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Archived News - January, 2005
Over time, some of the links will have lapsed, so we cannot guarantee they all work. Please note that you can download our Media Database
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Stop bickering and seek solutions on climate change
Brockville Record and Times | January 28, 2005
It is unfortunate that the world even needs fresh reminders of the threat posed by global warming. But for those who may still entertain doubts about the dangers of
climate change, a report released in London earlier this week offers fresh evidence. The independent report, by a task force from the Institute for Public Policy
Research in Britain, the Centre for American Progress in the United States and Australia Institute, warns that global warming is approaching the point of no return,
after which widespread drought, crop failure and rising sea levels will be irreversible.
Climate modelers see scorching future as a real possibility
Science vol 307(5709):497 | by Richard A Kerr | January 28, 2005
Researchers tapping the computer power of 26,000 idling personal computers are confirming that a searing heating of the globe in the coming centuries can't be ruled
out. Their new twist is twofold.
Water shortages, global warming to hit grain supply
Reuters | by Simon Johnson | January 27, 2005
STOCKHOLM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Water shortages and global warming will hit grain production and push up prices in the coming years, leading to unrest in countries
unable to afford imports, the head of a leading think-tank said on Thursday. Shortages of water due to rising population, added to the effects of global warming,
will hit wheat, rice and maize supply, pushing up prices and leaving poor countries with no means to meet growing demand for food.
Cattle starve as rainless Portugal faces drought
Reuters | by Elinor Mills | January 26, 2005
RASQUINHA, Portugal - Jose Maltez gazed at the carcass of the Saller-Charolez cross-breed already starting to bloat under a cloudless sky. The 60-year-old rancher
has lost more than 30 cows this winter -- a quarter of his herd -- as Portugal's driest January in a century threatens to bring on the worst drought in more than a
decade.
Extreme swings in climate cycle and socioeconomic stability in N. Great Plains
University of North Dakota, Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) | January 24, 2005
Newswise -- Recently completed studies reconstructing teh historical climatic trends for the last 2000 years in the northern Great Plains show that frequent
alternating climatic cycles of drought and we periods are typical for this area. These cycles could last more then 160 years, and future ones could be more severe
than those on our very limited record books.
Climate Change: Countdown to Global Catastrophe
Agnet | by Michael McCarthy | January 24, 2005
The global warming danger threshold for the world is clearly marked for the first time in an international report to be published tomorrow - and the bad news is,
the world had nearly reached it already.
The countdown to climate-change catastrophe is spelt out by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from around the world - and it is
remarkably brief. In as little as 10 years, or even less, their report indicates, the point of no return with global warming may have been reached.
The report, Meeting The Climate Challenge, is aimed at policymakers in every country, from national leaders down. It has been timed to coincide with Tony Blair's
promised efforts to advance climate change policy in 2005 as chairman of both the G8 group of rich countries and the European Union.
And it breaks new ground by putting a figure - for the first time in such a high-level document - on the danger point of global warming, that is, the temperature
rise beyond which the world would be irretrievably committed to disastrous changes. These could include widespread agricultural failure, water shortages and major
droughts, increased disease, sea-level rise and the death of forests - with the added possibility of abrupt catastrophic events such as "runaway" global
warming, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, or the switching-off of the Gulf Stream.
The report says this point will be two degrees centigrade above the average world temperature prevailing in 1750 before the industrial revolution, when human
activities - mainly the production of waste gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which retain the sun's heat in the atmosphere - first started to affect the
climate. But it points out that global average temperature has already risen by 0.8 degrees since then, with more rises already in the pipeline - so the world has
little more than a single degree of temperature latitude before the crucial point is reached.
More ominously still, it assesses the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere after which the two-degree rise will become inevitable, and says it will
be 400 parts per million by volume (ppm) of CO2.
The current level is 379ppm, and rising by more than 2ppm annually - so it is likely that the vital 400ppm threshold will be crossed in just 10 years' time, or
even less (although the two-degree temperature rise might take longer to come into effect).
"There is an ecological timebomb ticking away," said Stephen Byers, the former transport secretary, who co-chaired the task force that produced the report
with the US Republican senator Olympia Snowe. It was assembled by the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK, the Center for American Progress in the US,
and The Australia Institute. The group's chief scientific adviser is Dr Rakendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The report urges all the G8 countries to agree to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and to double their research spending on
low-carbon energy technologies by 2010. It also calls on the G8 to form a climate group with leading developing nations such as India and China, which have big
and growing CO2 emissions.
"What this underscores is that it's what we invest in now and in the next 20 years that will deliver a stable climate, not what we do in the middle of the century
or later," said Tom Burke, a former government adviser on green issues who now advises business.
The report starkly spells out the likely consequences of exceeding the threshold. "Beyond the 2 degrees C level, the risks to human societies and ecosystems
grow significantly," it says.
"It is likely, for example, that average-temperature increases larger than this will entail substantial agricultural losses, greatly increased numbers of people
at risk of water shortages, and widespread adverse health impacts. [They] could also imperil a very high proportion of the world's coral reefs and cause
irreversible damage to important terrestrial ecosystems, including the Amazon rainforest."
It goes on: "Above the 2 degrees level, the risks of abrupt, accelerated, or runaway climate change also increase. The possibilities include reaching climatic
tipping points leading, for example, to the loss of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets (which, between them, could raise sea level more than 10 meters
over the space of a few centuries), the shutdown of the thermohaline ocean circulation (and, with it, the Gulf Stream), and the transformation of the planet's forests
and soils from a net sink of carbon to a net source of carbon."
Global warming reaching point-of-no-return: report
Agence France Presse | January 24, 2005
LONDON- Global warming is reaching the point-of-no-return, with widespread drought, crop failure and water shortages the likely result, according to a new to new
international report highlighted in the British press Monday. The countdown to climate-change catastrophe is spelt out by a task force of senior politicians,
business leaders and academics.
More forage, but less filling
ARS News Service | January 18, 2005
Continued elevated carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere may reduce forage quality among the world's grasslands and lead to reduced weight gain among
animals, according to Agricultural Research Service scientists and cooperators. Their five-year study was published in the journal Ecological Applications.
Seed shortage looms this spring
Saskatoon Newsroom | by Brian Cross | January 12, 2005
Cool growing conditions last summer and a wet harvest across much of Western Canada could leave farmers scrambling to secure enough high quality seed this spring.
Dan Kirkham, president of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association, said pedigreed seed supplies for some varieties might be in short supply this year because
frequent rain and unusually cold temperatures last summer slowed plant maturity and caused extensive crop damage in many areas.
Blizzard increases moisture worries
Saskatoon Newsroom | by Ed White | January 12, 2005
The New Year's blizzard that dumped a thick blanket of snow on Manitoba's Red River Valley is raising worries among farmers already struggling with sodden fields.
However, unless another round of heavy snow hits, eastern Manitoba farmers may escape serious damage this spring.
Scientists find climate change is major factor in
drought's growing reach
Eurekalert | January 11, 2005
Arlington, Va. -- The percentage of Earth's land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s, according to a new analysis by
scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. Widespread drying occurred over much of Europe and Asia, Canada, western and
southern Africa, and eastern Australia.
Genetic acclimation for freezing tolerance
ISB News Report | by Kan Wang | January 5, 2005
A late spring cold wind-current or early fall frost can cause severe damage to crop yields. A number of strategies using recombinant DNA technology and genetic
transformation has been utilized to enhance crop freezing tolerance in recent years.
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