NAIROBI, 5 August 2011 (IRIN) – The Horn of Africa is facing what has been called the worst drought in 60 years, with an estimated 12.4 million people urgently needing food. Here are some points about the ongoing food crisis: When to use the “F” word – Although some media reports have described the food […]
By Joe Romm 4 August 2011 In light of the sustained drought, Governor Mary Fallin today asked all Oklahomans to set aside time this Sunday, July 17, to pray for rain. That was two weeks ago. The result is that Oklahoma went from the drought condition on the right to the one on the left […]
CHAUVIN, Louisiana, August 5, 2011 (ENS) – This year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is roughly equal to the land area of the state of New Jersey, scientists said this week. At 6,765 square miles, this area of low oxygen is the 10th largest on record and is considered about average for the […]
By Michael Hirtzer with additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by John Picinich4 Aug 2011 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Drought worsened in the Midwest during the last week as record-high temperatures stressed the developing corn and soybean crops, while cotton and pastures eroded amid a historic drought in the southern Plains. Nearly 38 percent of the […]
By Frances Adcock4 August 2011 People living on the Queensland coast are being warned to expect more marine deaths because of flooding earlier this year. The president of the Wide Bay Conservation Council, Roger Currie, says the scale of the events has affected seagrass beds from Rockhampton to the Gold Coast. He says the habitat […]
By JASON STRAZIUSO4 August 2011 THREE new Somali regions have been declared famine zones, expanding the area where the highest rates of malnutrition and mortality are taking place, including the refugee camps in the capital, Mogadishu. The UN’s food agency said yesterday famine is likely to spread across all of Somalia’s south in the next […]
By Janet Gregg, Jacksonville Daily Progress 2 August 2011 JACKSONVILLE — The impact of the current drought on the state’s agriculture industry has been devastating already and is likely to worsen if the drought continues through next year as some experts predict. “It does look like the drought of 2011 will be the costliest drought […]
Analysis by Lester R. Brown* WASHINGTON, Jul 20, 2011 (IPS) – Many countries are facing dangerous water shortages. As world demand for food has soared, millions of farmers have drilled too many irrigation wells in efforts to expand their harvests. As a result, water tables are falling and wells are going dry in some 20 […]
By EVAN SCHWARTEN30 July 2011 (AAP) – SOME day it’ll be one of those things old timers boast about to cyclone-wary newcomers. “You think this is bad? You should have seen Yasi,” they’ll say. But that kind of bravado is still some way off. Six months after experiencing the biggest cyclone in a century, the […]
By Joel Connelly 28 July 2011 The Canadian federal government in Ottawa has silenced a leading West Coast fisheries scientist who has argued that a virus is infecting and killing sockeye salmon when they enter the Fraser River, not far north of the U.S.-Canadian border. The undammed “mighty Fraser” supports four of the world’s greatest […]
