Free Republic

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is warning of potential damage to crops and the high food prices that could follow after the New York metropolitan area saw record high temperatures this past weekend. “It hit ~70° in NY,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday night. “In January. This weather at this time of year can be very risky for local farmers & families they serve.” “If certain crops germinate/flower prematurely & a freeze follows, crops could fail or drop in yield. When food supply drops, prices rise,” she continued, while adding the hashtag #ClimateCrisis. Her post came in response to another tweet sent...

In 100 days exactly, we will strike again. On April 22, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, young people and adults across the United States will once again take to the streets to demand climate action. Earth Day will launch three consecutive days of massive strikes, fulfilling our promise to take the climate strike movement beyond what we achieved on September 20. Inaction is not an option. This has been the hottest decade on record and last year was the second hottest ever. Since the bushfire season began in November, fires in Australia have killed 25 people, wiped out over...

. By October, 150 of Arp’s hives had been wiped out by mites, 12% of his inventory in just a few months. “My yard is currently filled with stacks of empty bee boxes that used to contain healthy hives,” he says. On top of the threat of pesticides, almond pollination is uniquely demanding for bees because colonies are aroused from winter dormancy about one to two months earlier than is natural. The sheer quantity of hives required far exceeds that of other crops – apples, America’s second-largest pollination crop, use only one-tenth the number of bees. And the bees are...

The insect was detected in Guanajuato, Mexico, where it was found to parasitise the eggs of an invasive stink bug.When people think of Idris Elba they think of Luther, The Wire, or even his DJ sets – what does not spring to mind is a wasp. But scientists have named a newly discovered wasp species after the British actor and musician. The insect was detected in Guanajuato, Mexico, where it was found to parasitise the eggs of an invasive stink bug, the bagrada bug, which is a major pest of cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage and broccoli. The genus Idris...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

Some plants emit a high frequency distress sound when they are placed under environmental stress, a team of researchers at Tel Aviv University in Israel has found. The team, led by Itzhak Khait, examined the sounds emitted by tomato and tobacco plants when stressed by insufficient water or when their stems are cut. Microphones recorded ultrasonic sounds between 20 and 100 kilohertz emitted by the plants in both cases, the study found. The sounds emitted by the stressed plants are at frequencies unable to be heard by humans, however the team of scientists believes “some organisms” can hear the sounds...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

Writing in the Journal of Ethnobiology, Natalie Muellert, assistant professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences, describes how she painstakingly grew and calculated yield estimates for two annual plants that were cultivated in eastern North America for thousands of years—and then abandoned. Growing goosefoot (Chenopodium, sp.) and erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum) together is more productive than growing either one alone, Mueller discovered. Planted in tandem, along with the other known lost crops, they could have fed thousands. Archaeologists found the first evidence of the lost crops in rock shelters in Kentucky and Arkansas in the 1930s. Seed caches and dried...

They’ve glued themselves to trains, blockaded major bridges, and chained themselves to government buildings. They’ve launched street protests that brought parts of London and New York and Sydney to a standstill. And they’ve purposely gotten arrested - thousands of them - all in the name of saving our climate. Extinction Rebellion, or XR for short, is the movement behind some of the boldest climate protests of the year. It burst onto the scene in the UK in 2018, demanding that the British government achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Greta Thunberg rallied behind it, and soon, thousands of activists...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the...

It’s like Michael Jordan retiring from the NBA. It’s like Donald Trump quitting Twitter. It’s like Lindsay Lohan forsaking drama. Willie Nelson has quit weed. The country icon — whose smoking habit was rivaled only by Snoop Dogg‘s — told KSAT TV, “I have abused my lungs quite a bit in the past, so breathing is a little more difficult these days and I have to be careful.”

Below are some NOAA long-range forecasts, and which typically predict mostly warmer to much warmer than average weather (to the almost complete exclusion of colder than average). How do you think they did and will do? " Below is the 3-month forecast for Nov. thru Jan. made Oct. 17. Joe Bastardi reported that November was the 2nd coldest since 2001 for the US. These "records" go back just 140 years (1880). ." Next is the NOAA forecast for Dec. 10-16 that was made Dec. 2: " Below was the NOAA 3 month (Dec. Jan. Feb.) prediction made Oct. 17, which...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the...

Learn what USDA Plant Hardiness Zones are and find out what yours is. Watch the video...

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the...

If you're planning a beach vacation, you'd better get to it soon. An alarming statistic for you: 67% of Southern California beaches? GONE by 2100. All because of sand. Even if you don't think about the grainy stuff, you use it daily. You're reading this off something made with sand, looking at it through a screen made with sand, surrounded by buildings made with concrete. I could let you guess what's in concrete, but I suspect you're already catching onto a theme here. The following is a transcript of the video. I'll try to make this quick since we don't...

A warmer than usual winter is forecast for much of the southern and western United States, but the northern and eastern U.S. will be shivering, according to an updated winter outlook released Thursday by The Weather Company, an IBM Business.Additionally, NOAA's winter outlook indicates that parts of the flood-weary Northern Plains and Midwest might see a wetter than average December through February. Based on The Weather Company's outlook, temperatures are expected to be near or above average for much of the South and West, but parts of the North and East won't be so lucky. Temperatures there are projected to...