Florida freeze boosted vegetable prices

Sixty of Florida’s 67 counties (including all areas where winter fresh produce is grown) were declared natural disaster areas by USDA on Jan. 29.

A year ago, a severe freeze during Jan. 20-22 damaged Florida winter vegetables, reducing volume and raising prices for crops such as green beans, sweet corn and tomatoes. This year, damage was much more severe because of the extended duration of the cold weather pattern.

Victoria forum on climate change on Thursday

[Tom Pedersen, the director of the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions at the University of Victoria]  "We don't understand everything perfectly. But for 150 years now, we have understood the greenhouse effect. And for 150 years, we've been pumping out a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And for 150 years, the Earth has been warming."

New study shows rising water temperatures in US streams and rivers

The analysis indicates that 20 of the 40 streams studied showed statistically significant long term warming trends, while an additional 13 showed temperature increases that were not statistically significant. Two rivers showed significant temperature decreases. The longest record of increase was observed for the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie, New York. The most rapid rate of increase was recorded for the Delaware River near Chester, Pennsylvania.

"We are seeing the largest increases in the most highly urbanized areas which lead us to believe that the one-two punch of development and global warming could have a tremendous impact on stream and river ecosystem health," said Dr. Kaushal.

EV WORLDwire: Ford, Microsoft Team on Electric Vehicle Charging Technology

Increasing numbers of electric vehicles, however, will have a significant impact on energy demand. That is because the addition of an electric vehicle to a household could effectively double home energy consumption while the vehicle is charging.