Author: postMigrator

ReliefWeb
Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)
Date: 04 Jun 2008

FEWS Afghanistan Weekly Climate Forecast 04 – 10
Jun 2008: Extreme heat, low precipitation persists

Temperatures remain warmer than normal across
most of Afghanistan. These above- normal
temperatures are more moderate in the higher
elevations, but are far enough above normal that
they have depleted snow pack 4-6 weeks earlier
than normal. The remaining snow pack now resides
in the highest elevations of northeast of
Afghanistan. Snow pack in the highland areas of
Afghanistan is critical because it is used for
irrigation in the lowland areas.

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Yet another food source supporting the human population at risk.
And many still can't see nature as our support system.
Lance

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"We're in a state of panic," said Robin Downey,
executive director of the Pacific Coast Shellfish
Growers Association, based in Olympia. "There is
no other word for it."
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The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon, US)
Monday, June 09, 2008

Researchers scramble to deal with dying oysters
A bacterium explodes in numbers, killing oyster larvae before they can grow
MICHAEL MILSTEIN

An invisible microbe that thrives in warm ocean
water has undermined the Northwest's prized
oyster supply, killing billions of young larvae
that mature into the succulent shellfish known
across the world.

The bacterium, Vibrio tubiashii, is related to
another species that can sicken people who eat
raw shellfish. This one doesn't bother people --
it kills shellfish in their larval stage, before
they latch onto rocks to grow.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7437862.stm

Natural lab shows sea’s acid path

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Natural carbon dioxide vents on the sea floor are
showing scientists how carbon emissions will affect
marine life.

Dissolved CO2 makes water more acidic, and around the
vents, researchers saw a fall in species numbers, and
snails with their shells disintegrating.

Writing in the journal Nature, the UK scientists
suggest these impacts are likely to be seen across the
world as CO2 levels rise in the atmosphere.

Some of the extra CO2 emitted enters the oceans,
acidifying waters globally.

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———————————————————-
“Drought doesn’t usually get much attention in
concerns over melting icecaps, rising sea levels,
toxic UV rays and poisonous air. But … Fagan’s
The Great Warming examines what’s known as the
Medieval Warming Period (MWP), a sort of trial
run for the present.”
————————————————————-
Toronto Star
June 8, 2008

History, climate change destined to be repeated
The Medieval Warming Period provoked massive social and historical convulsions

Hans Werner
————————–
The Great Warming:
Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
by Brian Fagan
Bloomsbury,
282 pages, $29.95
————————-

Brian Fagan, the leading authority on the
interaction of climate and human society, has
noticed that there’s a little detail that tends
to get lost in all the dire predictions of global
warming. Fagan is professor emeritus of
anthropology at the University of California and
editor of The Oxford Companion to Archaeology,
and has something like 21 books to his credit,
including Fish on Friday: Feasting, Fasting and
the Discovery of the New World. His latest, The
Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and
Fall of Civilizations, is about drought caused by
climate change.

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