Drought is one of the most significant impacts of climate change on food. Climate change is increasing the risk of severe ‘food shocks’ where crops fail and prices of staples rise rapidly around the world. Researchers say extreme weather events that impact food production could be happening in seven years out of ten by the end of this century. Sourced through Scoop.it from: jpratt27.wordpress.com
GR: Areas not stricken by drought are likely to experience flooding.
BOWIE — Farmers from California and Arizona are pushing to drill wells and pump unregulated water in Cochise County, triggering intense rivalries and calls for a crackdown.
Some farmers from the drought-parched, increasingly regulated Central Valley of California want to plant pistachios and other crops here, largely to feed China’s growing demand for tree nuts. But others who are already here and pumping water want the state to limit new irrigation. Sourced through Scoop.it from: azdailysun.com
GR: Everyone acknowledges that groundwater is a limited resource that will all be gone one day, but no one acknowledges that the riparian habitats along streams and springs fed by groundwater have either already disappeared or will disappear over the next few years. Such blind ambition is destroying our wildlife. Arizona farmers, “Wealth isn’t just bank balances, it’s also the beauty of our surroundings.”
Passenger Pigeon
Stopping human-caused extinction of Earth’s plant and animal species is the greatest challenge of our time. This post provides access to the latest articles on extinction. The first item (Ceballos et al. 2015) is the latest detailed report on what we know and how we acquired the information.
More than a thousand recent articles are linked to my blog (https://garryrogers.com/blog):
My blog covers the things that people do to cause extinctions and reduce biodiversity. These deeds of ours are woven into individual and our collective habits and beliefs. Stopping them will alter our society and our culture. It will be difficult. Our population must be reduced, our food choices must change, and our resource harvest must decline. Nothing less will succeed. Search the blog using the following terms for recent reports: Burning, Coal, Construction, Deforestation, Desertification, Energy, Farming, Fishing, Fracking, Grazing, Hunting, Invasive Species, Logging, Mining, Oil, Pesticides, Pet Trade, Pollution, Population, Roads, and Soil.
Climate change will become the major cause of extinction. Here’s its search link on my blog: Climate Change.
For more reading, my Internet newsletters include a wider variety of articles than my blog.
Your balcony – a little corner of paradise…
Source: livingcircular.veolia.com
GR: If you live in North America, here’s a good source for beekeeping information: http://www.beeculture.com/directory/find-local-beekeeper/. Beekeeping associations in other parts of the world are listed here: http://honeyo.com/org-International.shtml. You can find more information through the one of the beekeeping forums. Interested? It takes about 30 minutes per hive per week, and 2 hours per hive twice a year to extract honey.
Highly productive agriculture and the protection of biodiversity are hard to reconcile? A joint project involving BASF, farmers and agronomic experts reveals how modern farming can help to protect ecosystems.
Source: www.basf.com
GR: This story is misleading. Yes, farmers could do a better of protecting natural margins of their fields. They could also quit spreading artificial fertilizer and pesticides and pick up their hoes. Of course, they will argue they can’t do that and produce enough food for all the hungry people. The number of hungry people is growing. And this means that farms must grow and natural areas and wildlife must fade away.
FARMERS lose more nutrients into adjacent land as they increase farming intensity, research has found. A study measuring the spillover effects of farm…
Source: www.sciencewa.net.au
GR: There is probably an increase in pesticide runoff as well.
GR: The California drought is a result of human-caused climate change. As irrigated farmlands decline, supermarket prices will rise, and homegrown produce will become attractive. Though many will lament this blow to Human society and will fight to maintain consumer economics in the produce aisles, others will consider it a just outcome of our own stupidity. Joshua Frank says, “Planting community gardens, growing our own vegetables, and
Mining waste of the land’s productivity.
shopping at local Farmer’s Markets – these are all ways we can survive without relying on the bounty California has provided.” However, this too, like irrigated agriculture, will ultimately fail. Human population growth will continue to overuse natural resources and force a decline in ecosystem stability and productivity. In the battles for fresh water and good soil, the blows to Human society will be massive and irreversible.
The following by Joshua Frank.
“Thanks to cheap water and plentiful sunshine, California grows most of the US’s fruit, vegetables and nuts, writes Joshua Frank. But with the drought looking ever more permanent, the $40 billion industry is facing a terminal crisis. It’s only a matter of time before we have to rely on local produce – so let’s make a start now!
“Agriculture accounts for over 80% of California’s total water consumption. The future of the state’s big ag is grim. It’s a reality the entire country will have to face.
Wild horses on a Great Basin Deseert landscape denuded by domestic cattle.
“It’s bone dry in California, and as I wrote in a recent print issue of CounterPunch magazine, it’s likely to remain that way for a long, long time thanks to our warming climate.
“The melting ice in the Arctic is manipulating the jet stream off the coast, pushing winter storms out of California. By many accounts the California water crisis is in its infancy and we are only beginning to witness the many changes the state will face as a result.”
Go here for an explanation of the California drought.
Go here for the rest of the article: Climate change and the downfall of California’s big agriculture – The Ecologist.
GR: Will the Puerto Rican parrot survive? It is the only remaining native parrot in Puerto Rico. Parrots of the region began disappearing in the 1700’s due to logging, farming, and pet collecting. The species’ prospects have improved, but the World Conservation Union still lists it as critically endangered. In 2012, there were only 58–80 individuals in the wild and 300 individuals in captivity. Considering the numbers that persist, I wondered if conservation efforts over the past 40 years have done enough.
This blog post from Brain Pickings describes the species’ step back from the brink of extinction.
“Most children’s books are full of animals — as protagonists, as pets, as age-old standbys in fairy tales and alphabet primers alike. But, as Jon Mooallem poignantly observed in his bittersweet love letter to wildlife, by the time each generation of children grows up, countless species of animals that roamed Earth during their childhood have gone extinct — today, scientists estimate that one species ceases to exist every twenty minutes. Perhaps whatever chance we have of reversing this tragedy lies in translating our children’s inherent love of animal characters into a tangible grown-up love of animal species, the kind of love that protects them from growing extinct, preserves their natural habitat, and honors the complex dynamics of ecosystems.”
Source: www.brainpickings.org
GR: The rising cost of vegetables and the crops fed to livestock may alter the diets of the expanded mass of poor people in the US. The real impact, however, is the drying of springs and ponds used by wildlife. Drought and human competition for water will shove many species farther toward extinction.
Rising Costs for Urbanites
NaturalNews: “It is not as if there aren’t any economic factors influencing the price of groceries these days. Transportation alone, thanks to skyrocketing fuel prices, has lifted the cost of everything we buy at the grocery store. Now, one of the worst droughts in U.S. history is making the one thing absolutely vital for food production — an ample water supply — more expensive as well, and that, ultimately, will translate into even higher prices at the market.
“To set the stage, back in February the U.S. Bureau or Reclamation released its first outlook of the year, in which the agency found insufficient water stocks in California to release to farmers for irrigation. That was the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project that had happened.
“If it’s not there, it’s just not there,” said Water Authority Executive Director Steve Chedester, who noted that it would be tough finding water in the coming year or more. Farmers were to be hardest hit, the official added, stating, “They’re all on pins and needles trying to figure out how they’re going to get through this.”
“One way to deal with the drought is for farmers to plant fewer fields, which would mean that early on there would be fewer crops; in the law of supply and demand, when supply is reduced but demand remains high, prices rise.”
Read more at NaturalNews.
GarryRogers Nature Conservation 