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Archive for August 22nd, 2012
Kenya steps up measures to contain deadly maize disease
Posted by Reuters: Beatrice Gachenge on August 22nd, 2012
Reuters: Kenya has asked farmers to burn tracts of maize fields and plant alternative crops to mitigate the spread of a deadly maize virus that has the potential to wipe out 80 percent of the crop, a senior official in the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday.
The disease - maize lethal necrosis - has caused fears of soaring food prices in east Africa's biggest economy, which faces a deficit of the staple every year and bridges the gap through imports from Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi.
Wilson...
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Climate issues important to our region
Posted by Toledo Blade: None Given on August 22nd, 2012
Toledo Blade: A new scientific paper asserts the Earth is warming even faster than expected. As the United States, including the Great Lakes region, endures one of the worst droughts in history, an effective strategy to address climate change requires a stronger commitment from Washington and the private sector to control greenhouse gases.
The study, whose principal author is NASA's James Hansen, blames the 2011 Texas-Oklahoma drought, the 2010 heat waves in Russia and the Middle East and the 2003 European...
UN urges countries to adopt national drought policies
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on August 22nd, 2012
BusinessGreen: Nations across the world have been told to adopt drought management policies as a matter of urgency as estimates of the cost to insurers of this year's dry summer in the US skyrockets. The ripple effects of America's worst drought in more than half a century on world food markets shows the vulnerability of an interconnected world to a hazard expected to increase in the future, UN agencies including the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)...
UN calls for integrated climate policies to counter drought threats
Posted by Samay Live: None Given on August 22nd, 2012
Samay Live: As farmers from Africa to India struggle with insufficient rainfall, the United Nations has sought consolidated efforts to combat climate change threat and counter its effects on global food security.
"Climate change is projected to increase the frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts, with impacts on many sectors, in particular food, water, and energy," warned World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
"We need to move away from a piecemeal, crisis-driven...
Multiple Factors Including Climate Change Led to Collapse and Depopulation of Ancient Maya
Posted by EP Magazine: None Given on August 22nd, 2012
EP Magazine: A new analysis of complex interactions between humans and the environment preceding the 9th century collapse and abandonment of the Central Maya Lowlands in the Yucatán Peninsula points to a series of events -- some natural, like climate change; some human-made, including large-scale landscape alterations and shifts in trade routes -- that have lessons for contemporary decision-makers and sustainability scientists.
In their revised model of the collapse of the ancient Maya, social scientists B.L....
Hydrofracking Ads, Pro and Con, Come to New York State
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 22nd, 2012
New York Times: As Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration finishes up new regulations on where and how to allow hydraulic fracturing in New York State, groups on both sides of the issue are turning to the airwaves in a late-inning effort to press their cases. The advertisements are appearing in the Southern Tier region, just north of the Pennsylvania border, where the Marcellus Shale rock formation is rich in natural gas, and where communities may have to give local approval for drilling to be allowed in their area...
Climate vs. weather: Extreme events narrow doubts
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Richard Ingham on August 22nd, 2012
Agence France-Presse: Heatwaves, drought and floods that have struck the northern hemisphere for the third summer running are narrowing doubts that man-made warming is disrupting Earth's climate system, say some scientists.
Climate experts as a group are reluctant to ascribe a single extreme event or season to global warming.
Weather, they argue, has to be assessed over far longer periods to confirm a shift in the climate and whether natural factors or fossil-fuel emissions are the cause.
But for some, such caution...