Security
If Extreme Weather Becomes the Norm, Starvation Awaits
Drought-withered corn stalks in Indiana, August 2012. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
guardian.co.uk - by George Monbiot - October 15, 2012
With forecasts currently based only on averages, food production may splutter out even sooner than we feared
I believe we might have made a mistake: a mistake whose consequences, if I am right, would be hard to overstate. I think the forecasts for world food production could be entirely wrong. Food prices are rising again, partly because of the damage done to crops in the northern hemisphere by ferocious weather.
Food Scarcity: The Timebomb Setting Nation Against Nation
submitted by Paul G.Kaplan
A drying corn field in southern Minnesota. Bad weather has resulted in a poor harvest this year. Photograph: David I. Gross/ Corbis
As the UN and Oxfam warn of the dangers ahead, expert analyst Lester Brown says time to solve the problem is running out
guardian.co.uk - by John Vidal - October 13, 2012
Brandon Hunnicutt has had a year to remember. The young Nebraskan from Hamilton County farms 2,600 acres of the High Plains with his father and brother. What looked certain in an almost perfect May to be a "phenomenal" harvest of maize and soy beans has turned into a near disaster.
Book - Full Planet, Empty Plates
http://www.earthpolicy.org/mobile/books/fpep
Arctic Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise May Pose Imminent Threat To Island Nations, Climate Scientist Says
This Sept. 16, 2012, image released by NASA shows the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic, at center in white, and the 1979 to 2000 average extent for the day shown, with the yellow line. Scientists say sea ice in the Arctic shrank to an all-time low of 1.32 million square miles on Sept. 16, smashing old records for the critical climate indicator. (AP Photo/U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center, File)
huffingtonpost.com - by James Gerken - October 5, 2012
Low-lying island nations threatened by rising sea levels this century could see the disastrous consequences of climate change far sooner than expected, according to one of the world's leading climate scientists.
Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World
oceana.org - September 24, 2012
Emissions from human activities are changing the ocean’s chemistry and temperature in ways that threaten the livelihoods of those who depend on fish and seafood for all or part of their diets. The changes may reduce the amount of wild caught seafood that can be supplied by the oceans and also redistribute species, changing the locations at which seafood can be caught and creating instability for ocean-based food security, or seafood security. This report ranks nations based on the seafood security hardships they may experience by the middle of this century due to changing ocean conditions from climate change and ocean acidification. This is done by combining each nation’s exposure to climate change and ocean acidification, its dependence on and consumption of fish and seafood and its level of adaptive capacity based on several socioeconomic factors. Country rankings are developed for risks from climate change and ocean acidification independently, as well as from both problems combined.
Climate Change Takes a Bite Out of Global Food Supply
A Pakistani fisherman talks with young boys. Rising ocean temperatures are pushing many fish away from the tropics towards the poles where waters are cooler. (Credit: Akbar Baloch/IPS)
commondreams.org - by Stephen Leahy - September 29, 2012
Humanity’s ability to feed itself is in serious doubt as climate change takes hold on land in the form of droughts and extreme weather, as well as on the world’s oceans.
Less well known to many is the fact that emissions from burning oil, coal and gas are both heating up the oceans and making them more acidic. That is combining to reduce the amount of seafood that can be caught, according to a new report released here.
(SEE ADDITIONAL INFORMATION HERE - Ocean-Based Food Security Threatened in a High CO2 World)
http://resiliencesystem.org/ocean-based-food-security-threatened-high-co2-world
Probability Maps Help Detect Food Contamination
Sandia's stochastic network metholodogy accelerates spread of food-borne illness // Source: sandia.gov
submitted by Luis Kun
Homeland Security News Wire - October 1, 2012
Researchers demonstrate how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time it takes to track down contaminated food sources; stochastic mapping shows what is known about how product flows through the distribution supply chain and provides a means to express all the uncertainties in potential supplier-customer relationships that persist due to incomplete information
Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC).
Obama uses UN speech to condemn extremism
Image: Barack Obama paid a personal tribute to Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya who was killed in the attack on Benghazi. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP
guardian.co.uk - September 25th, 2012 - Julian Borger
President Barack Obama today sought to reset US relations with the Arab world in the wake of anti-American riots triggered by an amateur video insulting the prophet Mohamed, that led to the death of the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
Obama used his speech to the UN general assembly, expected to be his last major foreign policy address before the November elections, to pay a personal tribute to Stevens, highlighting the murdered diplomat's passion for Arab culture and support for democracy, and present it a model for American-Arab relations.
The president also restated the US position on the Iran nuclear programme: that there was still time for diplomacy, but not "unlimited time".
(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)
Safe Cities Initiatives
submitted by Mike Kraft
linkedin.com
Terrorism, man made incidents, natural disasters and the current global economic climate, have forced cities to implement Safe City technologies and strategies. Safe City key elements include Social Media Analytics/Monitoring, Critical Infrastructure Protection, and leveraging emerging homeland security technologies to gain greater situational awareness for law enforcement professionals. The purpose of this group is to discuss emerging trends and technologies in the Safe City arena and serve as a networking environment for Safe City professionals. Emerging technologies in this area are PSIM (Physical Security Information Management), Biometrics-Access Control, Social Media Analysis-Monitoring, Explosives and Narcotics Trace Detection and Tactical & Emergency Communications Systems.
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4418022&goback=.gde_1528217_member_165228150
Sudan Refugees Flee Intensified Bombing Runs
foxnews.com - Associated Press - September 19, 2012
Newly arrived refugees at a camp along the volatile South Sudan-Sudan border say renewed fighting between rebels and Sudan's military is likely to send thousands more people to an expanding camp here filled with refugees of war and hunger.
As the fighting intensified, tens of thousands began streaming into South Sudan. Since February, the population of Yida has skyrocketed from 17,000 to around 65,000 refugees.
