[Vision2020] Fwd: Earth Policy News - Record Temps Shrinking World Grain Harvest
LuJane Nisse
lujane@lataheagle.com
Thu, 28 Aug 2003 10:24:42 -0700
I'd suggest everyone NOT open attachments right now... those viruses are
running rampant and I'm told it is just the BEGINNING... I ran a story in
the Eagle this week addressing it some, but it is big and everyone will have
this SoBig virus if they don't take extra measures to make sure they don't
get it. I have noticed it is even slipping past my virus protection once in
a while but I've had so many now I know what to look for and I don't open
them. Please be careful as this one is not going to go away until everyone
starts checking very carefully and take protective measures.
LJ
LJ Nisse
Publisher/Editor LatahEagle www.lataheagle.com
Publisher The Boomerang! www.the-boomerang.com
521 S. Jackson
Moscow, ID 83843
208 882-0666 (fax 208 882-0130)
-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]On
Behalf Of Tom Trail
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 9:58 AM
To: vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Fwd: Earth Policy News - Record Temps Shrinking
World Grain Harvest
>X-From_: owner-public@earth-policy.org Thu Aug 28 01:32:45 2003
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>From: "Reah Janise Kauffman" <rjkauffman@earth-policy.org>
>To: <public@earth-policy.org>
>Subject: Earth Policy News - Record Temps Shrinking World Grain Harvest
>
>Copyright 2003 Earth Policy Institute
Visionaries: Here is a report that should be of interest to the public
as well as local farmers.
Rep. Tom Trail
>
>
>RECORD TEMPERATURES SHRINKING WORLD GRAIN HARVEST
>Monthly Drop Equal to One Half of U.S. Wheat Harvest
>http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update27.htm
>
>Lester R. Brown
>
>On August 12 at 8:30 a.m., the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its
>monthly estimate of the world grain harvest, reporting a 32-million-ton
drop
>from the July estimate. When grain futures markets opened later in the
>morning, prices of wheat, rice, and corn jumped.
>
>This 32-million-ton drop, equal to half the U.S. wheat harvest, was
>concentrated in Europe where record-high temperatures have withered crops.
>The affected region stretched from the United Kingdom and France in the
west
>through the Ukraine in the east. The searing heat damaged crops in
virtually
>every country in Europe.
>
>The soaring temperatures of the past several weeks rewrote the record book.
>On August 10, the temperature in London reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38
>degrees Celsius)--the first triple-digit reading on record in the United
>Kingdom. France had 11 consecutive days in August with temperatures above
35
>degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). In Italy, temperatures reached 41
>degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit).
>
>The heat wave in Europe started in early summer when Switzerland, situated
>in the heart of Europe, experienced the hottest June since recordkeeping
>began 140 years ago. In July the heat wave spread across the rest of
Europe.
>
>Crops suffered the most in Eastern Europe, which is harvesting its smallest
>wheat crop in 30 years. In the Ukraine, the wheat crop, already severely
>damaged by winter kill, was reduced further by the heat, plummeting from 21
>million tons last year to 5 million tons this year. As a result, the
>Ukraine, a leading wheat exporter last year, has been forced to import
wheat
>as bread prices threaten to spiral out of control. Romania, which was
>particularly hard hit by heat and drought, is expecting to harvest the
>smallest wheat crop on record. The Czech Republic is expecting its poorest
>grain harvest in 25 years.
>
>The prolonged heat wave, which persisted through mid August, also reduced
>the German grain harvest. The German Farmers Union reports that in
>southeastern Germany some farmers may lose half of their grain crop.
>
>This reduced estimate of the world grain harvest will expand the world
grain
>shortfall this year to 82 million tons. With projected world grain
>consumption of 1,912 million tons exceeding production of 1,830 million
tons
>by 4 percent, the world is engaged in a massive drawdown of grain stocks.
>(See data at http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update27_data.htm.) With
>this year's drawdown, world grain stocks have dropped to the lowest level
>since the early 1970s. When world grain stocks dropped to a dangerously low
>level in 1973, world prices of wheat and rice doubled.
>
>As atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels climb higher each year in an
>unbroken ascent, they are creating a greenhouse effect, raising the earth's
>temperature. Over the last quarter century the earth's average temperature
>has risen 0.7 degrees Celsius or more than 1 degree Fahrenheit.
>
>As temperatures rise, crop-withering heat waves are becoming more and more
>common. Last year the grain harvests in India and the United States were
hit
>hard by high temperatures and drought. This year Europe is bearing the
>brunt.
>
>During this life-threatening heat wave Europeans may have felt that the
>temperature could not rise much higher, but the Intergovernmental Panel on
>Climate Change (IPCC), a group of some 1,500 of the world's leading climate
>scientists, is projecting a rise in average global temperature of somewhere
>between 2.5 and 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius) during
>this century if we continue with business-as-usual energy policies.
>
>Even if the earth's temperature increases only a few degrees, as in the low
>end of the IPCC projections, we will likely see heat waves far more intense
>than anything we can easily imagine. If rising temperatures shrink harvests
>and drive up food prices, consumer pressure to reduce the use of fossil
>fuels will intensify. Indeed, rising food prices could be the first global
>economic indicator to signal the need for a fundamental shift in energy
>policy, one that would move the world toward renewable energy sources and
>away from climate-disrupting fossil fuels.
>
># # #
>
>For more information on the effect of rising temperatures on crop yields,
>see Chapter 1 of Plan B: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization
>in Trouble, which is online for free downloading at
>http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/index.htm. The book will be published on
>September 4, 2003, after which time the entire contents will be available
>online.
>
># # #
>
>Additional data and information sources www.earth-policy.org
>or contact jlarsen(at)earth-policy.org
>
>For reprint permissions contact rjkauffman(at)earth-policy.org
>
>
>
>To remove your name, send email to <public-request@earth-policy.org> with
>unsubscribe as the message.
--
Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel: (208) 882-6077
Fax: (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com
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