Desdemona Despair

By Robert Sanders, Media Relations
28 July 2011

BERKELEY — California’s native grasses, already under pressure from invasive exotic grasses, are likely to be pushed aside even more as the climate warms, according to a new analysis from the University of California, Berkeley.

In the study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Global Change Biology and is now available online, UC Berkeley biologists catalogued the ranges of all 258 native grasses and 177 exotic grasses in the state and estimated how climate change – in particular, increased temperature and decreased rainfall – would change them.

They concluded that many of the traits that now make exotic grasses more successful than many natives also would allow them to adapt better to increased temperature and likely expand their ranges.

“When we looked at current patterns, we found that warmer temperatures favor certain traits, and these are the traits possessed by exotic species,” said coauthor Emily Dangremond, a graduate student in the UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology. “This led us to predict that, if the mean temperature increases in all zones in California, there is an increased likelihood of finding exotic species, and an increase in the proportion of species in a zone that are exotic.” […]

With grasses, the increase in exotics could make the state more prone to wildfires, since invasive grasses dry out in the summer more than do native grasses. Some grasses serve as reservoirs for viruses and other pathogens that attack food crops, while others more efficiently suck up water that would normally be used by other grasses and plants. […]

Exotics differed significantly from natives on seven of the 10 traits in ways that made them more adaptable to higher temperatures. For example, exotics tended to be taller, have longer and wider leaves, higher specific leaf area, higher nitrogen mass in the leaves and higher seed mass, and were less likely to be perennial. Noxious invasives were even more extremely adapted to warmer temperatures.

These traits account for the success of invasive exotic grasses, Dangremond said. Taller grasses, for example, give exotics more light-capturing ability and the ability to outcompete natives for light. Similarly, the larger seeds of exotic species could give these grasses a competitive advantage at the seedling stage. […]

“I hate to be a doomsayer, but the problem is getting worse because of humans,” Dangremond said. “Humans promote the spread of invasive species by disturbing areas and letting weedy species come in, and grazing herbivores like cows and elk tend to have a negative effect on native plants anyway. Native species really have a lot to contend with now.”

Warming climate could give exotic grasses edge over natives

July 29 (NHK) – Nearly 50,000 tons of sludge at water treatment facilities has been found to contain radioactive cesium as the result of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Over 1,500 tons is so contaminated that it cannot be buried for disposal.

Water treatment facilities in eastern and northeastern Japan have been discovering sludge containing cesium.

The health ministry says there is 49,250 tons of such sludge in 14 prefectures in eastern and northeastern Japan.

A total of 1,557 tons in 5 prefectures, including Fukushima and Miyagi, was found to contain 8,000 or more becquerels per kilogram. This sludge is too radioactive to be buried for disposal.

The most contaminated sludge, with 89,697 becquerels per kilogram, was discovered at a water treatment facility in Koriyama City, Fukushima.

The ministry says 76 percent of the roughly 50,000 tons of radioactive sludge is being stored at water treatment plants and they have no ways to dispose of most of it.

It says more than 54,000 tons of additional sludge has not been checked for radioactive materials.

The ministry plans to study how to dispose of the radioactive sludge.

1,500 tons of radioactive sludge cannot be buried

By Benjamin Wermund; Editing by Karen Brooks and Jerry Norton
29 July 2011

MARFA, Texas (Reuters) – A historic Texas drought is driving bears into urban areas searching for food and water, the latest in a series of bizarre wildlife stories to come out of the deadly hot and dry weather across the nation.

Authorities have reported wayward razorbacks in Arkansas digging through flower beds, and bats changing their nightly flight patterns in Austin, Texas. High temperatures and stifling humidity in the Midwest have killed thousands of cattle in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

In far West Texas, the bears have been lumbering out of their normal habitats for more than one reason.

With fires scorching black bear ranges in the mountains of Far West Texas and Northern Mexico, and extreme drought making it difficult to find water and food, the usually reclusive beasts have been on the move this summer -- making their way into towns and cities increasingly.

"They're going to where they need to," said Louis Harveson, a Sul Ross State University professor of wildlife management who directs the school's Borderlands Research Institute. "They're scavengers -- they're basically an oversized raccoon."

And where bears need to go is where the food is, be it dumpsters, gardens or, as in one west Texas resident's case, bird feeders. […]

There have been 13 black bear sightings in west Texas since May 31, according to Jonah Evans, a Texas Parks and Wildlife diversity biologist for the Trans-Pecos region in charge of tracking bear sightings in the area.

In all of 2010, he said, there was only one reported sighting. […]

Harveson said. "They (hunters) used to hunt in the Davis Mountains and harvest eight a day."

The hunting, among other factors, drove the bears to near extinction in Texas, where they are still a protected species. […]

Drought-hit bears head for Texas urban areas

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
30 July 2011

Freshwater fish are the most endangered group of animals on the planet, with more than a third threatened with extinction, according to a report being compiled by British scientists.

Among those at the greatest risk of dying out are several species from UK rivers and lakes including the European eel, Shetland charr and many little known fish that have become isolated in remote waterways in Wales and Scotland.

Others critically endangered include types of sturgeon, which provide some of the world's most expensive caviar, and giant river dwellers such as the Mekong giant catfish and freshwater stingray, which can grow as long as 15 feet.

The scientists have blamed human activities such as overfishing, pollution and construction for pushing so many species to the brink of extinction.

They also warn that the loss of the fish could have serious implications for humans. In Africa alone more than 7.5 million people rely on freshwater fish for food and income.

The precarious status of the species has been revealed in interim results from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List assessment of freshwater fish.

Dr William Darwall, manager of the freshwater unit at the IUCN in Cambridge, said: "There are still some big gaps in our knowledge, but of the 5,685 species that have been assessed, 36 per cent of them are threatened.
 
"Compared to mammals, where 21 per cent are threatened, and birds, where 12 per cent are threatened, it is clear that fresh water ecosystems are among the most threatened in the world.
 
"Sadly, it is also not going to get any better as human need for fresh water, power and food continues to grown and we exploit freshwater environments for these resources." […]

Third of freshwater fish threatened with extinction

July 31 (New Scientist) – ANTARCTICA is rising like a cheese soufflé: slowly but surely. Lost ice due to climate change and left-over momentum from the end of the last big ice age mean the buoyant continent is heaven-bound.

Donald Argus of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and colleagues used 15 years of GPS data to show that parts of the Ellsworth mountains in west Antarctica are rising by around 5 millimetres a year (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2011gl048025). Elsewhere on the continent, the rise is slower.

A faster rise has been seen in Greenland, which is thought to be popping up by 4 centimetres a year.

Ongoing climate change could be partly to blame: Antarctica is losing about 200 gigatonnes of ice per year, and for Greenland the figure is 300 gigatonnes. Earth's continents sit on viscous magma, so the effect of this loss is like taking a load off a dense foam mattress.

But there is another possible contributor. "The Earth has a very long memory," says Argus. As a result, "there is also a viscous response to ice loss from around 5000 to 10,000 years ago going on".

Despite this effect, the known ice loss at both poles suggests that embedded in the local rises is a signal of current climate change - researchers just have to tease it out.

Antarctica rising as ice caps melt

By John Platt
30 July 2011

Add another species to the long list of plants and animals being eaten out of existence so men can try to get it up in the bedroom.

This time, instead of medically useless tiger penises or sea turtle eggs, it's an African plant called White's ginger (Mondia whitei), often wrongly referred to as "white ginger." It goes by many names in Africa, most notably mukombero in Kenya, where it is said that chewing the root of the plant or drinking it in tea form can boost virility and stamina in the bedroom

"It never disappoints, my wife is one happy woman," one Kenyan man told Radio Netherlands Worldwide. "Mukombero allows me to go the extra mile and be naughty with other women as well, it has guaranteed results.

According to Radio Netherlands, mukombero is available in Kenyan markets for as little as one euro, making it much cheaper than Viagra or other pharmaceuticals, which are too expensive for most users in Kenya.

M. whitei was used as a virility aid in Africa for centuries, but modern times saw it being overharvested in the wild. A study in 1998 (cited by Infonet-biovision) found that the plant had disappeared from South Africa and central Kenya

Now, according to the very people who are harvesting it in the wild, it is getting rarer still. "I am overwhelmed by the demand," a man who collects and sells mukombero told Radio Netherlands. "Even in the forest where I get it from, I have to go in much deeper to get a mature plant. It is running out." Another vendor told Kenya's Daily Nation that he has to walk deeper and deeper into the forest to find the precious plant: "These days, it takes many hours of painstaking searching to get a mature plant.

Even as the plant is disappearing from the wild, foreigners are studying it and, if you believe the hype, preparing to sell it back to Kenyans. Kavaka Mukonyi Watai, head of bioprospecting for the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), told the Daily Nation newspaper that mukombero is being grown as a "cash crop" in Florida and China. He did not identify any actual companies growing the plant to back up his claims. "The Chinese must have obtained it from the region without informing communities that they could benefit from commercialization of their natural resource," he said. The KWS itself runs a small factory to commercialize the plant. […]

Kenyans Reportedly Chewing "Potency" Herb into Extinction

By MASAMI ITO, Staff writer
28 July 2011

The government ordered a complete ban Thursday on all shipments of beef cattle from Miyagi Prefecture after detecting radioactive cesium above the government limit in some local cattle.

The government is also considering placing a similar ban on beef cattle from Iwate Prefecture, where five cattle from Ichinoseki and Fujisawa have already been found contaminated with radioactive cesium exceeding the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram.

That decision is expected to come next week, sources said.

The discovery of beef cattle from various prefectures in northeastern Japan with elevated levels of radioactive cesium has caused widespread concern.

The cattle were fed straw contaminated by fallout from the crippled and leaking Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

Miyagi is the second prefecture after Fukushima to be given orders to suspend shipments of beef but likely won't be the last. […]

Four of the six Miyagi Prefecture cattle are from Kurihara, and one each from Kakuda and Zao.

The farmers who shipped the six contaminated cattle and others who fed their cattle contaminated straw will be obliged to hold blanket tests on all of their slaughtered beef.

Other farmers will be required to test one cow on each ranch. About 30,000 beef cattle are shipped annually from Miyagi Prefecture. […]

Edano added that the government would try to provide "appropriate compensation" to the farmers for the damages. […]

Miyagi beef cattle shipments barred

By John D. Cox
28 July 2011

Before the last ice age, during a warm era some 125,000 years ago that was comparable to modern times, scientists know that the oceans reached levels that were some 15 to 20 feet higher than they are today. What they don't know is, where did the extra water come from?

Many have been assuming that it came from the melting Greenland ice sheet, but a new study points in the opposite direction -- to West Antarctica -- a circumstance that one researcher describes as "quite scary."

In a warming climate, questions about how ice sheets melt and how fast and how high sea levels rise are hot research topics.

Geoscientists from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Oregon State University, Corvallis, tested the prevailing thinking by analyzing ocean sediments deposited by glaciers melting from different, chemically distinct, regions in southern Greenland.

If the ice sheet in the regions melted down to bare land -- as would be required to raise the oceans so high -- the researchers reasoned that there should be a place in the ocean core samples where the glacier-fed flow of sediments was interrupted.

Instead, they found that all of the regions continued to contribute sediment throughout the period -- the last interglacial -- signifying that "the southern Greenland Ice Sheet did not completely deglaciate" any single region.

Writing in the new issue of the journal Science, the researchers say that ice-sheet computer models that most closely resemble their results point to a contribution to sea level rise of 1.6 to 2.2 meters -- about 5 to 7 feet -- from the Greenland ice sheet.

This means that to reach the observed ocean height of 15-20 feet, more or less, during the last warm era, at least another meter's worth must be coming from Antarctica, namely West Antarctica. That Greenland's ice sheet is more stable, and West Antarctica is less stable, than most scientists have been thinking is an idea that study co-author Anders Carlson describes as "quite scary." […]

Antarctica: A 'Scary' Source for Rising Seas

By BETSY BLANEY, Associated Press
27 July 2011

Randy McGee spent $28,000 in one month pumping water onto about 500 acres in West Texas before he decided to give up irrigating 75 acres of corn and focus on other crops that stood a better chance in the drought.

He thought rain might come and save those 75 acres, but it didn't and days of triple-digit heat sucked the remaining moisture from the soil. McGee walked recently through rows of sunbaked and stunted stalks, one of thousands of farmers counting his losses amid record heat and drought this year.

The drought has spread over much of the southern U.S., leaving Oklahoma the driest it has been since the 1930s and setting records from Louisiana to New Mexico. But the situation is especially severe in Texas, which trails only California in agricultural productivity. […]

About 70 percent of Texas rangeland and pastures are classified as in very poor condition, which means there has been complete or near complete crop failure or there's no food for grazing livestock. The crop and livestock losses could be the worst the state has seen -- perhaps twice the previous single-year record of $4.1 billion set in 2006, said David Anderson, an economist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

Part of the reason for the high dollar figure is that while farmers have lost a lot, the corn and other products they are losing are worth more this year. Strong global demand and tight supplies have helped push up prices for commodities like corn, cotton, wheat and beef.

Cotton supplies are low worldwide, and U.S. cattle numbers are the lowest since the 1950s. Livestock farmers and ethanol producers are competing for corn, driving up those prices, and wheat is costing more in part because Russia banned exports after a drought there last summer.

Cotton and corn are selling for more than two-and-a-half times what they did five years ago, and the price of wheat is more than one-and-a-half times what it was in 2006. […]

Texas' economy will take a more direct hit. Agriculture accounted for $99.1 billion of Texas' $1.1 trillion economy, or 8.6 percent, in 2007, the most recent year data on food and fiber was available from the extension service. Losses in that sector have a ripple effect that's about twice the amount of the actual agricultural loss. […]

And, it's a hardship that's following close on the heels of others. Texas suffered droughts in 2005-06 and 2008-09, although those were mostly regional. This year's is broader and more intense. The state is coming off its driest nine-month period ever and its hottest June on record. More than 90 percent of the state is in the two most severe drought stages.

Thousands of acres of crops have failed in areas where farmers rely on rain, while those grown with irrigation continue to struggle. Already, more than 2 million acres of cotton that's not irrigated has been lost, adding about $1.1 billion to an initial $1.5 billion loss agriculture officials announced in mid-May. That included livestock and wheat, corn and sorghum crop losses from November through May 1. […]

Some ranchers have begun culling their herds because the cattle have nowhere to graze and prices are high for supplemental feed and hay. They're sending more animals to auction and selling calves earlier. Old cows are being sold, and in some cases, ranchers are getting rid of animals normally considered vital to future production -- heifers and 3-year-old to 6-year-old cows. […]

The situation isn't likely to improve soon: forecasters predict Texas' drought will persist through September. […]

Texas ag losses could set new record amid drought

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News
28 July 2011

An exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say.

The Anaktuvuk River fire burned across more than 1,000 sq km (400 sq miles), doubling the extent of Alaskan tundra visited by fire since 1950.

With the Arctic warming fast, the team suggests in the journal Nature that fires could become more common.

If that happens, it could create a new climate feedback, they say.

Fires in the tundra are uncommon because the ground is covered in snow and ice for large periods of the year.

Temperatures are low even in summer, and the ground can also remain wet after the ice has melted.

But 2007 saw unusually warm and dry conditions across much of the Arctic - resulting, among other things, in spectacularly fast melting of Arctic sea ice.

This created conditions more conducive to fire, and when lightning struck the tundra in July, the Anaktuvuk River fire ignited.

"Most tundra fires have been very small - this was an order of magnitude larger than the historical size," said Michelle Mack from the University of Florida in Gainesville, who led the research team on the Nature paper and is currently conducting further field studies in Alaska.

"In 2007, we had a hot, dry summer, there was no rain for a long period of time.

"So the tundra must have been highly flammable, with just the right conditions for fire to spread until the snow in October finally stopped it."

According to the team's calculations, the statistics of the fire are remarkable.

It is the largest on record, doubling the cumulative area burned since 1950.

It put carbon into the atmosphere about 100 times faster than it usually escapes from the ground in the Arctic summer, and released more than 2 million tonnes. […]

In a news story published well before the Nature paper came out, another of the US research team, Gaius Shaver from the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, said the northern region of Alaska could become "vastly different from the frozen, treeless tundra of today.

"And it's one that may feed back positively to global climate change." […]

Huge Arctic fire hints at new climate cue

By Rob Manning
28 July 2011

PORTLAND, OREGON – Northwest tribal leaders say they're seeing climate change affect food sources that are vital to their culture.

"All we can do is try to help these plants and animals adapt. If we don't, the future of the tribes' First Foods could be at stake" says Paul Lumley of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

He’s worried about the future. Rob Manning reports on how climate change is affecting tribal culture.

---

Gerald Lewis is a member of the Yakama Tribal Council. He says a traditional story explains how native people are tied to salmon.

"The Creator in turn spoke to them, that 'man was coming.' And so, in this way, salmon stepped up and said 'I will provide for the people.' And so, the foods followed in order – the animals, the deer, the roots, and the berries."

Lewis and other tribal leaders say they're noticing changes in these sacred First Foods. He says salmon are changing in two ways.

"We have seen that throughout these past few years, especially, that our salmon runs are coming in later. The size of the fish, also – they seem to be smaller." […]

Lewis says he's also hearing from tribal women that the roots they harvest for ceremonies are changing, too.

"They are very small, and their numbers are dwindling, as well. So, it affects a lot of our roots today, this climate change." […]

Government scientists agree that salmon returning from the ocean appear to be smaller than in the past. Hatcheries and fishing practices could be part of the reason. But Oregon Fish and Wildlife biologist, Kathryn Kostow says the way climate change is affecting the ocean could be responsible, too.

"It may be a change in ocean productivity, and it may be associated with climate change, but we still have a lot of work to do to decide that's true."

Scientists confirm that the spring Chinook runs have been late, recently. That's culturally a very significant run for the tribes. Scientists say a climate-affected ocean could be partly responsible, but the power and temperature of the spring Columbia might be more important. […]

Biologists don't expect salmon to head north. They say it's more likely they'd just slowly disappear from the Columbia. And the way climate change is going, that could put the tribes' precious spring Chinook, at the greatest risk.

Northwest Tribes See Changes In Sacred 'First Foods'

By James Fallows
25 July 2011

The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling

It's this one, from yesterday's New York Times. Click for a more detailed view, though it's pretty clear as is.

It's based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who's "to blame" for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.

An additional significance of the chart: it identifies policy changes, the things over which Congress and Administration have some control, as opposed to largely external shocks -- like the repercussions of the 9/11 attacks or the deep worldwide recession following the 2008 financial crisis. Those external events make a big difference in the deficit, and they are the major reason why deficits have increased faster in absolute terms during Obama's first two years than during the last two under Bush. (In a recession, tax revenues plunge, and government spending goes up - partly because of automatic programs like unemployment insurance, and partly in a deliberate attempt to keep the recession from getting worse.) If you want, you could even put the spending for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in this category: those were policy choices, but right or wrong they came in response to an external shock. 

The point is that governments can respond to but not control external shocks. That's why we call them "shocks." Governments can control their policies. And the policy that did the most to magnify future deficits is the Bush-era tax cuts. You could argue that the stimulative effect of those cuts is worth it ("deficits don't matter", etc). But you cannot logically argue that we absolutely must reduce deficits, but that we absolutely must also preserve every penny of those tax cuts. Which I believe precisely describes the House Republican position.

After the jump, from a previous "The Chart That Should..." positing, an illustration of the respective roles of external shock and deliberate policy change in creating the deficit. […]

The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling

By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk
28 July 2011

It was seen as one of the most distressing effects of climate change ever recorded: polar bears dying of exhaustion after being stranded between melting patches of Arctic sea ice.

But now the government scientist who first warned of the threat to polar bears in a warming Arctic has been suspended and his work put under official investigation for possible scientific misconduct.

Charles Monnett, a wildlife biologist, oversaw much of the scientific work for the government agency that has been examining drilling in the Arctic. He managed about $50m (£30.5m) in research projects.

Some question why Monnett, employed by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, has been suspended at this moment. The Obama administration has been accused of hounding the scientist so it can open up the fragile region to drilling by Shell and other big oil companies.

"You have to wonder: this is the guy in charge of all the science in the Arctic and he is being suspended just now as an arm of the interior department is getting ready to make its decision on offshore drilling in the Arctic seas," said Jeff Ruch, president of the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "This is a cautionary tale with a deeply chilling message for any federal scientist who dares to publish groundbreaking research on conditions in the Arctic."

The group filed an official complaint on Monnett's behalf on Thursday, accusing the government of persecuting the (PDF) scientist and interfering with his work. It seeks his reinstatement and a public apology.

Monnett was on a research flight tracking bowhead whales, in 2004, when he and his colleagues spotted four dead polar bears floating in the water after a storm. The scientists concluded the bears, though typically strong swimmers, had grown exhausted and drowned due to the long distances between patches of solid sea ice. It was the first time scientists had drawn a link between melting Arctic sea ice and a threat to the bears' survival.

Two years later, Monnett and a colleague published an article in the science journal Polar Biology, writing: "Drowning-related deaths of polar bears may increase in the future if the observed trend of regression of pack ice and/or longer open water periods continues." […]

Arctic scientist who exposed climate threat to polar bear is suspended

[Sufficiently outraged Desdemona readers can contact:

• BOEMRE, Dr. Monnett's employer and investigating agency, at 
  Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement;
• John Holdren, Whitehouse Science advisor;
• Dr.Steven Chu, Energy Secretary, 202-586-6210;
• Dr. William F. Brinkman, Director of the Office of Science, Department of Energy.]

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press
29 July 2011

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The recent suspension of Alaska wildlife biologist Charles Monnett is unrelated both to an article that he wrote about presumably drowned Arctic polar bears and to his scientific work, a federal official said Friday.

The director of the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement and Regulation, told agency staff in Alaska via email that it instead was the result of new information on a separate subject that was recently brought to officials' attention.

The email, written by Michael Bromwich, was obtained by The Associated Press.

There has been no "'witch hunt' to suppress the work of our many scientists and discourage them from speaking the truth," said Bromwich, addressing assertions made by a group that filed a complaint against the agency on behalf of Monnett.

He added later: "Please be assured that you have my full support and that I look forward to working with you in the weeks and months ahead."

The group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the Monnett was being "persecuted" and that investigators were asking him questions about his observation of the drowned polar bears.

The Anchorage-based Monnett was placed on administrative leave July 18, pending final results of an inspector general's investigation into "integrity issues." […]

Documents provided by the watchdog group showed questioning by investigators earlier this year focused on the polar bear observations that Monnett and researcher Jeffrey Gleason made in 2004.

But the group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, said investigators have not yet told Monnett of the specific charges or questions related to the scientific integrity of his work.

According to a transcript, provided by Ruch's group, Ruch asked investigator Eric May, during questioning of Monnett in February, for specifics about the allegations. May replied: "well, scientific misconduct, basically, uh, wrong numbers, uh, miscalculations."

"This just gets more curious and curious," Ruch said Friday. He said he'd spoken with Monnett "almost every day," since the situation arose earlier this year, including Friday. He said Monnett had "no ideas" about why he'd been placed on leave.

"We'll keep digging," Ruch added. […]

Official: Suspension unrelated to polar bear paper

MANDERA/WAJIR, 28 July 2011 (IRIN) - In his village, Kiliwehiri in northeastern Kenya, Abdullah Mohamed is known as "that mentally disturbed man".

"It is difficult to be normal after you have watched your entire life's savings get wiped out before your eyes," said Ibrahim Abdi, assistant chief of the village. "We are Somalis, we look after each other," explained Abdi, so the village shares their rations with Mohamed's family.

A month ago, Mohamed was just another pastoralist battling soaring temperatures and drought in the arid Mandera district - identified by the UN, with other parts of the Horn of Africa, as just one step away from famine on a five-point scale. It has not rained in his village for more than a year.

Over 10 days, Mohamed watched 40 of his cattle collapse and die - one by one - as they waited their turn at a water-point along the border between southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, a few kilometres from his village.

For the people of Mandera and neighbouring Wajir district, their animals are not just an investment but part of the family.

"These carcasses meant the world to someone," said Kennedy Agoi Lumadede, an official with Vétérinaires Sans Frontières-Suisse (VSF-Suisse) as he pointed out heaps of bones along the dirt tracks linking the two districts..

"They [the animals] are like our family members," said an emotional Abdille Muhamed of Garse Koftu village in Wajir district as he knelt beside the carcass of the last of his cows. "I spent 20 years building this herd [of 40 cattle and 270 goats] - you nurture them like your children."

"We were sharing with this cow whatever relief food we were receiving," he said. They did not have enough aid to begin with. Muhamed, his two wives and 12 children, had moved back to his village when he was down to his last cow.

The village has been living off relief food for almost a year. "But we have at least five or six families moving back to the village every day now as their animals die," says a resident. "Each family's portion of aid is getting smaller by the day - the food only lasts a week [from the day it is distributed]."

Muhamed, like many others, had walked about four to five hours every day to raid bird nests in the few remaining trees to feed his cow. "It is the only bit of grass left in this desert. My animals worked with me and walked with me for long distances - it was my duty."

Wajir is also a step away from famine. Two remaining calves in the Garse Koftu village tug at a bit of cloth and an empty food sack. "We have heard of instances where the cows are even trying to eat sand," said Muna Ahmed of Arid Lands Development Focus Kenya, an NGO based in Wajir.

Muhamed said: "Today [when he lost his last cow] is a very sad day but I knew it was coming - the worst day was when I lost 17 goats in one day."  […]

With pasture land completely depleted in Mandera and Wajir, pastoralists have taken their herds to Ethiopia hoping to find some grazing land and water.

"But their animals are too weak - they will all probably die before they can even get there," said Muhamed. […]

KENYA: When a cow is part of the family

By Takahiko Hyuga
28 July 2011

As temperatures soared to 100 degrees Fahrenheit on a recent July morning, school children in Fukushima prefecture were taking off their masks and running around playgrounds in T-shirts, exposing them to a similar amount of annual radiation as a worker in a nuclear power plant.

Toshinori Shishido, a Japanese literature teacher of 25 years, had warned his students two months ago to wear surgical masks and keep their skin covered with long-sleeved shirts. His advice went unheeded, not because of the weather but because his school told him not to alarm students. Shishido quit this week.

“I want to get away from this situation where I’m not even allowed to alert children about radiation exposure,” said Shishido, a 48-year-old teacher who taught at Fukushima Nishi High School. “Now I’m free to talk about the risks.”

After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku region in Japan’s northeast, the central government evacuated as many as 470,000 residents, including 160,000 because of radiation risks from the crippled Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. More than 2 million residents including 271,000 children remain in Fukushima, Japan’s third-biggest prefecture by size.

The government is closely monitoring radiation levels, said Yoshiaki Ishida, an official at the Ministry of Education.

“We don’t think we are at a stage to tell Fukushima people to evacuate at this moment,” Ishida said.

Kiyoharu Furukawa, 57, assistant principal at Fukushima Nishi High, said the school told Shishido not to spend too much time talking about radiation during his classes as some students and parents complained. He confirmed Shishido resigned.

Radiation can damage human cells and DNA, with prolonged exposure causing leukemia and other forms of cancer, according to the World Nuclear Association. Children are more susceptible as their cells grow at a faster rate.

“It’s all invisible. The trees are still trees, people are shopping, the birds are singing and dogs are walking in the street,” said Chris Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster’s school of biomedical sciences, who visited Fukushima prefecture last week to provide information on health risks. “When you bring out the (Geiger) machines, you can see everything is sparkling and everyone is being bitten by invisible snakes that will eventually kill them.” […]

“I saw little boys playing baseball in a cloud of dust, and I wondered who can protect their future,” said Kanako Nishikata, a 33-year-old housewife with a son, aged 11, and daughter, aged 8. “It’s shocking to learn a teacher is quitting because he can’t protect the students.”

A group of parents and children from Fukushima plan to visit Education Minister Yoshiaki Takaki in Tokyo on Aug. 17 to ask him to evacuate children from the prefecture, she said.

Fukushima Nishi High, which has 873 students, had readings of 0.07 microsieverts per hour in the school building and 1.5 microsieverts per hour in the playground on July 14, still within the safety limits set by the prefecture and government, Furukawa, the assistant principal said. The school continues to hold gym classes and sports club activities outside, he said.

“I don’t think the children are safe either, and I know the radiation level is still high,” Furukawa said. “These days, they are wearing short sleeves and no masks.” […]

Fukushima Teacher Muzzled on Radiation Risks for School Children

July 27 (CBC News) – Fish kills on two P.E.I. salmon-spawning rivers have been "catastrophic," says a UPEI scientist.

Mike van den Heuvel, a toxicologist with the Canadian Rivers Institute, says most Islanders are unaware of just how serious the fish kills on western P.E.I. have been.

"The fish kills are particularly catastrophic. There are 10 first-class salmon spawning rivers left on P.E.I. And two of those rivers have now been hit by fish kills."

Pesticides are almost always to blame for massive fish kills, he said. They wash from farm fields into rivers during heavy rains.

The province has a mandatory buffer zone between fields and rivers of 15 metres. But to stop fish kills, van den Heuvel said, that zone needs to be bigger and government has to get tougher about enforcement.

"There's never been any serious prosecution of these events. Oilsands companies killed 1,600 ducks and had to pay $3 million, [but] nobody has ever had to pay anything for the millions of fish that have died on P.E.I." […]

P.E.I. river fish kills called 'catastrophic'

NYT Editorial
27 July 2011

For centuries, the whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, has grown on hundreds of thousands of acres across the West. It is a keystone species of an entire ecosystem — one now seriously at risk. Most of the whitebark pines in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks are dead. It has been declared an endangered species in Canada. And, last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service stated that the whitebark pine “warranted” listing as threatened or endangered, making it one of the very few species officially acknowledged as threatened by climate change.

Canada’s grim conclusion is that “none of the causes of decline can be reversed.” These include an invasive, foreign fungus and the suppression of forest fires, which are important in establishing pure stands of whitebark pine. But the most important threat is the spread of the native mountain pine beetle, which tunnels into the tree and lays its eggs under the bark. Historically, the pine’s defense against the beetle is living where conditions are too cold for it — at high altitude or at high latitudes. But as the climate warms, that defense has failed catastrophically.

The cascading effects of the white bark’s decline are already apparent. Grizzly bears, which feed heavily on pine seeds, have begun to disperse from their core habitat. When the pines were healthy, they also slowed snowmelt and reduced erosion. The tragedy is the ongoing demise of an ecosystem, one for which humans are culpable. What looks, from the air, like a plagued forest has been plagued by the choices we have made over the past century.

Climate change and the plight of the whitebark pine

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
27 July 2011

Afraid of a "chaos" in the harvest season, perhaps?

After more than 4 months since the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident started, the Japanese government must be feeling it safe to admit to a far wider contamination by radioactive fallout.

The Ministry of Education and Science announced that it will conduct the aerial survey of 23 prefectures (out of total 47) to determine the level of soil contamination. For some reason, Hokkaido is excluded, but every prefecture from Aomori to Shiga, which is located about in the middle of the Honshu Island will be surveyed. It's all of Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu-Hokuriku. […]

If I were the official at the Ministry, I would test Hokkaido, too. I have seen too many radioactive plumes sweeping the island of Hokkaido in the simulation animations by several European meteorological institutions. (For the latest from the German Weather Bureau, go here. But even they will stop publishing the dispersion map on July 29... ) […]

Radiation in Japan: Government to Survey Half of Japan for Soil Contamination

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
27 July 2011

From the press release by Akita prefectural government on July 25:

A resident in Akita Prefecture alerted the authorities when the bag of leaf compost that he purchased from a local garden/home center measured high in radiation with his portable survey meter. The authorities tested the content of the bag, and it had 11,000 becquerels/kg of cesium.

At the garden/home center (2 locations) the air radiation 1 meter from the pile of the leaf compost bags measured as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr.

The press release is somewhat misleading, as it says the air radiation 1 meter from one bag of the leaf compost is 0.06 microsievert/hr. If you measure in front of the pile of the same bags, the radiation is as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr. Akita's air radiation level (which the prefectural government measures only at 2 locations) is between 0.04 and 0.06 microsievert/hr.

According to Yomiuri Shinbun (7/27/2011), these bags were packed in Tochigi Prefecture, and 20,000 bags have already been sold in Akita Prefecture alone.

Shimotsuke Shinbun (local Tochigi paper; 7/27/2011) reports that Tochigi Prefecture tested the leaves that went into the leaf compost bags, and they found 72,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium. The leaves were collected in the northern Tochigi in April, and was sold outside the prefecture from mid June to early July. The Tochigi prefectural government ordered the two sellers of leaf compost in Tochigi to recall what's been sold and refrain from shipping "voluntarily" (i.e. at the sellers' own cost, with no support from the government). […]

Radioactive Compost Has Already Spread Wide

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
27 July 2011

From TV Asahi's "Hodo Station" on July 26, in the segment that discusses the lifetime limit of 100 millisieverts radiation.

A chicken farmer in Kawamata-machi in Fukushima Prefecture has brought his eggs to a volunteer testing station in Fukushima City. After 20 minutes of testing, 60 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium is detected from the eggs.

Disappointed, the farmer says, "I don't know what to say to my customers. It's much lower than the provisional safety limit in Japan, but if I compare the number to the safety limit in Ukraine it is extraordinary. …"

The reporter asks the farmer, "What is the safety limit in Ukraine?"

6 becquerels/kg, he tells the reporter.

The man who runs the station says, "For these farmers, the provisional safety limit in Japan is just too loose."

Kawamata-machi is 47 kilometers northwest of Fukushima I Nuke Plant.

The Japanese government's mishandling and concealing the radioactive fallout information has resulted in radioactive water, vegetables, fish, mushroom, beef, hay, pork, manure, compost, and now eggs. And the farmers like this chicken farmer who clearly wants to sell only "safe" eggs to his customers are at a loss. To the chicken farmer, 60 becquerels/kg was just too high to sell his eggs in good conscience. […]

Radiation in Japan: 60 Becquerels/Kg Cesium from Eggs in Fukushima (Video-clip added)

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
25 July 2011

The Tochigi prefectural government announced the number on July 25. 106,000 becquerels/kg of cesium in the hay is the highest level so far found outside Fukushima Prefecture. If reconstituted, it would be 24,246 becquerels/kg. The safety limit for the cattle feed is 300 becquerels/kg.

The rice hay was collected in a dairy farm in Nasu Shiobara (more than 100 kilometers southwest of Fukushima I Nuke Plant) and sold to the cattle farm in the same City. Something doesn't quite add up to the story of the both sides, though. According to Asahi Shinbun (7/24/2011): […]

Radioactive Rice Hay in Tochigi: 106,000 Becquerels/Kg Cesium

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
25 July 2011

No surprise to anyone who didn't trust the Japanese government.
From Asahi Shinbun (11:14PM JST 7/25/2011): […]

県によると、今月１９日にサンプルとして採取した小麦から、基準（１キログラムあたり５００ベクレル）を超える同６３０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出された。県は農家に出荷自粛を要請した。同県の昨年度の小麦生産量は６５１トンで、全国２５位。

According to the prefectural government, 630 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was found in a sample taken on July 19. The prefectural government has asked the farm to withhold shipment on a voluntary basis. Fukushima Prefecture ranks No. 25th in wheat production in Japan, with 651 tonnes produced last year.

また、同県田村市の農家が収穫したナタネからも、基準を超える同７２０ベクレルの放射性セシウムが検出された。流通はしておらず、県は出荷自粛を要請した。

Also, 720 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium has been detected in the rapeseeds harvested by a farm in Tamura City [41 kilometers west of Fukushima I Nuke Plant] in Fukushima. The rapeseeds haven't been shipped, and the prefectural government has asked the farm to withhold shipment on a voluntary basis.

Don't overly count on the statement that these crops haven't yet been sold in the market. That's as far as the farmer has told the government, or as far as the government can tell, which may not be much.

Radiation in Japan Spreads: Wheat, Rapeseeds in Fukushima, Rice Hay Outside Fukushima Far Exceeding Safety Limit

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
23 July 2011

The number was 1,697 yesterday, and to that, 944 cows from Miyagi Prefecture alone were added overnight, bringing the total to at least 2,641.

Tokyo Shinbun, citing Kyodo News (7/23/2011):

宮城県は２３日、原発事故後に集めた稲わらを肉牛に与えていた県内の農家から、新たに汚染の疑いがある９４４頭が東京、山形、宮城、神奈川、千葉、新潟の１都５県に出荷されたと発表した。県の出荷総数は計１１８３頭となった。
Miyagi Prefecture announced on July 23 that additional 944 meat cows from Miyagi Prefecture suspected of being fed with rice hay collected after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident had been shipped to 6 prefectures - Tokyo, Yamagata, Miyagi, Kanagawa, Chiba and Niigata. The total number of potentially contaminated cows shipped from Miyagi is now 1,183.

県によると、新たに１７戸の農家が保管していた稲わらから国の暫定基準値を超える放射性セシウムが検出され、うち１６戸が計６２６頭を出荷していた。[…]

Miyagi Prefecture has the detailed test results (in Japanese) on its website. The highest radioactive cesium level from the most recent test was 7,822 becquerels/kg in Shiroshi City, located near the prefectural border to Fukushima near the cities that have been found with high radiation areas (Date City, Fukushima City, etc.).

Over 2,600 Meat Cows Suspected of Being Fed with Radioactive Rice Hay

By arevamirpal::laprimavera
21 July 2011

How much more meaningless can it get?

The Japanese government is about to set 100 millisieverts as lifetime, cumulative acceptable radiation exposure standard, counting both internal and external radiation exposure, and this is on top of the average 1.5 millisievert/year natural radiation exposure.

Up till now, the acceptable radiation exposure has been 1 millisievert per year, in addition to the natural radiation exposure in Japan which is about 1.5 millisievert per year. There has been no standard for lifetime cumulative radiation exposure.

I read the following Asahi Shinbun article, translated it, and realized how utterly meaningless the whole exercise was. No one knows how much extra radiation that the Japanese (and the rest of the northern hemisphere) have gotten thanks to the broken reactors and spent fuel pools at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. In parts of Fukushima Prefecture, the cumulative air radiation level already exceeded 100 millisieverts.

And how many people, other than the nuke plant workers, have been tested with the whole body counters? Answer: not many. Reasons often cited are: background radiation too high in Fukushima for proper testing; there are not many whole body counters in Japan, 100 at most. Then, I read that a man from Iitate-mura in Fukushima demanded he be tested for radiation using the whole body counter. He finally got his wish several months after the start of the accident, and they refused to tell him the number. He still doesn't know how much radiation he's received.

So, my conclusion is that this new so-called standard or the article like Asahi that discusses the standard is to imprint the number in people's mind: "100 millisieverts, 100 millisieverts, it's safe up to that number." Yes, they'll also tell you it's the lifetime cumulative number, but that doesn't mean a thing when you don't know how much of it you have had to spend already since March.

Soon, as Dr. Yamashita already said in a slip of a tongue, it will be safe up to 100 millisieverts per year. […]

Radiation in Japan: 100 Millisieverts in Lifetime to Be Set as New Radiation Standard in Japan

By Michon Scott, based on The New Climate Normals by Jennifer Freeman
July 6, 2011

In July 2011, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center updated the U.S. Climate Normals: three-decade averages of weather observations, including temperature. The new annual normal temperatures for the United States reflect a warming world.

Following procedures set by the World Meteorological Organization, normals shift each decade, rather than each year. As of July 2011, the climate normals span 1981–2010, dropping the 1970s, which were unusually cool. Last year, the normals included 1971–2000, leaving out the warmest decade on record (2001–2010).

The map above show the differences between the old normals and the new normals in January minimum temperatures. Positive temperature changes appear in orange and red, and negative temperature changes appear in blue.

On average, the contiguous United States experiences the lowest temperatures on January nights, and the highest temperatures on July days. Both January minimum temperatures and July maximum temperatures changed, but not by equal amounts. […]

Nighttime temperatures in January were higher everywhere except the Southeast. Warmer nights were especially pronounced in the northern plains through the northern Rocky Mountains—about 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) warmer in some places.

Comparing average temperatures year round, every state experienced warmer temperatures in 1981–2010 compared to 1971–2000.

Although warmer temperatures can have benefits, they pose hazards to some plants. For instance, higher nighttime temperatures enable some pests—such as the pine bark beetle and wooly adelgid—to thrive in places where they previously froze.

The National Climatic Data Center compiles climate normals from observations from thousands of stations in the National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer Program, as well as stations staffed by professionals within the NWS, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Federal Aviation Administration.

For more information about changing U.S. temperatures, see The New Climate Normals: Gardeners Expect Warmer Nights from NOAA’s ClimateWatch Magazine.

Links

• U.S. Climate Normals overview. National Climatic Data Center.
• Impact of climate change on agriculture. U.S. Global Change Research Program.

U.S. Climate: The New Normal

Contact: Patrick Lynch, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., 757-897-2047, patrick.lynch@nasa.gov
25 July 2011

An international team of researchers has combined data from multiple sources to provide the clearest account yet of how much glacial ice surges into the sea following the collapse of Antarctic ice shelves.

The work by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), the Laboratoire d'Etudes en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at the University of Toulouse, France, and the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colo., details recent ice losses while promising to sharpen future predictions of further ice loss and sea level rise likely to result from ongoing changes along the Antarctic Peninsula.

"Not only do you get an initial loss of glacial ice when adjacent ice shelves collapse, but you get continued ice losses for many years -- even decades -- to come," says Christopher Shuman, a researcher at UMBC's Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (JCET) at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Shuman is lead author of the study published online July 25 in the Journal of Glaciology. "This further demonstrates how important ice shelves are to Antarctic glaciers."

An ice shelf is a thick floating tongue of ice, fed by a tributary glacier, extending into the sea off a land mass. Previous research showed that the recent collapse of several ice shelves in Antarctica led to acceleration of the glaciers that feed into them. Combining satellite data from NASA and the French space agency CNES, along with measurements collected during aircraft missions similar to ongoing NASA IceBridge flights, Shuman, Etienne Berthier, of the University of Toulouse, and Ted Scambos, of the University of Colorado, produced detailed ice loss maps from 2001 to 2009 for the main tributary glaciers of the Larsen A and B ice shelves, which collapsed in 1995 and 2002, respectively. […]

The authors' analysis shows ice loss in the study area of at least 11.2 gigatons (11.2 billion tons) per year from 2001 to 2006. Their ongoing work shows ice loss from 2006 to 2010 was almost as large, averaging 10.2 gigatons (10.2 billion tons) per year.

An animation showing ice edge changes for the Larsen B ice shelf and its adjacent tributary glaciers can be viewed at http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3803.

Researchers Provide Detailed Picture of Ice Loss Following Collapse of Antarctic Ice Shelves

By Joe Romm
27 Jul 2011

One way to tell if a nationwide heat wave is truly record-breaking is, well, to look at the total number of records that it breaks.  Even better is to compare the high records with the low records, since we have very good historical data and analysis on that — and it covers the whole nation.

Steve Scolnik at Capital Climate analyzed the data from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and found, “U.S. Summer Heat Records Continue Overwhelming Cold Records By Over 8:1.”  These large ratios for the summer and the first 23 days of July are a big deal  compared to, for instance, the  average over the last decade of about 2-to-1 (see “Mother Nature is Just Getting Warmed Up” and below).

But the conservative media can’t even bring themselves to admit that, as Media Matters documents:

On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh declared that “almost no temperature records were broken” during the recent heat wave and that media outlets who reported on “record-breaking” heat were telling “a bunch of lies” to “advance a political agenda of liberalism.”

Limbaugh’s remarks echo a Newsbusters post in which Noel Sheppard claims that “almost no temperature records were actually broken.” He came to this conclusion by ignoring most of the temperature records. Nevertheless, Sheppard’s claim was picked up not only by Limbaugh but also Fox Nation:

Citing the NOAA database, Sheppard claims “There were only 34 new all-time daily temperature records set during last week’s ‘record-breaking heat.’ This is out of over 6000 records previously set for each day since such things have been reported.”

Actually, it’s not out of over 6000 records “set for each day,” but out of over 6000 records set for all-time at each location. Sheppard is confusing all-time and daily records.

See, NOAA keeps track of records for different time scales: The daily record compares the temperature on July 24, for instance, to the temperature on every previous July 24; the monthly record compares the temperature on July 24 to the temperature of any day in July of any year; and the all-time record compares the  temperature on July 24 to the temperature of any day in any year. On top of that, NOAA provides these records for both the highest maximum temperature and the highest minimum (nighttime) temperature.

Sheppard is reporting the all-time records, describing them as though they are daily records, and ignoring everything else.

Here’s the data (from NOAA) on the number of U.S. records broken or tied in the month of July so far:

• All-Time Highest Maximum Temperature: 70
• All-Time Highest Minimum Temperature: 175
• Monthly Highest Maximum Temperature: 125
• Monthly Highest Minimum Temperature: 330
• Daily Highest Maximum Temperature: 2,125
• Daily Highest Minimum Temperature: 4,787

Downplaying the heat wave, Limbaugh claimed “It does this every year.” Is that true?

Not according to Christopher Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service who told the New York Times that “this is different”:

“One could say, ‘Oh, it’s summer, its late July, it’s hot,’ ” said Christopher Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. “But this is different.”

According to Mr. Vaccaro, this heat wave is exceptional not only for its strength, but also for its breadth and duration.

Meteorologist Jason Samenow wrote that “It’s the humidity the sets this heat wave apart – not just in D.C., but over large parts of the country and for a long duration.” Samenow added:

To conclude: where it’s been dry, the day time heat has been unusual; elsewhere, the night time heat and humidity has been unusual. It will take more time and analysis to objectively rank where this heat wave stacks up in the record books, but it’s clear that it’s far from the ordinary.

Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology for the Weather Underground, writes that “July 2011 is on pace to be one of the five hottest months in U.S. history, but may have a tough time surpassing the hottest month of all time, July 1936.” Masters added that in contrast to the 1930s heat waves, the humidity during the most recent heat wave was high. […]

It’s a Record-Setting Heat Wave, but the Conservative Media Deny Even That