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Archive for July 5th, 2012
Land-Grant Universities And Agriculture’s Future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2012
National Public Radio: The Morrill Act of 1862 began a transformation of American agriculture. Congress donated 30,000 acres of public land to each state to establish what became known as land-grant colleges and universities. Now, with looming environmental challenges, land-grant institutions are more important than ever.
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Extreme weather events forecast storm over climate change denial
Posted by Guardian: Amy Goodman on July 5th, 2012
Guardian: Evidence supporting the existence of climate change is pummeling the United States this summer, from the mountain wildfires of Colorado to the recent "derecho" storm that left at least 23 dead and 1.4 million people without power from Illinois to Virginia. The phrase "extreme weather" flashes across television screens from coast to coast, but its connection to climate change is consistently ignored, if not outright mocked. If our news media, including – or especially – the meteorologists, continue...
United States: District by District, Climate Change in Los Angeles
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2012
New York Times: Last year, as part of a series about planners mapping out adaptations to climate change, I wrote about how the city of Chicago was expecting that its climate would be comparable to that of Baton Rouge today by the end of the century.
Chicago based its predictions on global climate models that had been adjusted to use data from local weather stations and to take into account the moderating effect of Lake Michigan. Still, the model was described as little more than a schematic evaluation of the...
Canada: Climate changing for Toronto’s urban forest
Posted by Toronto Star: http://i.thestar.com/images/19/e6/7ab5537247a486aed09ea2c7bdd9.jpg on July 5th, 2012
Toronto Star: It's tough being a tree in Toronto.
Many trees in the downtown core are in too-small concrete planters, have to fend off insects and drink whatever little water falls nearby.
The latest heat wave and dry spell have been making life even more difficult for the city's urban forestry.
"We're not at that critical point, but climate change has a significant impact on tree health, so you've got climate change, you've got invasive insects like (Emerald Ash Borer) and gypsy moth, Asian longhorn...
Warming: Reality has arrived
Posted by Charleston Gazette: None Given on July 5th, 2012
Charleston Gazette: A major scientist from West Virginia is rushing to finish his landmark research before global warming wipes out his evidence.
Dr. Lonnie Gene Thompson, born on a farm near Gassaway, went to Ohio State University to become a coal geologist -- but instead became intrigued by glacier ice that contains a frozen record of climate conditions dating back as far as 800,000 years.
Since the 1970s, he has collected huge numbers of deep core drill ice samples containing dust, volcanic ash, water chemistry...
Some Western cities ban fireworks on Fourth as blazes spread
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2012
Washington Post: Parts of Colorado celebrated Independence Day sans fireworks with some communities banning the holiday displays to guard against the further spread of wildfire across the region.
Though rain cooled Colorado's blazes Wednesday, more than a dozen wildfires elsewhere in the West chewed through bone-dry timber and brush.
Wildfires in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado sent haze and smoke across Colorado's Front Range, prompting air-quality health advisories as firefighters warned of growing fires in sparsely...
Climate change no longer a priority – poll
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Americans no longer see climate change as the world's number-one environmental issue, according to a public opinion poll released on Tuesday amid an ongoing heat wave in much of the United States.
Twenty-nine percent cited water and air pollution as the most pressing concern, the Washington Post-Stanford University poll indicated, followed by 18 percent who pointed to climate change - way down from 33 percent in 2007.
More than 800 adults took part in the telephone survey between June 13 and...
Zimbabwe: As piped water dries up, city dwellers turn to carrying water
Posted by AlertNet: Madalitso Mwando on July 5th, 2012
AlertNet: Samukeliso Tshuma, a 33-year old mother of four, lives in one of Bulaway's teeming high density urban townships, but these days gets her water the same way rural dwellers do -- from a borehole well.
This is "something I never imagined I would be doing,' said Tshuma, who formerly relied on city-provided piped water.
Spare rainfall has hit water levels at dams supplying Zimbabwe's second largest city with piped water, raising fears among municipal offers that supplies may soon run out, and leading...
El Nino may begin in 3rd quarter of 2012 : CPC
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 5th, 2012
Reuters: The feared El Nino weather phenomenon could strike as early as the third quarter of 2012, raising prospects of wreaking weather havoc from North and South America to Asia, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said on Thursday.
"Overall, the forecaster consensus reflects increased chances for El Nino beginning in July-September 2012," the agency said in a monthly update.
The monthly report is the strongest prediction yet about when the El Nino weather phenomenon could emerge this year. Last...
United States: Helping U.S. Farmers Increase Production and Protect the Land
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Julie Menter on July 5th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: In California, farmers can go online and access detailed data on evapotranspiration from a state network of weather stations, helping them calculate the optimal amount of water to apply on a given day to irrigated crops in their region. In a pilot study, growers using the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) reduced their water use by 13 percent while increasing their yields by 8 percent. Still, despite these benefits, farmers use CIMIS data on only 5 percent of irrigated cropland...