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Archive for July 26th, 2012
Central African countries to monitor Congo forests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Ten Central African countries have agreed to take part in a regional initiative to monitor the Congo Basin, one of the world's largest primary rainforests, the UN's food agency said Thursday.
"A new regional initiative will help 10 Central African countries to set up advanced national forest monitoring systems," the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) announced.
The 10 countries are Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Equatorial...
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Greenland’s ice sheet is melting fast – I’m not surprised
Posted by Guardian: Edward Hanna on July 26th, 2012
Guardian: I wasn't hugely surprised to see the news from Nasa about unprecedented melting of most of the Greenland ice sheet surface. Much of Greenland has been experiencing record warmth since May, and on the 29th of that month the weather station in the extreme south reached a positively balmy 24.8C, which set a new record May temperature for the country; this is significant because records from several weather stations extend back to the late 19th century.
The unusually warm conditions prevailed for...
China: Beijing storm official death toll more than doubles to 77
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2012
Associated Press: Chinese authorities have raised the death toll from Beijing's floods to 77 from 37 after the public questioned the days-old tally. Some residents even compiled their own totals amid deep mistrust of the government's handling of the disaster.
The Beijing city government said 77 bodies had been found in the city as of Thursday. It said 66 had been identified, five of whom were local officials who died while helping disaster relief and rescue efforts.
No figures had been issued since Sunday, the...
Dead cattle and burned pastures pose long-term challenge for ranches hit by wildfires in West
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2012
Associated Press: Cecil and Delores Kolka thought they escaped the worst of the Ash Creek Fire when the 390-square-mile blaze spared their home and several pastures as it ripped through the couple’s Montana cattle ranch. But when the family went to round up their livestock they encountered carnage — the charred and bloated bodies of an estimated 400 cows and calves killed as the fire torched a series of narrow, thickly forested draws on the nearby Custer National Forest. Some surviving animals were burned so badly...
Severe drought seen as driving cost of food up
Posted by New York Times: Annie Lowrey and Ron Nixon on July 26th, 2012
New York Times: Scorching heat and the worst drought in nearly a half-century are threatening to send food prices up, spooking consumers and leading to worries about global food costs. On Wednesday, the government said it expected the record-breaking weather to drive up the price for groceries next year, including milk, beef, chicken and pork. The drought is now affecting 88 percent of the corn crop, a staple of processed foods and animal feed as well as the nation’s leading farm export. The government’s forecast,...
New US EPA rule could shut down West’s biggest coal plant
Posted by KSL: John Hollenhorst on July 26th, 2012
KSL: Controversy is boiling over the West's biggest coal-fired power plant, located just south of the Utah-Arizona border near the shores of Lake Powell.
Owners of the Navajo Generating Station say an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to clear the air in the region's national parks may push the plant into an unacceptable financial situation. They've indicated it could force a shutdown as early as 2017.
"The critical issue is the timing of it," said George Hardeen, a spokesman for the plant....
USDA predicts food prices to rise in drought’s wake
Posted by National Public Radio: Allison Keyes on July 26th, 2012
National Public Radio: ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
And I'm Audie Cornish. We begin this hour with the drought and how it could affect your grocery bill. Today, the U.S. Agriculture Department designated 76 more counties as disaster areas because of the drought and excessive heat. And it said that severe drought will likely affect prices for corn and other field crops, although it's too soon to know how much prices will go up.
We...
Severe drought adds 76 counties to list of U.S. disaster areas
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on July 26th, 2012
Washington Post: The nation's worst drought in a half-century has spread, and 76 counties in six Midwestern states were declared disaster areas Wednesday as the Obama administration added them to the more than 1,300 counties already on the list.
At least two-thirds of the area of the contiguous United States is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Drought Monitor. Hot, dry conditions have caused significant damage to corn, soybeans, pastures and rangeland...
‘Grand Canyon’ under Antarctica tied to ice loss
Posted by MSNBC: Miguel Llanos on July 26th, 2012
MSNBC: A newly discovered Antarctica valley buried by ice and as deep as the Grand Canyon could be contributing to rising sea levels, scientists reported Thursday.
The ancient topography is such that relatively warm sea water could be eating away at the ice edge -- and a question for future research is whether that process is happening elsewhere along Antarctica's coastal rift valleys.
A few other ice-covered valleys have been found but the geology of this one, discoverer Rob Bingham told NBC News,...
Melting Glaciers May Worsen Northwest China’s Water Woes
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Mike Ives on July 26th, 2012
Yale Environment 360: During four of the last 10 summers, more than half of the 800-mile Tarim River in northwestern China ran dry. Landscape ecologist Niels Thevs has been there conducting fieldwork and has watched water shortages take the heaviest toll on downstream cotton farmers, who irrigate six or seven times during the growing cycle. “One could really feel the struggle for water,” Thevs recalls. “People did everything they could.” But their typical strategy -- drilling wells -- only further depleted the basin’s...