drought

Girl Scouts Meet With Pope Francis

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Originally published on EdenKeeper.org On the day of the Epiphany in 1965, twenty-one Girl Guide associations established the International Catholic Conference of Guiding (ICCG). It was a time of radical change around the world — from the Vietnam War, to civil rights movements, to a growing environmental awareness — there was a sense that things were shifting.

World Record-Breaking 2014 Weather And Climate

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It isn’t official yet, but 2014 appears to have been the hottest year on the world temperature record. In December, during the U.N. climate talks in Lima, Peru (COP20), the World Meteorological Organization announced in a provisional statement that this conclusion about 2014 weather and climate was virtually certain. WMO bases its report on datasets

Five Gallon Challenge Adds Drought Awareness to Ice Bucket Challenge

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You probably can’t go more than five minutes on any social media platform without seeing videos of people doing the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has been a massively successful fundraising vehicle for the organizations working to find treatments for those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. While there has been

Climate Synthesis Sent To World Leaders By IPCC

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Or do you? It’s time to pay attention to climate change now—as if it wasn’t back in 1800, when our current problems started. We all need to acknowledge that stunning industrial achievements can carry with them enormous unforeseen risks and challenges. Americans should take particular note, because on the whole we are wa-a-a-y behind on this.

The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers (Part 2 of 4)

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This is part 2 of a 4 part series by Brad Walker of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment analyzing The Nefarious Connection Between Agriculture and Our Rivers. Read Part 1 Part 2: The major culprit There are many well-documented critiques of the industrialized agricultural system, so we will not dwell in detail about why

"Clean Gas" More Dangerous Than Coal, Industry Expert Tells TV

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US “clean gas” wells in operation (Irekia-Eusko Jaurlaritza in blogs.lse.ac.uk) Turns out that just about everyone (including President Obama) has been hugely underestimating the methane pollution levels of so-called “clean gas.” The booming American economy now seems to come at a greater cost than we originally thought when we found out that natural gas produces

Wicked Fires of Climate Change Inflame The West (photo-essay)

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There are the good wildfires, and there are the bad. Unfortunately, the latter often overwhelm the beneficial ones. We’ll go on with stories from San Diego in a minute—it’s a long story of an actually short time—but here’s a word about the bright side first. Whoopi Goldberg had a thought that’s worth repeating: When you

The IPCC's Blockbuster 5th Climate Assessment

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BREAKING: Late this evening (8 pm EST, or tomorrow, March 31, at 9 am in Tokyo), something large and unpleasant will hit the fan about climate change. At a press conference in Yokohama, the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release its Fifth Assessment Report on impacts of human activities on current and

XL, Or No XL? Public Comments End With Poll Surprise

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Laying a pipeline across agricultural land (photo: eponline.com). Friday afternoon, and officials at the State Department are probably breathing a huge sigh of relief. The official public comment period on the northern extension of the $5.4 billion Keystone XL pipeline expired today. And the unofficial public comment that’s making the news is today’s release of

Earth's OCS Cradles Huge Freshwater Reserves

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The latest issue of Nature promises temporary relief to a planet where fresh water is quickly becoming scarcer and scarcer (photo: cc, from freeaussiestock.com). Vincent E.A. Post of Flinders University in Adelaide and his coauthors Jacobus Groen, Henk Kooi, Mark Person, Shemin Ge, and W. Mike Edmunds report the surprising news that outer continental shelves

"Lousy, Spoilt, and Defiled Planet" Climate Talks Begin In Warsaw

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Officials open the 2013 UNFCCC meetings with determination and louder warnings…. (Photo source: http://ow.ly/qL43P) It’s time for the governments of the world to struggle with climate change policy again. Every year, late in November and early in December, representatives of 195 nations gather for two weeks to try to negotiate global responses to the increasingly

Preparing For A World Of Climate Change-Induced Weather Disasters

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Deadly storms strike the coast, snow blankets the interior, drought cripples rural communities, and flooding inundates the poor. Scientists expect natural disasters such as these — and worse — to grow in magnitude and increase in regularity as global warming takes its toll on the planet, and in many situations there is not much we

Links Between Climate Change and Drought Not as Cut and Dried

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The natural conclusion is that as global warming gets worse so too will the droughts. We’ve even had evidence of it, right? Droughts in Australia, the US, and horribly dry conditions throughout Europe. However, new research from Princeton University and the Australian National University in Canberra suggest things may not be as cut and dried

Pollen and Charcoal Document Ancient Egypt's Climate History

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Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey studying ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt’s Nile Delta have documented the region’s ancient droughts and fires, including a massive drought that happened approximately 4,200 years ago and is thought to have seen the demise of Egypt’s Old Kingdom. “Humans have a long history

Mapping the Future of Climate Change in Africa

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It is not news that climate change is having a devastating impact on African communities, causing droughts, floods, and any number of other sorts of disasters. These climatic interruptions are also having a trickle down impact on social and other aspects of Africa society. Now, a group of researchers with the Climate Change and African

Chronic 2000-04 Drought Worst in 800 Years and New Normal

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Western North America suffered chronic drought from 2000 to 2004, causing forests to die, river basins to dry up. It was the strongest drought seen in 800 years. Sadly, it could also become the “new normal” in the coming decades; the “good old days”. A group of ten researchers published their findings in the journal Nature

One-Two Punch Does in Colorado Pines, Creates Further Disruption

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Here is a story that seems to go out of its way to prove the necessity of scientific research at every level of our ecosystem and how close to breaking our world can get if we are not careful; and even if we are. New research has found that the one-two-punch of drought and attack by the mountain pine beetle are the main cause for the destruction of more than 2.5 million acres of pinyon pine and juniper trees in the American Southwest over the past 15 years.

And this is more than likely only a precursor to greater ecological disruption in the years to come.

Ancient Arabic Histories Illuminate Past Climate

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  Trees, coral, and ice cores provide us a very reliable method of looking at the past climate, but there isn’t as much human recorded data. New research has analysed scholarly writings from Iraq written during the Islamic Golden Age between 816 and 1009 AD in an effort to reveal more information about our planet’s

Ecosystems Respond to Climate Change Differently as the Seasons Pass

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Scientists studying the effect of drought and heat waves on grass growth have found that it matters when during the year these events take place, and that each month yields a different effect. “A major challenge in studying climate change is separating the effects of long-term trends from interannual variation,” says Saran Twombly, program director for

2011 — Record for Wet/Dry Extremes in U.S.

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  Believe it or not (and it would be hard not to believe it), extreme weather is increasing in the U.S., and around the world, due to global warming. And 2011 was a record year for extreme weather. Wet and dry extremes hit an all-time high, as you can see in the chart above. Unfortunately,

US Experiences A Dozen Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters in 2011

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For the United States, 2011 has been a costly year when it comes to weather and climate disasters, suffering 12 separate billion dollar disasters in the year alone. The total aggregate damage for the year totals an approximate $52 billion, breaking the previous record of nine separate billion dollar weather/climate disasters in 2008. Sadly, across

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Autumn and November Climate Highlights See Warmer America

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The month of November and the overall September to November autumn season were warmer than average across the contiguous United States according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center. Not only were they warmer, but precipitation totals across the country were also above average during November, though the totals

Climate Change Will Affect Peat More than Expected

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Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and severity of drought in many of the world’s peatlands which, in turn, is liable to release far more carbon dioxide than had previously been assumed. This new discovery comes as a result of a report published in the journal Nature Geosciences by Dr Nathalie Fenner and

October Another Warmer than Average Month for America

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October provided below-normal, above-normal and normal temperatures across the United States, as detailed as part of the monthly analysis provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. During the last month, a persistent upper-level weather pattern created below average temperatures throughout the southeast of the United States and above-normal temperatures throughout the vast majority of

NASA's Top Climate Scientist: U.S. South Could Become Uninhabitable

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Well, it doesn’t come as a huge surprise to see this statement from NASA’s James Hansen, perhaps the top climate scientist in the world. But it’s a statement we seem to keep ignoring. Here’s the statement I’m referring to:

“Climate change — human-made global warming — is happening. It is already having noticeable impacts…. If we stay on with business as usual, the southern U.S. will become almost uninhabitable.”

Significant Environmental Events for August 2011

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August was a month of extremes across the whole of our planet, with tornadoes, droughts and La Niña conditions reemerging despite having only disappeared a few months earlier. For a picture of much of what happened across the planet this past August, browse the image below provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

La Nina is Back says NOAA

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As climate experts had already predicted, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that La Niña – which was the cause behind so much of the extreme weather towards the end of 2010 and into 2011 – has re-emerged in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to gradually strengthen and continue into the Northern Hemisphere’s winter.

Could Icebergs be Towed to Areas Suffering Drought?

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Throughout the world many areas are facing severe droughts. It is a growing problem that most likely will get worse over the next century. One of the worst hit areas at the present moment is in the Horn of Africa. Drinkable water is becoming harder to come by, as they face a severe drought with little to no hope in sight.

Extremely Extreme Weather in 2010.. Perhaps Most Extreme on Record

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Dr. Jeff Masters, a world-leading meteorologist, just finished a compilation of what he considered 2010’s top 20 extreme weather events. All in all, he considers 2010 to be the most extreme year for weather since records began and, unfortunately, with a good understanding of climate change, he hints at what we could be in for if we don’t turn things around quickly.

Economic Impact of Global Warming

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Global warming has always been perceived as an environmental issue with high costs associated with it’s amelioration. This article, however, provides some insight into it’s economic importance.

Montana Floods Kill One, Leave One Missing — More Extreme Weather to Come

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Yes, it’s not rainy season anymore, it’s flooding season (unless you live in areas of the country experiencing “exceptional drought” — the highest level of drought — and wild fires). Montana is the latest to get extreme floods and they are now moving on towards neighboring states such as Wyoming and Utah.

Let me reiterate yet again, global warming (aka global weirding) = extreme floods AND extreme drought.

Drought Could Hamper Carbon Sequestration in US

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A new study supported by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy has concluded that forests and other terrestrial ecosystems in the contiguous United States of America can sequester up to 40 percent of the nation’s fossil fuel carbon emissions.

Amazon Rain Forest Drought is Tremendous, Concerning [VIDEO]

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Tremendous droughts in the Amazon are pressing global issues that we’ve covered on here before. 2005 and 2010 saw droughts at a level that have caused serious environmental problems and are wildly outside the norm. See: Dual Amazon Droughts Alarm Scientists or Amazon Gets Hit with Extreme Drought, Perhaps Worst Ever (Global Weirding?) for more on our previous coverage.

Ancient Megadrought Asks Big Questions for Future

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With scientists unsure as to the endgame of the current climate change affecting our planet, one big question is always on peoples’ lips; how severe can climate change get? According to the results of a study published in the latest edition of the journal Science, the answer is not good. An international team of scientists

Climate Record Suggests Longer Droughts for Pacific Northwest

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Researchers led by members of the University of Pittsburgh have extracted a sediment core from the lakebed of Castor Lake in north central Washington which provides a six thousand year climate record of the region. What they have found is that the traditionally rain-soaked region of the American Pacific Northwest is not going to be

Environmental, Global Warming, and Animal News

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Some of the top climate change and environmental stories of the last day or so: Climate Science Graph of the Day: Greenland Ice Sheet Mass Changes Good info and graphs on the page above, but thought I’d share the 3 videos from the post here for you to check out just in case you don’t feel

Dual Amazon Droughts Alarm Scientists

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2005 saw the worst drought in the Amazon rainforest for over a hundred years, and was believed to be just that; a one in a hundred year event. Sadly, only five years later and another drought hit the Amazon rainforest. And scientists now believe that the 2010 drought may have been even more devastating to

Climate Science Stories of the Day

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From the last day or so, other than what we’ve covered, here are some top climate science stories: Former Astronaut & Global Warming Denier’s Excellent Cherry Picking Former astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt has expressed numerous “concerns” about scientific findings  regarding global warming over the years. Findings based on comprehensive scientific analysis. Climate Denial de-crocker Peter Sinclair

UN Humanitarian Chief Focuses on Drought Stricken Africa

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The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has wrapped up a visit to Kenya and Somalia, again voicing concern that attention needs to be focused on the recurring droughts that have deprived millions of citizens in the two African nations of their livelihoods. “In the past three days, I

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