Just saw this on the Huffington Post. Pretty startling statistic. What do you think?
Report: Climate Change Causes 300,000 Deaths Yearly Already
Posted using ShareThis
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tips of the Day!
Every Friday, we are going to give our readers some easy tips on how they can be greener, save money, and conserve our precious resources.
Today's tips:
Looking for good fruits in vegetables to go with dinner? Why not consider only eating what's in season! This will dramatically cut down on your carbon foot print. How super easy is that?
Throwing away ziploc bags that you put your sandwich in for lunch? Why not reuse them. I always rinse mine out with some soapy water and put on the faucet to air dry before my next use!
Moving home from college? Why not consider borrowing boxes or buying pre-used boxes for the move. Just another way to make that move a bit greener!
Today's tips:
Looking for good fruits in vegetables to go with dinner? Why not consider only eating what's in season! This will dramatically cut down on your carbon foot print. How super easy is that?
Throwing away ziploc bags that you put your sandwich in for lunch? Why not reuse them. I always rinse mine out with some soapy water and put on the faucet to air dry before my next use!
Moving home from college? Why not consider borrowing boxes or buying pre-used boxes for the move. Just another way to make that move a bit greener!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The Growing Season
As we approach the growing season here in central New York we thought it might be interesting to write about Agriculture and the effects of climate change on this industry.
Agriculture is one of the central pillars of New York State’s economy – and as our climate changes, our whole agricultural system will change in response. One’s first thought might be, “Well, warmer temperatures mean a longer growing season and think of all the cool things we can plant now!” This is true up to a point, but with warmer temperatures come new problems, new pests, and losses of crops that can’t adapt to heat.
Don’t all of us, here in New York, occasionally wish for a longer summer? It certainly felt like we got it last year…The first hard frost here in Ithaca was 2 to 3 weeks late. So what’s the problem with this? Increased growing season and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (remember plants use CO2 for photosynthesis) could indeed boost harvests. Unfortunately the flip side is that summer will not only be longer, but also hotter and drier. Weather patterns would change, water would evaporate more quickly in the hotter climate and extreme weather events like floods, damaging thunderstorms, tornados, and hurricanes would be more common. Drought would also become a more frequent event. Crops would be more stressed, farmer costs would rise as they needed new ways to irrigate, and our precious water resources would be increasingly taxed.
With milder winters and hotter summers, we would also see an increase in pests that can infest and damage crops. Upstate New York already has it’s share of damaging pests, but cold winters often control population numbers and keep pests from the more southern regions from moving north. For example, the corn earworm, which is common in the south, spreads only as far north as Ohio, Virginia, and southern New Jersey. Cold winters keep it from permanently infesting more northern regions. With milder winters, however, it will easily be able to enlarge its range. An additional issue with agricultural pests is that as summers become longer and warmer, these organisms have additional time for breeding. This means that more generations will be produced over the growing season, and thus more pests for longer periods of time.
So what does all of this mean? Though growing crops may be more challenging, we should continue to see agriculture as a major part of upstate New York’s economy. There will be major changes though – Can you imagine New York without maple syrup or apples? Our warming climate could impact our most traditional crops!
Maple trees, and the associated syrup industry, thrive in New England and in upstate New York. Unfortunately, an earlier, warmer spring could lessen the amount of maple syrup extracted during sugaring season. Maple syrup is harvested during a transitional time in early spring, when the weather goes through a freeze-thaw cycling, very cold nights with days above freezing. This cycle encourages movement of sap through the tree, and with an earlier and quicker spring, we expect fewer days and a diminished harvest.
Apples too could be impacted negatively. Though a longer growing season seems positive, many apple trees need a certain number of days below freezing in order to set large amounts of fruit. With warmer winters, many traditional varieties of apples will no longer produce large amounts of big fruit, and with warmer and earlier springs, apples will bloom earlier. Spring temperatures, as we well know, are incredibly changeable, and if bloom comes early, followed by frost, the flowers and fruit could be damaged.
Climate change is intertwined with every natural process that happens on earth. With climate change comes new weather patterns, new water systems, and new ecosystems for plants and animals. With each change, a new set of conditions is established with new interactions happening between all processes and organisms. Each week we pass on tips for you to consider implementing in order to live “lightly” on the world. Some might wonder where the connection between these tips and the reality of New York’s agricultural economy is, but as we are all learning, using sustainable agricultural methods and buying locally grown food will not add to existing problems, and may eventually help solve them.
-Elizabeth Humbert
Agriculture is one of the central pillars of New York State’s economy – and as our climate changes, our whole agricultural system will change in response. One’s first thought might be, “Well, warmer temperatures mean a longer growing season and think of all the cool things we can plant now!” This is true up to a point, but with warmer temperatures come new problems, new pests, and losses of crops that can’t adapt to heat.
Don’t all of us, here in New York, occasionally wish for a longer summer? It certainly felt like we got it last year…The first hard frost here in Ithaca was 2 to 3 weeks late. So what’s the problem with this? Increased growing season and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (remember plants use CO2 for photosynthesis) could indeed boost harvests. Unfortunately the flip side is that summer will not only be longer, but also hotter and drier. Weather patterns would change, water would evaporate more quickly in the hotter climate and extreme weather events like floods, damaging thunderstorms, tornados, and hurricanes would be more common. Drought would also become a more frequent event. Crops would be more stressed, farmer costs would rise as they needed new ways to irrigate, and our precious water resources would be increasingly taxed.
With milder winters and hotter summers, we would also see an increase in pests that can infest and damage crops. Upstate New York already has it’s share of damaging pests, but cold winters often control population numbers and keep pests from the more southern regions from moving north. For example, the corn earworm, which is common in the south, spreads only as far north as Ohio, Virginia, and southern New Jersey. Cold winters keep it from permanently infesting more northern regions. With milder winters, however, it will easily be able to enlarge its range. An additional issue with agricultural pests is that as summers become longer and warmer, these organisms have additional time for breeding. This means that more generations will be produced over the growing season, and thus more pests for longer periods of time.
So what does all of this mean? Though growing crops may be more challenging, we should continue to see agriculture as a major part of upstate New York’s economy. There will be major changes though – Can you imagine New York without maple syrup or apples? Our warming climate could impact our most traditional crops!
Maple trees, and the associated syrup industry, thrive in New England and in upstate New York. Unfortunately, an earlier, warmer spring could lessen the amount of maple syrup extracted during sugaring season. Maple syrup is harvested during a transitional time in early spring, when the weather goes through a freeze-thaw cycling, very cold nights with days above freezing. This cycle encourages movement of sap through the tree, and with an earlier and quicker spring, we expect fewer days and a diminished harvest.
Apples too could be impacted negatively. Though a longer growing season seems positive, many apple trees need a certain number of days below freezing in order to set large amounts of fruit. With warmer winters, many traditional varieties of apples will no longer produce large amounts of big fruit, and with warmer and earlier springs, apples will bloom earlier. Spring temperatures, as we well know, are incredibly changeable, and if bloom comes early, followed by frost, the flowers and fruit could be damaged.
Climate change is intertwined with every natural process that happens on earth. With climate change comes new weather patterns, new water systems, and new ecosystems for plants and animals. With each change, a new set of conditions is established with new interactions happening between all processes and organisms. Each week we pass on tips for you to consider implementing in order to live “lightly” on the world. Some might wonder where the connection between these tips and the reality of New York’s agricultural economy is, but as we are all learning, using sustainable agricultural methods and buying locally grown food will not add to existing problems, and may eventually help solve them.
-Elizabeth Humbert
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Climate Change for Kids...
I wanted to share this site with you:
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/index.html
It's a website from the EPA that is geared towards kids. It explains what Climate Change is in a non-threatening way, it has games, and a lot of great information. I thought it might be a good resource for our readers and their families!
http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids/index.html
It's a website from the EPA that is geared towards kids. It explains what Climate Change is in a non-threatening way, it has games, and a lot of great information. I thought it might be a good resource for our readers and their families!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Tips of the Day!
Every Friday, we are going to give our readers some easy tips on how they can be greener, save money, and conserve our precious resources.
Today's tips:
As summer approaches one of the greenest things you can do is to plant a garden! There's nothing like fresh veggies on a summers day!
Unplug your electronics (DVD player, TV, cell phone and iPod chargers) when you're not using them. This will cut down on your electric bill! Another simple trick to save more money!
Wash your clothes in cold water! Not using the warm or hot cycles will save you money and your clothes will get just as clean!
Today's tips:
As summer approaches one of the greenest things you can do is to plant a garden! There's nothing like fresh veggies on a summers day!
Unplug your electronics (DVD player, TV, cell phone and iPod chargers) when you're not using them. This will cut down on your electric bill! Another simple trick to save more money!
Wash your clothes in cold water! Not using the warm or hot cycles will save you money and your clothes will get just as clean!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Big Green re-USE-it! Bin
I stopped off at Wegmans (a chain of grocerry stores located in the North Eastern part of the US) tonight in Ithaca and found this huge green bin in the lobby. I mean it's huge, almost like a wooden dumpster.
It's a "re-USE-it bin" -- the store places clean items that they no longer need, with the hopes that their customers might find a need for some of the items. Tonight there was a huge garbage can, some plastic bowls, and some muffin holders -- all for free!!! Here at Climate Change 101 we like free!
This is a great program, and we are lucky to have it here in Ithaca! I'm not sure if this is just a local thing or if it's at all the stores? I did search their site and could not find any other information.
If you are in Ithaca make sure you check it out on your next trip to the market!
It's a "re-USE-it bin" -- the store places clean items that they no longer need, with the hopes that their customers might find a need for some of the items. Tonight there was a huge garbage can, some plastic bowls, and some muffin holders -- all for free!!! Here at Climate Change 101 we like free!
This is a great program, and we are lucky to have it here in Ithaca! I'm not sure if this is just a local thing or if it's at all the stores? I did search their site and could not find any other information.
If you are in Ithaca make sure you check it out on your next trip to the market!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
High-Tech Greening...
Have an iPhone or an iPod Touch? If so, there are applications that you can purchase to help green your lifestyle. Applications like iGas lets you search for the cheapest gas prices in a zip code; if you purchase the "A Real Tree" app they will plant a real tree in one of 12 countries fighting deforestation around the world; The 3rdWhale app helps you to locate "green" businesses in your area. There are plenty more cool "green" apps out there.
Here's a video about these green apps:
Here's a video about these green apps:
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