Iowa losing topsoil up to 50 times faster than the replacement rate

By WILLIAM NEUMAN12 April 2011 When prices for corn and soybeans surged last fall, Bill Hammitt, a farmer in the fertile hill country of western Iowa, began to see the bulldozers come out, clearing steep hillsides of trees and pastureland to make way for more acres of the state’s staple crops. Now, as spring planting […]

World Catastrophe Map: Extreme weather is all about records

1. Record Breaking Mississippi River Levels Cause Levee Demo The Big Muddy rolled relentlessly southward, causing havoc as the record flood level drove citizens from their homes. Although the Army Corps of Engineers was forced to dynamite the levees to save Cairo, IL, the disaster is a movable catastrophe. 2. Tornado Attack in the South […]

Vatican science panel: ‘Receding glaciers require urgent responses’

Pontifical Academy of Sciences working group of leading scientists to present report to Pope Benedict XVI Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego A panel of some of the world’s leading climate and glacier scientists co-chaired by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researcher issued a report today commissioned by […]

Image of the Day: Wave-cut Coastal Scarp Near the Varandei Oil Terminal, Pechora Sea

Wave-cut coastal scarp near the Varandei oil terminal, Pechora Sea, Russia. Source: S. Ogorodov, Arctic Coastal Dynamics Coastal Photo Collection, Potsdam Climate change can also be a catalyst for expanding industrial activities in the Arctic. Retreating sea-ice will make new areas available for shipping and offshore oil and gas activities, while increasing wave erosion hazards […]

Climate change analysis predicts increased mortality from heat waves

Baltimore MD (SPX) May 04, 2011 – Global climate change is anticipated to bring more extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves that could impact human health in the coming decades. An analysis led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health calculated that the city of Chicago could experience between 166 […]

Climate change cuts a France’s worth of wheat out of global agriculture, and a Mexico’s worth of maize

By John Timmer5 May 2011 With all the focus on the potential future impacts of climate change and ocean acidification, it’s possible to lose track of the fact that the CO2 concentrations and temperatures have already risen significantly, and that we might already be seeing the impacts of climate change. In fact, plenty of evidence, […]

Tornado outbreaks the two largest in history – NOAA estimates more than 600 tornadoes in April, shattering record

By Jeff MastersMay 05, 2011 The largest tornado outbreak and greatest one-day total for tornadoes in history occurred during last week’s historic super tornado outbreak, said NOAA in a press release on Wednesday. They estimate 190 tornadoes touched down during the 24-hour period from 8:00 a.m. EDT April 27 to 8:00 a.m. EDT April 28 […]

Heathland fires rage after Britain’s hottest April on record

By Ben Mitchell and Mike Hornby, PA5 May 2011 Hundreds of firefighters are continuing to battle heathland fires which have been burning in locations across the UK for several days. … The hottest April on record, which saw only 21% of the expected rainfall in England and Wales, has caused vast areas of parched, tinder-dry […]

Survivor of Dust Bowl now battles a fiercer drought – ‘The community is drying up’

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE3 May 2011 BOISE CITY, Okla. — While tornadoes and floods have ravaged the South and the Midwest, the remote western edge of the Oklahoma Panhandle is quietly enduring a weather calamity of its own: its longest drought on record, even worse than the Dust Bowl, when incessant winds scooped up the […]

Video: Canada seal slaughter opens – ‘Climate change and economics have combined to kill the hunt’

[This horrifying video shows harp seals being slaughtered with hakapiks; not for the faint of heart.] The Canadian seal hunt opened this week with fewer animals being killed. Record-low ice kept sealers at home, with only four boats on opening day killing 1200 seals. Even though Canada has set the limit high, the slaughter has […]

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