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Archive for October 10th, 2012
Watch out New England, Tar Sands Pipeline is Headed Your Way
Posted by National Wildlife Federation: Tony Iallonardo on October 10th, 2012
National Wildlife Federation: We’ve written before about Big Oil’s new playbook on tar sands: using stealth tactics to make it harder for the public to figure out what dangerous projects they have in mind and trying to pull one over on the public. Bearing locally-based labels like “Portland Pipe Line Corporation” and “Montreal Pipe Line Limited,” the proposed Trailbreaker tar sands pipeline is actually owned by ExxonMobil, via its Canadian Subsidiary Imperial Oil, with tar sands giant Suncor Energy having a minority stake in...
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Norway: Climate change to lengthen growing season
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 10th, 2012
PhysOrg: Across much of Norway, the agricultural growing season could become up to two months longer due to climate change. A research project has been studying the potential and challenges inherent in such a scenario.
Scientists expect the global mean temperature to rise in the future. One consequence is that by the end of this century, Norwegian farmers could be growing their crops for up to two months longer. In areas of higher elevation, in fact, the difference could turn out to be three months. The...
British shoppers warned of fruit and veg shortages
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 10th, 2012
Guardian: This summer's poor UK harvest has left some supermarkets struggling to keep shelves stocked with fresh produce and taking the unusual step of apologising for the fact that some fruit and vegetables are of lower quality than usual.
Following today's warning from the National Farmers' Union (NFU) on low wheat yields, supermarkets have not ruled out the prospect of price rises in the future. But they pledged to help Britain's hard-pressed families by offering "competitive pricing" of staple and essential...
Water funds on the rise
Posted by Reuters: Martin de Sa'Pinto and Raji Menon on October 10th, 2012
Reuters: Water has yet to live up to its hype as the commodity bet of the future, but the world's most basic resource is drawing ever more money as asset managers seek steady inflation-protected returns.
Investment opportunities are increasing as cities in faster growing markets expand and as governments in more developed countries, short of cash, are forced to turn to the private sector to fund upgrades to meet tougher environmental standards.
Meanwhile, investors such as pension funds want alternatives...
Food prices to rise after wet summer hits harvests
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on October 10th, 2012
BusinessGreen: Food prices look set to rise after the second wettest summer on record damaged harvests in England and Wales.
Wheat yields are down over 14 per cent on the five-year average, hitting the lowest levels since the 1980s, according to a new survey from the National Farming Union (NFU).
Food prices were already on the rise following the worst drought in 50 years in the US and a heatwave in Russia. Over the past 12 months the global price of wheat has soared around 30 per cent, while overall global...
As temperatures rise, so does public concern about climate
Posted by Houston Chronicle: None Given on October 10th, 2012
Houston Chronicle: There`s weather (today`s temperature, this week`s forecast for Houston) and there`s climate (the average U.S. temperature in 2006, average global temperature in 2100).
Scientists, generally, are careful not to mix the two. For example, a hotter-than-normal summer in Houston cannot entirely be blamed on climate change, any more than a cold February can be used to disprove climate change.
But the public does not see matters so clearly. And in the United States, it`s been hot of late. And as we`ll...
Three-Fourths of Americans Now Think Climate Change Is Influencing the Weather
Posted by Treehugger: None Given on October 10th, 2012
Treehugger: So, after a year marked by record breaking heat, massive wildfires, and drought that consumed 60% of the nation, almost three quarters of Americans now recognize that climate change is driving some of that funny business.
A new poll from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communications says as much. Some of the highlights:
A large and growing majority of Americans say “global warming is affecting weather in the United States” (74%, up 5 points since our last national survey in March 2012)....
Global warming could make washout UK summers the norm, study warns
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on October 10th, 2012
Guardian: A repeat of this year's washout summer is the last thing most people want from the English weather – but more of the same could be on the way, and could become the norm, a new study has warned, thanks to human activities warming the climate.
Ice melting in the Arctic has been linked to duller, wetter English summers in a much-anticipated study published online on Wednesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Last month, the extent and volume of the ice cap reached a record low. Experts...
United Kingdom: Invasive Species In The River Thames Are Major Drivers Of Biodiversity Loss
Posted by redOrbit: Alan McStravick on October 10th, 2012
redOrbit: A new study out of the U.K. points out what many ecosystems of the world have already known. In this new study, scientists from the Queen Mary, University of London, claim that almost 100 non-native freshwater species have successfully invaded the River Thames, making it one of the world’s most highly invaded freshwater systems.
Published in the journal Biological Invasions over the weekend, scientists suggest that previous introduction of legislation intended to prevent the introduction of non-native...
The state of crop harvests around the world
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 10th, 2012
Guardian: New UN forecasts indicate world cereal production will be reduced by 2.6% in 2012 following last year's record crop. Wheat production is expected to fall 5.2% – largely because of the heatwave in the United States, and other grains by 2.3%. The global rice crop is expected to remain mostly unchanged, with falls in India offset by an increase in China, Japan and the Philippines.
"The decrease will result in a significant reduction in world inventories by the close of seasons in 2013, even with...