U.S. Drought 2012: Pick Your Poison. The drought that has kept much of the nation in its grip this summer brings a host of additional downstream worries for growers already struggling with reduced yields.
Cattle are being poisoned by cyanide-laced weeds in Arkansas. Across the Midwest water-soluble fertilizers are concentrating in soils and plants, making them harmful rather than productive. And in Missouri, samples suggest that more than half the corn crop isn't fit for human consumption, thanks to unusually high levels of a carcinogenic toxin. For farmers coping with the worst drought to hit the United States in decades, it's another chapter in an unfolding disaster that shows no sign of abating. And with climate projections showing more frequent summer droughts in heavy farming areas, these elevated drought-related poisons add to the challenges growers face in a changing climate.
The annual tally is usually less than five, he said. Nitrate isn't toxic to animals. 2012 an up-and-down year for precipitation as drought persisted. Weatherwise, 2012 was a year of false hopes.
On the heels of 2011, the hottest year on record and one of the driest, the early months were generous with precipitation, as periods of rain continued through the spring. January 2012 had blissfully mild temperatures and twice the usual rainfall. Dec 2012 Illinois climatologist expects U.S. drought through 2013. Nov 2012 Drought escalating as U.S. signs water rights pact with Mexico - National Community Issues. Oct 2012 Uncomfortable and Scratchy? Thinking outside the (burlap) box at SXSW Eco. Philippe Cousteau Jr.
Photo by Richard Whittaker Environmentalism faces one key problem: burlap bags. Or rather, says Graceann Bennett, managing partner at Ogilvy & Mather, it's what burlap bags represent – the idea that "green" means scratchy, dull, substandard, or just plain uncomfortable. At the second SXSW Eco conference, held last week at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, ecologists, scientists, and experts grappled with the thorny problem of making environmentalism culturally relevant to everyone.
Bennett argued that green companies often shoot themselves in the foot with bad branding on good products. "There are no boxes in nature," he noted, suggesting instead that organic and curved structures can be both easy on the eye and easy on the environment. But how to break through that cultural divide? Sept 2012 Hurricane Brings Some Drought Relief. Sept 2012 Serious Dangers Of Fracking Need Considered. To the Readers' Forum: Concerning recent public campaign by Gov.
Cuomo and The American Petroleum Institute, I encourage all residents of the Southern Tier to make sure they are well informed about the dangers of fracking before they support it. Please remember the blow out of a natural gas well in Leroy township, Pa. that occurred April 19. Read all about it and other fracking disasters by going to The National Wildlife Federation's website at www.nwf.org. Yes, moe jobs and natural gas sound great, but it may cost you personally a lot moe than you planned. In Leroy, no one new exactly how to stop the 10,000 gallons of toxic wastewater from flowing out and it did so for 11 hours. Often in these disasters, people are told to drink bottled water. Kathleen Morrison Jamestown. Aug 2012 Secret Side Of The Drought: Many Corn Farmers Will Benefit : The Salt. Hide captionPresident Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (second from right) inspect drought-damaged corn on the McIntosh farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa.
Carolyn Kaster/AP President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (second from right) inspect drought-damaged corn on the McIntosh farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Aug 2012 Terrestrial ecology: NEON light. THE phrase “Big Science” brings to mind rockets, telescopes and particle accelerators.
When it comes to grand scientific gestures—and the cash that goes therewith—those who wield field glasses and butterfly nets in the name of terrestrial ecology seldom get a look in. Which is surprising, as the habitat they study, namely dry land, is the one actually occupied by humanity. But a group of American ecologists, led by David Schimel, intend to correct this state of affairs. They plan to shake up terrestrial ecology, and introduce it to the scale and sweep of Big Science, by establishing NEON, the National Ecological Observatory Network. Finding the money for this project, which will be based in Boulder, Colorado, has not been easy, but after a decade of discussion and planning, America’s National Science Foundation managed to persuade Congress to earmark $434m, the price of a modest space probe, to set it up.
Dr Schimel’s team is thus now starting to wire up the landscape. Tower records. July 2012 Severe Drought Expected to Worsen Across the Nation. July 2012 Interactive: Mapping The U.S. Drought. July 2012 Drought Disasters Declared In More Counties; 1,297 Affected So Far : The Two-Way. Hide captionA corn plant that was struggling to survive this week in a drought-stricken farm field near Shawneetown, Ill.
Scott Olson/Getty Images A corn plant that was struggling to survive this week in a drought-stricken farm field near Shawneetown, Ill.