Earth ChangesS


Sun

Expect higher food prices thanks to the drought


Harvest Public Media
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:39 UTC
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© File photo: Grant Gerlock/Harvest Public MediaFarmers all over the Midwest battled dry fields like this one in Stockville, Neb., throughout the summer of 2012.
The drought devastating Midwest farmers and ranchers will fully reach its tentacles from the field to your table this year, according to a recent USDA report. The USDA expects food prices to rise, largely because many Midwestern corn farmers weren't able to grow a full corn crop.

Farmers and ranchers around the country spent the year screaming about the drought ravaging their fields and wrecking their harvests. But thanks to the complex food system in which it often takes months for food to travel from farm to grocery store, consumers didn't feel much of a pinch. The food section of the Consumer Price Index, which measures the relative cost of food, rose only .5 percent in 2012. The USDA expects it to grow 3-4 percent this year, an increase above the historical average.
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Arrow Up

Irish politician calls for inquiry into rising food prices


Farming Life
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 08:45 UTC
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South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has asked the Environment, Food and Rural affairs Select committee in the House of Commons to give immediate consideration to an inquiry into the rising cost of food prices and the consequential impact on the farming community, consumers and wider society.

Miss Ritchie said the report issued earlier this week by the Consumer Council Northern Ireland provides instructive evidence that prices in food have substantially increased in Northern Ireland at a time when local communities have less money to purchase essential commodities such as food.

She added: "At the same time, Government persists in undertaking cost cutting measures in social security benefits, and pension entitlements. Alongside this, there is also the constant threat to public sector salaries, and job losses in the private sector including the closure of retail outlets and the near collapse of the construction industry.
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Attention

U.S. food prices rising sharply: Up 9% from December to January, 15% increase from January 2012

Paul Ausick
24/7 Wall Street
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:47 UTC
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported today that January agricultural product prices received by farmers rose 9% in January compared with December prices. Prices were 15% higher than in January 2012. The prices paid index (i.e., the cost of producing the crops) rose 1.4% above the December index and is up 5.2% compared with January 2012.

Producers received higher prices for lettuce, cattle and corn, and lower prices for milk, eggs and wheat. Costs rose for rent, nitrogen fertilizer and other services, while falling for diesel fuel, interest and mixed fertilizer.

Food prices paid by consumers will be going up, due in part to continued drought conditions in some of the country's most productive farmland and due in part to rising costs. The rising farm price index does not predict that inflation will zoom up, but it is one indicator that consumers will be squeezed again to decide whether to buy something to eat or that new electronic gizmo. Food usually wins, and the effect on the economy is (usually temporarily) not good.

Comment: "usually temporarily"?

Oh boy, it's going to be an interesting year!

Clearly we are now in a situation that is anything but 'usual'. With rising food prices globally and continuous weather extremes destroying crops, it is a matter of when, not if, sky-rocketing food prices result in mass social breakdown.

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Bug

Vermin plague expected to follow floods in Australia

Ben Pike
Daily Telegraph, Australia
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:41 UTC
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© Nikki Short, The Australian The Clarence River at Grafton at its 8.1m peak this week.
Crippling bushfires followed by an epic flood have punished large swaths of Australia in recent weeks.

Now plagues of disease-infested vermin and insects are threatening a cruel end to a disastrous summer.

Authorities have warned of an explosion in disease, infections and bites because of the perfect storm of high rainfall, fauna dislocation and sewage overflow.

Mosquitoes, rodents, spiders and snakes are the main offenders, while black flies are poised to create a spike in bacterial skin infections and allergic reactions.

NSW Health public health physician Professor David Durrheim said the risks increased as flood waters receded: "On the coast the rain event coincided with high tide and that generally increases the water levels into salt marshes and that's where the salt marsh mosquito breeds."
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - WSW of Lata, Solomon Island


US Geological Survey
Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:03 UTC
Solomon Quake_010213
© USGS
Event Time
2013-02-01 22:16:36 UTC
2013-02-02 09:16:36 UTC+11:00 at epicenter

Location
10.926°S 165.450°E depth=19.9km (12.4mi)

Nearby Cities
47km (29mi) WSW of Lata, Solomon Islands
542km (337mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
624km (388mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
814km (506mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
1122km (697mi) N of We, New Caledonia

Technical Details
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Attention

U.S. wildlife officials propose endangered status for wolverines


Guardian
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:50 UTC
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© Photograph: Audrey Magoun/APThe 'mountain devil', in its natural habitat
Only 250 to 300 wolverines roam the US, but the species' habitats are threatened by climate change

The tenacious wolverine, a snow-loving carnivore sometimes called the "mountain devil," is being added to the list of species threatened by climate change, a dubious distinction that puts it in the ranks of the polar bear and several other animals that could see their habitats shrink drastically due to warming temperatures.

US wildlife officials on Friday will propose Endangered Species Act protections for the wolverine in the contiguous 48 states, a step denied under the Bush administration.

The Associated Press obtained details of the government's long-awaited ruling on the rare, elusive animal in advance of the announcement.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - 52km SW of Lata, Solomon Islands


US Geological Survey
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:22 UTC
Image
© USGS
Event Time
2013-02-01 05:36:40 UTC
2013-02-01 16:36:40 UTC+11:00 at epicenter

Location
11.090°S 165.538°E depth=9.3km (5.8mi)

Nearby Cities
52km (32mi) SW of Lata, Solomon Islands
522km (324mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
638km (396mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands
793km (493mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
1103km (685mi) N of We, New Caledonia
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Bizarro Earth

Mystery deepens as increasing numbers of stricken birds wash up on Dorset coast

John Fahey, Ryan Hooper
The Independent, UK
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:48 UTC
Stricken Bird
© The Independent, UK
Increasing numbers of stricken birds are washing up on the south coast after being covered in a mysterious substance.

Wildlife experts are no closer to discovering the cause of the environmental damage, which has seen more than 100 seabirds taken into care at the RSPCA West Hatch wildlife centre in Taunton, Somerset, since yesterday.

Most of the birds, guillemots, were found at Chesil Beach, near Portland in Dorset. One bird was found alive as far as Worthing in west Sussex, and is now being cared for at a veterinary surgery. Another, found in the Isle of Wight, is now at a local animal rescue centre.

Around 200 miles of the English coastline is being investigated. The Environment Agency has taken samples of the water for testing.

RSPCA deputy chief inspector John Pollock, who has been leading the rescue mission in Dorset, said: "We just do not know what this substance is.

"It is white, odourless and globular, like a silicone sealer. The best way I can think to describe it is 'sticky Vaseline'.

"The numbers of the birds coming in have been growing and sadly there were quite a few dead birds this morning."
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Bizarro Earth

Aftershocks may portend major Philippine earthquake

Crystal Gammon
OurAmazingPlanet
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:23 UTC
Philippine Trench
© Ye, et al./GRL Vol. 39A diagram of the Philippine Trench showing historic large earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or great, as well as the motions of tectonic plates.
Aftershocks shook the Philippines for more than two weeks after a magnitude-7.6 quake rocked the region on Aug. 31, 2012. A team of seismologists monitoring the aftershocks and plotting their whereabouts noticed an odd pattern.

"Typically, if you locate aftershocks they sort of outline the fault that ruptures. This time they didn't," said Thorne Lay, a geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was part of the team. "Instead they were shallower and had very different fault geometries."

The 7.6 quake happened at a fault within the Philippine Sea Plate, which is subducting beneath the Philippine Microplate. Some of the unusual aftershocks were so called "intraplate" ruptures, like the original quake, but happened at a shallower depth.

And others of the unusual aftershocks were located west of the epicenter, within the Philippine Trench itself, where the plate is subducting. These are called interplate aftershocks because they happen at the boundary between two plates.

That segment of the trench hasn't seen a major earthquake in at least 400 years, but the shocks may be a sign that the plate boundary is linked to the intraplate rupture and that it is building up strain in preparation for a big one.

No one will know until GPS equipment is installed and scientists collect more data, Lay said.
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Magnify

Seabirds wash up on English coast covered in sticky substance

Steven Morris
Guardian
Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:39 UTC
Image
© Photograph: RSPCA/PARSPCA staff have been working to clean up surviving seabirds at West Hatch animal centre in Devon
Conservationists mount rescue operation after birds found on beaches coated in waxy oil

Conservationists are becoming increasingly alarmed by the number of seabirds being washed on to the south coast of England covered in a sticky, waxy substance.

Around 200 birds have been found alive, but by Friday morning 20 dead birds had also been discovered and the RSPB was receiving many reports of distressed birds being spotted out at sea.

Scientists from the Environment Agency and Maritime Coastguard Agency have taken samples to establish what the substance is, which will help efforts to clean the surviving birds. One theory being examined is that it could be palm oil.

Most of the birds affected are guillemots, which spend most of their life out at sea and are more vulnerable to oil spills. But there are growing concerns that rarer birds may also have been affected.
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