Archive for the ‘Extreme weather’ Category

We have all experienced a winter of varying degrees of severity. Here in the south of France we have had so much rain over the past few months that the ground is just oozing water. Two days ago a socking great cyprus tree fell over and squashed our car – the ground so saturated with water that there was no support any more for the root system. The whole thing came up … roots and all.

But that’s nothing compared to some of the disasters happening around the world, and Mongolia is one of them. I will copy The Adventurists entire plea for help here. Please click on the links and they’ll take you through. Thank you.

The Adventurists visit every year, and now

Mongolia needs our help.

Thousands of animals have died in Mongolia since the cold set in. The Adventurists have launched an emergency appeal to raise funds for the purchasing and distribution of food to the herders for their horses and other livestock.

Please donate to AVSF through this AFD JustGiving page: our initial target is £5,000, we hope with your help we’ll smash this.

The Current Situation

Mongolia is experiencing extreme weather conditions, which is killing thousands of animals across the country. The herders need food for their animals, but there is very little stock available in Mongolia. Emergency measures are being taken by Agronomes et Veterinaires Sans Frontieres (AVSF) to import feed from China and Russia. Funds are desperately needed to pay for the food and its distribution to save the herders’ animals.

Goats, sheep and horses have been dying every single day of hunger and cold, and even the hardy yaks are suffering and numbers are dwindling, leaving their herders with no livelyhood and no means to feed or support their families.

What is being done

AVSF – an Official Charity for the Mongol Derby 2010 – are already working on the ground t o procure and distribute food to the herders. So far they have implemented the procurement and distribution of two food deliveries, each mission taking two weeks.

During that time they also checked the animals for disease and foot rot, and helped the herders with their own efforts to save the livestock. Locals are rallying round, donating a day’s salary as regularly as possible towards food purchases, and sewing coats and pelts together to shelter the animals from the cold.

AVSF have mobilised exceptional funds from current projects in an effort to help during this emergency and are already responding to the consequences they see occurring by restructuring their 2010/2011 programmes to meet the new needs the local people now face. The charity are realistic about this weather – this is not short term – it’s here until the summer months and the knock on effects will be seen for many more months to come.

How you can help

AVSF have the use of the trucks, access to sources of food and the means to distribute the food. They’re desperately in need of immediate funds to buy the food and the fuel to reach the herders in the Steppe. 100% of the funds you donate will go to help the herders and their livestock right now, and save the lives of hundreds of animals and contribute to the rebuilding of the herds.

Adventures for Development (AFD) is the UK registered charity collecting funds in the UK for AVSF. They will transfer your donation in full to AVSF. If you’re a French tax payer, please donate directly through AVSF’s website www.avsf.org.

Thank you, your donations will make a difference fast and be greatly appreciated.

The Adventurists
http://www.theadventurists.com

We are showing a cerebral video this weekend for a change (FFreeThinker). Something that slips into our extreme weather catagory. Make of it what you will, but if people would only stop bickering and commit themselves to the future, I am sure there will be something better there for our children than the way we are going now…

Charity for Change (CharityForChange) have come out with some  facts about America. Snow, for example – which state has the most?

Which is the hottest?

From previous articles of ours talking about the Badwater Ultra-marathon and the 508 Cycle Race in Death Valley, we know that Death Valley is the hottest place in the States with searing temperatures. The highest ever recorded there was  134 °F (56.7 °C) in 1913. It also dominates the records for being the hottest place in continental America on any single day.  And this is a place where extreme competitions take place!

Places in the US that have reached temperatures of at least 49 C or 120 °F:

In contrast, the lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was -80 °F (-62 °C) on January 23, 1971 at Prospect Creek Camp, located near the Arctic Circle along the Alaska pipeline. This is not much warmer than the -81.4 °F record low for North America that Snag in the Yukon dropped to on February 3, 1947. On that record cold February day, Tanacross Alaska reached -75 °F.

Montana, too, has a record to be proud of – or should I say scared of? It takes the record for being the coldest place in the continental US with a temperature of -70 °F on January 20, 1954 at Rogers Pass, Montana. The pass sits at 5,470 feet elevation in the Rocky Mountains, northwest of Helena.

On any single day, the mountain town of Stanley, Idaho, is most often the coldest place in the 48 continental states.

Other states in the US which have dropped to-45 C or  -50 F or below are:

Is it significant that none of these dates are recent?

This Sumo wrestler (thesnowfiles) would be perfectly content in these conditions I feel…

And if climate change is so dramatic and the snow starts melting, we could always try to get a taste for this alternative skiing (Sony6Honda)…

Let’s hope the powers that be decide to do something about global warming before we are reduced to that!

The system of terraces around our house are not meant to be waterfalls, but with the endless rain of the last few days they bare a strange resemblance! Although certainly not navigable, I couldn’t resist comparing them to these falls and screening this great kayaking video to brighten up a very dull day… Thanks avavidaloca

My daughter was asked 3 questions in class the other day in the interests of global warming:

• Would you and your family be prepared to return to the one car one family system of yesteryear?
• Would you be prepared to return to one telephone per household?
• Would you be prepared to give up air travel?

Think about it and then ask yourselves those questions? It’s not long ago that the correct answer (yes, yes and yes!) was just ordinary life and nothing unusual…

As you know, since we’ve written about it before, HRH Prince Charles has been closely associated with this subject for years and has been increasingly concerned about the lack lustre performance of our global leaders. There is no point in me spouting on, read for yourself the transcript of his speech to our leaders in Copenhagen:

Send to a friend

On Tuesday HRH The Prince of Wales appealed to delegates at the UN climate summit to set aside national differences and agree to a global warming accord before it is too late. Delivering the keynote address as the conference in Copenhagen formally entered its final phase, HRH told ministers and world leaders that:

“The eyes of the world are upon you and it is no understatement to say that, with your signatures, you can write our future.”

HRH used the speech to outline how critical tropical forests are to a successful climate deal and how a deal on forests could provide a valuable example of how climate change issues could be resolved:

“The simple truth is that without a solution to tropical deforestation, there is no solution to climate change. That is why I established a Rainforests Project to try to promote a consensus on how tropical deforestation might be significantly reduced.”

“It seems the quickest and most cost-effective way to buy time in the battle against catastrophic climate change is to find a way to make the trees worth more alive than dead.”

HRH placed the battle to save the forests within the context of a world ecosystem struggling to cope with the ever increasing pressures exerted by the global economy. He stressed the need to deal systemically with the problem of deforestation and address its fundamental economic drivers:

“It is critical to find ways to prevent forests being converted to agriculture. I have been heartened by my conversations with some of the world’s largest agri-businesses which have told me that, through more effective use of vast areas of degraded land, we could feed and fuel a growing population and keep the forests. But, Ladies and Gentlemen, it must be genuinely sustainable agriculture that helps to sequester carbon, protect biodiversity and empower local communities and small farmers.”

Describing deforestation as just one manifestation of a broader malaise HRH stated that:

“We appear intent upon consuming the planet. It seems likely, on current patterns of use, that our global fisheries will collapse by 2050 and, already, fresh water is becoming scarcer, placing global food security at ever greater hazard.”

“In the last 50 years we have degraded 30 per cent of global topsoil and destroyed 30 per cent of the world’s rainforests. All of these issues are linked to each other and to climate change – a truly vicious circle. However, it is these links, together with our common humanity and the unprecedented connections of today’s global community, which might, perhaps, provide us with a solution.”

On corporate involvement, he said:

“The need fully to engage the private sector reflects not only the growing determination of business to act in a sustainable way but, crucially, its determination to listen to customers. And what customers are saying ever more loudly is that they want their investment choices to make a positive difference to climate change.”

“The future of mankind can be assured only if we rediscover ways in which to live as a part of nature, not apart from her,” he said.

“The grim reality is that our planet has reached a point of crisis and we have only seven years before we lose the levers of control.”

He added: “Reducing poverty, increasing food production, combating terrorism and sustaining economic development are all vital priorities, but it is increasingly clear how rapid climate change will make them even more difficult to address.

“When it comes to the air we breathe and the water we drink, there are no national boundaries. We all depend on each other – and, crucially, on each other’s actions – for our weather, our food, our water and our energy.

“These are the ‘tectonic plates’ on which the peace and stability of the international community rest. The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that a partial solution to climate change is no solution at all.

“It must be inclusive and it must be a comprehensive approach – one that strengthens the resilience of our ecosystems.”

In his closing statement, HRH left the assembled ministers and leaders with a poignant call to action:

“As our planet’s life-support system begins to fail and our very survival as a species is brought into question, remember that our children and grandchildren will ask not what our generation said, but what it did. Let us give an answer, then, of which we can be proud.”

Read a full transcript of the speech here: http://www.rainforestsos.org/copenhagen or watch a video of the speech here: http://www.rainforestsos.org/speechvideo

You know how every now and then, here at our extreme sports site, we have an article on extreme weather, extreme environmental concerns, global warming, state of the seas… I could go on forever. However, I don’t think we could ever say it as well as this extroadinary young girl (leeks5229). Watch and take note…

And I hope it gives pause for thought…