Dan's Outside

Two From the Daily Scoop

Sierra Club Daily Scoop:

• Temperatures in the interior of Alaska reached int…
  Temperatures in the interior of
  Alaska
  reached into the 90s last week as more than 100
  forest fires burned across the state
  , clouding nearly the entire central valley in thick smoke. Meteorologists say the smoke actually kept temperatures cooler in a state that is getting increasingly
  used to the heat
  . As the
  London Independent
  reports, “Between 1949 and 2003, the average annual air temperature in Alaska increased by 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit, with some areas in the state registering increases of almost twice that much, especially in the spring and the autumn.” Glaciers in the state are fast retreating and scientists worry that, if it continues to get warmer, the
  permafrost
  , ”
  a constant of Alaskan geology since the end of the last ice age, will thaw
  .”

  – django [Daily Scoop]

• It didn’t get much notice elsewhere in the media, … It didn’t get much notice elsewhere in the media, but BushGreenwatch.org, a watchdog website that keeps tabs on the Bush administration’s environmental record, reports that 24 Republican lawmakers signed a letter last week expressing strong opposition to the inclusion of language in the budget reconciliation bill that would allow for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The letter, which argues that the budget bill is the wrong place to include such a provision, was addressed to House Resources Committee chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) and also sent to Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Budget Committee chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA). – django [Daily Scoop]

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August 17, 2005 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Environment