The “Dark Side” of Sugar-Cane Ethanol Production | JunkScience.com

they indicate that “air-pollutant emissions from biofuel production and combustion may have significant impacts on climate and air quality,” and that “the change in vehicle emissions that would result from a large-scale conversion from gasoline to E85 (a blend of up to 85% ethanol with gasoline or another hydrocarbon) in the United States could have significant health consequences, by increasing tropospheric ozone concentrations,” citing Jacobsen (2007). And they add that Hill et al. (2009) have also demonstrated that “the use of corn ethanol has higher health costs than gasoline.”

Australian wheat yields threatened by cold weather | Reuters

SYDNEY, July 13 (Reuters) - Cold weather across Australia's two largest wheat growing states has slowed crop growth, officials said, threatening yields in the world's fourth-largest exporter and adding to concerns about the risk of dry weather later in the year if El Nino returns.

Birds confused by cold weather | Wales - ITV News

Staff at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre in Llanelli have been dumbfounded by the effect the cold weather has had on birds' migratory cycles.

In recent days the centre has seen "unusually" large numbers of birds arriving "abnormally early" at the wetlands. According to the centre's website this has included over 800 curlew, 3 whimbrel, 10 greenshank, 100 redshank, 90 oystercatcher and 190 black-tailed godwits. These are birds that would normally only be seen in Carmarthenshire in either Autumn or Winter.

They suggest that this change in migratory patterns is because of the poor weather in Iceland, and the failure to breed amongst the birds.