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Archive for October 9th, 2012
Yet Another Reason GMOs Suck
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 9th, 2012
EcoWatch: The U.S. is suffering the worst drought in 50 years. But crop damage may well have been avoided if high quality non-GM (genetically modified) varieties were available to farmers. Further evidence is emerging that glyphosate-tolerant crops are ill-equipped to deal with drought, while high quality non-GM varieties are flourishing. Monopoly of the seed industry has left farmers unable to get non-GM varieties, despite the drought having global repercussions including steep rises of cereal prices and...
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Hot, dry weather batter maize crops across eastern Europe
Posted by Reuters: Tsvetelia Tsolova on October 9th, 2012
Reuters: Sizzling temperatures and lack of rains have scorched maize or corn crops across eastern Europe, further reducing global supplies already hit after the worst drought in the United States in 50 years.
Heat waves and lack of moisture in maize producers Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, were the main reasons why the European Union's crop monitoring unit cut its outlook for average EU maize yields to 6.05 tonnes per hectare.
With maize harvests almost halfway through in major producers in eastern...
Temperature target may doom climate talks, study says
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on October 9th, 2012
Climate Central: At the much-heralded climate summit in Copenhagen in 2009, world leaders agreed to limit manmade global warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F) above preindustrial levels. The agreement at Copenhagen, however, and in multiple rounds of subsequent negotiations, hasn't led countries to make actual commitments to the kind of emissions reductions that would put the world on a path to meeting that 2°C target.
According to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, however, this...
Polar ice is melting … or is it?
Posted by Epoch Times: Aron Lamm on October 9th, 2012
Epoch Times: Everyone has heard about it: Global warming is causing polar ice to melt.
But is it actually melting? This much-publicized phenomenon, like many others related to global warming, has been attacked by so-called climate skeptics, and getting to the bottom of what is actually going on with the icecaps is not a straightforward matter.
Steve Goreham, executive director of the Climate Science Coalition of America, recently wrote an article in response to a Sept. 20 PBS NewsHour segment about the...
Spying Activities on Anti-Fracking Groups in Poland Exposed
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on October 9th, 2012
EcoWatch: Recent media reports from Poland show that heavy-handed tactics such as spying and undercover operations are being used against groups and individuals who question shale gas development. Shale gas companies have sent spies to anti-fracking meetings and reported their findings to the highest levels of the Polish government and internal security services, according to reports in a Polish daily newspaper.
Food & Water Europe today urged Polish Members of the European Parliament who are active...
Polish government to approve shale gas law next week
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 9th, 2012
Reuters: Poland's government will approve a long-awaited new shale gas law during its sitting next week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. "The assumptions are ready. We will be approving this draft at the government's sitting next week," Tusk said at a news conference. Poland, which aims to be Europe's shale gas pioneer, has postponed the publication of a legal framework for the development of the potentially lucrative energy resource several times in the past few months.
Indian farming getting resistant to climate change : Pawar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 9th, 2012
Business Standard: Despite recurring droughts and floods in various parts of the country, because of changing climatic patterns, Indian agriculture is gradually developing a semblance of resistance to changing weather patterns.
India's total annual foodgrain production has seldom dropped below 200 million tonnes since 2005-06, despite suffering drought or floods in some parts of the country, including the worst drought in more than 30 years in 2009.
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Animated graphics show records broken in levels of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 9th, 2012
Guardian: A pair of animated maps show how records were set in September for the average extents of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. The time-lapse maps, created by New Scientist's Peter Aldhous, show the average areas of sea ice at each pole for the month of September going back to 1979. Data is taken from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. Arctic sea ice was at a record low last month - the September average fell year-on-year from 4.61 to 3.61 million km². Simultaneously a record high was set in the...
Climate change to hit Central America’s food crops
Posted by AlertNet: Megan Rowling on October 9th, 2012
AlertNet: Climate change is expected to reduce maize and bean harvests across Central America, leading to economic losses of more than $120 million a year by the 2020s and threatening the incomes of around 1 million small farmers, says a new scientific study.
Researchers from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) examined how the region's two most important food crops would be affected by higher temperatures and shifting...