A recent article in New Scientist said that changing weather patterns have increased the chance for recurring drought in East Africa.
(Above--Oxfam photo of a family gathering firewood in drought-stricken Kenya in 2011.)
"Last year's drought occurred because both of the region's rainy seasons failed. We already know that the trigger for the failure of the "short rains", between October and December 2010, was La Niña - a cyclical meteorological event caused by a pulse of cool water rising to the surface of the eastern Pacific Ocean. But efforts to work out why the "long rains" that occur between March and May fail have drawn a blank - until now.
Bradfield Lyon and David DeWitt of Columbia University in New York examined records of the long rains and found that they have been much more likely to fail since 1999. That year also marked a sharp rise in sea-surface temperatures in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, while further east the ocean cooled."
The story goes on to very clearly state that the reasons for the prospect of recurring drought in East Africa are by no means the definite result of man-made climate change. The article says that studies are now ongoing to see if the droughts are naturally occurring, are influenced by human activity, or are caused by some combination of these two factors.
(It should also be noted that some of the problems of famine in Somalia have been caused by Islamic insurgent groups stopping shipments of food.)
The thing is that here in the United States one of the two major political parties won't even allow all the needed research to take place, and won't even consider the prospect that man-made climate change is for real.
And if a bunch of people in Africa die so we don't have to change our lives in any way, or so we can retain the ideological purity of the Republican Party---Then I guess that is the way it goes.
A recent Oxfam report says that global response to the 2011 famine drought in East Africa was very slow in starting, and that many lives were lost as a consequence.
Here is a BBC series of reports about famine in East Africa.
Here is a New York Times page of a number of links and articles about climate science.
Here is how to make a donation to Oxfam for famine relief. I just made a small donation as it seemed the thing to do to back up my post.
Another thing we can all do in the United States is to ask our political leaders to at least be open to the prospect of climate change, and to support the necessary research to determine the facts.
We are not the only people in the world. What we do impacts others.
And....
if you thought we as a species were making progress on reducing our output of greenhouse gases, you would be wrong. The last year I could find data on it was for 2010, and that was the highest year ever of greenhouse gas emissions.
http://blogs.physicstoday.org/newspicks/2011/11/last-years-global-greenhouse-g.html
And for those who doubt the seriousness of continuing to pump greenhouse gases into the air and haven't seen this link before, spend a few minutes with it. Mind you, this only covers one aspect of climate change.....drought.
https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/2904/climate-change-drought-may-threaten-much-globe-within-decades
It's time to wake up folks. It's time to WAKE up.
For some reason my other comment didn't post, so rather than spending a half an hour writing another one, here is the short version.
My wife's family is from Kenya, and they are still in a drought. Nairobi is rationing water. The other part of her family lives in a region of Western Kenya that is known for daily rainfalls. This rain is needed almost daily to keep the crops going and for drinking water. They just went through a 30 day period with no rains. The people could not remember the last time that happened...
-a new study came out confirming that 98% of active climate scientists say global warming is man-made. The bar for a scientist to state something like that has to be very very high.
-We owe it to our children, grandchildren and our ancestors to present a livable world. I feel like people knowing about climate change and it's causes, but not doing anything about it is like Vichy France during the Nazi occupation.
We have a responsibility to humanity to act on this issue, and that goes for everyone of us. Sitting on our hands is not acceptable.
We have to start getting in the face of corporations, wall street and our politicians. Being passive is not working....
I would just like to add that 2/3 of Minnesota (where I live) is in a severe drought now, and the other 1/3 is in a moderate drought. This is also in the top three warmest winters we've had since records began back in the 1800's...
Neil, in your piece you sighted the New York Times. Generally speaking, they are pretty good on Climate Change issues as far as the press goes, but you have to read Climate Scientists directly to fully appreciate what is going on. That is because, even so called "liberal" publications like the NYT, tends to underplay the seriousness of Climate Change, and just how solid the science is. So, if you are like I imagine everyone else reading this, getting everything you know about Climate Change from the press, you are getting biased information, and that bias is in one direction. Nice to know isn't it?
Well if there was ever a topic that was appropriate for me to comment on, this is it. My wife is from Kenya. We speak with her family back there every day. The region where her family is from is known for consistent lush rains. The people there are freaking out, because they have never seen anything like this. They are use to getting rain every day this time of the year, and they just went through a month long stretch without any rains. This region depends on frequent, almost daily rains for food, as it is very poor, and everyone farms. They also need it for drinking water.
It is also true in Nairobi, ( the capitol) 5 hours away, that they are in a terrible drought. My wife's family there, is being put on water rations.
I just came across a statistic two days ago that drought covers 27% more of the earth than it did 30 years ago.
I have read approximately 50 books worth of climate science. The last four nights I was awake in the middle of the night for three hours each night thinking about global warming....worrying about it. I am exhausted today because of it.
Two days ago I met up with a group of people from the organization 350.org and we hand delivered 17,000 signatures to our two Minnesota Senators asking them to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline being built. (It would transport oil from the Canadian Tar sands, and would greatly increase the amount of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere)
At this meeting, I let my Senator's aide have it. I did not hold back any words, and I think a few people were taken aback. I said among other things. " Senator Klobachar needs to start thinking about her legacy. She needs to start talking about Climate Change EVERY SINGLE DAY. And I mean, EVERY SINGLE DAY. I also said she should be calling in the heads of Exxon, Shell, e.t.c. and forcing them to sit down and look at the science! I said, You gotta not care if your chances of getting re-elected are affected by challenging the status quo or not!"
What I did not get a chance to say to her aide was something that I believe. It is basically this. Our politicians are owned by big business now, and that is especially true of the very powerful oil lobby. I believe that what needs to be done is corporations, like Exxon, have to no longer be responsible only to increasing shareholder value, but instead have to be responsible to the lives of shareholders and there children! (As well as everybody else of course) What I'm saying is, the linkages between corporations and Wall street have to be broken, and the linkages between corporations, money and government.
There must be a way to do this! After all, we as humans invented this system. That means we can invent something that stops it from happening. I know this.... If we don't start getting in the face of our industry leaders, Wall Street, and our politicians, this is going to come to pass.
https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/2904/climate-change-drought-may-threaten-much-globe-within-decades
It's up to ALL OF US to present a livable world to our children and grand children.
Lastly, still another study was just done reaffirming that among active Climate Scientists, 98% of them say that global warming/climate change is man-made.
WE NEED TO PUSH FOR CHANGE NOW!
If you want to see your favorite conservative's head explode, mention UN Agenda 21. The most common reactions include flopping on the back, bulging eyes, and speaking in tongues if they haven't choked on them already. It's guaranteed to provide hours of amusement to all ages.