Michele Kearney's Environmental Blog: 10/17/10

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Climate change dictated by the ocean

Climate change dictated by the ocean
(PhysOrg.com) -- The influence of the world’s oceans over carbon dioxide levels and climate change is better understood thanks to researchers from the University of Canberra and The Australian National University. http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-climate-dictated-ocean.html

Heating from carbon dioxide will increase five-fold over next millennia
Jan 29, 2009 |
Climate change will affect carbon sequestration in oceans, model shows
Sep 07, 2005 |
Device reveals more about Mars' atmosphere
Oct 12, 2010 |
The Carbon Cycle Before Humans
Feb 16, 2010 |
Oceans losing ability to absorb greenhouse gas
Jan 11, 2010 | not rated yet | 0

Friday, October 22, 2010

China's Monopoly Over Rare Earths Raises Economic And National Security Concerns

Germany To Raise Alarm Over China Rare Earths Restrictions at G-20 -- New York Times

BERLIN — Stung by Chinese muscle-flexing over minerals crucial for high-technology industries, the German government said Thursday that it would raise the alarm at the Group of 20 talks, even as it looks to step up efforts to develop new supplies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

German companies say they are being pressed by Chinese officials to increase their investments in China if they want to be assured of access to rare earth minerals and two other obscure elements, tungsten and antimony. China dominates the mining of these metals.

Read more ....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/business/energy-environment/22iht-rare.html?_r=1&src=busln

More News On China's Control (And Monopoly) Of Rare Earths

Decline in Rare-Earth Exports Rattles Germany -- New York Times
Global trade wars: China turns up the heat -- CNN
Traders Gird for Rare-Mineral Trade War -- Wall Street Journal
Japan's rare earth minerals may run out by March: govt -- AFP
China Plans to Reduce Its Exports of Minerals -- New York Times
The Truth Behind China’s Rare Earths Embargo -- Forbes
Here's The Chart The Rare Earth Metal Pumpers Don't Want You To See -- Business Insider

U.S. Gulf Coast Faces $350 Billion in Climate Damage by 2030, Study Shows

The U.S. Gulf Coast may face $350 billion in economic damage by 2030 as extreme weather fueled by climate change wreaks havoc on the region, according to a study released today by Entergy Corp.
The estimate assumes severe weather similar to Hurricane Katrina -- a storm that crippled the region in 2005 -- will occur every generation rather than once a century, according to the study by Swiss Re, a Zurich-based reinsurer, and McKinsey & Co., a New York-based research firm. New Orleans-based Entergy, the second-largest U.S. producer of electricity from nuclear reactors behind Exelon Corp., commissioned the report.
The study recommends spending $50 billion for projects such as overhauling building codes and reinforcing beaches and wetlands to curb losses. The region, which suffers an average annual loss of $14 billion, may lose as much as $23 billion a year from “extreme” climate change, the report said.
“With the multiplier effect, the amount of economic loss to the Gulf Coast could rise to $700 billion, the gross domestic product for the entire region for one year,” Entergy Chief Executive Officer J. Wayne Leonard said today in a statement. The study is a “call to arms for policy makers,” he said. More at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-20/u-s-gulf-coast-faces-350-billion-in-climate-damage-by-2030-study-shows.html

Warmer Arctic probably permanent: scientists By Deborah Zabarenko, REUTERS

WASHINGTON - The signs of climate change were all over the Arctic this year — warmer air, less sea ice, melting glaciers — which probably means this weather-making region will not return to its former, colder state, scientists reported Thursday.
In an international assessment of the Arctic, scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark and other countries said, “Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely.”
Conditions in the Arctic are important because of their powerful impact on weather in the heavily populated middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.
The heavy snows in the United States, northern Europe and western Asia last winter are linked to higher air temperatures over the Arctic, the scientists found.
“Winter 2009-2010 showed a new connectivity between mid-latitude extreme cold and snowy weather events and changes in the wind patterns of the Arctic, the so-called Warm Arctic-Cold Continents pattern,” said the report, issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The scientists found evidence of widespread Arctic warming, with surface air temperatures rising above global averages twice as quickly as the rate for lower latitudes, Jackie Richter-Menge of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory.
Part of the reason for this is a process called polar amplification. Warming air melts the sun-reflecting white snow and ice of the Arctic, revealing darker, heat-absorbing water or land, spurring the effects of warming. This is further amplified by the action of the round-the-clock sunlight of Arctic summers, Richter-Menge said in a telephone briefing. More at:

http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/10/21/15777821.html

AP Interview: CG Admiral Asks For Arctic Resources by The Associated Press

The ice-choked reaches of the northern Arctic Ocean aren't widely perceived as an international shipping route. But global warming is bringing vast change, and Russia, for one, is making an aggressive push to establish top of the world sea lanes.
This year, a Russian ship carrying up to 90,000 metric tons of gas condensate sailed across the Arctic and through the Bering Strait to the Far East. Last year, a Russian ship went the other way, leaving from South Korea with industrial parts. Russia plans up to eight such trips next year, using oil-type tankers with reinforced hulls to break through the ice.
All of which calls for more U.S. Coast Guard facilities and equipment in the far north to secure U.S. claims and prepare for increased human activity, according to Rear Admiral Christopher C. Colvin, who is in charge of all Coast Guard operations in Alaska and surrounding waters.
"We have to have presence up there to protect our claims for the future, sovereignty claims, extended continental shelf claims," Colvin told The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview conducted aboard a C-130 on a lumbering flight to the Arctic Ocean.
The advent of Russian shipping across the Arctic is of particular concern to Alaska and the U.S. because "there's one way in and out of the Arctic Ocean for over half the world, and that's the Bering Strait," Colvin said.
The 56-mile wide strait lies between northwestern Alaska and Siberia, separating the North American and Asian continents and connecting the Bering Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
"The Bering Strait will end up becoming a significant marine highway in the future, and we're seeing it with Russia, the way they are promoting this maritime transportation route above Russia right now, today." More at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130638506

Have We Really Solved the Mystery Behind the Shocking Die-off of Bees? By Tom Laskawy / Grist.org

The New York Times essentially called it 'case closed' on Colony Collapse Disorder, but there is good reason to be wary about their reporting. READ MORE http://www.alternet.org/story/148545/have_we_really_solved_the_mystery_behind_the_shocking_die-off_of_bees

Yale Scientist Helps Pinpoint Threats To Life In World's Rivers

However, the new study found that the more streams and rivers dried up or flooded, the shorter the food chain. This in turns puts pressure on the ecosystem's ability to support organisms, particularly larger predators. In fact, when water is withdrawn from a stream or a river dries up it may be decades before the food chain recovers.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Yale_Scientist_Helps_Pinpoint_Threats_To_Life_In_World_Rivers_999.htmlNew Haven, CT (SPX) Oct 21, 2010 The food chain - the number of organisms that feed on each other - in the world's streams and rivers depends more upon the size of the stream and whether the waterways flood or run dry than the amount of available food resources, Yale University and Arizona State University (ASU) researchers report online in the Oct. 14 issue of the journal Science Express. The findings suggest that large predators in river systems will be threatened by increased variability in water flow induced by climate change. The research also helps settle an old debate among ecologists about what determines the length of nature's food chains, which sustain all life on earth.
"The food web is a regulatory network of ecosystems, and for nearly 100 years ecologists have debated the causes of variation in the length of the food chains, said David Post, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale and co-author of the study.
Researchers from Yale, ASU, the University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Geological Survey studied 36 North American streams and rivers. The researchers found that food chains - or the number of mouths that food passes through on the way to top predators - got longer as the size of the body of water increased.

Much of planet could see extreme drought in 30 years: study

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Much_of_planet_could_see_extreme_drought_in_30_years_study_999.html Washington (AFP) Oct 19, 2010 Large swathes of the planet could experience extreme drought within the next 30 years unless greenhouse gas emissions are cut, according to a study released Tuesday. "We are facing the possibility of widespread drought in the coming decades, but this has yet to be fully recognized by both the public and the climate change research community," said National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Aiguo Dai, who conducted the study.
"If the projections in this study come even close to being realized, the consequences for society worldwide will be enormous," he said.
Parts of Asia, the United States, and southern Europe, and much of Africa, Latin America and the Middle East could be hit by severe drought in the next few decades, with regions bordering the Mediterranean Sea seeing "almost unprecedented" drought conditions, the study says.
"Severe drought conditions can profoundly impact agriculture, water resources, tourism, ecosystems, and basic human welfare," says the study, published in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change.
In the United States, drought causes six to eight billion dollars in damages a year on average, and drought-related disasters killed more than half a million people in Africa in the 1980s, the study says.
While vast areas of the world will become extremely dry for long periods, higher-latitude regions from northern Europe to Russia, Canada, Alaska and India could become wetter.
Increased moisture in those regions would not, however, make up for the drier conditions across much of the rest of the world.
"The increased wetness over the northern, sparsely populated high latitudes can't match the drying over the more densely populated temperate and tropical areas," Dai said. More at link

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Human Activities Overload Ecosystems With Nitrogen

At Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, excess nitrogen promotes algae growth, which leads to eutrophication. Over-nourished by excess nutrients including nitrogen, which drains from nearby farms, swirls of blue-free algae form. The eventual decay of the algae robs the water of oxygen, and thereby creates a dead zone where other plants and animals cannot survive. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Human_Activities_Overload_Ecosystems_With_Nitrogen_999.html Camden NJ (SPX) Oct 22, 2010 Humans are overloading ecosystems with nitrogen through the burning of fossil fuels and an increase in nitrogen-producing industrial and agricultural activities, according to a new study. While nitrogen is an element that is essential to life, it is an environmental scourge at high levels. According to the study, excess nitrogen that is contributed by human activities pollutes fresh waters and coastal zones, and may contribute to climate change. Nevertheless, such ecological damage could be reduced by the adoption of time-honored sustainable practices.
Appearing in Science and conducted by an international team of researchers, the study was partially funded by the National Science Foundation.

Climate Change May Alter Natural Climate Cycles Of Pacific

File image.

Atlanta GA (SPX) Oct 22, 2010 While it's still hotly debated among scientists whether climate change causes a shift from the traditional form of El Nino to one known as El Nino Modoki, online in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists now say that El Nino Modoki affects long-term changes in currents in the North Pacific Ocean. El Nino is a periodic warming in the eastern tropical Pacific that occurs along the coast of South America. Recently, scientists have noticed that El Nino warming is stronger in the Central Pacific rather than the Eastern Pacific, a phenomenon known as El Nino Modoki (Modoki is a Japanese term for "similar, but different").
Last year, the journal Nature published a paper that found climate change is behind this shift from El Nino to El Nino Modoki.
While the findings of that paper are still being debated, this latest paper in Nature Geoscience presents evidence that El Nino Modoki drives a climate pattern known as the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO).
"We've found that El Nino Modoki is responsible for changes in the NPGO,"said Emanuele Di Lorenzo, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology More at: .http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_Change_May_Alter_Natural_Climate_Cycles_Of_Pacific_999.html

Sea ice melting as Arctic temperature rises

(AP) -- The temperature is rising again in the Arctic, with the sea ice extent dropping to one of the lowest levels on record, climate scientists reported Thursday. More at:http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-10-sea-ice-arctic-temperature.html

Climate Change Affects Life in the Pacific

El Nino along with climate change might just trigger the El Nino Modoki that causes long-term changes in the sea currents in the north Pacific Ocean, scientists reported online, in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The El Nino phenomenon is a recurrent warming in the eastern tropical Pacific, that happens along the coast of South America.

During the last few years, scientists have noticed that the El Nino warming is stronger in the central Pacific, rather than in the Eastern Pacific.

This new phenomenon is called El Nino Modoki, Modoki being a Japanese word for saying 'similar' but 'different'. More at:http://news.softpedia.com/news/Climate-Change-Affects-Life-in-the-Pacific-161399.shtml

Marine ecosystems at risk from pollution

Marine ecosystems around the world are at risk of substantial deterioration in coming decades as oceans face growing threats from pollution, over-fishing and climate change, according to a report from the UN's environment programme presented at a biodiversity summit in Nagoya

Asia tops climate change's 'most vulnerable' list

SEEKING to escape the worst effects of climate change? A comprehensive vulnerability index suggests you move to Scandinavia, Ireland or Iceland. And although Africa is often regarded as the most vulnerable continent, it finds that the teeming plains of Asia are at greater risk in the next 30 years. Ten of the 16 most vulnerable countries are in Asia (see map).

The Climate Change Vulnerability Index was produced by Maplecroft, a British risk analysis firm. It has crunched data from more than 40 studies, and looked at a range of risk factors including a nation's exposure to climate-related disasters; its population density, poverty and dependence on agriculture; and its government's and infrastructure's ability to adapt to climate change.

Bangladesh comes top of the "extremely vulnerable" category because of its large population, extreme rural poverty and high risk of flooding. India is second because of its billion-plus inhabitants. Other Asian nations at risk include Nepal, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia and Pakistan, which is still recovering from floods that engulfed a tenth of the country.

African nations judged at extreme risk are Madagascar, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Malawi.

The findings will raise the stakes in the run-up to the climate summit in Cancún, Mexico, in December, when nations hope to complete the talks on a new climate treaty.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827832.400-asia-tops-climate-changes-most-vulnerable-list.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=climate-change

Climate change threatens marine species: Report

New York, Oct 20 (IBNS) Pollution, over-fishing and climate change are having an increasingly damaging impact on the world’s oceans, threatening a growing extinction of native marine species across all regions, a new United Nations report warned. More at:

http://www.indiablooms.com/EnvironmentDetailsPage/environmentDetails201010d.php

World needs to protect 32 million square kilometers of ocean in two years

According to goals set in 2002 by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, nations must spend the next two years catching-up on creating ocean reserve. Currently, about 1.17 percent of the ocean is under some form of protection, but the 2002 goal was 10 percent by 2012. That means protecting over 32.5 million square kilometers, of the ocean twice the size of Russia. According to a recent report, Global Ocean Protection by the Nature Conservancy, not only is the world failing on its goals to protect a significant portion of the ocean, it's also failing to protect 10 percent of various marine ecosystems.

"Overall the shortfall in our achievements is quite shocking," says Mark Spalding with The Nature Conservancy and an editor of the report. "We attained only one tenth of our target. Even that statistic is buoyed up by a handful of giant marine parks, leaving a greater shortfall in many areas where the pressures are most intense. We need to realize that marine protection isn’t just about nature, it’s about ourselves. If we can’t manage and sustain our seas in their entirety, humans will be high on the list of losers." MOre at:

Read more: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1020-hance_mpas.html#ixzz131TqIONa

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1020-hance_mpas.html#ixzz131TcZ2La

Study recommends measures to offset rising Gulf Coast toll from hurricanes, sea level rise

Economic losses along the coasts of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama caused by rising seas, subsidence and hurricane damage could total $350 billion by 2030, if no steps are taken to counteract the effects of subsidence and global warming, according to a new report commissioned by Entergy Corp. and the America's WETLAND Foundation. More at:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/2010/10/gulf_coast_land_loss_could_cos.html

NASA Space Technology Could Transform Life On Earth

Image via Wikipedia

Moffett Field, CA (SPX) Oct 21, 2010 For years, NASA has been developing technology to establish long term human presence in space. As part of this ongoing effort, NASA developed a closed-loop system that recycles urine and gray water into drinking water. In addition, recent research suggests that it also may be used to generate and store energy, which would not only benefit space habitats and travel, but may have application on Earth as well.
Recently, the U.S. Congress passed the 2010 NASA Authorization Act (S. 3729), which establishes a commitment to human exploration for our nation's civilian space program. According to lawmakers, technologies developed for space may help motivate and accelerate the development of technologies and industrial capabilities for widespread applications.
As part of NASA's life support research, scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have started developing the needed infrastructure for sustainable economic activities in space.
"Our initial interest was recovering drinking water from hygiene (gray) water," said Michael Flynn, a research scientist at Ames.
"By collaborating with outside entities, an off-the-shelf forward osmosis membrane was developed that we later used to recover drinking water from wastewater and grow algae in seawater as a biofuel. Today, we are researching power generation from the forward osmosis process."
Results of these findings were recently presented at the International Conference on Environmental System in Barcelona Spain.
Sponsored by the Exploration Technology Development Program in NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Ames scientists have been researching forward osmosis (FO) technology. It is a process that purifies water by drawing it through a membrane, leaving behind organics and dissolved solids.
Originally developed for NASA's exploration life support water recycle hardware, this technology is called the Direct Osmotic Concentration system (DOC).

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

EU may slash bluefin tuna quota in 2011: spokesman

The European Commission may substantially slash its fishing quota for bluefin tuna next year to ensure the long-term sustainability of the endangered fish, a spokesman said Wednesday. The European Union's executive arm is working on proposals for the next meeting of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) between November 17 and 27 in Paris, spokesman Oliver Drewes told AFP.
The proposals will be based on science, he said.
During a meeting with European parliament lawmakers in Strasbourg, European fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki said "a substantial reduction" of catches "would be the way to go, to ensure a good possibility of having a viable stock until 2020 and a long-term sustainability of it," the spokesman said.
Environmental group WWF welcomed the commissioner's announcement and urged Brussels to make it a centerpiece of the European's position at the ICCAT meeting.
Scientists believe the size of the stock of bluefin tuna is only one-third of sustainable levels, WWF said.
WWF has called for a quota of less than 6,000 tonnes per year. The total allowable catches for 2010 was 13,500 tonnes.

Yale Scientist Helps Pinpoint Threats To Life In World's Rivers

New Haven, CT (SPX) Oct 21, 2010 The food chain - the number of organisms that feed on each other - in the world's streams and rivers depends more upon the size of the stream and whether the waterways flood or run dry than the amount of available food resources, Yale University and Arizona State University (ASU) researchers report online in the Oct. 14 issue of the journal Science Express. The findings suggest that large predators in river systems will be threatened by increased variability in water flow induced by climate change. The research also helps settle an old debate among ecologists about what determines the length of nature's food chains, which sustain all life on earth.
"The food web is a regulatory network of ecosystems, and for nearly 100 years ecologists have debated the causes of variation in the length of the food chains, said David Post, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale and co-author of the study.
Researchers from Yale, ASU, the University of Minnesota, and the U.S. Geological Survey studied 36 North American streams and rivers. The researchers found that food chains - or the number of mouths that food passes through on the way to top predators - got longer as the size of the body of water increased.
The findings are similar to another study conducted by Post a decade ago that found the key factor in food chain length was lake size, not the amount of food resources in a system, as many ecologists had believed.
A longer food chain supports more organisms and larger predators such as big fish but may also increase the concentration of contaminants in larger predators.

- More Space, Less Government and True Independence -- Wouldn't You Go Off the Grid for That?

Whether they're right-wing survivalists, environmentalists or foreclosure victims, these folks are united by one thing: The grid, and everything it represents, has let them down. READ MORE

By Nick Rosen / Penguin Books

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Drought may threaten much of globe within decades

October 19, 2010 Drought may threaten much of globe within decades

Enlarge
The United States and many other heavily populated countries face a growing threat of severe and prolonged drought in coming decades, according to a new study by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Aiguo Dai. The analysis concludes that warming temperatures associated with climate change will likely create increasingly dry conditions across much of the globe in the next 30 years, possibly reaching a scale in some regions by the end of the century that has rarely, if ever, been observed in modern times.

Scientists say Asia's corals dying en masse

Scientists say Asia's corals dying en masse
Coral reefs in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean are dying from the worst bleaching effect in more than a decade, Australian marine scientists said Tuesday.

Farm And Food Industry Groups Oppose EPA Decision On Corn-Based Ethanol

File image.

Washington DC (SPX) Oct 19, 2010 A coalition of farm and food industry trade associations representing every step of the food chain from meat and poultry producers, restaurants, bakers to other food manufacturers has issued the following statement in response to the Environmental Protection Agency's announcement that it would allow the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol ("E15") for cars manufactured in the 2007 model year or later. E15 - which would be a 50 percent increase from the currently permitted level of 10 percent ethanol in gasoline - will result in dramatic increases in the portion of the U.S. corn crop used to make fuel rather than food and, when fully implemented, could result in more than 40 percent of the nation's corn crop being diverted to ethanol production.
The corn ethanol industry has received over $30 billion in federal subsidies over the last three decades.
These farm and food industry groups criticized the decision, noting that it is certain to accelerate the recent dramatic rise in corn prices, and questioned whether the EPA decision is legally sound.
Members of the Coalition include the American Meat Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Council of Chain Restaurants, the National Chicken Council, the American Frozen Food Institute, the American Bakers Association, the National Meat Association and the National Turkey Federation.
The Coalition commented: "The EPA's decision will have an impact on American farmers, food manufacturers and, most importantly, American consumers, who will face price increases at the grocery store and when they go out to eat in a restaurant. EPA took this step without sufficient regard for the inevitable effect on the price of food and feed."
The Coalition continued: "After decades of federal subsidies and fuel mandates, the corn-based ethanol industry should stand on its own two feet and stop depending on the United States taxpayer for unneeded and unwarranted support. Enough is enough."
Responses from Members of the Coalition American Meat Institute President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle said: "USDA's recent estimate that corn production for this year was going to be 3.4 percent less than 2009 has sent corn prices higher. This will put pressure on the meat and poultry supply which will lead to higher food prices for consumers. For those consumers worried about climbing food prices, this decision will increase the amount of corn being diverted to our gas tanks and away from meat and poultry production. It's unfortunate that EPA acted hastily and approved the use of E15, and now the American consumer will pay for it at the grocery store."
Grocery Manufacturers Association Vice President for Federal Affairs Scott Faber said: "We are disappointed in the Administration's decision to allow more ethanol in gasoline before truly sustainable advanced biofuels are commercially available. Not only will this decision adversely affect millions of consumers who don't drive brand new cars, but also countless Americans who are struggling to feed their families in a slowly recovering economy. Recent spikes in corn prices due to supply concerns will only be exacerbated by this decision."
National Council of Chain Restaurants Vice President Scott Vinson said: "Economists were already forecasting higher food prices over the coming year, and the decision by the EPA is sure to make the situation even worse. The restaurant industry's small business franchisees are already struggling to make it as the economy tries to recover, and more piling on by the federal government is the last thing they need."
National Chicken Council President George Watts said: "Rising grain prices driven by the voracious demand for feedstock from the heavily subsidized ethanol industry caused an increase of six percent in the retail price of fresh whole broiler chickens from 2008 to 2010. Channeling even more corn into ethanol will, in time, only drive up the cost of chicken even more. Consumers will end up paying for the ethanol industry's demands. It is time to put an end to government mandates and interference in the market that raise the price of corn."
American Bakers Association President and CEO Robb MacKie said: "EPA's decision to increase the ethanol blend to E15 will further increase volatility in the grain markets. Other grains, including wheat, may increasingly be in shorter supply; potentially this may impact food prices in the future as the nation continues to lose wheat acreage. ABA strongly opposes this ill advised decision and calls on EPA to consult with relevant government agencies to carefully study how this would impact market volatility, to review the science behind the decision and analyze the economic impact on the already weakened economy."
National Meat Association CEO Barry Carpenter said: "EPA's action regarding the E15 waiver barely puts a band-aid on the oil dependency it is intended to alleviate, yet negatively impacts food security by further raising food and feed prices. Higher feed prices will eventually be passed on to consumers in higher meat and poultry prices. This is not a good decision for either consumers or U.S. agriculture."
National Turkey Federation President Joel Brandenberger said: "Feed accounts for 70 percent of the total cost of raising a turkey, and corn is the single-largest ingredient in turkey feed. The spike in corn prices caused by the expansion of corn-based ethanol could be crippling at a time when the turkey industry is just starting to recover. This dramatic increase in feed prices has led most turkey processors to cut production. Increasing the ethanol blend to 15 percent would destroy any chance our industry has of recovery in the near future."

Concerned About Jobs? Then You Should Be Concerned About Climate Change, Too -- Here's Why

If we do nothing about climate change -- jobs will be affected in every sector -- from construction to health care and farms to ports. READ MORE

By Jeremy Brecher, Brendan Smith, Lisa Hoyos / AlterNet

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Saturday, October 23, 2010

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

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New York, Oct 20 (IBNS) Pollution, over-fishing and climate change are having an increasingly damaging impact on the world’s oceans, threatening a growing extinction of native marine species across all regions, a new United Nations report warned. More at:

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Drought may threaten much of globe within decades

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