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Archive for July 23rd, 2012
Analysis: Drought to cause food price spike but not inflation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
Reuters: Americans face higher food prices at the supermarket because of a drought this summer, but the increase will not have a lasting impact on inflation or the Federal Reserve's thinking on monetary policy.
Corn and soybean prices on the futures market have surged to record highs amid the worst drought in half a century, with new crop contracts for corn rising 50 percent since early June and soybeans increasing about 35 percent.
"It's kind of like a transitory oil price spike. We get good rains...
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U.S. drought could set in motion global food crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
Mongabay: The U.S. is suffering drought levels not seen in over 50 years—and drawing comparisons to the Dust Bowl—with 56 percent of the contiguous U.S. in moderate to extreme drought. Some experts fear that the drought, and resulting hikes in food prices, could propel another global food crisis like those seen in 2008 and 2010. While not as severe as the Dust Bowl yet, the drought has put the U.S. government on alarm. Unprecedentedly, the government has declared a third of the U.S. counties covering 26 states...
A Limit to Gains From Genetically Engineered Cotton
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
New York Times: Since genetically modified cotton was introduced in India a decade ago, its popularity has skyrocketed. Last year more than seven million farmers there used insect-resistant varieties of the crop.
As engineered versions of the crop have become more prevalent in India, its use has drawn sharp criticism from activists who argue that the corporations that develop and distribute modified seeds have done little to improve farmers’ yields.
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National...
Study finds climate change driving salmon evolution
Posted by Washington Post: Sara Reardon on July 23rd, 2012
Washington Post: For salmon trying to make it upriver to spawn before a hot summer hits, slow and steady loses the evolutionary race.
Salmon DNA records stretching back over 30 years show that nature has increasingly selected for fish that migrate from the ocean earlier in the year. It is among the first pieces of genetic evidence that climate change is driving the evolution of a species.
Many species have changed their migration patterns over the past few decades in response to warmer temperatures. What is...
The Missing Link: Droughts, the Economy and Climate Change
Posted by Forbes: Jennifer Morgan on July 23rd, 2012
Forbes: USDA Under Secretary Michael Scuse (right) discusses the drought with an alfalfa farmer in Paulding County, Ohio. Photo Credit: USDA/ Christina Reed
The effects of the vast drought afflicting America’s farm belt are rippling across the economy. Major companies apparently feeling the heat from rising crop prices include McDonald’s, Smithfield Foods and Arthur Daniels Midland, which processes agricultural commodities.
More than half of the nation’s pasture and rangeland is now plagued by drought...
China struggles with flood recovery as death toll mounts
Posted by Guardian: Tania Branigan on July 23rd, 2012
Guardian: The waters that surged through the village of Louzishui on the outskirts of Beijing fell almost as abruptly as they had arrived. Under the blazing sun, the rubble left behind was dry enough to allow a cluster of crouching mourners to burn offerings of paper money for the dead.
"My husband was washed away while he was driving," said one middle-aged woman. A few feet away, five cars lay crushed, half-filled with mud, windscreens smashed and doors twisted by the force of the torrent that swept through...
Some University Fracking Studies Funded by Industry Groups, Report Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
Yale Environment 360: Several university-led studies that have downplayed concerns about the controversial drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing have been funded in part by drilling companies themselves, Bloomberg News reports. Bloomberg cited, for example, a 2009 report published by Pennsylvania State University predicting that drilling companies would shun projects in that state if required to pay a 5 percent tax on drilling revenues. But researchers did not disclose that their study had been funded in part...
Rapid Warming of Baltic Sea Linked to Increase in Bacterial Infections
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
Yale Environment 360: The warming of the Baltic Sea is causing an increase in bacterial infections that can lead to cholera and gastroenteritis, according to a new study. An international team of researchers found that each year temperatures in the Baltic Sea spiked by 1 degree C was accompanied by a 200-percent increase in vibrio infections, which can cause serious ailments in humans who ingest the water or eat contaminated shellfish. Vibrio bacteria are generally found in warmer, tropical waters, but the bacteria can...
Drought Grips Nation and Shows What Climate Change Does to Our Communities
Posted by Huffington Post: Frances Beinecke on July 23rd, 2012
Huffington Post: The worst drought in 50 years has descended on America and left communities struggling to cope. "If no significant rain comes, I will have to go out of business," explained Karen Harrelson, one of many farmers and ranchers fighting to hang on through the drought. "I just don't have any grass and won't be able to afford the hay prices." She has already been forced to sell 100 of her 250 herd of cattle. The summer from hell continues to bring wave after wave of extreme weather events, and each one...
Deadly Beijing flood raises questions about infrastructure
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 23rd, 2012
Associated Press: As China's flood-ravaged capital dealt with the aftermath of the heaviest rain in six decades Monday, including the deaths of 37 people, questions were being raised about whether the city's push for modernization came at the expense of basic infrastructure such as drainage networks.
Rescuers were still searching buildings that collapsed during Saturday night's torrential downpour and some roads that were covered in waist-deep water remained closed. The city government said as of Sunday night,...