Obama's "for the children" climate change video announcement – only a few hundred views so far

a jones says:
June 22, 2013 at 10:14 pm
Oh dear what to say….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
It does not hurt to start the research into nuclear/thorium now. Hydrocarbons have a heck of a lot of uses (plastic, pharmaceuticals…) that as a chemist I hate to see them burned but I hate seeing food burned and the soil trashed even worse.

it is all to late everybody should go home and get under the bed . to escape heat from four Hiroshma size bombs exploding per second causing the world to heat up http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/climate-change-like-atom-bomb-20130622-2op3i.html

William Astley says: @ur momisugly June 23, 2013 at 12:07 am
…..As there is a fixed amount land for human agriculture and there are strong farm lobbies in every Western country and there are lucrative subsides for the madness, a large amount of Western farm land is being used to grow food to convert to biofuel which results in a net loss of food for people that must be made up for either by starving people in third world countries or cutting down virgin forest. For example 40% of the US corn crop is now converted to ethanol….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I am going to add to that point
I think David P. Goldman (Spengler) is off by a few years but all it will take is a bad harvest and 2013 is not shaping up well. “May 10, 2011… Egypt is running out of food, and, more gradually, running out of money with which to buy it. The most populous country in the Arab world shows all the symptoms of national bankruptcy…”
Earlier in February 2013, Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said “…We should be expecting excellent crops in 2013 which could weigh heavily on prices… But the weather could turn negative, and because we are in a tight situation, prices could react violently and rise…” LINK: Cereal crop prospects for 2013 excellent but stocks tight-FAO

Global Grain Stocks Drop Dangerously Low as 2012 Consumption Exceeded Production January 17, 2013
The world produced 2,241 million tons of grain in 2012, down 75 million tons or 3 percent from the 2011 record harvest. The drop was largely because of droughts that devastated several major crops—namely corn in the United States (the world’s largest crop) and wheat in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Australia. Each of these countries also is an important exporter. Global grain consumption fell significantly for the first time since 1995, as high prices dampened use for ethanol production and livestock feed. Still, overall consumption did exceed production. With drought persisting in key producing regions, there is concern that farmers in 2013 will again be unable to produce the surpluses necessary to rebuild lowered global grain reserves….

The USA no longer maintains the grain reserves it once had. In 2008 during the food riots in more than 60 countries the USDA announced “Our cupboard is bare.” So there is no backup grain stores just cash in a bank account.
The 2008 food riots occurred despite 2007 Grain Harvest Sets Record,

….People consume a little less than half (48 percent) of the world’s grain directly—as steamed rice, bread, tortillas, or millet cakes, for instance.8 Roughly one third (35 percent) becomes livestock feed.9 And a growing share, 17 percent, is used to make ethanol and other fuels….
In 2007, a 200-million-ton jump in the global coarse grain harvest was responsible for nearly all of the increase in the total grain harvest. Production of coarse grains—a group that includes corn, barley, sorghum, and other grains fed mainly to animals—increased 10 percent, from 985 million tons in 2006 to 1,080 million tons in 2007. At 784 million tons, the record harvest of corn was buoyed by the growing use of this grain to produce biofuels, which prompted farmers in the United States (responsible for over 40 percent of the global harvest and half of world exports), Brazil, and Argentina to plant more land to corn. Production in China, the world’s second largest corn producer, inched beyond the previous year’s record….
Wheat harvests increased modestly, by 2 percent, to 605 million tons, with near perfect weather nurturing strong harvests in India, the EU, and the United States. Australia, however, normally the source of one third of world exports, faced lower crop prospects and depleted exportable supplies. And unfavorable weather meant a reduced harvest in China, the world’s second largest producer…
The amount of grain stored by governments— a good measure of the global cushion against poor harvests and rising prices—continues to decline. Global cereal stocks were expected to stand at 318 million tons by the close of the 2007 season, equivalent to about 14 percent of annual consumption. (See Figure 3.) These stocks, and the stock-to-use ratio, built up by bumper crops in the 1980s and the late 1990s, are now substantially below their all-time high.
Despite the record harvest, the low stocks and strong demand combined to push prices of all cereals to new highs…

Then you have all the game playing by the financiers as food commodities trading became attractive when the other financial bubbles burst.

How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis
Since the bursting of the tech bubble in 2000, there has been a 50-fold increase in dollars invested in commodity index funds. To put the phenomenon in real terms: In 2003, the commodities futures market still totaled a sleepy $13 billion….speculators poured $55 billion into commodity markets, and by July, $318 billion was roiling the markets. Food inflation has remained steady since.
The money flowed, and the bankers were ready with a sparkling new casino of food derivatives. Spearheaded by oil and gas prices (the dominant commodities of the index funds) the new investment products ignited the markets of all the other indexed commodities, which led to a problem familiar to those versed in the history of tulips, dot-coms, and cheap real estate: a food bubble. Hard red spring wheat, which usually trades in the $4 to $6 dollar range per 60-pound bushel, broke all previous records as the futures contract climbed into the teens and kept on going until it topped $25. And so, from 2005 to 2008, the worldwide price of food rose 80 percent — and has kept rising….

The commodities trading that drove prices through the roof in 2008 has not gone away. Expect the bad news about spring planting in the USA to drive prices again.
This is an Interview by The Farm Journal of two commodity/grain marketing specialists.

Farm Journal: 2013 Outlook: Wheat Prices to Tag Along with CornNovember 5, 2012
…How would you characterize this year’s wheat crop and the market for the commodity, both in the U.S. and globally? What, if anything, surprised you?
[2012]
…. Both total wheat production and consumption in the U.S. are lower this year. Wheat only saw a small hit in yields as a result of the drought when compared to other crops with average yields 2.6 bu/acre lower this year than last…. While wheat disappearance for food and seed are slightly higher than last year’s totals, exports saw a sharp decline. Feed and residual use is seeing significant growth going into next year. Much of the increase can be attributed to higher corn prices due to this summer’s drought causing wheat to become a feasible alternative to corn.
Globally, wheat production did not fare as well. Wheat production is projected to be lower in Russia, Australia and the European Union as drought persists in each of these regions. Global wheat use is also projected to be lower….
[2013 forecast]
Williams: There are several factors to watch for in 2013. The biggest factor in terms of wheat supply is to watch the drought situation on a global basis. Australia has seen some relief lately, but it looks like it is too late to have much of an impact on the current crop.
In terms of the U.S., much of South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas are still in an extreme drought. Rain and snow over the winter and into the spring will play a vital role in determining wheat production in 2013. Well over 80% of the winter wheat crop has been planted already, so upcoming USDA reports on planted acres should provide a good estimate of how much wheat has been planted.
In terms of prices, the USDA’s most recent estimate is $7.65 to $8.55/bushel, but as of October 31 the Kansas City July 2013 futures price for wheat was $9.12/bu.

That was the ‘optimistic forecast’ from last fall. This is the first week of May’s news from The Farm Journal.

April Showers (and Snow) Bring Market Chaos
…The 2013 planting season has been downright wacky. The calendar has flipped to May, but snow, freeze warnings and excessive rain broke weather records in many areas.
These rare weather occurrences kept many planters parked across the country. As of April 28, USDA estimates only 5% of the U.S. corn crop is planted. The five-year average for this time is 31%. Last year, nearly half of the corn crop had been planted…
For the coming week, USDA will not only release its weekly planting progress report, on Friday, May 10 it will release this month’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates and Crop Production reports…. USDA has a history of lowering yield expectations if the corn crop is not 40% planted by their May reports….
it is too early to say with any certainty farmers will change their crop mix. “Nobody has done any concrete changes yet,” he says.
What he will be watching closely is old-crop corn demand. Will USDA reduce exports more or increase feed usage? “What I would look for is if they don’t raise feed usage, it kind of tells us that we’ll import corn, feed more wheat or do something else to not tighten up that feed supply more than it already is,” Gulke says.

(A U-tube talk is included)
The USA IMPORT grain??? HUH? we are the world’s largest EXPORTERS…. link
Comments on The Farm Journal article from a cynical farmer…

The truth is that the northern plains still has frozen ground!! And the snow is not gone in much of the Midwest and northern Midwest. Once it is – it will take days of hot dry weather to dry it out. We are already into late May in much of the northern Midwest now. If you farm 2000 – 10000 acres like many farms do – how are you going to get it all in??
And if you do – what kind of yield is already lost!!?? Come on Jerry – if you are a farmer then you know there are some very serious issues here. Why are you trying to keep the market depressed. Always stating that the crop will miraculously all get in and that farmers will go 24 HOURS!! Wow really?? And Jerry is a farmer?? Why would a farmer run his own markets down with such talk??!
The United States now has a 60 day food supply instead of the historical 90 day supply. We are one disastrous crop year away from serious trouble and this is the type of analysis we get from a FARMER??

Canada doesn’t look too good LINK: Canadian Stocks Dwindle, Planting Delayed and my area (NC) is not much better off than the Midwest. We had two weeks of warm weather mid April and since then it has been cold, The soil temp was 54 °F @ur momisugly 8:30AM on the 7th of May and soggy, just right to rot the seed in the ground before it sprouts. In the first week of May I haven’t seen any plowed ground. The corn finally went in in mid-May on my road and its about a foot high compared to over my head on the coastal plain.
The Agronomy Dept.at Purdue Univ. says, When soils warm to the mid-50′s or warmer, emergence will occur in seven days or less if soil moisture is adequate. Thermal time from planting to emergence is approximately 115 growing degree days (GDDs) using the modified growing degree formula (Nielsen, 2008) with air temperatures or about 119 GDDs based on soil temperatures. A graph of mean temperature vs emergence link shows you really want the temperature above 56°F where the inflection point of the curve is. Otherwise the seed is just sitting in the ground waiting for the correct temperature to be reached and therefore at risk.
The flip side of the coin is how soon the corn is harvested in the fall and what the weather will be during the growing season and it is not just about rainfall. Dr. R.L. Nielsen at Purdue Univ. has another article.

Heat Unit Concepts Related to Corn Development:
Growth and development of corn are strongly dependent on temperature. Corn develops faster when temperatures are warmer and more slowly when temperatures are cooler. For example, a string of warmer than normal days in late spring will encourage faster leaf development than normal. Another example is that a cooler than normal grain filling period will delay the calendar date of grain maturity…

From the Financiers we have from last fall:

A Tale of Two Markets….As anyone that has experienced losses from a natural disaster well knows, insurance never covers the total cost of the experience. In addition to the financial costs is mental anguish. Together, these factors are going to make U.S. farmers stingy with their cash til September of 2013 when the next harvest occurs. U.S. farm equipment sales will certainly see the impact of the situation. Fertilizer sales will be less than might have been the case….

And from the same fellow more recently, Corn: Too Cold or Wet Yet so the traders have certainly noticed. There is an interesting graph in the article US corn planting progress vs corn price. the x axis goes from 7.04 (April 7) to 5.05 (May 5) and shows a real jump in price as the planting dates creep into May.
From another investment advisor on Apr 29, 2013 we have Crop Progress: Only 5% Of Corn Crop Planted… Corn, soybean, and wheat prices increased by double digits today due to the cold weather preventing farmers from planting…
How long will it take for people to wake-up and realize the climate is NOT getting warmer and burning in cars is idiocy. not to mention that corn strips the land of nutrients.

The effects of corn monoculture on soils
As an example of the worst soil depleting crop, one has to look no further than at corn crops. crops grown on the same soil year after year deplete the soil. The question is what happens to the soil when corn is grown year after year in soil without any thought of crop rotation? It is a well known fact among farmers that corn depletes the soil faster than any other crop. It demands more nutrients and for this reason it is a crop that is rotated or is planted on land that has been fallow for at least a year. During this time a crop of vetch or some legume crop is sown and is plowed under in the fall….

Unfortunately much of the farmland is leased or owned by large corporations only interested in a quick profit. I am sitting on 100 ac that was ‘mined’ of its soil till it had a hard time even producing weeds. Land that used to be some of the best in the county/state according to the Ag extension agent.

tango says:
June 23, 2013 at 2:48 am
“it is all to late everybody should go home and get under the bed . to escape heat from four Hiroshma size bombs exploding per second causing the world to heat up ”
Yes! EVEN WORSE! Normal sunlight adds heat from FOUR THOUSAND Hiroshima bombs exploding per second!
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/05/15/global-warming-splodeified/
It has actually been too late since the beginning of time! Oh noes!

Lets hope that the party in opposition here makes this as big an issue as our AU friends have. In a sense we should welcome the chance to have this conversation. Many of you have worked hard to build us a winning hand.

Bruce-
Funny you should bring up AQ since at almost precisely the same time the UN set up the World Future Council they set up the Alliance of Civilizations. Do look up the recent annual meeting in Vienna. I had never heard of AoC until the current director-general of UNESCO, a Bulgarian by the name of Irina Bokova, kept mentioning working with AoC as part of the concept of Education for Sustainability. That she says is necessary to get to the New Humanism that is a 21st century update to what Uncle Karl wrote about in the 19th.
In addition to required beliefs about AGW, beliefs about certain world religions and ethnic groups will also be required as the only acceptable perspective. I am not making this up. It was laid out in a 2010 UNESCO report I have. Even though for some reason it was actually printed in Russia.