Earth Changes

Bald eagle attacks pets in Michigan neighborhood

upi.com
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 11:03 UTC

A Michigan woman said a young bald eagle took up residence in her neighborhood and has been terrorizing her dogs.

Tami Bieri of Sebewaing said the bird, which her young daughter dubbed Derrick, has become a "nuisance bird" that poses a threat to her small dogs, WNEM-TV, Saginaw, reported Wednesday.

"I left my two dogs outside and my smaller dog was attacked by an eagle. And then as the eagle was taking off with the dog, my Jack Russell attacked the eagle and both dogs got away," Bieri said.

Bieri said local and state officials told her there is nothing they can do about the bird because bald eagles are federally protected.

"I've called the [Department of Natural Resources], the Sebewaing police, and they pretty much say there's nothing they can do because the eagle's not injured," Bieri said.

Karen Cleveland, a bird expert with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, said residents can use non-violent methods to let the eagle know he is not welcome in the neighborhood.

"Clap your hands and yell at the bird when you see the bird around, bang on a pot when you see the bird around, go out there with an umbrella, flap the umbrella opened and closed to try and spook the bird off just so it doesn't feel settled around people," Cleveland said.

Due to too much ice: Alaska village grapples with collapse in walrus harvest

Jim Carlton
The Wall Street Journal
Thu, 10 Oct 2013 10:42 UTC

Gambell - For as long as many here can remember, hunters in this Eskimo village where the mountains of Siberia are clearly visible have managed to kill enough walruses to provide food that lasts through the brutal Arctic winter.

But after harvesting only 108 walruses this year - one sixth the average - the island community of 690 residents is rushing to find alternate sources of food before winter sets in. Other towns have offered donations of reindeer and fish, but tribal officials say it isn't enough to offset the shortage. Villagers say they can't afford to shop at the one full-service store because prices there can be three times as high as on the mainland.

"If it continues like this, we will seriously starve," said Jennifer Campbell , a 38-year-old mother of five whose family caught two walruses this year, down from as many as 20 in normal years. In August, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell declared an economic disaster for Gambell and its sister village of Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island, freeing up more state resources such as possible grants to help the stricken communities.

State and federal marine experts, meanwhile, say the collapse of the walrus harvest is another example of how wild weather is altering life in native villages like these that still follow a subsistence lifestyle. Rick Thoman , a climatologist with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks, said the Arctic's warming climate is likely to make it harder for such villages to catch enough walruses and other prey animals and fish, which scientists say are likely to fall in number in coming years due to diminished ice.

But this past spring, the village had the opposite problem: The coldest winter to hit the state in decades meant the Siberian Yupik Eskimo hunters on the island, which lies just 36 miles from Russia's Chukchi Peninsula, weren't able to maneuver their boats past unusually thick ice in the Bering Sea as the walrus herds migrated past.

Comment: Despite the author's efforts to concentrate on global warming in the whole article, the fact is that there is a cold change underway.

100mph winds to batter Britain! Indian summer ends as UK set for '-3C Arctic plunge'

Nathan Rao
Express
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 00:00 UTC

Forecasters warned of a "dramatic change" from today as warm conditions make way for a Polar blast.

They said fierce winds at sea will whip up huge waves triggering potentially disruptive flooding in coastal regions.

The Met Office issued a severe weather warning for winds in the East today and warned of 100mph gusts in the Scottish Mountains.

The Environment Agency warned people not to walk along coastal paths and avoid driving on sea roads at risk of flooding.

It warned 5ft waves along the east coast will send waves crashing over seafront promenades and flooding local roads.

The mercury is expected to plunge today bringing temperatures "dramatically" lower than enjoyed over the past week.

The Met Office warned parts of Scotland will shiver in overnight lows of -3C (27F) while thermometers in the South will struggle to rise out of single figures.

Spokesman Laura Young said: "On Thursday the risk is of strong winds and waves, which could cause disruption in eastern coastal regions.

"There is also the risk of hail and some potentially heavy rainfall mainly in the East and South-east, people should be aware of coastal disruption.

"Over the next couple of days it is going to feel much colder and there is the risk of localised gales.

"Over the high ground in the hills there will be some wintry showers and a dusting of snow."

Dangerous levels of radioactivity found at fracking waste site in Pennsylvania

Felicity Carus
The Guardian, UK
Wed, 02 Oct 2013 14:41 UTC

Scientists have for the first time found dangerous levels of radioactivity and salinity at a shale gas waste disposal site that could contaminate drinking water. If the UK follows in the steps of the US "shale gas revolution", it should impose regulations to stop such radioactive buildup, they said.

The Duke University study, published on Wednesday, examined the water discharged from Josephine Brine Treatment Facility into Blacklick Creek, which feeds into a water source for western Pennsylvania cities, including Pittsburgh. Scientists took samples upstream and downstream from the treatment facility over a two-year period, with the last sample taken in June this year.

Elevated levels of chloride and bromide, combined with strontium, radium, oxygen, and hydrogen isotopic compositions, are present in the Marcellus shale wastewaters, the study found.

Radioactive brine is naturally occurring in shale rock and contaminates wastewater during hydraulic fracturing - known as fracking. Sometimes that "flowback" water is re-injected into rock deep underground, a practice that can cause seismic disturbances, but often it is treated before being discharged into watercourses.

Radium levels in samples collected at the facility were 200 times greater than samples taken upstream. Such elevated levels of radioactivity are above regulated levels and would normally be seen at licensed radioactive disposal facilities, according to the scientists at Duke University's Nicholas school of the environment in North Carolina.

Mutton birds in their hundreds wash up on Sydney's northern beaches as their migration ends

Andrew Priestley
dailytelegraph.com.au
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 09:40 UTC

Mutton birds have been found dead in large numbers on the northern beaches

Hundreds of dead mutton birds have turned up on the northern beaches in a grim demonstration of nature's way.

The Tasmanian mutton birds, also known as short-tailed shearwaters, have been found in large numbers on Newport, Narrabeen, Collaroy and Dee Why beaches in the past week.

The mass deaths are a natural result of the bird's epic migration from Bass Strait to the Bering Sea on the edge of the Arctic Circle.

The 30,000km return journey sees a number of birds reach the limits of their endurance, falling into the sea and being washed up on our shores as they near the end of their journey.

As a result, large numbers of birds can sometimes be found on Australian east coast beaches, according to the NSW Wildlife, Rescue and Education Service

Typhoon Fitow wreaks havoc in E China province

Zhu Ningzhu
Xinhua
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 09:16 UTC

Wenzhou - Ten people were killed and five others remain missing in Wenzhou City after Typhoon Fitow brought heavy rains to east China's Zhejiang province, local authorities announced on Wednesday.

Among the dead, eight died of electric shocks, including a family of three, according to a statement from the government of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province.

Two men died after their car plunged into a river, said the statement.

Typhoon Fitow, which made landfall in Fujian Province, just south of Zhejiang, early on Monday, has triggered heavy rain in the region, inundating roads and houses, and causing river breaches and power failures.

As of 11 a.m. on Wednesday, 254,746 households in Zhejiang Province had no power supply. About 10,000 workers are repairing electrical facilities in the province.

The typhoon has affected 7 million people in 11 cities in Zhejiang, causing direct economic losses of 12.4 billion yuan (2 billion U.S.dollars)as of 10 p.m. on Monday, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The county-level city of Yuyao, which is administered by Ningbo City, has been severely affected in the recent typhoon-triggered storms.h As of Wednesday, over 70 percent of the downtown area of the city had been flooded. Over 830,000 people from 21 townships in the city have been affected, though no casualties have been reported so far, according to the local government.

Winter to open with bitter cold, snow in U.S. northwest, Rockies -forecaster

Daniel Kelley
newsdaily.com
Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:04 UTC

The Pacific Northwest and western Rockies should brace for a dramatic start to the winter, with bitter cold and significant snowfalls, while the eastern United States will have less of both, according to a long-term forecast by Accuweather.

The private forecasting firm also warned that the upper Midwest, including Chicago, could face heavy snow around the holidays, in a forecast released on Wednesday, less than a week after a rare October snowstorm hit the central Rocky Mountain region, stranding motorists, killing livestock, and downing trees in parts of Wyoming and South Dakota.

Warmer weather is forecast for Oregon and Washington, with colder conditions to the east in Wyoming and Montana. Those colder conditions will bring more snow, but forecasters are less certain of where the temperature differential will occur.

Mystery of why 22 long-finned whales washed up to their deaths on Spanish beach

Hayley O'keeffe
The Daily Mail, UK
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 07:47 UTC

Whales washed up and died at Manon Beach in Spain

Authorities and conservationists battled to save long-finned pilot whales

The whales are sociable creatures and often interact with dolphins

22 long-finned pilot whales have died after coming ashore on the Manon beach, north of La Coruna, Galicia today. Conservationists and authorities battled to save the animals, and now a mystery surrounds why they beached in the first place

A natural mystery is unfolding in Spain after 22 long-finned pilot whales came ashore at Manon Beach.

The picture shows six of the 22 long-finned pilot whale that beached on the shore, north of La Coruna, Galicia, Spain today (Monday).

Sadly 11 of the whales died on arrival to the beach and the others died later despite the efforts of the Spanish Civil Protection, environmentalists and Galicia Coordination mammalian studies.

Long-finned pilot whales or globicephala melas are very sociable and family-orientated animals and are even known to socialise with bottle nosed-dolphins

Propaganda Fail: Almost half of survey respondents don't know the 'CO2 warms the atmosphere' claim

Anthony Watts
Watts Up With That?
Tue, 08 Oct 2013 18:50 UTC

People send me stuff.

In my Inbox today was a link to a Science Poll conducted by the Pew Research Center. The aim of the poll was to gauge American knowledge of science and it is a parallel poll to one conducted by telephone. Given the millions spent on global warming/climate change messaging, I was shocked to see the results of this question on Carbon Dioxide. Note what I circled in red.

Similarly, I thought far more people would get this grade school science question right. Only 20% did.

Opening of NSA's massive data terminal in Utah delayed again as 'fiery explosions caused by electrical surges' continue to melt facility's equipment

Abby Ohlheiser
The Atlantic Wire
Mon, 07 Oct 2013 16:28 UTC

The NSA's huge Utah data center is supposed to help U.S. intelligence collect billions of bytes of data when it opens this fall. But the agency hit a snag or two in trying to take the complex live: a mysterious, repeated electrical failure keeps melting the facility's equipment. The center, located in Utah in part because of a need to access the massive amounts of cheap electricity available there, has suffered 10 meltdowns over 13 months, starting in August 2012. Each incident created about $100,000 dollars in damage.

And according to the Wall Street Journal report on the facility, those problems could have a lot to do with the contractors (a running theme) tasked with building it. The Journal, using documents and interviews, outlines the delays and problems encountered by the agency in its completion of the mostly classified complex.

Speaking to an official, the paper notes that the electrical problems plaguing the facility are like "a flash of lightning inside a 2-foot box." And those flashes, they continue, "create fiery explosions, melt metal and cause circuits to fail." So, why is it happening?

Comment: Whoever said watching the end of the world (as we know it) wouldn't be fun?!

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Earth Changes

Bald eagle attacks pets in Michigan neighborhood

Due to too much ice: Alaska village grapples with collapse in walrus harvest

100mph winds to batter Britain! Indian summer ends as UK set for '-3C Arctic plunge'

Dangerous levels of radioactivity found at fracking waste site in Pennsylvania

Mutton birds in their hundreds wash up on Sydney's northern beaches as their migration ends

Typhoon Fitow wreaks havoc in E China province

Winter to open with bitter cold, snow in U.S. northwest, Rockies -forecaster

Mystery of why 22 long-finned whales washed up to their deaths on Spanish beach

Propaganda Fail: Almost half of survey respondents don't know the 'CO2 warms the atmosphere' claim

Opening of NSA's massive data terminal in Utah delayed again as 'fiery explosions caused by electrical surges' continue to melt facility's equipment

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