Climate and Ag in the news
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A massive new report published by the federal government on Friday looks at causes of warming climate and concludes that it is mainly caused by humans rather than due to natural causes like solar variability. As you can imagine, there have been a number of stories published in the news describing these results. Here are…
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The Washington Post published a hopeful article earlier this week about the ozone hole over Antarctica, which has been shrinking ever since chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and related chemicals were banned from use as refrigerants. This year the ozone hole is the smallest it has been since 1988. It was the largest in 2000. The presence of…
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EarthSky has an interesting report today based on some research that was reported this week at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in Seattle on climate impacts of the Yellowstone volcanic eruptions that took place 630,000 years ago. The study showed that there was not one but two closely-spaced eruptions that sent out a…
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While the 2017 tropical season in the Atlantic is not yet over, it is ramping down and (we hope) will not bring much more action to the Southeast. But it is interesting to look at how the developing La Niña conditions might affect next year’s season. Usually La Niña lasts for a few months and…
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Adam Rabinowitz of UGA posted a story in Southeast Farm Press this week which discussed the large yield of peanuts that were harvested this year. While Hurricane Irma negatively impacted the cotton crop, it did not affect the peanut yields in any meaningful way and both irrigated and dryland crops were expected to do well…
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If you like beer (and I do, since I am from Wisconsin), you may be interested in this story by National Public Radio about a lesser-known reformation led by Martin Luther–the movement to put hops in beer instead of herbs. Nowadays, hoppy beers are all the rage, but at the time of the Reformation 500…
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Happy Halloween! Or if you are a Calvinist like me, Happy Reformation Day! Here is an interesting story from Paris Review on the eruption of Mount Tambora 201 years ago and the “Year without a Summer” that brought freezing conditions and atmospheric gloom to much of the Northern Hemisphere. The conditions led Mary Shelley and…