The drought and heat gripping much of the United States this summer continue to worsen. According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, 50.3 percent of all counties in the U.S. — 1,584 across 32 states — are now under disaster designations, with 90 percent due to drought.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
“The drought has intensified in the most parched areas of the country, with more than a fifth of the contiguous United States experiencing “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, according to numbers released Thursday morning by the National Drought Mitigation Center.
“Just three weeks ago, the portion of the lower 48 states receiving those two most serious drought designations stood at 11.6 percent. That area has now doubled, to 22.3 percent. The jump in the past week from 20.6 percent represents an increase of about 32 million acres.””
The drought has taken a toll on the nation’s corn crops. According to the National Corn Growers Association’s Larry Fields, more than three quarters of the corn belt is being impacted by the drought.
“What I’m seeing here is a total crop failure,” farmer Larry Hasheider has seen much of his corn crop wither and die this summer. The drought is “like being sucker punched in the stomach,” said Hasheider in a video interview with AFP. Fortunately for Hasheider, some of his crop is irrigated and that portion is doing fine. However, only about 15 percent of the nation’s corn crop is irrigated, the rest is at the mercy of the rains.
Watch it:
In June, 3,282 daily heat records in the US were broken. In July, another 4,414 heat records fell, baking much of the U.S. corn belt in triple digit heat.
Farmers are now being forced to cut down their stunted plants for sale as animal feed, a product that will be in great demand because of smaller-than-projected corn and soy yields. With corn and soy bean prices at or near record highs, prices for livestock feed are rising as well. Those additional costs for farmers will be passed on to the consumer, most likely in meat, dairy and eggs. The Department of Agriculture estimates that the price of those three commodities will rise between 3% and 4% over the next year in grocery stores nation-wide.
The Earth has warmed only slightly more than 1°F since the Dust Bowl — and we are set to warm between 9-11°F this century if we stay anywhere near our current greenhouse gas emissions path. By continuing our business-as-usual behavior, experts warn that permanent dust bowl conditions could grip much of the Southwest and Great Plains.
– Max Frankel
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
I feel offended by the lack of action to tackle the developing climate crisis.
I believe it is past time to stop profits from the pollution of the commons, the single biggest subsidy, (it goes straight into the pockets of the rich), and start investing in the Green Awakening Economy, which goes into the pockets of all the rest of us.
A bit OT, but somebody needs to tear the clowns who published this a new one (or two):
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/08/03/study-half-of-global-warming-in-us-is-significantly-over-estimated/
Outrageous excerpt:
(CBS WASHINGTON) – A World Meteorological Organization-approved reanalysis of U.S. temperature data has shown that temperatures are rising only half as much as claimed by the U.S. Historical Climatology Network (USHCN).
Monitors of temperature were moved to “more spatially representative” locations for getting accurate surface temperature trends. The analysis demonstrated that temperatures reported from 1979-2008 were spuriously doubled, with 92 percent of that over-estimation occurring because of faulty locations: being too close to urban areas where concrete, asphalt, roadways, and air conditioning system heat exchangers tainted the given temperatures.
Since when did Anthony Watts’ latest totally botched “study” become a WMO-approved “reanalysis”? Folks need to raise holy h*ll about this with CBS/DC.
Same like this report
Greenland ice: Less vulnerable to climate change than feared
Fluctuations in ice melting over time in Greenland may mean that the trajectory towards a complete melt is less direct than previously thought. New research suggests that future sea level rise predictions should be made cautiously. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0802/Greenland-ice-Less-vulnerable-to-climate-change-than-feared
Notice, this is based on a single study which just compared a melt trend from the 1980′s. Thus the report messaging is misleading, since we have today more Co2 in the air and more studies who predict accelerate ice lose.
Gosh-who would have thought it possible. In the face of the BEST report and the realities of climate disaster, the Rightwing MSM ‘double-down’ on lies and misrepresentation. Dear me, and this is the ‘Free Press’ a symbol of our beloved ‘Free World’. This leopard will never change its spots, because too much money is involved. And, let’s face it, the pathocrats want it to happen, and cleanse the planet of its excess population of ‘useless eaters’.
Things are changing, but just not fast enough.
Some reports of fires breaking out in drought hit areas
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/04/us-usa-wildfires-oklahoma-idUSBRE87302N20120804
I want to see a voting precinct map overlaid on a map showing disaster aide per capita, and highlighting those precincts that elected someone from the Tea Party.
Those officials need to get up in front of their constituents to demand a return of the aide dollars provided by taxpayers (or be exposed as frauds).
This is the tip of the proverbial iceberg (the real icebergs are melting). Manmade climate change is an unnatural disaster and nobody wants to make the needed changes to even slow this down. Only when it starts to truly affect the rich and powerful will things begin to change. It may be too late by then. Ye reap what ye sow…