Food security worsens in Sudan – 16 million people face stressed/emergency levels in East Africa

27 July 2012 (Famine Early Warning System Network) – There are about 16 million people facing Stressed (IPC Phase 2) to Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. The main drivers of food insecurity in these countries are poor rains, conflict, high food prices, and […]

Expedition finds frequency of Siberia forest fires is increasing

By Joanne Howl15 August 2012 From Dr. Jon Ranson: […] But the common face of the forest can be summed in one word: change. Whether viewed from helicopter, boat, or on foot, huge areas of forest show the effects of fires. Some fires are recent, but most burned a couple of decades in the past. […]

No drought-busting rains seen for U.S. crop belt

By Sam Nelson; editing by John Wallace21 August 2012 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Benign weather is expected for the next week or two in the U.S. Midwest crop region, with no serious delays of early harvest but also no significant relief to corn and soybeans from the worst drought in half a century, an agricultural meteorologist […]

Drought-stricken Farm Belt not headed for another Dust Bowl, say seed companies

[Indeed; we could be headed for something much worse. –Des] By Chuck Raasch, USA TODAY19 August 2012 The severe drought that has hit the Farm Belt does not immediately threaten to create another Dust Bowl or widespread crop failure, thanks to rapid innovations in the past 20 years in seed quality, planting practices and farming […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of smoke from wildfires in the U.S. West spreading eastward, 12-14 August 2012

Caption by Michon Scott19 August 2012 Intense wildfires in California and Idaho sent smoke eastward across the United States in mid-August 2012. Smoke affected air quality as far away as the Great Lakes Region, and some of the thickest smoke stretched from the Dakotas to Texas. Wildfire smoke is a combination of gases and aerosols—tiny […]

Horses fall victim to hard times and dry times on the range

By FERNANDA SANTOS18 August 2012 AZTEC, New Mexico – The land is parched, the fields are withering and thousands of the nation’s horses are being left to fend for themselves on the dried range, abandoned by people who can no longer afford to feed them. They have been dropping dead in the Navajo reservation in […]

Drought-stricken ranchers lose hope U.S. Congress will provide money for feed in time to save herds

OMAHA, Nebraska, 19 August 2012 (AP) – It’s hard to tell what frustrates Todd Eggerling more – the weather or Congress. Searing temperatures and drought scorched Eggerling’s land in southeast Nebraska, leaving little grass to feed his 100 cattle. Then Congress left for a five-week break without agreeing on aid to help ranchers through one […]

Climate change poses risks to food supplies beyond U.S. drought

By Alister Doyle17 August 2012 Downpours and heat waves caused by climate change could disrupt food supplies from the fields to the supermarkets, raising the risk of more price spikes such as this year’s leap triggered by drought in the United States. Food security experts working on a chapter in a U.N. overview of global […]

What country faces the worst climate change?

By Jeremy Hsu, InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer, LiveScience.com 14 August 2012 Rising seas threaten to drown island countries such as the Maldives and Kiribati in the era of global warming — a dire scenario that has forced leaders to plan for floating cities or consider moving their entire populations to neighboring countries. Most countries won’t need […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of smoke from Russia wildfires approaching North America

11 August 2012 (NASA) – The fires that have been plaguing Russia for months are causing smoke to drift across the Pacific Ocean towards North America. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on August 8, 2012 at 21:50 UTC. In this image a broad band of gray […]

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