It is not fear-mongering to appreciate the existential impact of climate change | Opinion
The Inquirier, Philly.com, 1/5/2017
Professor Anthony Broccoli of Rutgers Universitytakes it to the basics. "The maximum amount of water vapor that can be present increases with increasing temperatures. That's just a consequence of the laws of physics," Broccoli said.
Entrepreneurship Ag Day broadens students' plans
Morning Ag Clips, American Farm Publications, 12/24/2017
A number of graduate and undergraduate students gathered at Foran Hall here on the Cook campus of Rutgers University recently to discuss results of agriculture-related research projects they've undertaken. Called Entrepreneurship Ag Day, the program is coordinated byDr. Albert Ayeni, who has his mind and hands in specialty and exotic peppers and a number of other vegetable research projects atRutgers' School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. "I think everyone knows that one of the critical problems facing humanity is food," Dr. Ayeni told a small crowd assembled in a lecture room at Foran Hall.
Robbinsville officials hope new hydroponic farm becomes community hub
Morning Ag Clips, Community News, 12/26/2017
Nestled at the municipal complex just yards away from the Little Red Schoolhouse - an icon of Robbinsville's past - rests a repurposed shipping container officials say is a symbol of the township's future.... But township officials view the shipping container as much more than a food producer. So high are hopes that the township has hiredKyle Clement, a recent Rutgers University plant science graduateand past state president of the New Jersey FFA Organization, to serve as hydroponic farm coordinator. Clement started in the recreation department part-time in October, and moves to full-time in January. He estimated he initially will spend as much as 30 hours a week getting the farm up and running. "This is going to be so much more than lettuce," Clement said. "I see the opportunities that can come out of this."
When Picking Apples on a Farm With 5,000 Rules, Watch Out for the Ladders
The New York Times, 12/27/2017
This fall, amid the rush of commerce - the apple harvest season accounts for about half of Indian Ladder's annual revenue - federal investigators showed up. They wanted to check the farm's compliance with migrant labor rules and the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets pay and other requirements for workers. Suddenly, the small office staff turned its focus away from making money to placating a government regulator...Bill Hlubik, the director of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension office in Middlesex CountyNew Jersey, puts on programs for farmers and meets with them to talk over challenges. "Regulatory issues seem to get more complex as time goes on," he said.
AF36 battles aflatoxin with 'good guys vs. bad guys'
Western Farm Press, 12/28/2017
Biological pesticide has helped growers reduce aflatoxin levels in western cotton, corn, pistachios, figs - plus almonds starting in 2018...Dr. Michael Braverman and the staff of the IR4 project at Rutgers Universityhave provided important support for the registration of AF36 products, and have "continually championed the technology from the earliest stages of development," noted Liesner and Antilla.
Icy Rivers, Hitting Zero, and Other Deep Freeze Rarities for Philly and the Jersey Shore
NBC, 1/2/2018
From co-workers to family members to coffee shop minglers, you've heard this phrase a bunch the last week: "Oh my gosh, it's cold!" No one is disputing it. But how cold does this freezing weather rank against past Arctic blasts?.. You have to go back almost 24 years to get a thermometer reading of zero or below in Philadelphia. By contrast, at the Jersey Shore, the temperature hit zero less than a year ago. Why the big time difference? There is something called the "urban heat island effect," Gaines said. That keeps it a bit warmer and windier. (Wind, actually, doesn't help contribute to lower temperatures. Instead, the ideal condition for especially cold ground temperatures, called a surface inversion, is a calm, clear, long night with snow already on the ground, according toDave Robinson, New Jersey state climatologist and professor at Rutgers University.)
The East Coast Is About to Get Hit by a "Bomb Cyclone"
Mother Jones, 1/2/2018
On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that a "bomb cyclone" is expected to batter the East Coast later this week. A weather system only earns that name by dropping in pressure rapidly - at least 24 millibars over 24 hours - in a process called bombogenesis... In late 2016, Mother Jones reported that climate change may be contributing to such weather events. The theory - advanced byRutgers professor Jennifer Francisand other scientists - is that the rapidly warming Arctic is affecting the jet stream in ways that can contribute to bone-chilling weather in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere
Record-breaking cold spell in Jersey? We're not there yet
NJ101.5, 1/2/2018
It might seem as though this frigid run of weather in New Jersey has been around for a record-breaking spell. But believe it or not, the state's official weather records keeper says we are not even close yet.State Climatologist Dave Robinson, of Rutgers University, says it's been seven days and counting of sub-freezing temps in Jersey, and that is a cold spell that we have not seen for a while. "Impressive? Absolutely. The coldest or longest on record? No." If this frigid run stays through Sunday, it will be about 12 days long - not a new record for the state, "but we are getting up into Top 10 territory at that point."
Despite this week's chattering cold, North Jersey winters are warming
NorthJersey.com, 1/3/2018
While New Jersey and the eastern United States are experiencing below normal temperatures, the rest of the northern hemisphere is basking in above normal temperatures. "Europe is cooking right now, and Russia - they must wonder if it's January," saidDavid Robinson, New Jersey's state climatologist and a Rutgers University professor. "Tibet, southern China, Iraq, Iran, as well as Alaska and down the Rockies to Mexico is all above normal." It was as cold in parts of Florida on Wednesday as it was in Alaska. We just happen to be the one part of the hemisphere stuck in a cold spell. "Even in a world of warming, there's still going to be winter," Robinson said. "What's affecting people more now is not how low the temperatures are, but the duration of the cold snap."
Blizzard, winter-storm warnings as 'bomb cyclone' heads up East Coast
Philly.com, 1/3/2018
Millions of East Coast residents will be learning anew Thursday that they live in a special place, at least from a meteorological standpoint. The East's dangerous neighbor - the Gulf Stream - will conspire with frigid winds from the frozen parts of the planet to set off a wintry "bomb cyclone" off the Mid-Atlantic coast, meteorologists said Wednesday with high confidence. Fueling the storm would be Gulf Stream waters - sea-surface temperatures in some areas off Carolina coast were near 70, according to theRutgers University Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory- and frigid air migrating off the continent. The result would be a meteorological "bomb cyclone," a process called "bombogenesis," a term that has become this winter's "Polar Vortex" for media celebrity.
Frigid Weather Forecast for the Weekend, But No Record-breaker in Sight
Tap Into, 1/3/2018
It's tempting to think that the days-long cold spell in New Jersey could be a record-breaker for the frozen Hub City. But the weather still has a ways to go before topping the teeth-chattering charts. Over the years, New Brunswick has braved much worse and for many days longer. "We've been below freezing since December 27, that's seven days," saidDavid Robinson, a state climatologist at Rutgers University. "It looks like it'll be short-lived and come Monday, all the forecast temperatures show above freezing." A seven-day streak is not uncommon, according to Robinson; the last one was in February 2007. But nearly a two-week streak would be rare in New Brunswick.
How a pile of clouds turned into a 'bomb cyclone' in 24 hours
The Star Ledger, 1/4/2018
"Cyclone bombs" aren't all that rare - between 40 and 60 generally occur on the planet each year. This storm was special because of how intense it got in such a short period of time. In fact, it may have intensified at a faster rate than any storm in history in this part of the Atlantic Ocean. "It's certainly going to be one of the more rapidly intensifying storms on record on the Atlantic Coast," saidDavid Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University."This is about as intense as these types of storms can get."
NASA map reveals a continent of two extremes -- temperature extremes
UPI, 1/4/2018
As evidenced by newly compiled NASA satellite data, North America is a continent divided -- a continent divided by temperature extremes... Some climate models suggest warming in the Arctic and the resulting loss of sea ice will increase the prevalence of jet stream patterns like the one currently impacting North America. "This particular year, we lost a lot of sea ice in the Pacific side of the Arctic Ocean,"Jennifer Francis, research professor in the department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University, told IndyStar. "That, combined with the sea-surface temperature patterns in the Pacific, we think, is favoring what we call a ridge."
Ever think about where your Spanish rice comes from? A good bet it's from Jersey.
PRI, 1/4/2018
If you're a foreign food company looking to launch a product in in the US, New Jersey is trying to make a selling point: the nation's only certified "soft landing" food incubator, theRutgers Food Innovation Center (FIC) in the city of Bridgeton in southern New Jersey. The FIC will basically hold your hand to get your product launched, helping with everything from food safety regulations to marketing to finding out what an American consumer might like.FIC Executive Director Lou Cooperhousesays many of his international customers think the biggest challenge selling in the US will be regulatory. It's not. "Their biggest challenge is actually marketing. It's such a competitive landscape in America," says Cooperhouse. "It is so different than the European market, so it's really important that they differentiate themselves. Just because a product sells well in Europe, it's easy to get lost in America."
The People Selling Prepper Supplies Really Love Trump's Tweets
Buzzfeed, 1/4/2018
President Donald Trump's promise to boost the US economy is working out great for at least one industry - the nuclear catastrophe business... Nuclear war with North Korea has the potential to kill tens of millions of people, and throw enough dust in the air to drop global temperatures for a decade while lowering rain and snowfall globally by about 10%, atmospheric scientistAlan Robock of Rutgerstold BuzzFeed News, similar to an analysis of a war between Pakistan and India he coauthored in 2009. If people are scared about nuclear war and buying emergency supplies out of fear, he said, that might not be a bad thing.
Why climate change may be to blame for dangerous cold blanketing eastern U.S.
NBC News, 1/5/2018
Biting Arctic air - bringing wind chills as low as 30 below - will make the outdoors miserable for more than 130 million Americans in the Northeast, as well as parts of the Southeast and Great Plains this weekend, forecasters warn. But before folks file this cold snap away under "typical winter weather," scientists say the potentially record-breaking temperatures in store for Friday night through Sunday are being fed, at least in part, by a warming climate. "Very recent research does suggest that persistent winter cold spells (as well as the western drought, heatwaves, prolonged storminess) are related to rapid Arctic warming, which is, in turn, caused mainly by human-caused climate change,"Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Rutgers Universityand one of the study's authors, said in an email.
The Energy 202: Oil and gas companies get a New Year's Day gift
The Washington Post, 1/5/2018
How climate change could counterintuitively feed winter storms: The Post's Chris Mooney details some of the critical points to note when answering questions about how climate change impacts the extreme cold: What drives such extreme weather? "There are a lot of ideas, one of which involves changes to the high altitude jet stream, which plays a powerful role in driving northern hemisphere weather," he writes. Rutgers University scientistJennifer Francisand her colleagues argue the meandering of the jet stream is due to the loss of Arctic sea ice, though other climate scientists are uncertain of the connection.
Rutgers to present workshop on 'Farming Roselle'
Morning Ag Clips, 1/8/2018
Rutgers Cooperative Extensioncontinues its Ultra-Niche Crop Series with the upcoming workshop "Farming Roselle." This workshop, the ninth class in the Ultra-Niche educational series for farmers seeking new crop opportunities, will be held on Jan. 23 from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at the Rutgers Eco Complex in Bordentown, N.J.
Butterflies, Booze, but not Bacteria -- What NJ's Last-Minute Laws Cover
NJSpotlight, 1/9/2018
In the final hours of this legislative session, lawmakers aided monarch butterflies as well as early-morning drinkers at the airport, but they couldn't deliver for an important bacterium... S3190, a bill that designates Streptomyces griseus as New Jersey's state microbe, didn't make it through the Assembly last night but it deserves special mention. Though an official state microbe may seem like a microscopic concern, this one actually had a major role in making New Jersey the pharmaceutical hotspot it is today. Found in New Jersey soil, Streptomyces griseus is a bacterium that makes streptomycin, a pioneer antibiotic discovered atRutgers University by Selman Waksmanin 1944.
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