A warming climate will fuel larger, more frequent wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and other parts of the West, and the fires will contribute to climate change, according to a new study.
More than 20 international scientists, in the report published Friday in the journal Science, said fire is not only a consequence of climate change but an important cause.
"Fire also influences the climate system. This is what we call a feedback," Jennifer Balch, a fire expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
Earth Changes
The good news: New research is giving scientists a better handle on when the big one might strike the Pacific Coast.
The bad news: It probably will be sooner than we thought.
"The amount of devastation is going to be unbelievable," says Rob Witter, coastal geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. "People aren't going to be ready for this. Even if they are prepared, they are going to be surprised by the level of devastation."
Witter spoke last week about the latest in earthquake and tsunami studies -- it's Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Month -- as part of state and local efforts to educate the public on preparing for a megaquake of magnitude 9 or more. Witter and James Roddey, spokesman for the state agency, also will give a public talk Tuesday in Newport.
The bad news: It probably will be sooner than we thought.
"The amount of devastation is going to be unbelievable," says Rob Witter, coastal geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. "People aren't going to be ready for this. Even if they are prepared, they are going to be surprised by the level of devastation."
Witter spoke last week about the latest in earthquake and tsunami studies -- it's Earthquake and Tsunami Awareness Month -- as part of state and local efforts to educate the public on preparing for a megaquake of magnitude 9 or more. Witter and James Roddey, spokesman for the state agency, also will give a public talk Tuesday in Newport.
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President Obama used recent flooding in Fargo, North Dakota to push his misguided belief in global warming. His comment, "If you look at the flooding that's going on right now in North Dakota and you say to yourself, 'If you see an increase of two degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there?'" is speculative and completely wrong.
A two-degree warmer North Dakota would mean less snowfall, therefore less flooding. Spring flooding along the Red River of the north is due to snow melt and the geography of the region. This year the cold winter caused heavy snow in the south basin and all across the northern continental US. Obama's comments do what the focus on global warming does; diverts us from real issues. In this case it is flooding and people living in naturally high-risk areas.
I was a founding member of the International Coalition, a joint project of citizens from Canada and the US living in the flood plain of the Red River.
Ed Mies would like to plant corn on his central Illinois farm by now, but instead he has time to talk about how wet his fields are.
"We're not quite waxing tractors yet," he joked last week.
Farmers across a wide stretch of the Midwest find themselves in similar shape: talking, watching and waiting rather than planting, thanks to a cool, wet spring.
"We're all sitting on pins and needles waiting for it to dry out," said Bob Nielsen, a Purdue University agronomy professor. Most of Indiana's fields are too wet to plant.
It reminds some of 2008, when the crop went in a month or more late in many states and prices - just as ethanol and booming economies overseas drove up demand - went through the roof.
"We're not quite waxing tractors yet," he joked last week.
Farmers across a wide stretch of the Midwest find themselves in similar shape: talking, watching and waiting rather than planting, thanks to a cool, wet spring.
"We're all sitting on pins and needles waiting for it to dry out," said Bob Nielsen, a Purdue University agronomy professor. Most of Indiana's fields are too wet to plant.
It reminds some of 2008, when the crop went in a month or more late in many states and prices - just as ethanol and booming economies overseas drove up demand - went through the roof.
Ancient Creepy Crawly
The study, published in the latest issue of Experimental and Applied Acarology, extends the known world presence of these creepy crawlies by over 200 million years. The oldest fossil spider is 125 to 135 million years old, while the oldest fossil scorpion is around 200 million years old.
'House Democrats don't want Gore humiliated'
Washington, DC -- UK's Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. Monckton told Climate Depot that the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.
"The House Democrats don't want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face," Monckton told Climate Depot in an exclusive interview. "They are cowards."
Washington, DC -- UK's Lord Christopher Monckton, a former science advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, claimed House Democrats have refused to allow him to appear alongside former Vice President Al Gore at a high profile global warming hearing on Friday April 24, 2009 at 10am in Washington. Monckton told Climate Depot that the Democrats rescinded his scheduled joint appearance at the House Energy and Commerce hearing on Friday. Monckton said he was informed that he would not be allowed to testify alongside Gore when his plane landed from England Thursday afternoon.
"The House Democrats don't want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face," Monckton told Climate Depot in an exclusive interview. "They are cowards."
The United States Congress has been told to ignore President Barack Obama's plan to place limits on carbon emissions because climate change does not exist.
"The right response to the non-problem of global warming is to have the courage to do nothing," said British aristocrat Lord Christopher Walter Monckton, a leading proponent of the 'climate change is myth' movement.
The Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley - who was an adviser to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher - argued before the Energy and Environment Subcommittee that for 14 years "there has been no statistically significant global warming."
"The right response to the non-problem of global warming is to have the courage to do nothing," said British aristocrat Lord Christopher Walter Monckton, a leading proponent of the 'climate change is myth' movement.
The Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley - who was an adviser to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher - argued before the Energy and Environment Subcommittee that for 14 years "there has been no statistically significant global warming."
Lima - About 100 people have been bitten in recent days by bats in an unusual ongoing series of attacks in Peru's Amazon region of Bagua, where a 6-year-old boy has died, apparently after contracting rabies.
The daily Peru 21 on Thursday quoted regional health authorities, who said that they fear there is a rabies outbreak among the bats, which would explain the 300 bat-bite cases registered in the last 12 months.
The daily Peru 21 on Thursday quoted regional health authorities, who said that they fear there is a rabies outbreak among the bats, which would explain the 300 bat-bite cases registered in the last 12 months.
Australia should consider having a one-child policy to protect the planet, an environmental lobby group says.
Sustainable Population Australia says slashing the world's population is the only way to avoid "environmental suicide".
National president Sandra Kanck wants Australia's population of almost 22 million reduced to seven million to tackle climate change.
Sustainable Population Australia says slashing the world's population is the only way to avoid "environmental suicide".
National president Sandra Kanck wants Australia's population of almost 22 million reduced to seven million to tackle climate change.
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Region 486 that unleashed a record flare on the sun.
Region 486 that unleashed a record flare on the sun.
Sunspots are the most visible sign of an active sun - islands of magnetism on the sun's surface where convection is inhibited, making the gas cooler and darker when seen from Earth - and the fact that they're vanishing means we're heading into a period of solar lethargy.
Comment: Recent 'hikes'?
Two years of cooling has destroyed global warming consensus