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posted by martyb on Thursday August 10 2017, @04:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the higher-food-prices-coming dept.

CleanTechnica reports

The "flash drought" that came out of nowhere this summer in the US High Plains, afflicting Montana and the Dakotas the worst, has already destroyed more than half of this year's wheat crop, going by some recent field surveys. Considering that the region is now one of the top wheat-growing regions in the world, the damage is very notable.

These so-called flash droughts are expected to become considerably more common over the coming decades as the climate continues warming and weather patterns continue changing.

[...] Something that's interesting to note here is that 2011, only 6 years back, was actually one of the wettest years on record in eastern Montana. Those sorts of rapid swings between extreme precipitation and flooding on the one hand, and extreme flash droughts on the other, are only going to become more common from here on out. Eventually, most of the agriculture in the region will have to cease.

Grist calls this a Cereal Killer.


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:02PM (5 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:02PM (#551833) Journal

    Pessimists are usually correct because optimists are full of . . . um . . . something.

    Pessimists should be called Realists.

    I can find a local Optimists Club in my community. But no Pessimists Club?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:22PM (1 child)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:22PM (#551848) Journal

    A pessimist is never disappointed...

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Friday August 11 2017, @03:16PM

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday August 11 2017, @03:16PM (#552341) Homepage Journal

      The optimist is often disappointed. The pessimist is often happily surprised.

      "Is the glass half empty of half full" the wrong question. The correct question is, is half a glass sufficient?

      --
      mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:30PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @08:30PM (#551853)

    https://www.ieee.org/ [ieee.org]

    Engineers are always trying to anticipate what could go wrong.
    They build significant margins into designs to attempt to cover for that.

    The best engineers are the biggest pessimists.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by MostCynical on Thursday August 10 2017, @10:14PM

      by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday August 10 2017, @10:14PM (#551909) Journal

      Darn.. If I'd done engineering at Uni, I could have an excuse for my realism.. "No, I'm not a pessimist, I'm an engineer with large margins of error"

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 1) by Farmer Tim on Thursday August 10 2017, @09:51PM

    by Farmer Tim (6490) on Thursday August 10 2017, @09:51PM (#551896)
    There's no pessimist's club because a pessimist would assume the worst, which is nobody would join or actually turn up if they did. OTOH, the optimist's club is probably one guy with a cheesy grin and a lot of empty chairs.

    The realist is the one who goes out and asks whether anyone is interested before starting the club rather than making a decision based on their assumptions. Since there isn't a realist's club either it would be easy to assume that realism is the same as pessimism, however that ignores the overwhelming evidence that very few people are interested in reality.
    --
    Came for the news, stayed for the soap opera.