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Archive for August 12th, 2010
Extreme weather plagues farming, talks flounder
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Reuters: Global wheat markets reeling from Russian droughts, thousands of cattle killed by heat in Kansas, and countless crop acres wiped out by floods in Pakistan are glimpses of what can be expected as the world struggles to battle climate change. But as concerns mount over extreme weather hitting global food systems this year, governments are no closer to forging a pact to fight climate change. When temperatures rise as a result of smokestack and tailpipe emissions, droughts, heat ...
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Cancún Conference Holds Out Little Hope in Face of Extreme Weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
IPS: Unusually warm temperatures and more frequent and intense droughts and hurricanes... you have seen the headlines. As options dwindle for negotiating a global pact to fight climate change, the United Nations is pointing to today's "extreme conditions." A glance at recent weather reports around the globe reveals these conditions. In the Andes of South America, the snowfall of the current southern hemisphere winter has been intense, killing hundreds of people. But at the same time, ...
Russian fires forecast climate change threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
UPI: World wheat supplies have been sharply reduced due to severe drought and wildfires in Russia, a crop report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture concludes. The wheat supply will be 6.6 percent smaller than in previous projections and prices, which began a steady increase in June when Russia's heat wave began, will continue to surge, the monthly report said. The crop shortage exacerbates the economic and health turmoil Russia has suffered during its worst heat ...
Gulf fishermen: oil tainted our waters, our trus
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Reuters: Some U.S. Gulf Coast fishermen say they have caught crabs with black-stained gills and others report seeing fish and marine life gathering strangely on the sea surface following the massive BP Plc oil spill. They fear these abnormalities could point to a lasting and potentially devastating impact on their fishing grounds and livelihoods from the world's worst offshore oil accident, and they say BP and the government may be downplaying the issue. State and federal authorities, ...
‘Global Weirding’: Extreme Climate Events Dominate The Summer
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Huffington Post: A heatwave in Russia is sparking wildfires that are driving residents from Moscow and devastating the country's wheat crop. A fifth of Pakistan is underwater and millions are deluged by floods in Asia. Another heatwave is torturing Mexico and the East Coast of the United States. An incomprehensibly large chunk of ice has broken off a glacier in Greenland, the most significant climate event there in 50 years. Most scientists caution that no single event can be tied specifically to ...
Wall Street Bails On King Coal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Huffington Post: While the climate bill is withering on the vine in Washington, many of my environmental colleagues have spent the last few weeks rehashing what went wrong. And who could blame them? There is good reason to be disillusioned by Congress's inability to curb climate change, and to reconsider our movement's strategies over the past several years. In my eyes, assuming that Washington is the only place where change can and needs to happen was the first mistake. It turns out that while ...
Wide Range Of Plants Offer Cellulosic Biofuel Potential, Ecological Diversity
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
redOrbit: When it comes to selecting the right plant source for future cellulosic biofuel production, the solution won't be one-size-fits-all, and it certainly doesn't have to involve food and feed crops. In a "Perspective" article in the Aug. 13 edition of the Journal Science, researchers from the Energy Biosciences Institute suggest that a diversity of plant species, adaptable to the climate and soil conditions of specific regions of the world, can be used to develop agroecosystems for fuel ...
UN warn of further loss of life in Pakistan
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Telegraph
Russia’s Medvedev cancels fire emergency in 3 regions
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
Reuters: President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday canceled a state of emergency in three out of seven Russian regions affected by forest fires. "The state of emergency has been canceled in Voronezh and Vladimir regions and the republic of Mari El," Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova told reporters in Taganrog, a town in the rural Rostov region, 1,200 km (745 miles) south of Moscow. She said the situation in the regions had improved significantly. Russia's worst heatwave since records ...
Russia: Smoke-shrouded Moscow gets welcome break from smog
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 12th, 2010
AP: The skies were clear over Moscow Thursday, giving residents a desperately needed break from air pollution thanks to favorable winds and some success in fighting wildfires that have choked the capital with clouds of acrid smog. People walked through the streets without the masks that have become ubiquitous. The towers of the Kremlin and domes of Orthodox cathedrals could be seen without the yellowish veil that's shrouded them for a week. "I can finally open the balcony door to ...