Alt Press Picks of the Week: The Tangible Effects of Climate Change

Even as measurable and verifiable climate changes are damaging the food supply and intensifying natural disasters, skepticism about the very existence of anthropogenic climate change persists. The environmental movement has been working now for decades to address this multifaceted problem, and that work is far from over. "Taking On Water: Sea-level Rise Is Speeding Up Along Part of US Eastern Coast Conservation” (Conservation, Fall 2012, v.13 no.3, pp10-11) In this research brief, Conservation highlights the findings of Sallenger Jr., Doran and Howd that show that sea-level rise is happening much faster along a stretch of the Atlantic coast than the global average. From Conservation: Contrary to what you might assume, global warming “does not force sea-level rise (SLR) at the same rate everywhere,” the authors write. Instead, the rate of sea-level rise is affected by factors such as temperature, salinity, and ocean circulation. Warmer and fresher waters in parts of the North Atlantic Ocean could raise sea levels along North America’s eastern coast. "The Food Ordeal & Climate Change" by Robert Hunziker (Z Magazine, September 2012, v.25 no.9, pp5-7) In an article published in Z Magazine and also available online at Dissident Voice, Robert Hunziker details how climate-related food shortages and price inflation are driving uprisings and revolt around the world. He points to evidence that rising food prices drove the Arab Spring, that drought in the US has returned core staple crops, such as corn, to their previous peaks in 2007 during the last round of large-scale food riots, and that food-related revolt can be seen throughout history. In the face of all this, right-wing America continues to deny climate change. From Dissident Voice: With the current fragile state of worldwide economic conditions, the upshot of rapidly rising food prices and/or food shortages may turn the world upside down, and shake it, because much of the Western world is already on life support, addicted to low interest rates, with a “steady-as-she-goes” very tempered economic recovery, and a high-wire balancing act to support uncomfortable levels of debt. The tenuousness of the economic situation takes one’s breath away!