Graph of the Day: Total Nitrogen Emissions in Spain During 1990-2006

Map of total nitrogen emissions from Spain according to the EMEP model for the period 1990-2006 (data from EMEP reduced to half-degree cell). A nitrophilous index was calculated using over 750,000 occurrence records of plants that had been indexed at GBIF for the Iberian Peninsula by March, 2009. To construct this index, the annual number […]

Damaging the Earth to feed its people

By JUSTIN GILLIS4 June 2011 On a warming planet, humanity faces a great challenge in feeding itself at reasonable cost in the coming century, as I explain in Sunday’s paper. An issue I raise only in passing in the article is that agriculture itself is one of the earth’s greatest environmental threats. To put a […]

China’s seven river systems are all polluted

By Mu Qing, Epoch Times Staff6 June 2011 The overall environmental situation in China is very grim with all seven major river systems polluted, according to Li Ganjie, Vice Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, speaking at a press conference on June 3 to discuss the Report of the State of the Environment […]

Wheat fields wilt in drought as parched earth spreads from China to Kansas – ‘I’ve never seen so many problems in so many places’

By Luzi Ann Javier, Madelene Pearson, and Whitney McFerron; William Bi in Beijing, Phoebe Sedgman in Wellington, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in Singapore, and Tony Dreibus in London; Editors: James Poole, Steve Stroth 6 June 2011 The worst droughts in decades are wilting wheat fields from China to the U.S. to the U.K., overwhelming Russia’s return to […]

Fukushima radiation prompts halt of tea leaf shipments

June 4 (Yomiuri Shimbun) – The government has ordered the suspension of tea leaf shipments from Ibaraki Prefecture and parts of Kanagawa, Chiba and Tochigi prefectures after radioactive cesium exceeding government limits was found in fresh and dried leaves. The radiation was first detected last month, but since contamination levels change depending on the stage […]

Drought may cost UK farmers £400m

By Rowena Mason4 Jun 2011 The likely shortage of wheat and barley next season is already causing wholesale prices to rise, with a knock-on effect on the price of bread and beer. This spring’s lack of rainfall is severely affecting crops, particularly in the east of England, where wheat and malting barley are wilting and […]

A warming planet struggles to feed itself

By JUSTIN GILLIS4 June 2011 CIUDAD OBREGÓN, Mexico — The dun wheat field spreading out at Ravi P. Singh’s feet offered a possible clue to human destiny. Baked by a desert sun and deliberately starved of water, the plants were parched and nearly dead. Dr. Singh, a wheat breeder, grabbed seed heads that should have […]

U.K. drought ‘may hit at-risk wildlife’

By Emily Beament, PA5 June 2011 Threatened wildlife such as water voles could be hit by the continuing dry weather across parts of the country, the Wildlife Trusts warned today. This year has seen an unusually dry spring, and despite some recent rainfall the dry weather is set to continue across much of the country […]

Plan for China’s water crisis spurs concern

By EDWARD WONG1 June 2011 DANJIANGKOU, China — North China is dying. A chronic drought is ravaging farmland. The Gobi Desert is inching south. The Yellow River, the so-called birthplace of Chinese civilization, is so polluted it can no longer supply drinking water. The rapid growth of megacities — 22 million people in Beijing and […]

France farmers in crisis with worst drought in 50 years, hottest year in a century

By Tony Todd1 June 2011 The spring of 2011 has been the driest in decades and the hottest in a century, a deep concern for France’s indebted farming community. The younger generation, which has borrowed heavily to invest in properties, is most gravely affected. The worst drought in decades threatens to cripple France’s agricultural sector, […]

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