarios for the Central Valley & remaining parts of California are now available on the NorWeST website (http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/NorWeST.html). Also attached to this email is a poster showing the statewide stream thermalscape that’s now been interpolated from data at 2,663 sites that were contributed by […]
Read MoreAction: Klamath National Forest Give-Away to Logging Industry
To All, Call it “Christmas in May”; the Klamath National Forest is set to give a big gift to the logging industry at the expense of taxpayers, wildlife and watersheds. Take Action Now. The Klamath National Forest is offering to “sell” old-growth forests for logging in the Middle Creek and Whites timber sales for as […]
Read MoreGreenland and Antarctic melt isn’t just raising seas — it’s changing the Earth’s rotation
By Chris Mooney April 8, 2016 Sophisticated new gravity research suggests that changes in Earth’s climate may actually be having a stunning geophysical effect: slightly moving the location of the planet’s spin axis, or axis of daily rotation. In other words, even as the Earth spins on its axis in a west to east direction, completing a […]
Read MoreGlobal Warming’s Terrifying New Chemistry
Our leaders thought fracking would save our climate. They were wrong. Very wrong. By Bill McKibben March 23, 2016 Global warming is, in the end, not about the noisy political battles here on the planet’s surface. It actually happens in constant, silent interactions in the atmosphere, where the molecular structure of certain gases traps heat that […]
Read MoreCO2 levels make largest annual leap in 56 years – NOAA
11/03/201 By Alex Pashley The last time the Earth saw such a sustained increase was over 11 millennia ago, says US agency Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide last year rose by the biggest margin since records began, according to a US federal science agency . Fossil fuel burning and a strong El Nino weather pattern […]
Read MoreState Water Board and Human Rights to Water
At its February 16, 2016 board meeting, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) will consider adopting the attached draft resolution pertaining to the human right to water, as established by Water Code section106.3, subdivision (a). On September 25, 2012, the California Legislature adopted Assembly Bill 685, which added section 106.3 to the […]
Read MoreDamage from Sinking Land Costing California Billions
AP News | Dec 27, 2015 DOS PALOS, Calif. (AP) — A canal that delivers vital water supplies from Northern California to Southern California is sinking in places. So are stretches of a riverbed undergoing historic restoration. On farms, well casings pop up like mushrooms as the ground around them drops. Four years of drought […]
Read MoreDWR has Identified 21 Groundwater Basins in Overdraft
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has identified 21 groundwater basins and subbasins in which excessive groundwater pumping has resulted in significant overdraft. Overdraft impacts can include seawater intrusion and land subsidence, in addition to chronically lowered groundwater levels. As a result, those basins and subbasins fall under the earliest deadlines required by the Sustainable […]
Read MoreA Regional-scale View of Climate Impacts on California’s Salmon Habitats
December 16, 2015 — Maven Dr. Nathan Mantua discusses how climate change and seasonal weather patterns influence coastal and marine salmon habitats Earlier this fall, the UC Davis Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute Center for Coastal Ocean Issues and the Delta Science Program convened the California Salmon and Climate Variability Symposium to explore how variable and changing […]
Read MorePublic Meetings on New Water Measurement Law
To All, WOW! This could prove to be beneficial for efforts to improve flows. Chris The purpose of this message is to provide information about a new water measurement law which will affect water right holders and diverters who divert more than 10 acre-feet of water per year. The law includes a new reporting requirement […]
Read MoreCan forests rebound from severe drought?
Even after drought conditions subside, trees may take years to resume normal growth, say scientists. Joseph Dussault, Staff Writer, Christian Science Monitor July 30, 2015 Courtesy of Leander Anderegg It’s no surprise that droughts can severely weaken forests. But what happens when the drought ends? Traditionally, climate models have operated under the assumption that forests […]
Read MoreComment on California’s Drought Response
To All, There are many facets that must be considered if were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve. That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation. Agriculture, via the California […]
Read MoreMcKibben to Obama: You still have time to be a climate champion — but not much
Bill McKibben, Jun 11, 2015 Dear President Obama — I feel a little awkward writing a letter to you, perhaps because I helped organize the largest demonstrations outside your house during your residence there: It’s odd to write someone when the closest you’ve ever come to them is being chained to the fence outside their […]
Read MoreFood, Farming and Climate Change: It’s Bigger than Everything Else
April 13, 2015 – Ryan Zinn, Common Dreams ‘Compared to large-scale industrial farms, small-scale agroecological farms not only use fewer fossil fuel-based fertilizer inputs and emit less GHGs, including methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide (CO2), but they also have the potential to actually reverse climate change by sequestering CO2 from the air into the […]
Read MoreComment on the Problem of CA Water and Drought
There are many facets that must be considered if were are to find solution(s) to our water supply and drought issues. Of course, bottom line, we all must conserve. That means every person, business, or industry. Agriculture is not living up to their responsibility in the area of conservation. Agriculture, via the California Farm Bureau […]
Read MoreThe oceans are warming so fast, they keep breaking scientists’ charts
NOAA once again has to rescale its ocean heat chart to capture 2014 ocean warming John Abraham January 22, 2015 Wow, was this a bad year for those who deny the reality and the significance of human-induced climate change. Of course, there were the recent flurry of reports that 2014 surface temperatures had hit their […]
Read MoreHottest Day Ever Recorded!
To All, Word from Cape Town South Africa, (where we have three students currently on our Globalization program), yesterday was the hottest day ever reported for the region during the past century of scientifically precise record-keeping and one of the hottest ever reported in world history—130 degrees F, as measured at Cape Town International Airport. […]
Read MoreHow unusual is the 2012-2014 California drought?
Daniel Griffin1,2, Kevin J Anchukaitis2 Corresponding author: Daniel Griffin, Department of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, griffin9@umn.edu. 1. Department of Geography, Environment and Society, University of Minnesota, MN, USA. 2. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA Discussion and Conclusions Evaluated using an integrated soil moisture metric like PDSI, the 2012-2014 drought […]
Read MoreFlying Rivers & Mega-Droughts
January 23, 2015 · Will Parrish From WILL PARRISH, TheAVA When it comes to areas of the world being racked by drought, one of the few that has had at least as hard a time as California is central and southern Brazil. Whereas the US’s biggest state has gotten a handful of solid drenchings in the past […]
Read MoreThe End of the Partisan Divide Over Climate Change
1/18/2015, Tom Zeller Jr. Forbes Magazine The revelation late last week that global average temperatures set a new record in 2014 seemed to underscore a political and cultural shift on climate change that, by many accounts, was already well underway. From the stock markets and Wall Street to the boardrooms of Big Oil – and even […]
Read MoreThe Delta Smelt: A Tiny Fish with Big Implications
By Trent Orr, January 21, 2015 The delta smelt is a fish that grows to no more than three inches in length, but over the years this threatened species has made big headlines in California’s dusty, water-rights battleground. One congressional representative, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), is even on record as calling the smelt a “stupid […]
Read MoreWorld Economic Forum Ranks Water Crises as Top Global Risk
January 15, 2015 Water rises on the world agenda Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue Though much of India is water-rich, the country hasn’t invested nearly enough in public water supply, transport, or treatment. Millions of India’s urban residents, including this man in New Delhi, draw their water from hand pumps or from […]
Read MoreClimate Change Impacts on Vineyards, Wildlife Habitat & Natural Resources
April 29, 2013 by Renata Brillinger A study entitled Climate Change, Wine, and Conservation published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences predicts that by 2050 the climate change impacts on the viability of wine grape production will be substantial and varied by geographic region. While many such projections focus primarily on the impacts on […]
Read MoreNMFS Comment Letters on Sonoma County Land Use Practice
To All, These attached letters are important insofar as they are from the National Marine Fisheries Service and speak to the rules Sonoma County relies upon to govern development and the impacts of those rules in their land use decisions with respect to riparian vegetation and waterways. The letters reinforce what is needed in the […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s New Groundwater Law: An Interactive Timeline
Hi Folks — This information comes from the Legal Planet website. They put up an interactive timeline, which I have translated into a table. CA Groundwater Law Timeline Jane legal-planet.org California’s New Groundwater Law: An Interactive Timeline What are the major deadlines for local groundwater management agencies, and when can-or must-state agencies act? Posted on […]
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