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Archive for October 4th, 2012
Nitrous oxide and methane: the forgotten gases in the forests and climate change debate
Posted by RTCC: Catriona Moss on October 4th, 2012
RTCC: Policy makers seeking to reduce greenhouse gases from deforestation cannot ignore the levels of nitrous oxide and methane released into the atmosphere as part of land conversion for palm oil, soya bean and other crops, scientists say.
While these forgotten gases account for only a small fraction of total greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, nitrous oxide is up to 300 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere when compared to carbon dioxide over a 100-year time period. Methane...
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A Drought’s Toll on Farm Families
Posted by New York Times: John Eligon on October 4th, 2012
New York Times: They have canceled vacations. Their children are forgoing out-of-state colleges for cheaper ones close to home. They are delaying doctor’s visits, selling off land handed down through generations and resisting luxuries like new smartphones. And then there is the stress — sleepless nights, grumpiness and, in one extreme case, seizures. Lost amid the withered crops, dehydrated cattle and depleted ponds that have come to symbolize the country’s most widespread drought in decades has been the toll...
Outlook precarious in Sahel ravaged by drought and rebels-UN
Posted by AlertNet: Stella Dawson on October 4th, 2012
AlertNet: The humanitarian crisis in the Sahel is in danger of escalating unless a careful political solution is crafted to end violence and the chronic shortage of food produced in the West African region is addressed, a United Nations official said on Wednesday.
Rebel militias in Mali are recruiting child soldiers and the outlook for the harvest is uncertain, creating fresh threats that could easily worsen the crisis in a region reeling from its third severe drought since 2005, a military coup in Mali...
Climate-change denial getting harder to defend
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 4th, 2012
LA Times: It was a long hot summer.
The United States experienced the warmest July in its history, with more than 3,000 heat records broken across the country. Overall, the summer was the nation's third warmest on record and comes in a year that is turning out to be the hottest ever. High temperatures along with low precipitation generated drought conditions across 60% of the Lower 48 states, which affected 70% of the corn and soybean crop and rendered part of the Mississippi River nonnavigable. Arctic...
A forecast for the American West: hot and hotter
Posted by LA Times: Alyson Kenward on October 4th, 2012
LA Times: Over the summer and on into the fall, images of flames, smoke plumes, firefighting teams and ruined homes have been on replay, and with good reason: As of Aug. 31, this year tied the record for total acreage burned by wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 8.4 million acres have burned to date -- an area larger than the state of Maryland up in flames.
But as intense as the wildfires have been this year, they provide just a glimpse of the future of the American...