Crop pests moving polewards through global warming

The Korea Herald – Crop-damaging insects, bacteria, fungus and viruses are moving poleward by nearly 3 kilometers each year, helped by global warming, a study said.

A team at Britain’s University of Exeter trawled through two huge databases to chart the latitude and dates for the earliest record of 612 crop pests.

Since 1960, these pests have been heading either northwards or southwards at a rate of around 2.7 kilometers yearly.

The state of the world: is it too late for sustainability?

The Guardian – In November 2012, the “big four” professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers released a report that concluded it was too late to hold the future increase in global average temperatures to just two degrees Celsius. “It’s time,” the report announced, “to prepare for a warmer world”.

The same month, the World Bank released Turn Down the Heat, which soberly set forth why a four-degree warmer world must be avoided. Meanwhile, accounts of myriad emerging calamities were easy to find in the press: the failure of the Rio+20 talks to result in positive action, “zombie” coral reefs, calls for higher birth rates, declining Arctic sea ice, an approaching “state shift” in the earth’s biosphere, and other evidence of strain in natural systems and of human blindness, ignorance or denial ……..>> Access the complete article<<

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Brazil develops global climate change model

By Elton Alisson
Agência FAPESP – Few countries today play a leading role in scientific advances in climate modeling. Most of these countries – the United States, for example – are in the Northern Hemisphere. Australia was the only country in the Southern Hemisphere with this capacity. However, after developing its own climate models for 30 years, the country abandoned its efforts in the area, opting to import and help to improve a model developed by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Great Britain.

Now, Brazil has filled the void left by Australia, joining the select group of countries capable of developing a model, validating it and simulating global climate changes.

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Source and Photo: Agência FAPESP, 20th March, 2013
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Soot Is Warming the World, A Lot

Science – Soot is bad stuff all around, whether you’re breathing it into your lungs or it’s heating the atmosphere by absorbing more of the sun’s energy. But a new 4-year, 232-page assessment of soot’s role in climate finds that the combustion product could be warming the world twice as much as previously thought. The study points policymakers toward the best targets for reducing climate-warming soot emissions while at the same time improving the health of billions of people.

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Source and Photo: By Richard A. Kerr, Science, 15th January, 2013

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Welcome waste

Yuri Vasconcelos

Agência FAPESP – Since 2008, trucks and buses in Brazil have run on a percentage of biodiesel from vegetable oils or animal fat added to the traditional petroleum-based diesel. At first, biodiesel accounted for 2% of the fuel; since 2010, this renewable and less polluting fuel has accounted for 5%. However, production has increased and this poses a problem: what should be done with the remaining glycerol, which is left over at a proportion of 100 kilos to each one thousand kilos of biodiesel produced? The solution, as shown by various research studies conducted in the country, is to transform the glycerol into a product with added value, as shown in an award-winning study produced by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). This resulted in a liquid dust suppressor made from glycerol. The liquid is sprayed onto the wagons loaded with iron ore, as they travel from the mines to the processing facilities or to the ports from where the iron ore is exported. Spraying the glycerol liquid prevents dust particles – that cause economic losses, environmental damage, and hazards to the health of the communities that surround the railway tracks – from being released by wind or rain into the atmosphere.

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Source and Photo: FAPESP, June 2012
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How will climate change affect food production?

The Gardian – Food is one of society’s key sensitivities to climate. A year of not enough or too much rainfall, a hot spell or cold snap at the wrong time, or extremes, like flooding and storms, can have a significant effect on local crop yields and livestock production. While modern farming technologies and techniques have helped to reduce this vulnerability and boost production, the impact of recent droughts in the USA, China and Russia on global cereal production highlight a glaring potential future vulnerability.

There is some evidence that climate change is already having a measurable affect on the quality and quantity of food produced globally. But this is small when compared with the significant increase in global food production that has been achieved over the past few decades. Isolating the influence of climatic change from all the other trends is difficult, but one recent Stanford University study found that increases in global production of maize and wheat since 1980 would have been about 5% higher were it not for climate change…… >>Read more<<

Source and Photo: The Guardian
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Water issues create strong undercurrent at Rio+20

By Brooke Barton
The Guardian – Last month, I was one of more than 40,000 people who descended upon Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. 40,000 is quite a crowd, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the rapid population growth Rio has seen since the first Earth Summit in 1992 – more than 800,000 residents in 20 years.

Brazil’s population as a whole is growing rapidly, and it’s changing just as fast. Across the nation, a rising middle class is snapping up air conditioners and other appliances and is expected to push national demand for electricity up 56% by 2021. More than 20 hydroelectric plants are scheduled to be built along the Amazon river’s tributaries to meet the new demand for power, but these projects are facing several challenges….>>Read More<<

Source and Photo: The Guardian, July 4th, 2012
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Biofuel – Spotlight on Brazil

By Daniel Coelho Barbosa

Ethanol Producer Magazine – Brazil was the center of attention March 29 in London where the Financial Times sponsored “Spotlight on Brazil,” an event organized to present this South American agribusiness giant from its best side.

Representatives of Brazil’s orange juice, edible oils and meat sectors, as well as government agencies and others, exposed their arguments in front of an exclusive, by-invitation-only audience of investors and executives. Ethanol was represented by Marcos Jank, at the time president and CEO of UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association…. Read More

Source and Photo: Ethanol Producer Magazine, May 10th, 2012

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Returning to Rio to build a more sustainable future

By Manish Bapna and Kirsty Jenkinson
The Guardian – n 1992, heads of state converged on Rio for the Earth Summit, a bright moment that seemed to herald a new era for sustainable development. Bold speeches were given, important treaties signed. Saving the planet was cast as a moral imperative. Multilateral institutions would lead the way.

Twenty years later, the world looks much different. The unipolar system of US domination that followed the end of the cold war is now multipolar. The locus of global growth and consumption has largely shifted to developing countries, especially in Asia. And for all the good intentions voiced in Rio, the health of our climate, water resources, and ecosystems has been deteriorating at alarming rates…. Read More

Source and Photo: The Guardian, May 2, 2012
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The Status of Bioenergy in Brazil

By Gilberto Silber Schmidt

Labex Korea – Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world, with an extensive surface of continuous land, a large supply of fresh water, abundant solar energy, and a rich biodiversity. The wide range of climatic conditions, from temperate to tropical, together with advanced capacity in technology development, allowed considerable diversification of agriculture systems, making Brazil an important producer of food, feed, fibers and renewable fuels …. Read More

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