As another water war rages, the west side of California’s storied San Joaquin Valley waits for relief that may not come. By Katie Paul | Newsweek Web Exclusive …After three years of drought, California’s legendary water wars are flaring once again, and towns like Mendota, San Joaquin, and Firebaugh are getting a first glimpse of […]
Farmer Mazzareno Bisogni fights back tears as he stands among the remains of trees he planted 35 years ago, victims of a drought hitting “Australia’s Mississippi”. Bisogni’s orchard lies in the heart of the once-mighty Murray-Darling river system which irrigates Australia’s food bowl, the vast southeastern corner responsible for 40 percent of agricultural output. The […]
The worst drought to hit parts of north China in six decades has left nearly five million people short of water, while officials warn of another dry spell further south, state media reported Sunday. A total of 4.6 million people and 4.1 million head of livestock face difficulty accessing drinking water in the north, the […]
By BOB WEBER, The Canadian Press Climate change is already having a dramatic effect on plants in the High Arctic, turning the once rocky tundra a deep shade of green and creating what could be another mechanism speeding up global warming. In a new study to be published in the November issue of the journal […]
KODIAK ISLAND, Alaska, August 24, 2009 (ENS) – Billions of tons of carbon are buried in the frozen Arctic tundra, now heating up because of human-caused climate change. To measure which greenhouse gases are being released and in what quantities, government scientists are flying instrument-laden planes over the tundra from now through November. They say […]
Billions of beetles, wildfire spread imperil the northern forests of a warmer world By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special CorrespondentHAINES JUNCTION, Yukon Territory A veil of smoke settled over the forest in the shadow of the St. Elias Mountains, in a wilderness whose spruce trees stood tall and gray, a deathly gray even in the […]
By Barney Jopson in Nairobi The number of Kenyans in urgent need of food aid has jumped by more than 50 per cent to nearly 4m, according to official figures, as the country is hit by mass hunger as well as shortages of power and water. The immediate cause of the three-fold crisis is a […]
Nanyuki, Kenya (AFP) Aug 19, 2009 – In Kenya a bruising and recurring drought is driving huge numbers of subsistence farmers away from rural areas, where they are increasingly reliant on hand-outs, into congested slums. “People are opting to relocate. I know families that are demolishing their houses, selling iron sheets and timber and getting […]
(Purdue University) Urban workers could suffer most from climate change as the cost of food drives them into poverty, according to a new study that quantifies the effects of climate on the world’s poor populations. A team led by Purdue University researchers examined the potential economic influence of adverse climate events, such as heat waves, […]
By Melissa Fyfe DROUGHT experts have for the first time proven a link between rising levels of greenhouse gases and a decline in rainfall. A three-year collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO has confirmed that the drought is not just a natural dry stretch but a shift related to climate change. Scientists working […]
