Climate Change | Blue Living Ideas

90 Degree River Shuts Down Southern Nuclear Plant

Posted on Aug 24, 2010 by Susan Kraemer.

0

As a result of the record high temperatures engulfing the South (and much of the planet) the Tennessee Valley Authority has had to shut down its largest nuclear power plant for the 40th day since July 8th, the TimesFreePress reports. The Tennessee River in Alabama is just much too hot.

The river water rose to a record 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the heat wave that hit the East Coast this August. This violates the permit TVA has with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management.

Any possible non-nuclear-effluent cause for 90 degree river water near nuclear reactors was not within the scope of the original licensing and permitting.
[continue reading - 90 Degree River Shuts Down Southern Nuclear Plant]

Continue Reading

Sea Level Rise Threatens Drinking Water of 15 Million Americans

Posted on Aug 09, 2010 by Susan Kraemer.

1

Fresh water that now is flowing to the sea in the Delaware estuary is threatened by future sea-level rise resulting from rising temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions, a new study finds. As sea levels rise, salt water will move inland up the estuary. Drinking water for over 15 million people will be endangered.

The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary studied impacts on drinking water, tidal wetlands and shellfish like the local oysters and freshwater mussels in “Climate Change and the Delaware Estuary.” and how people can adapt to help protect the threatened resources.

Drinking water, tidal wetlands and shellfish are key resources for the estuary; and all three are vulnerable to effects of climate change, including warmer temperatures, higher sea levels and saltier water. Oysters alone brought about $19.2 million into the state in 2009.
[continue reading - Sea Level Rise Threatens Drinking Water of 15 Million Americans]

Continue Reading

Increased CO2 in World’s Oceans Causes Fish to be Attracted to Predators

Posted on Jul 23, 2010 by Jennifer Lance.

1

Human activity is not only causing increased carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in our atmosphere, but our oceans are suffering as well. CO2 absorption causes the water to become more acidic, which in turn alters marine life’s natural instincts to avoid predation. Researchers fear the results will have “far-reaching consequences for the sustainability of fish populations”.
[continue reading - Increased CO2 in World’s Oceans Causes Fish to be Attracted to Predators]

Continue Reading

Canada Takes Water Awareness Lead

Posted on Jul 08, 2010 by Scott James.

0

Say what you will about Canada being up on the latest trends in fashion or music, but our neighbor to the North may be on the verge of setting the course in national water management policy. Recently ministers from across the country met to talk about how best to protect and preserve Canada’s water from the effects of climate change- not to argue about whether it was happening or what the economic issues around it are. The premiers and territorial leaders of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut met for the Western Premiers’ Conference and agreed that immediate action is needed to conserve Canada’s fresh water supplies. The leaders agreed to a Water Charter, stating that climate change has affected the water situation, and that water is “an essential component of all life on Earth and there is no substitute.”
[continue reading - Canada Takes Water Awareness Lead]

Continue Reading

The Other Coastal Problem: Rising Seas

Posted on Jul 02, 2010 by Scott James.

0

Rising sea levels will have an effect on coastal cities, and while the BP Gulf oil leak is getting the press these days, sea level rise from climate change will have an even more long-term and potentially dramatic effect. With the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting a 7 – 23 inch rise by 2011 (with the possibility of 54 inch rise with accelerated Greenland and Arctic melting), communities on both the East and West coasts are taking measures now to prepare for what they know is coming, making incremental changes and learning from past disasters.
[continue reading - The Other Coastal Problem: Rising Seas]