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Archive for May 16th, 2011
Study Links Climate Change to Changes in Crop Yields
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Voice of America: A new study says climate change has reduced the world's wheat and maize production. The study says rice and soybean yields have also decreased in some places -- but increased in others. In the words of the researchers: "For soybeans and rice, winners and losers largely balanced out."
The researchers studied climate trends and global crop production from between nineteen eighty and two thousand eight. They found that climate changes "are already exerting a considerable drag on yield growth" and...
Bear bile trade, both legal and illegal, ubiquitous in Asia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Mongabay: Bear bile trade, both legal and illegal, ubiquitous in Asia
Surveying 13 nations and territories in Asia, the wildlife trade organization TRAFFIC found that the bear bile trade remains practically ubiquitous in the region. In many cases the trade, which extracts bile from captive bears' gall bladders for sale as a pharmaceutical, flouts both local and international law, including Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES ). The international...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Bear bile trade, both legal and illegal, ubiquitous in AsiaLack of rain already causing crop failures, Defra warns
Posted by Telegraph: Robert Winnett, Harry Wallop and Louise Gray on May 16th, 2011
Telegraph: Caroline Spelman said that water companies' drought preparations are being reviewed as several areas of the country are already "water stressed'.
She met with farm leaders yesterday who have warned the Government that this year's food harvest will be earlier and the yield lower. The situation could force up food prices even higher, farming experts warned, with the price of vegetables particularly likely to be affected later this year.
According to the latest inflation figures from the Office...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Lack of rain already causing crop failures, Defra warnsViolent protests follow approval of massive dam project in Patagonia
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Mongabay: Violent protests follow approval of massive dam project in Patagonia The wild rivers of Patagonia may soon never be the same. Last week, Chile's Aysén Environmental Review Commission approved the environmental assessment of a five dam proposal on two rivers. The approval, however, is marred in controversy and has set off protests in many cities, including Santiago. Critics say the series of dams will destroy a largely untouched region of Patagonia. Protests hit Coyhaique, the city where the vote...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Violent protests follow approval of massive dam project in PatagoniaWater firms upbeat amid UK dry spell
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Guardian: A daffodil farm in Cornwall. The environment secretary has warned against complacency after the driest and warmest March/April in decades. Photograph: LIe Leendertz
Water companies are "confident" of maintaining supplies in the face of dry conditions, the environment secretary, Caroline Spelman, said after a drought summit today.
But she warned against complacency and said the Environment Agency, together with water companies, would be providing ministers with an update on supplies and reviewing...
Fighting back the waves
Posted by Wall Street Journal: VIVIENNE RAPER on May 16th, 2011
Wall Street Journal: Rising sea levels and the soaring value of infrastructure assets under threat of coastal flooding has spurred cities into action
Flood pictures from March's tsunami in Japan shocked people around the world. They were particularly poignant for Europe and the U.S.'s coastal cities. London, New York, Rotterdam, Hamburg and St. Petersburg face a growing threat of flooding during the next century.
The challenge is huge. Sea levels could rise by 0.59 meters and storm intensity is set to increase,...
Are Pennsylvania forests in store for extreme makeover?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Public News Service: A new landscape is taking shape in Pennsylvania. According to a prominent wildlife biologist, it could cause a clash between native species of plants and wildlife and some from farther south looking to branch out.
Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, says climate change is the reason.
"The projections are that the average temperature in Pennsylvania, within the life span of a child born today - that is, by the end of the century - could be seven degrees Farenheit...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Are Pennsylvania forests in store for extreme makeover?Louisiana bayou towns brace for flooding impact
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Reuters: The historic Civil War city of Vicksburg, which withstood a 47-day Union army siege
in 1863, was facing a different kind of invasion on Monday as flooding threatened to top an earth levee nearby.
The city itself is perched atop a bluff overlooking the river, and the Vicksburg National Military Park marking the Civil War battle is not threatened by the flooding, according to the National Park Service.
But areas nearby are as the water level at Vicksburg reached 56.66 feet at 4 p.m. local...
France in “crisis situation” as drought deepens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
Reuters: France has imposed limits on water consumption in 28 of its 96 administrative departments, the environment ministry said Monday, amid signs that a prolonged dry spell that has hit grain crops would continue.
"We are already in a situation of crisis. The situation is like what we would expect in July for groundwater levels, river flows and snow melting," Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet told a press conference.
The government had previously put 27 departments under water consumption...
Will global climate change enhance boreal forest growth?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 16th, 2011
EurekAlert: Will global climate change enhance boreal forest growth?
Earlier springs could enhance xylem growth in black spruce--but colder summers could negate that
IMAGE: The original research article by Huang et al. can be found in the May 2011 issue of the American Journal of Botany.
With an increasingly warmer climate, there is a trend for springs to arrive earlier and summers to be hotter. Since spring and summer are the prime growing seasons for plants--when flowers bloom and trees increase in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Will global climate change enhance boreal forest growth?