California drought yields only desperation – ‘It’s going to get worse. They’re not planting. Think what it will be like at harvest.’

By Diana Marcum30 May 2014 HURON, California (Los Angeles Times) – The two fieldworkers scraped hoes over weeds that weren’t there. “Let us pretend we see many weeds,” Francisco Galvez told his friend Rafael. That way, maybe they’d get a full week’s work. They always tried to get jobs together. Rafael, the older man, had […]

Photo gallery: Life on the tiny island of Kiribati as the sea inexorably engulfs it

29 May 2014 (theguardian.com) – Photographer Mike Bowers spent several weeks on Kiribati documenting life in the central Pacific island nation. It’s a nation with an average height above sea level of just two metres and a population density to rival London. Its future is under threat due to rising sea levels, increasingly saline arable […]

Drought could cost California’s Central Valley farms $1.7 billion and 14,500 jobs – ‘The impacts would be a lot worse if we didn’t have access to groundwater. That groundwater may not be available if the drought lasts two or three more years.’

By Louis Sahagun19 May 2014 (Los Angeles Times) – The Central Valley’s 7 million acres of irrigated farmland are best known as the richest food-producing region in the world. But a new study by UC Davis researchers forecasts severe socioeconomic impacts ahead in the area where many of the nation’s fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables […]

Annual survey: ‘Beekeepers say losses remain higher than the level that they consider to be sustainable’

USDA Announces Fall Summit on Bee Nutrition and Forage; Launches “Bee Watch” Website to Broadcast Bee Activity and Increase Public Awareness of the Role of Pollinators in Crop Production WASHINGTON, May 15, 2014 – A yearly survey of beekeepers, released today, shows fewer colony losses occurred in the United States over the winter of 2013-2014 […]

Drought worsens in western U.S. – All of California now in drought, cost estimated to be at least $7.48 billion

By Doyle Rice25 April 2014 (USA TODAY) – Drought spread and intensified this week in seven western and central states, including California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a federal site that tracks drought. This week marks the first time in the 15-year history of the Drought […]

California drought to cause fruit and veggie sticker shock – ‘We predict the increased prices will change consumer purchasing behavior’

By Adam Shell    16 April 2014 (America’s Markets) – The price of  fruits and veggies is going up, causing possible sticker shock at the grocery store checkout. Blame one of California’s worst droughts ever for the rising prices. Crop shortages, ranging from 10% to 20% depending on the type of crop, will lead to the […]

Image of the Day: California’s Folsom Lake reservoir before and during record drought

By Chris Dolce23 January 2014 (Weather Channel) – California’s reservoirs are severely depleted due to the ongoing widespread drought conditions in the state. As of 21 January 2014, 67 percent of California was in extreme drought [69% on 8 April 2014], the second worst category possible on the U.S. Drought Monitor [now 23% in “Exceptional” […]

Climate change: The hottest thing in science fiction – ‘Bad decisions made badly by bad people. What happens next?’

By Dave Burdick8 Apr 2014 (Grist) – The world as we knew it is gone. Even if nobody is talking explicitly about it, it’s clear that something terrible has happened and in its wake, humanity must once again reset its priorities. Can we, in this resource-scarce new world, fashion some kind of idyllic agrarian commune […]

Bee crisis could cost billions in lost agricultural production across Australia, Senate inquiry hears –‘No bees, no food’

By TORY SHEPHERD16 April 2014 (The Advertiser) – Feral bees have been all but wiped out in South Australia, putting the state’s agricultural industry at risk. The state now depends on about 60 beekeepers for domestic bees to pollinate crops after the feral population was hit hard by the Bangor and Ngarkat bushfires, among others. […]

Miami Herald: Climate change has arrived – Dire future if no action is taken

13 April 2014 (Miami Herald) – In case there was still any doubt, and there shouldn’t be at this point, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group of scientists, has made it official: Climate change is not coming, it’s already here. And it’s going to get worse unless the whole world — […]

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