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Archive for August 2nd, 2014
Warming Threatens Cut Crop Yields
Posted by Truthdig: None Given on August 2nd, 2014
Truthdig: Projecting the impact of climate change on global food production is no easy task. A warming climate might result in better crop yields in one region, but cause drought and crop failure in another.
A new US study, published in the journal Environmental Letters, assesses the odds of a major slowdown in global food production over the next 20 years.
Overall, the study’s authors say, the likelihood of a sharp drop in yields of crops vital to food supply, such as wheat and maize, is “not very high”-but...
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Fracking’s untold health threat: How toxic contamination destroying lives
Posted by Salon: Lindsay Abrams on August 2nd, 2014
Salon: If we`re going to talk about fracking, we can`t just talk about energy independence, or the economy, or the potential for natural gas to act as a "bridge fuel" to help solve the global warming crisis. We also need to talk about the effect that hydraulic fracturing is having on the communities where it`s taking place, and to ask whether that cost - to people`s health and property - is too high.
The main barrier to that conversation, of course, is that it`s one the industry definitely doesn`t want...
Coal struggle endures with West Virginia mine layoff plans
Posted by Associated Press: Jonathan Mattise on August 2nd, 2014
Associated Press: From Boone County banker Lee Milam's experience, each round of coal mine layoffs that hits southern West Virginia stifles his community's already-fragile economy.
Thursday's news was especially bitter. Coal giant Alpha Natural Resources revealed plans to shed 1,100 workers at 11 West Virginia surface mines and related operations by mid-October. In Boone, where about 2,400 people work in coal mining, two mines employing 462 people could be shuttered.
Potentially, that's 462 fewer folks, averaging...
China: Pastoralists still roam marginalized and drought ravaged regions
Posted by Xinhua: Stephen Ingati and Fabian Mangera on August 2nd, 2014
Xinhua: Nomads have for decades wondered for and wide in search of water and pasture for their most precious "assets" livestock.
But with global warming and the changing climate taking toll in major economic activities across the globe, pastoralists have had their fair share for the past four years, northern region has experienced one of its most droughts in decades.
Thousands of animals have been lost through the revenging drought rendering some of the headers destitute.
During the period, pasture...
Of cows and climate change
Posted by Denver Post: Rich Tosches on August 2nd, 2014
Denver Post: A study by the National Academy of Sciences says raising beef is far more environmentally damaging than producing pork, poultry, eggs or dairy. (Thinkstock)
There are roughly 2.7 million beef cows in Colorado -- a number that jumps by one if you count me. But enough about me and why airline passengers shout "Oh, God, noooo!!!" when they see me approaching an empty seat next to them.
Anyway, today we'll discuss cattle and a study by the National Academy of Sciences. That study said raising beef...
Congress punts wildfire money decision until fall
Posted by Desert Sun: Raju Chebium on August 2nd, 2014
Desert Sun: Congress took a five-week summer break without deciding whether to provide $615 million in additional money to fight wildfires this year, punting the debate into the fall.
Senate Democrats were unable late Thursday to secure 60 votes to advance a $3.6 billion emergency spending bill for a vote.
The bulk of that money was for the Obama administration to handle the influx of unaccompanied minors along the Southwestern border but it also had $615 million for the U.S. Forest Service and the Interior...
The burden of beef
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 2nd, 2014
Living on Earth: Beef may be what's for dinner but a National Academy of sciences report finds that beef is on average ten times worse for the environment than other meats. Food systems expert Anna Lappé discusses the beef burden and how to eat healthily with host Steve Curwood.
Transcript
CURWOOD: Well, however it's raised, many Americans find a juicy sizzling steak hard to resist. But a study published in the Journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that producing beef places a...
German beer industry takes on fracking
Posted by Newsweek: None Given on August 2nd, 2014
Newsweek: Shortly before opening time at Foersters Feine Biere in Berlin, the owner, Sven Foerster, is busy checking the pressure on the pumps and the temperature of the refrigerated cabinets where liquid gold is stored. Foerster is a qualified beer sommelier, a man devoted to the preservation of humankind’s favourite alcoholic brew, proud in the knowledge that he’s a small part of a vast German brewing industry. Yet something is clouding that security. He and thousands of others are concerned the country’s...
10 cities running out of water
Posted by USA Today: Thomas C. Frohlich on August 2nd, 2014
USA Today: After multiple unusually dry years across the western, southern and central United States, more than 80% of California is now in a state of extreme or exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. An average of nearly 90% of Bakersfield, Calif., has been in a state of exceptional drought over the first seven months of 2014, more than any other large urban area. Based on data provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a collaboration between academic and government organizations, 24/7 Wall...
MIT study links climate change, air pollution and decreasing food supplies
Posted by Blue and Green: Charlotte Malone on August 2nd, 2014
Blue and Green: MIT research published in the journal Nature Climate Change warns that rising temperatures and air pollution will combine to have negative effect on crop yield, placing pressure on the food system.
Several separate pieces of research of linked falling crop yields with climate change. Research from Stanford University suggests that climate change makes it 20 times more likely for corn and wheat crop production to decrease, whilst a study from the University of Leeds found climate change could have...