We are in the dog days of summer! Record high temperatures across the country have been reported. Let’s face it, climate change is real and the planet is getting warmer, despite record cold temperatures in winter in some areas. With climate change, there are more occurrences of extreme temperatures as well as precipitation such as severe drought, flooding, heavier than usual snowfall, etc. So, how does climate change affect gardeners? To understand the concept, we must first understand how high temperatures affect plant growth and development.… Continue reading this article “The Heat is On!”
Tag: climate change
The Canary in the Coal Mine
Three weekends ago marked a milestone of sorts as mean daily CO2 levels at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatory at Mauna Loa, Hawaii topped 400 ppm for the first time ever. Rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases could result in significant increases in temperature in the Upper Midwest over the next century. When we think about trees in cities the scenario is even worse since not only will urban trees have to deal with overall temperature increases but they must also contend with urban heat island effects, which can add another 8 deg.… Continue reading this article “The Canary in the Coal Mine”
Long winter proves that climate change is a hoax
Just looked at the forecast for the week – Thursday’s forecast high temperature is 32 deg. F. This is a far cry from last year’s record-shattering 86 on the same date. Clearly all this blabbering about climate change is just a bunch of hysterical nonsense.
As sportscaster Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend…” While winter 2013 can’t compete with winter 2012 in terms of record-breaking warmth, this winter has continued a trend which may have profound implications for landscape and garden plant selections.… Continue reading this article “Long winter proves that climate change is a hoax”
Invasion of the killer earthworms
It sounds like a B-grade horror movie. Millions of earthworms, moving silently beneath soil, wreaking havoc until the entire planet is uninhabitable. Sound a little far-fetched? Not to ecologists that study northern hardwood forests. While most of us grew up thinking earthworms were ubiquitous, turns out they are not native in parts of North America that were covered with ice during the last glacial period. Most of us also grew up thinking that earthworms where the good guys/girls (they’re hermaphroditic), churning up compacted soil and leaving nutrient-rich castings behind. … Continue reading this article “Invasion of the killer earthworms”
What can CO2 do for you?!
Well, it looks like the climate change skeptics are starting to hedge their bets. Global climate is not changing. But if it does change, it’ll change for the better. At least that’s the gist of a book by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change entitled “The Many Benefits of Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment”. The book documents 55 different ways that increasing global CO2 will benefit the world. Most of this is built on studies documenting increases in plant growth and/or photosynthesis associated with increasing CO2. … Continue reading this article “What can CO2 do for you?!”
Cold enough for ya?
Like many people we spent the past couple days digging out from the massive snowstorm that swept across a large swath of the country. This was definitely a made-for-TV-weather event as national and local TV weatherfolks took up their positions and gave us breathless live-remotes of the “Blizzard of 2011”.
40 mph wind + 1 little crack = a barn full of snow.
Almost as predictable as video footage of snow-ploughs on the streets and locals snow-blowing sidewalks; climate change skeptics are using the recent round of winter weather as proof that global warming is a hoax and that there’s really nothing to worry about except the economics of ‘cap and trade’. … Continue reading this article “Cold enough for ya?”
Confessions of a carbon sequestration skeptic
One of the potential environmental benefits that came up in our discussion of the pro’s and con’s of turfgrass was carbon sequestration. The basic premise of carbon sequestration is to take CO2 out of the atmosphere and ‘lock it up’ in a form that won’t contribute to further global warming. One of the fallacies floating around these days is that any plant that photosynthesizes, takes up CO2 and thereby sequesters carbon. What we need to realize is that leaves give off CO2 at night via respiration and all non-photosynthetic (non-green) plant parts such as roots and stems give off CO2 virtually all the time. … Continue reading this article “Confessions of a carbon sequestration skeptic”
Global Warming, Carbon Dioxide, and Plants
There was an article published recently that traced the melting of glaciers in the US over the last 50 years. This study showed, pretty convincingly, that the glaciers are, indeed, melting, and melting rapidly. Meanwhile, in our atmosphere, levels of carbon dioxide from humans burning fossil fuel are increasing in a manner roughly correlated to the increase in temperature that’s melting the glaciers. But is the carbon dioxide actually causing the warming? Believe it or not this is still an area of discussion among scientist, and the answer isn’t as simple as many newspapers make it out to be. … Continue reading this article “Global Warming, Carbon Dioxide, and Plants”