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Archive for July 27th, 2012
Could Africa hold the answers to America’s drought woes?
Posted by ClimateWire: Robert S. Eshelman on July 27th, 2012
ClimateWire: The world's poorest continent could offer clues to how America's farmers might cope with a hotter, drier climate, leading agriculture experts say.
In the African Sahel -- the belt of semiarid savanna running from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea -- farmers have successfully fought back an expanding Sahara and turned once dry, uncultivated scrub into highly productive farmland.
The key to their success has been allowing trees to grow, where they once cut them down, and adopting agricultural...
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China accused of downplaying Beijing flood damage, deaths
Posted by USA Today: Bu Calum MacLeod on July 27th, 2012
USA Today: Government authorities raised the death toll Thursday to 77 from the previous total of 37, but some suspect the toll could be much higher from a deluge Saturday and flash flooding.
China's state-controlled media continue to publish and broadcast positive news about the relief effort while censors delete negative postings online.
Southern Weekend, a sometimes daring weekly newspaper based in southern China, lost eight pages of flood reporting to the censors, several of its journalists complained...
Arizona researcher explores dangers of living in dust
Posted by Arizona Republic News: Michael Clancy on July 27th, 2012
Arizona Republic News: Giant monsoon dust storms that roll across the Valley and coat everything in a fine film of dirt are becoming more frequent, according to the experts. That means more deadly accidents, more harmful pollution and more health problems for people breathing in the irritating dust particles.
But one leading researcher says there also needs to be a lot more study of the effects of the tons of dust being kicked up into the air, especially the hidden health costs for millions of people living in Arizona`s...
Report shows US drought rapidly intensifying
Posted by Associated Press: Jim Suhr on July 27th, 2012
Associated Press: The widest drought to grip the United States in decades is getting worse with no signs of abating, a new report warned Thursday, as state officials urged conservation and more ranchers considered selling cattle.
The drought covering two-thirds of the continental U.S. had been considered relatively shallow, the product of months without rain, rather than years. But Thursday's report showed its intensity is rapidly increasing, with 20 percent of the nation now in the two worst stages of drought...
Summers feeling hotter? The temps back you up
Posted by Detroit News: Kim Kozlowski on July 27th, 2012
Detroit News: If it seems like summers are getting hotter in Detroit, history -- and science -- confirm it: Over the last five decades, extreme heat has become more intense and more common, a report released Thursday says.
Since 1959, the number of heat waves has doubled, from an average of two per summer to four.
In addition, there are twice as many hot, humid days in summer compared to 52 years ago, jumping from an average of three to more than six. Nighttime temperatures also have warmed an average of...
Storms may speed ozone loss above the United States
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2012
Nature: Summer thunderstorms across the United States inject water vapour far higher into the atmosphere than was previously believed, promoting a cascade of chemical reactions that could pose an increased threat to Earth’s protective ozone layer as the climate warms.
James Anderson, an atmospheric chemist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his colleagues made the discovery while investigating the origins of high-altitude cirrus clouds -- thin and wispy formations that blanket the...
An epic downpour wipes away a capital’s sheen
Posted by New York Times: Jacob Fromer and Edward Wong on July 27th, 2012
New York Times: In the heart of the Chinese capital is the showcase neighborhood of Sanlitun, where expatriates and Chinese glitterati go to dine, drink and dance. It has gleaming curved skyscrapers, a boutique hotel where rooms list for $400 to $4,000 a night, and restaurants with cuisines like French, Persian and Mexican. What it does not have is a modern drainage system. As an epic rainstorm pounded Beijing on Saturday, murky water rose knee-deep in the streets. Buses plowed through, creating waves that rocked...
Derecho a call to act on climate change
Posted by Daily Progress: Peggy Gilges on July 27th, 2012
Daily Progress: Albemarle County struggled through the aftermath of the June 29 derecho. Slowly we gained back our telephone service, our running water and our electricity. As the heat wave continued, we were happy to have our many creature comforts restored.
Much of the discussion about the bizarre storm has centered on the inconviences it caused us, but there were lasting and significant effects, too: lives lost, property damaged and thousands of trees destroyed.
I hope we have not missed the wake-up call...
Scant rain to give scorched Southwest crops little relief
Posted by Reuters: Sam Nelson on July 27th, 2012
Reuters: Crops in the northern and eastern U.S. Midwest will benefit from showers and cooler temperatures over the next week but heat and drought will continue to punish crops in the southwest, an agricultural meteorologist said on Friday.
"Crops will continue to deteriorate. The corn crop is already gone and in the north and east, beans will improve some but not in the southwest," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather.
"There will be additional rain in the eastern Midwest today and...
Hope on Climate Change: Young Evangelicals for Climate Action
Posted by Huffington Post: Rev. Jim Ball on July 27th, 2012
Huffington Post: Extreme drought. Extreme heat. Freakish storms with names I've never heard of -- a "derecho" -- that knock out power for millions, leaving us sweltering.
If you want to know what living with climate change looks like, look outside or keep abreast of current events. And as temperatures continue to rise, things will get worse.
Global emissions need to peak during the next presidential term, yet neither candidate is talking about what they will do to address the greatest moral challenge of our...