Climate change comes to your neighborhood

Deep in the heart of Texas, from Austin, to the Hill Country, to San Antonio and beyond to South Texas, you'll hear experts talking about drought. Sure, it's rained a few times in the last weeks, but those experts will also tell you that the amount of rain that's fallen has done nothing to assuage the crisis. Tubers in New Braunfels find themselves picking up their innertubes and fording across rocky terrain; docks at Lake Medina are out of the water. And on the road to Laredo, black scars in the landscape, some still smoking, bear witness to the fragile nature of our Earth. This period of extreme drought, say scientists, is like no other, and there's a reason for that--climate change.

Unfortunately, people in the United States are slow to draw that conclusion--but, then, the climate change denial business is flourishing here. In Europe, in China, in India and Pakistan, climate change is likewise wreaking havoc with weather patterns. Indeed, China is diverting parts of its two largest rivers to it agriculture heartland in the north to combat drought, while in Australia's Murray-Darling River System, their agriculture breadbasket, drought is dealing a serious blow to both crops and livestock. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won the Nobel prize with Al Gore, Africa may lose half its food production by 2020 due to drought and increased evaporation. And in the continent of Asia, where forty to forty-five percent of the world's population resides, the Himalayan Glaciers may be gone within forty years, causing a fifty-percent drop in food production.

Closer to home, Mexico's National Water Commission reports that the water supply system is at its lowest level -- less than fifty percent capacity after low rainfall totals last year. And we've all watched as drought-fueled fires blacken California, causing Governor Schwarzenegger to issue a call to cut every-day water usage by twenty percent........ MORE Page 2>

Iraqi refugees suffer in temps above 100

The people of the Zharawa Internally Displaced People's (IDP) tent camp in Northern Iraq, along with refugees scattered throughout that country, fear for their lives as temperatures exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Zharawa camp has no shade trees or structures and no electricity for refrigeration of food. 137 families (600 people) share 45 tents. Many of the people are elderly and children who are most susceptible to disease. The Christian Peacemaker Teams, has elected to draw attention to their plight by moving into the tent camp. With the members of the camp, they will join voices to ask the local, national and international community to help relocate them to a more liveable and humane environment.

There is no shade. Summer temperatures can reach 118' F. "We spend most our day looking for shade for our children," says one parent. There is no electricity to refrigerate food. Latrines are dangerously close to tents. The people anticipate rampant illness. They worry about how the elderly will survive. There is no employment and whatever resources people had are dwindling away. "Some families cannot buy one kilo of fruit," says one man. This situation is temporary at best and there is no sign people will be able to return to their homes any time soon.

The people of the villages along the northern Iraqi Kurdistan border have been subjected to repeated military attacks recently from Turkey and Iran. These attacks, apparently approved by Washington, violate human rights and international law the Geneva Conventions. The civilian villagers of the Pshdar district, estimated in the thousands have not been able to return to their villages. In 2008, UNHCR-Iraq and a private company Qandil, were contracted to build an IDP camp in Zharawa. The conditions at the camp are terrible.

Obama, halt the border wall

South Texas mayors, county judges, state legislators and organizations like Texans for Peace want President Barack Obama to stop construction of the Mexican border fence until a full review of border security policy is complete.

The Texas Border Coalition sent a letter dated June 9 appealing to Obama as the "last hope." The Department of Homeland Security has completed about 630 miles of a planned 670 miles of barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border. A judge in Brownsvill temporary put a hold on the border fence and suspended the government's possession of several pieces of farmland needed for the final stretch of the boundary.

Creating "green" jobs in Texas

While the "green" energy economy is still relatively small, Texas could become one of the leading players creating tens of thousands of jobs, according to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Texas, long known for its strong ties to the oil and gas industry, is also a major player in clean energy, ranking second to California in numbers of businesses (4,802) and jobs (55,646) tied to the sector. "Texas is a leader in the clean-energy economy and a strong national performer," said Kil Huh, who led the Pew study. "Texas is the sixth-largest producer of wind energy in the world. The state's clean-energy economy is poised for incredible growth."

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