Earth ChangesS


Black Cat

Polluting Pets: The Devastating Impact of Man's Best Friend

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© AFPA man walks his dog in the snow in the East Village.
Man's best friend could be one of the environment's worst enemies, according to a new study which says the carbon pawprint of a pet dog is more than double that of a gas-guzzling sports utility vehicle.

But the revelation in the book Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living by New Zealanders Robert and Brenda Vale has angered pet owners who feel they are being singled out as troublemakers.

The Vales, specialists in sustainable living at Victoria University of Wellington, analysed popular brands of pet food and calculated that a medium-sized dog eats around 164 kilos (360 pounds) of meat and 95 kilos of cereal a year.

Combine the land required to generate its food and a "medium" sized dog has an annual footprint of 0.84 hectares (2.07 acres) -- around twice the 0.41 hectares required by a 4x4 driving 10,000 kilometres (6,200 miles) a year, including energy to build the car.

Arrow Down

Climate Change Alliance Crumbling

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© PAUnder water: Cult British street artist Banksy passes judgment on the failure of the Copenhagen summit to reach a legally binding accord
Cracks emerged on Tuesday in the alliance on climate change formed at the Copenhagen conference last week, with leading developing countries criticising the resulting accord.

The so-called Basic countries - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - backed the accord in a meeting with the US on Friday night, and it was also supported by almost all other nations at the talks, including all of the biggest emitters.

But on Tuesday the Brazilian government labelled the accord "disappointing" and complained that the financial assistance it contained from rich to poor countries was insufficient.

South Africa also raised objections: Buyelwa Sonjica, the environment minister, called the failure to produce a legally binding agreement "unacceptable". She said her government had considered leaving the meeting.

Bizarro Earth

2 Feet for Christmas? You Better Watch Out

A storm likely to hit on Wednesday could make this "the snowiest Christmas ... in 30 years" - and be a pain for last-minute travelers.

A large winter storm with the potential to dump a foot or more of snow is grinding its way toward Minnesota, and its arrival is likely to mess up travel plans, complicate last-minute errands and ensure a very white Christmas.

"It's not definite yet, but it has an uncanny resemblance to the East Coast storm last Saturday," meteorologist Paul Douglas posted Monday on his Facebook page. "I want to see one to two more computer runs, but this could be the snowiest Christmas for Minnesota in 30 years."

According to a winter storm warning issued this afternoon for central and southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the mess is expected to begin Wednesday afternoon -- and go on and on.

Umbrella

Don't Blame the System for Winter Travel Chaos. Stay Put

Hypermobility is now the opium of the people, an obsession that wrecks communities and planet. There are no free trips

Nature loves irony. As Copenhagen's Glastonbury of gloom ended last week and the global warming groupies jetted home, they were greeted by, of all things, a freeze. "Road, rail and air chaos as UK grinds to a halt," cried the Guardian.

The Times shrieked, "Worst driving conditions in years." The BBC asked: "Is the government doing enough?" Britain was paralysed by a little ice. It was "the curse of the fluffy French snowflake" - and all the fault of the French.

My solution to winter travel chaos? Don't travel. Stay indoors. Build a fire. Live and shop within walking distance of civilisation. Associate with neighbours. See distant relatives some other time of the year. Above all, do not complain if you insist on laying siege to motorways, stations and airports and the weather or the labour force let you down, as they do every year. It is not their fault, it is yours for being there.

Of all human activities that bring out the selfish in mankind, nothing compares with travel. The externalities of travel economics should be on every school curriculum. We see mobility through our own eyes alone, with no view of the similar demands of others. I am a free and independent spirit innocently enjoying the right to roam; you are a travel-mad lemming who thinks he has a God-given right to tarmac, train or plane just when I am there. Get out of my way.

Newspaper

Ed Miliband: China Tried to Hijack Copenhagen Climate Deal

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© Anja Niedringhaus/AP PhotoEd Miliband has pointed the finger at China over the outcome of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
Climate secretary accuses China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack Copenhagen

The climate secretary, Ed Miliband, today accuses China, Sudan, Bolivia and other leftwing Latin American countries of trying to hijack the UN climate summit and "hold the world to ransom" to prevent a deal being reached.

In an article in the Guardian, Miliband says the UK will make clear to those countries holding out against a binding legal treaty that "we will not allow them to block global progress".

"We cannot again allow negotiations on real points of substance to be hijacked in this way," he writes in the aftermath of the UN summit in Copenhagen, which climaxed with what was widely seen as a weak accord, with no binding emissions targets, despite an unprecedented meeting of leaders.

Frog

Pretty iridescent clouds dot Orange County skies

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© Gary Robbins
If you looked at the sky this afternoon about 4 p.m. you might have noticed a beautiful phenomenon that's common but doesn't seem that way because it last so briefly. Its official name is iridescence, although I refer to the phenomenon as "mini rainbows" because large portions of the edges of clouds briefly exhibit many of the colors of the rainbow, in a more muted tone. Today's clouds were shaded pink and blue and teal.

You can "compare this (phenomenon) to a prism," says Stefanie Sullivan, a forecaster at the National Weather Service. "Sunlight passes through the clouds at different wave lengths, bending the light at different angles so you can see the whole spectrum of colors instead of just white."

Today's iridescene appeared in cirrus clouds that were moving east at about 35 mph at an altitiude of 20,000 to 25,000 feet. "This happens fairly frequently," Sullivan says. "But you don't always see if because the sun has to be at just the right angle and the cirrus has to have the right ice crystals."

Cloud Lightning

Rare 'mountain wave' forms in Orange County, California

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© Debbie Cavers
I receive weather photos from readers almost daily, few which are as pretty and interesting as this one. , a project manager for the Orange County Parks system, says, "Coming into work this morning at approximately 8:15 a.m., I captured this unusual cloud formation, which was shaped like a pyramid.

"The photo(s) (there are two) were taken on Villa Park Road/Katella near Hewes heading east toward Saddleback Mtn. Within seconds, it disappeared. I don't think I'll ever see anything like this again."

Noel Isla, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, says the photo shows "mountain wave turbulence. Strong winds formed stratrocumulus clouds into the shape of a pyramid. You can see the wave of the cloud on the right side. The lower part of the cloud is 4,000 to 6,000 feet high, and was hiding the mountains. This is rare for the Orange County area, but not in the mountains further inland, where there is more turbulence."

Winds were very strong this morning, gusting to almost 40 mph in parts of Orange County and above 40 in the upper San Bernardino Mountains.

Question

Ocean smoke off California puzzles forecasters

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© Tracy Sizemore
A photograph recently sent to us by reader Tracy Sizemore has National Weather Service forecasters puzzled. The image was taken on December 15 and shows what appear to be rows of smoke flowing offshore at the ocean's surface in Aliso Beach. The photo was reportedly taken at 6:50 a.m., on a day when the wind was blowing offshore. The ocean temperature was 59 degrees.

"I'm not sure what this is," said Miguel Miller, a veteran weather service forecaster. "It might be some kind of evaporation. But this isn't the sort of thing you'd see on a warm day over a cold lake."

Cloud Lightning

Winter storms blast U.S., headed for Canada

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A massive winter storm that is being blamed for at least 23 deaths in the United States has made its way north, to parts of Canada.

Areas of southern Manitoba were to be hit with as much as 25 centimetres of snow on Christmas Day, according Environment Canada.

The federal agency also issued freezing-rain warnings for parts of Quebec and Ontario, including Ottawa.

In the U.S., meanwhile, as much as 61 cm of snow was expected by late Christmas Day in some northern states, with blizzard warnings issued from Texas up to North Dakota on the border with Canada.

Cloud Lightning

1 Death Blamed on Storms in Louisiana

Lafayette, Louisiana - Powerful thunderstorms swept across Louisiana, producing possible tornadoes and high winds blamed in the death of one person.

Capt. Kip Judice, patrol commander of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, says a man in Scott, outside Lafayette in south Louisiana, died and his wife was injured when high winds toppled a tree onto their home Thursday morning.

Maxine Trahan, a spokeswoman for the Acadia Parish Sheriff's Office, said that near Crowley, which is about 30 miles west of Lafayette, several homes in a subdivision were damaged -- and some destroyed -- by a possible tornado.

The storms came just over a week after drenching rains caused flooding in parts of southeastern Louisiana and produced one of the wettest months on record for the New Orleans area.