Combined pesticide exposure severely affects individual- and colony-level traits in bees

By Charlotte Stoddart21 October 2012 Bees, the most important pollinators of crops, are in trouble. All over the world, their populations are decreasing and scientists and farmers want to know why. In some cases, such as the widely reported colony collapses in North America in 2006, it is probably down to disease. But a blooming […]

Nigeria state governor surveys flood damage: ‘The situation is pathetic’ – Sexual assaults in refugee camps ‘a daily occurrence’

By Emma Amaize21 October 2012 Managing the ravaging flood in Delta State has been a complicated affair for both the victims and the state government. In some camps established for the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the state, 18 at the time of this report, facilities have been over-stretched. Besides, in one or two communities, […]

UN warns of rising food costs after year’s extreme weather – ‘It’s been soul-destroying for the farmers’

By John Vidal, Rebecca Smithers, and Shiv Malik 10 October 2012 (The Guardian) – The UN has warned of increasing meat and dairy prices in the wake of extreme weather in the United States and across large parts of Europe and other centres of global food production. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) […]

If extreme weather becomes the norm, starvation awaits

By George Monbiot, The Guardian 15 October 2012 I believe we might have made a mistake: a mistake whose consequences, if I am right, would be hard to overstate. I think the forecasts for world food production could be entirely wrong. Food prices are rising again, partly because of the damage done to crops in […]

Nigeria flood disaster ‘worst since 1948’ – More than 600,000 people displaced, 589 square miles of farmland destroyed – Crocodiles and hippos washed into homes

By Felix Onuah and Tim Cocks11 October 2012 LOKOJA, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday visited some of the hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by the country’s worst flooding in at least five decades, calling it a ‘national disaster’. Vast stretches of Africa’s most populous nation have been submerged by […]

Graph of the Day: Moisture Content and Groundwater Depletion in the U.S., September 2012

Caption by Mike Carlowicz, including reporting from Holli Riebeek20 September 2012 A deep and persistent drought struck vast portions of the continental United States in 2012. Though there has been some relief in the late summer, a pair of satellites operated by NASA shows that the drought lingers in the underground water supplies that are […]

The soaring cost of Sunday roast: Extreme weather causing dramatic food price rises in U.K. – ‘A disaster for public health’

By Sean Poulter12 October 2012 Families are giving up their traditional Sunday roast as the cost of both meat and vegetables soar. In fact, many are cutting back on fresh food altogether. Farmers and supermarkets are blaming the meat price explosion – which is likely to continue beyond Christmas – on the rising cost of […]

Most Americans link weather to global warming: survey

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Dan Grebler9 Oct 2012 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly three-quarters of Americans say global warming influences U.S. weather and made this year’s record-hot summer worse, a survey said on Tuesday [pdf]. Conducted by Yale and George Mason universities, the survey found 74 percent of Americans believe that global warming […]

In a shift, some climate scientists link extreme weather to global warming – ‘We’ve juiced the world’s climate system’

By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times12 October 2012 The worst drought in half a century has plagued two-thirds of the nation, devastating farms and stoking wildfires that scorched almost 9 million acres this year. Withering heat blanketed the East Coast and Midwest, killing scores of people and making July the hottest month ever recorded in […]

Floods trigger humanitarian crisis in Pakistan – Donations urgently needed for UN aid efforts

12 October 2012 (United Nations) – With nearly five million Pakistanis hit by floods that have already claimed some 400 lives, ruined tens of thousands of houses and vast swathes of crops, and left hundreds of thousands living in camps or simply under tarpaulins, the United Nations today appealed for more donations to bolster relief […]

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial