Joseph J. Romm's Blog, page 1139

Energy and Global Warming News for August 10th: Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa; Solazyme raised $52M to scale up algae fuels; Portugal gives itself clean-energy makeover - Met Office: "The extremes of rainfall are getting

Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa

Regions across the world have been buffeted by extremes of weather, drought and floods. Sometimes an area is hit by one extreme, followed soon after by another, Niger being a case in point. In the case of floods in Pakistan, the Met Office says high pressure over Russia has forced the jet stream much further south than usual this year and this pattern has remained almost stationary over recent weeks. Therefore low pressure has...

Energy and Global Warming News for August 10th: Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa; Solazyme raised $52M to scale up algae fuels; Portugal gives itself clean-energy makeover - Met Office: "The extremes of rainfall are getting

Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa

Regions across the world have been buffeted by extremes of weather, drought and floods. Sometimes an area is hit by one extreme, followed soon after by another, Niger being a case in point. In the case of floods in Pakistan, the Met Office says high pressure over Russia has forced the jet stream much further south than usual this year and this pattern has remained almost stationary over recent weeks. Therefore low pressure has...

Energy and Global Warming News for August 10th: Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa; Solazyme raised $52M to scale up algae fuels; Portugal gives itself clean-energy makeover - Met Office: "The extremes of rainfall are getting

Floods and mudslides on three continents, as drought hits Africa

Regions across the world have been buffeted by extremes of weather, drought and floods. Sometimes an area is hit by one extreme, followed soon after by another, Niger being a case in point. In the case of floods in Pakistan, the Met Office says high pressure over Russia has forced the jet stream much further south than usual this year and this pattern has remained almost stationary over recent weeks. Therefore low pressure has...

Must-hear podcast: Lester Brown on Rising Temperatures and Rising Food Prices - "If we continue with business as usual on the climate front, it is only a matter of time before what we are seeing in Russia becomes commonplace."

UPDATE:  Audio of press call is online here.

ON TUESDAY,  AUGUST 10,  2010,  at 11 a.m. EDT,   in advance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's world grain harvest estimate on Thursday,  environmental analyst Lester Brown will discuss the heat and drought currently decimating Russia's grain crops,  what Russia's loss on grain exports means for world food prices and how this calamity foreshadows future climate-related crises.

Brown is one of the world's foremost authorities on the connection b...

Media Advisory for 11 am: Lester Brown on Rising Temperatures and Rising Food Prices - "If we continue with business as usual on the climate front, it is only a matter of time before what we are seeing in Russia becomes commonplace."

ON TUESDAY,  AUGUST 10,  2010,  at 11 a.m. EDT,   in advance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's world grain harvest estimate on Thursday,  environmental analyst Lester Brown will discuss the heat and drought currently decimating Russia's grain crops,  what Russia's loss on grain exports means for world food prices and how this calamity foreshadows future climate-related crises.

Brown is  one of the world's foremost authorities on the connection between climate and agriculture (see Ponzi...

Russian Meteorological Center: "There was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat." - Masters: Over 15,000 likely dead in Russia, 17 nations comprising 19% of Earth's total land area set

Caption:  "A comparison of August temperatures, the peak of the great European heat wave of 2003 (left) with July temperatures from the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 (right) reveals that this year's heat wave is more intense and covers a wider area of Europe. Image credit: NOAA/ESRL" — Jeff Masters.

Ria Novisti reports:

Russia has recently seen the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Center said on Monday….

"We have...

Russian Meteorological Center: "There was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat." - Masters: Over 15,000 likely dead in Russia, 17 nations comprising 19% of Earth's total land area set

Caption:  "A comparison of August temperatures, the peak of the great European heat wave of 2003 (left) with July temperatures from the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 (right) reveals that this year's heat wave is more intense and covers a wider area of Europe. Image credit: NOAA/ESRL" — Jeff Masters.

Ria Novisti reports:

Russia has recently seen the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Center said on Monday….

"We have...

Russian Meteorological Center: "There was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat." - Masters: Over 15,000 likely dead in Russia, 17 nations comprising 19% of Earth's total land area set

Caption:  "A comparison of August temperatures, the peak of the great European heat wave of 2003 (left) with July temperatures from the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 (right) reveals that this year's heat wave is more intense and covers a wider area of Europe. Image credit: NOAA/ESRL" — Jeff Masters.

Ria Novisti reports:

Russia has recently seen the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Center said on Monday….

"We have...

Russian Meteorological Center: "There was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat." - Masters: Over 15,000 likely dead in Russia, 17 nations comprising 19% of Earth's total land area set

Caption:  "A comparison of August temperatures, the peak of the great European heat wave of 2003 (left) with July temperatures from the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 (right) reveals that this year's heat wave is more intense and covers a wider area of Europe. Image credit: NOAA/ESRL" — Jeff Masters.

Ria Novisti reports:

Russia has recently seen the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Center said on Monday….

"We have...

Russian Meteorological Center: "There was nothing similar to this on the territory of Russia during the last one thousand years in regard to the heat." - Masters: Over 15,000 likely dead in Russia, 17 nations comprising 19% of Earth's total land area set

Caption:  "A comparison of August temperatures, the peak of the great European heat wave of 2003 (left) with July temperatures from the Great Russian Heat Wave of 2010 (right) reveals that this year's heat wave is more intense and covers a wider area of Europe. Image credit: NOAA/ESRL" — Jeff Masters.

Ria Novisti reports:

Russia has recently seen the longest unprecedented heat wave for at least one thousand years, the head of the Russian Meteorological Center said on Monday….

"We have...