USDA Expands Drought Disaster Zones Across U.S.
On Wednesday, Agirculture Secretary Tom Vilsack added 218 more counties in 12 states to the list of primary natural disaster areas "due to damage and losses caused by drought and excessive heat," a USDA press release said.… Read More
Drought Tightens Its Grip on High Plains, Central States
While the drought is likely related to natural climate variability, including a long-lasting La Niña event that is still winding down, manmade climate change has likely made the drought worse by making the drought hotter than it otherwise would be. Extreme heat can help perpetuate drought conditions, since soils dry out faster during periods of hig… Read More
Times Review: ‘Global Weirdness’ is a Winner
“That is, it’s a book, written in the kind of plain English of which Strunk and White would approve, that lays out what we know about climate change while hewing to the facts and taking great care to avoid bias and hysteria,… Read More
‘Global Weirdness,’ Climate Central’s Book Debut
There’s a lot of debate about climate change, but not in the scientific community. People who actually study the climate overwhelmingly agree that greenhouse gases generated by human activity are pushing Earth’s climate into a state the world hasn’t seen for many tens of thousands of years. These experts don’t know to the last detail what will … Read More
Africa’s Great Green Wall Against Climate Change Begins
Senegal's capitol city Dakar sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean on a peninsula. It's at least a thousand miles to the Sahara desert yet the air today is so thick with sand that the tops of buildings disappear in a sandy haze. It's the worst sand storm in a year and people here are worried thatclimate change will cause these events to be more… Read More
Climate Change Fuels the Perfect Firestorm
The last time I chased wildfires across Colorado was in 2003, while serving as a seasonal wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. I was part of a crew of 20, bouncing through the Rocky Mountains in a battered school bus to put out fires with names like Crazy Woman and the Bluebird. It was a war fought with rakes, spades, axes, and … Read More
Global Fight For Natural Resources ‘Has Only Just Begun’
Business & academic leaders gathered at the Resource 2012 conference to discuss the growing battle for natural resources.… Read More
Drought Prompts Natural Disaster Declaration in 26 States
The most widespread drought in the U.S. since 1988 has prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a natural disaster declaration for about 1,000 counties in 26 states, making farm operators eligible for low interest emergency loans.… Read More
