tagged w/ erratic weather patterns
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Spain has faced the driest winter ever recorded. It has raised red flags in Spain, where farmers face the threat of extreme drought. Grain crops in Spain are suffering after an unusually dry autumn and winter. The amount of rainfall has been just half of normal in key grain producing regions.
The map of the impact of the drought on plants throughout the country made with Normalized Vegetation Difference Index (NDVI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) instrument on the Terra satellite. It compares plant growth between April 6 and April 21, 2012, with average conditions for the same period. Brown indicates areas where plants are growing less vigorously than usual for this time of year. Gray indicates areas where data were not available. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using data provided by Inbal Reshef, Global Agricultural Monitoring Project. Caption by Adam Voiland.)
In an analysis released on May 10, 2012, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, projected Spain’s wheat production would drop by 20 percent, oats by 18 percent, and barley by 14 percent in comparison to last year. Overall, the USDA expects Spain will need to import 11 million metric tons of grain from other European countries because of the drought.
In late April, increasing rainfall has started to improve the situation, particularly in the northern half of the country. If rain continues to fall regularly throughout May, there’s a chance that barley and wheat yields could rebound.
A closer view of Andalucía, a region in southern Spain that produces almost all of the country’s durum wheat. Only about half the normal amount of rainfall fell in Andalucía between January and April. In the other key wheat producing states of Castilla y Leon, Castilla-La Mancha, and Aragón, rainfall has been low as well. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using data provided by Inbal Reshef, Global Agricultural Monitoring Project. Caption by Adam Voiland.)
Spain is not the only European country grappling with a weak wheat crop. Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and other countries will likely see reduced yields as well due to dry weather. A cold spell at the end of February in Poland and Germany has also harmed crops. (EarthObservatory)
More at the linkSpain has faced the driest winter ever recorded. It has raised red flags in Spain,... more
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http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16112805
The record suicide rate among farmers in India continues to rise and is threatening the country's stability and future development, according to campaigners.
They are blaming the government's policies for the agrarian crisis and are demanding it takes urgent action.
More than a quarter of a million farmers have killed themselves in the last 16 years in what is the largest recorded wave of suicides in history.
Kishore Tiwari, a campaigner with the Vidharbha Jan Andolan Samiti in Maharashtra state in central India, says cotton farmers have been particularly badly affected.
Many of them have only just moved to growing cash crops - like cotton - in the last few years.
He says the farmers have taken on large debts to buy hybrid seeds, which are often unsuited to the harsh and temperamental Indian climate.
"They are sold these modern seeds and modern chemicals and have to take on large debts to buy them.
"The problem is they need a lot of water which is in short supply and then when the crop is poor and they have to repay the money lenders, they despair and commit suicide."
Mr Tiwari says the suicides are a symptom of a wider crisis in the countryside.
India's has one of the fastest growing economies in the world but its roots are in the countryside and much of it is being left behind.
In a country with aspirations, moving away from a life of subsistence is attractive but it can also be deadly.
Vandana Moohorle is now bringing up her children alone after her husband killed himself by drinking pesticide.
Like many farmers, he had been persuaded to use genetically modified seeds by the possibility of a better harvest. What he wasn't told was that they needed more rain than the region provided.
His wife blames the government and the large agricultural companies for exploiting the rural poor who dream of a better life.
"He was always tense" she said. "He had borrowed a lot of money for pesticides and fertilizers and now I will have to pay back his debts. Debt is the reason for all the suicides around here and it's the people in charge who are responsible for it."
Across rural India there is now widespread despair. The fields are also filling up with widows.
Activists say it is the other side of India's economic success story.
Beyond the headlines of fast growth, most of the country is still poor and is being left behind by a corrupt political class who are preoccupied with their own greed.
They point to the alarming suicide numbers to prove their point.
More than 60% of India's population still depends on the countryside for survival but with unfettered globalisation and little support from the government, the rural classes are badly exposed.
In the face of rising inflation and with no safety net, the ultimate act of desperation is often their only answer to the new world they live in.
It is a sobering fact but on average one farmer now commits suicide in India every 30 minutes.
And campaigners say the problem will only get worse without direct intervention from the government in the form of subsidies and agricultural educational programmes.http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16112805
The record suicide rate among... more
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This video shows the snow In South Africa which in some places is only used to a dusting a couple times a year. This following the 32 inches dumped on Chile this past week... Keep connecting those dots. The hydrologic cycle is oversaturated as we keep contributing to it daily while waiting for some magic bullet. Water evaporation in places of intense heat and drought as wel as oceans are now drying out areas of the world and carrying the moisture to other places where it is not usual, while places in the world needing it sit in drought. This is the damage to our agriculture that has been warned about as well as crops dying in either wilting heat and extended drought or extreme floods.
Excerpt:
'Snow blankets parts of South Africa
By Jason Samenow
Up to two feet of snow covered parts of eastern South Africa Tuesday, bringing traffic to a standstill along major routes and disrupting air and rail transportation. The snow also closed shops and schools.
Reuters Africa reports:
Parts of South Africa usually receive a dusting about once or twice a year but the storm that hit large parts of the eastern half of the country on Monday and Tuesday dumped up to 60 cms (2 feet) in some areas. “Snow is not unheard of but it is usually not this extreme,” said national weather service forecaster Karl Loots.'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNvihqRXU64&feature=player_embeddedThis video shows the snow In South Africa which in some places is only used to a... more
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I think it is time for Australia and other countries to give more attention to climate policy.I think it is time for Australia and other countries to give more attention to climate... more
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The world is careering towards three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming by 2100 despite headline-making promises to curb carbon emissions, a study released at UN talks here said on Thursday.
"The current pledges and loopholes give us a virtual certainty of exceeding 1.5 C (2.7 F), with global warming very likely exceeding 2 C (3.6 F) and a more than 50-percent chance of exceeding 3 C (5.4 F) by 2100," said Bill Hare of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).
Around 120 countries have signed up to voluntary action on greenhouse gases under last December's Copenhagen Accord, which aims to limit warming since pre-industrial times to 2.0 C.
Scientists caution there is no consensus on what is a safe level for warming, and some say a rise of even 2.0 C could still have far-reaching risks for ice and snow cover and rainfall patterns.
The new study takes a fresh look at the promises, pronouncements, policy changes and other measures unveiled, sometimes with fanfare, since Copenhagen.
It rated the contribution by China -- the world's No. 1 carbon polluter -- as "inadequate" but praised the country for boosting renewable energy.
A voracious burner of fossil fuels, China saw its carbon emissions double from four to eight billion tonnes annually from 1990 to 2005.
On a business-as-usual basis, its output would reach between 12 and 14 billion tonnes by 2020, according to the new Climate Action Tracker analysis. But, if all China's policies are implemented, emissions could remain under 10 billion tonnes per year, it estimated.
Among industrialised countries, the report warned the United States, the No. 2 polluter, would still fall short even if it fulfilled its Copenhagen promises.
Only Norway and Japan are currently in the tracker's "sufficient" category among industrialised countries. However, the European Union (EU) and Iceland could join them by deepening planned emissions cuts from 20 percent by 2020 over 1990 levels to 30 percent.
The analysis was written by experts with PIK, a German energy research company called Ecofys and Climate Analytics, a not-for-profit company which tracks policy commitments in climate change.The world is careering towards three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) of... more
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A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped across western Europe on Sunday, battering France and four other countries, leaving at least 51 people dead.
The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999 when 90 people died. Prime Minister Francois Fillon held an emergency cabinet meeting and afterward called the storm a "national catastrophe."
Many of the at least 45 victims in France drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind. At least a dozen people were missing Sunday and 59 others were injured.
Three people died in Spain, one was killed in Germany and a child was crushed to death in Portugal. The storm also hit Belgium, with one death reported there. Although Britain was not hit, London's Thames Barrier — the capital's flood defense — was closed Sunday morning as a precaution.
Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, while high tides and enormous waves swamped Atlantic Ocean communities in the early morning hours.
Sea walls broke in the town of L'Aguillon, where the ocean waters reached the roofs of some homes. Helicopters lifted people to safety throughout the day.
A retired couple who had parked their camping car on the waterfront in the town Moutier-en-Retz died when the vehicle was swallowed by rushing waters and they could not make it to firm ground.
The threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees Mountains and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow. Roofs were ripped off, chimneys collapsed and the wind shattered the windows at a brewery in eastern France.
In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets of the capital. Flights were delayed and at least 100 were canceled at the two main Paris airports. A number of trains throughout France were delayed because of flooded tracks.
Winds reached about 130 mph (200 kph) on the summits of the Pyrenees and up to nearly 100 mph (160 kph) along the Atlantic Coast. The storm hit the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions in southwestern France hardest, flooding coastal islands and tossing boats around in ports.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux planned to visit the worst hit regions Monday. The finance minister announced an easing of taxes for those affected for 2010.
The storm was moving eastward and parts of France along the border with Germany and Belgium were on alert for heavy rain and high winds.
Also see:
http://www.canada.com/news/France+declares+catastrophe+deadly+storm+wake/2624453/story.htmlA violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped... more
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If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made it through the long drought of 2005 and 2006.
Among people who study human development, it is a widely-held view that each person needs about 20 litres of water each day for the basics - to drink, cook and wash sufficiently to avoid disease transmission.
Yet at the height of the East African drought, people were getting by on less than five litres a day - in some cases, less than one litre a day, enough for just three glasses of drinking water and nothing left over.
Some people, perhaps incredibly from a western vantage point, are hardy enough to survive in these conditions; but it is not a recipe for a society that is healthy and developing enough to break out of poverty.
"Obviously there are many drivers of human development," says the UN's Andrew Hudson.
"But water is the most important."
At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where Dr Hudson works as principal technical advisor to the water governance programme, he calculated the contribution that various factors make to the Human Development Index, a measure of how societies are doing socially and economically.
"It was striking. I looked at access to energy, spending on health, spending on education - and by far the strongest driver of the HDI on a global scale was access to water and sanitation."
Excerpt from article.
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Is it coincidental that we see conflict in every place on this map marked in red in the Middle East?If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made... more
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So to those who keep posting about the huge amounts of snow Great Britain got, or the fact that it is colder in many places than usual this winter, know this: This is what is known as climate extremes. And if you know your geography, you know that Australia on the other side of the world is now experiencing one of the hottest summers it has ever experienced. Another climate extreme. Climate extremes are a part of global warming, which includes erratic weather patterns, which includes snow, rain, and extreme cold or heat. Do not be so myopic that you lose perspective here. It would appear that the pace at which global warming/climate change is excelerating is giving us a stark warning that so many are still ignoring to our collective peril: it isn't about weather but trends, and we better start paying attention to them now.So to those who keep posting about the huge amounts of snow Great Britain got, or the... more
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