What edible grains will cold weather support?
How do you ensure the survival of cattle on the range, amidst deep snow drifts? If these problems are not met, how many people, will starve to death as the climate becomes colder?
These common sense questions are not usually taken up in the discussions of alleged global warming-climate change, by the little guru-groupies who are presented to the public as "Knowledgeable Climate Experts," but Washington State geologist Jack Sauers has not only investigated these questions, he is actively working with grain researchers and government officials to supply new, cold-resistant rye grain, as one means to help produce food as the world moves into a new ice age.
The beauty of Sauers's approach revolves around looking for the why of observed physical phenomena, thus allowing him to unify in the mind, the increase in ice mass of glaciers at both poles, the southward descent of boreal vegetation and animals, and the apparently unconnected phenomena of increased volcanic eruptions and El Nino events, as parts of a single astronomical-geologic process.
Earth Changes
BIG SUR - Many of the rustic inns, restaurants and art galleries that dot the rugged Central Coast are nearly deserted this weekend at the height of the tourist season as a huge wildfire threatens Big Sur.
WINFIELD - A makeshift sandbag levee holding back the Mississippi River failed early Saturday and authorities said part of the town was evacuated.
An earthquake registering 3.4 on the Richter scale struck south Lebanon early Saturday. No casualties were reported.
More than a dozen wildfires have been sparked in Colorado in the past week, most by "dry lightning," and the biggest has burned more than 1,100 acres in Park County.
The Nash Ranch fire, which started Thursday afternoon east of Guffey, forced the evacuation of about 150 homes, said Linda Balough, a Park County spokeswoman.
Two structures - a shed and camper trailer - have been lost to the blaze, Balough said.
About 125 fire fighters, including a Rocky Mountain Area Type II Incident Management Team, swarmed into the Guffey area to battle the blaze, she said.
Dry conditions, swirling winds and high temperatures have combined to make this year an active fire season.
The Nash Ranch fire, which started Thursday afternoon east of Guffey, forced the evacuation of about 150 homes, said Linda Balough, a Park County spokeswoman.
Two structures - a shed and camper trailer - have been lost to the blaze, Balough said.
About 125 fire fighters, including a Rocky Mountain Area Type II Incident Management Team, swarmed into the Guffey area to battle the blaze, she said.
Dry conditions, swirling winds and high temperatures have combined to make this year an active fire season.
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| ©The Colorado Springs Gazette | KEVIN KRECK |
| A single engine air tanker drops retardent on the fire burning near Guffy, Colo., Friday, June 27, 2008. |
Black widow spiders vary their webs to suit their purpose. A hungry spider spins a deadlier web, while a full one builds a fortress.
Spiders that were fed daily with crickets spun tangled masses of non-sticky silk, Jacquelyn Zevenbergen and Todd Blackledge at the University of Akron, Ohio, found. But similar-size spiders that had been starved for a week tended to spin sheets of silk connected to the ground by taut, sticky strands. When an insect blunders into these strands, they detach from the ground and spring upwards, suspending the prey in mid-air.
Spiders that were fed daily with crickets spun tangled masses of non-sticky silk, Jacquelyn Zevenbergen and Todd Blackledge at the University of Akron, Ohio, found. But similar-size spiders that had been starved for a week tended to spin sheets of silk connected to the ground by taut, sticky strands. When an insect blunders into these strands, they detach from the ground and spring upwards, suspending the prey in mid-air.
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| ©Unknown |
OMAHA, Nebraska - Severe storms with strong winds swept through the Plains on Friday, forcing swimmers practicing for U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha to flee pools and run for cover, killing two people in Iowa, and knocking out power to thousands.
It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.
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| ©The Independent |
KABUL - Afghanistan's snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat -- foreigners involved in rebuilding the war-torn country.
Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.
Tucked between souvenir stores on Chicken Street, Kabul's main tourist trap, several shops sell fur coats and pelts taken from many of Afghanistan's threatened and endangered animals.
"This one is only $300," one shopkeeper told Reuters, producing a snow leopard pelt from the back of his shop.
"It was shot several times," he said pointing to the patches of fur sewn together. "The better ones are only shot once. The skin remains intact," he says as his assistant brings out a larger pelt, this time with no patches. "This one is $900."
Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.
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| ©REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri |
| A female snow leopard with its cub is seen inside its enclosure at a zoological park in Darjeeling, about 80 km (50 miles) north from the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri June 21, 2007. |
Tucked between souvenir stores on Chicken Street, Kabul's main tourist trap, several shops sell fur coats and pelts taken from many of Afghanistan's threatened and endangered animals.
"This one is only $300," one shopkeeper told Reuters, producing a snow leopard pelt from the back of his shop.
"It was shot several times," he said pointing to the patches of fur sewn together. "The better ones are only shot once. The skin remains intact," he says as his assistant brings out a larger pelt, this time with no patches. "This one is $900."
WINFIELD. - A corner of an earthen levee broke Friday, releasing Mississippi River waters that officials predicted would "ultimately inundate" part of a Lincoln County town.
The National Weather Service said in a flash flood warning issued at 5:55 a.m. that it was unknown how fast the water was moving. It was also uncertain about the condition of the rest of the Pin Oak Levee at Winfield, about 45 miles northwest of St. Louis.
The surrounding rural area is also expected to flood.
Andy Binder, spokesman for Lincoln County emergency management operations, had said Thursday that the Pin Oak levee was holding but showing signs of strain. It was protecting about 100 homes in Winfield, numerous businesses and thousands of farm acres.
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| ©AP Photo/Jeff Roberson |
| Rick Yeomans walks atop a massive wall of sandbags holding back floodwaters from the Mississippi River as he checks pumps along the wall Thursday, June 26, 2008, in Clarksville, Mo. |
The National Weather Service said in a flash flood warning issued at 5:55 a.m. that it was unknown how fast the water was moving. It was also uncertain about the condition of the rest of the Pin Oak Levee at Winfield, about 45 miles northwest of St. Louis.
The surrounding rural area is also expected to flood.
Andy Binder, spokesman for Lincoln County emergency management operations, had said Thursday that the Pin Oak levee was holding but showing signs of strain. It was protecting about 100 homes in Winfield, numerous businesses and thousands of farm acres.
Comment: Why is it that, with the temperature falling across the globe for the third year in a row, is Arctic ice melting? Scientists are even predicting that global temperatures will fall over the next decade. Perhaps it has nothing to do with global warming at all, or at least not the kind most climate scientists believe. Perhaps it has something to do with gigantic volcanic eruptions under the ice: Volcanic activity may help explain why Pluto is heating up even as it moves further from the sun. And it's not just Pluto, it's Mars and Jupiter as well. The next question is, if it's volcanism, what is causing the increase in volcanism around the solar system?