Climate change, winter storms, and the future of European wine

By Peter Coy     13 February 2014 (Business Week) – You may have trouble believing that today’s mammoth snow-and-ice storm on the East Coast has anything to do with climate change, even though there’s strong scientific evidence that global warming makes erratic weather in the U.S. more likely by disrupting the jet stream. But while you […]

In parched California, a message of aid and a warning from President Obama – ‘A changing climate means weather-related disasters like droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, are potentially going to be costlier and they’re going to be harsher’

By Diana Marcum and Evan Halper February 14, 2014, 9:14 p.m. FIREBAUGH, California (Los Angeles Times) – Standing Friday afternoon on cracked, parched earth where melons would usually grow, President Obama brought both a message of aid and an ominous warning to drought-stricken California as he outlined more than $160 million in federal assistance. The […]

Global warming, winter weather, and the Olympics – Five leading climate scientists weigh in

By ANDREW C. REVKIN14 February 2014 (The New York Times) – There’s a noteworthy letter in today’s edition of the journal Science, titled “Global Warming and This Winter’s Cold Weather,” that aims to cut through the flood of overwrought assertions about recent Northern Hemisphere winter weather in the context of global warming. It’s written by […]

Record Brazil heat pressures crops, energy prices – Northeast is in worst drought in at least 50 years, hundreds of thousands of cattle have died

1 February 2014 (World Bulletin) – Even by Brazilian standards – man, it’s hot. January was the hottest month on record in parts of Brazil including its biggest city, São Paulo. The heat, plus a severe drought, has kindled fears of water shortages, crop damage and higher electricity bills that could drag down the economy […]

Why global water shortages pose threat of terror and war – ‘Groundwater depletion is happening at a very rapid rate in almost all of the major aquifers in the arid and semi-arid parts of the world’

By Suzanne Goldenberg    8 February 2014 (The Observer) – On 17 January 2014, scientists downloaded fresh data from a pair of NASA satellites and distributed the findings among the small group of researchers who track the world’s water reserves. At the University of California, Irvine, hydrologist James Famiglietti looked over the data from the gravity-sensing […]

Waves lash South Coast of Britain as storm hits – Coastguard warns of ‘phenomenal’ 14-metre waves as 80 mph winds hit the coastline

8 February 2014 (Sky News) – Southern Britain is on alert as hurricane-force winds and heavy rain combine with high tides to threaten more flooding misery. South Wales and the South West were the first areas to be hit by the storm which is set to move over the rest of southern England throughout the […]

Video: California farms going thirsty

30 January 2014 (NBC News) – Andy Domenigoni, a fourth generation vegetable farmer in Riverside California, is feeling the pain from the state’s drought. It has been so dry there for so long that officials have declared what’s called an “exceptional drought.” California Farms Going Thirsty Technorati Tags: California,North America,drought,global warming,climate change,crop failure,agriculture

20 million people face starvation in Africa’s Sahel region – ‘The climate is increasingly erratic; it puts enormous stresses on farmers and pastoralists’

By Jeremy Hance4 February 2014 (mongabay.com) – The UN and partner humanitarian groups today called on the international community to spend $2 billion to avoid a famine in Africa’s Sahel region, which includes nine nations along the southern edge of the Sahara. Although the Sahel is chronically prone to food insecurity, the situation has dramatically […]

UK faces food security catastrophe as honeybee numbers fall, scientists warn – Crop pollination via honeybees sinks to second lowest in Europe as study calls for greater protection of wild pollinators

By Damian Carrington8 January 2014 (theguardian.com) – The UK faces a food security catastrophe because of its very low numbers of honeybee colonies, which provide an essential service in pollinating many crops, scientists warned on Wednesday. New research reveals that honeybees provide just a quarter of the pollination needed in the UK, the second lowest […]

California bans fishing in several rivers in midst of drought – President Obama calls governor Jerry Brown to offer federal help

By Shan Li29 January 2014 (Los Angeles Times) – California wildlife officials have banned fishing in several rivers to protect salmon and steelhead trout during a severe drought that follows the state’s driest year on record. Fish populations are in danger as low levels in many of the Golden State’s waters could prevent them from […]

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