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Converting rainforest to cropland in Africa reduces rainfall
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on September 19th, 2011
Mongabay: Converting West African rainforests into cropland reduces rainforest in adjacent forest areas, reports research published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The study, based on a computer model used to simulate rainfall under different land-use conditions, found that cutting down tropical forests in West Africa reduces precipitation over neighboring forest areas by about 50 percent due to increased temperatures over cropland areas. Higher temperatures affect the formation of rain clouds.
"Rainfall...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Converting rainforest to cropland in Africa reduces rainfallClimate test for Obama: 1252 people arrested over notorious oil pipeline
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on September 6th, 2011
Mongabay: Two weeks of climate disobedience at the White House ended over the weekend with 1,252 people arrested in total. Activists were protesting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in an effort to pressure US President Barack Obama to turn down the project. If built the pipeline would bring oil from Alberta's tar sands through six US states down to Texas refineries. While protestors fear pollution from potential spills, especially in the Ogallala Aquifer which supplies water to millions, the major fight...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate test for Obama: 1252 people arrested over notorious oil pipelineSugar cane ethanol cools climate when it replaces cattle pasture
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on April 17th, 2011
Mongabay: Sugar cane ethanol cools climate when it replaces cattle pasture
Converting cattle pasture and cropland in Brazil to sugar cane helps cool local climate reports research published in Nature Climate Change.
Scientists with the Carnegie Institutions’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University and the University of Montana analyzed temperature, reflectivity, and evapotranspiration from satellite data across 733,000 square miles--an area larger than the state of Alaska. They found converting...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sugar cane ethanol cools climate when it replaces cattle pasture