From Zhengxin: In a problem that is pervasive in much of China, over-farming has drawn down the water table so low that desert is overtaking farmland. Authorities have ordered farmers here in Gansu province to vacate their properties over the next 3 1/2 years, and will replace 20 villages with newly planted grass in a …
paper of the day: From Jia-Lin Lin at the Climate Diagnostics Center in Boulder, more evidence that the models don’t get El Nino right real climate: From the Climate Prediction Center: La Nina’s roaring back real climate II: I saw on yesterday’s bike ride that the Rio Grande is back down, under 1,300 cubic feet …
Tim Egan on a city in the desert: Is there a similar point at which the city becomes imperiled? The skeptics say: No, we can engineer our way around it. Look at the ballpark where the Diamondbacks play baseball: It has a retractable roof, which is closed while the stadium is cooled by industrial-strength air-conditioning …
Ban Ki Moon has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post linking the calamity in Darfur to climate change: Almost invariably, we discuss Darfur in a convenient military and political shorthand — an ethnic conflict pitting Arab militias against black rebels and farmers. Look to its roots, though, and you discover a more complex dynamic. Amid …
Things are looking rough in Alabama: Prolonged dry conditions have stunted the growth of hay and pastures, forcing Alabama cattlemen to sell off their herds because they can’t afford the cost of feed. Wayne Davis of Elmore County is slowly selling off his 150 head of purebred Charolais — a few already, more soon. “I …
From Tennessee: Jack Daniels water supply is running low and putting the century-plus whiskey business in jeopardy.
Richard Kerr has an excellent article in today’s Science ((Pushing the Scary Side of Global Warming, Science 8 June 2007: 1412-1415, sub. req.)) looking at the discomfort scientists face in going beyond the IPCC’s conclusions on the extent to which sea level might rise over the next century. The problem here is how to approach …
James Hansen and company have a new paper attempting to define “dangerous climate interference” and suggest where we currently stand relative to their chosen standard. Their answer? Close: We examine potential criteria for dangerous climate change assuming that humanity wants to preserve planetary conditions similar to those in the period of civilization, thus near the …
Stuff I wrote elsewhere: Mosquitoes feasted Tuesday morning on dignitaries who gathered in the Rio Grande bosque to commemorate the release of the millionth Rio Grande silvery minnow. The minnow release was a celebration of efforts to save the fish from extinction. The mosquitoes were a reminder of an especially wet spring— nature cooperating with …
New NASA data shows accelerated snowmelt in Greenland: To understand why these trends are important to track, Tedesco explained one of the consequences of melting snow. “Although wet and dry snow look similar at first glance, wet and re-frozen snow absorb more of the sun’s radiation, reflecting only 50-60 percent back into the atmosphere. Dry …