#VeggieDag Thursday: Quick Links for July 2014.

VeggieDag Thursday is an occasional Thursday post
on issues of an animal-free diet, ecology, and the environment.

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Quick links for July 2014

• 30 July 2014:
  Sixteen-foot waves measured in Arctic Ocean where there was once only ice.
  —Via National Geographic.


• 30 July 2014:
  A new satellite study finds more than 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin, since late 2004, has come from underground resources. The extent of groundwater loss may pose a greater threat to the water supply of the western United States than previously thought.
  —Via American Geophysical Union.


• 24 July 2014:
  First it was the “spoke of the tropospheric Circumpolar Vortex.” Now, it's the “Rex Block.” Meteorologists get creative, in describing short blasts of cooler summer weather in the U.S. east & midwest.
  —Via Capital Weather Gang.

... Compare that to this ...


• 21 July 2014:
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that, as ocean temperatures have increased, the Earth has had its hottest May and June on record. The year 2014 is, so far, the 3rd warmest year ever recorded.
  —Via Capital Weather Gang.






• 23 July 2014:
  The Journal of Experimental Botany reports that rising temperatures and increased exposure to daily ultraviolet light, possibly brought on by climate change, may be behind chemical changes in the bark of cork oaks. Cork producers need bark that's at least 27 millimeters (1 inch) thick to make a good cork, but, since twenty years ago, most cork trees are producing bark between 3 mm and 10 mm (0.1 inches and 0.4 inches), a problem for wineries (and breweries).
  —Via Mashable.


• 15 July 2014:
  Rising global temperatures are changing where wine-vineyards can be planted (such as, now in British Columbia, Canada).
  —Via Vice News.


• 14 July 2014:
  Brazil's recent fight against deforestation in the Amazon has been a success, deforestation falling 70% since 2005. That drop, however, has been more than offset by increasing forest loss in Malaysia, Paraguay, Bolivia, Zambia, Angola, and especially Indonesia.
  —Via Vox.


• 3 July 2014:
  Wind and other renewable energy sources generated nearly 20% of Britain's electricity during the first quarter of 2014.
  —Via The Guardian.


• 1 July 2014:
  The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization issued a report in 2006 on the carbon footprint caused by livestock production: 18 percent of greenhouses gases could be attributed to raising animals for food. The World Bank followed with an even starker report. Producing meat requires huge quantities of feed, pesticides and water. Also, cattle and other animals release methane gas and waste. However, Americans are increasing their meat consumption, eating 57 pounds more meat on average than in the 1950s.
  —Via Washington Post.


• 30 June 2014:
  The average meat-eater in the U.S. is responsible for almost twice as much global warming as the average vegetarian, and close to three times that of the average vegan, according to a study carried out at Oxford University, published this month in the journal Climatic Change.
  —Via Diane Rehm Show (WAMU).




A ship passes the windfarm just off the beach at Crosby, Merseyside.
Photo courtesy: Peter Byrne/PA

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RECIPES

• List of cooking times for various vegetables.
  —Via How Stuff Works.
• Roasting corn in the oven: leave it IN the husk. Cook 20-30 minutes 350 °F.
  —Via Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
• Making dill pickles
  —Via Alton Brown (Food Network).



Black Bean Bánh mì at Of Love and Regret, Baltimore, Maryland.


• Vegetarian Bánh mì gingery-tofu sliders.
  —Via Joe Yonan, Food Editor of Washington Post (as adapted from “The Banh Mi Handbook” by Andrea Nguyen).
• Vegan 'Creamy' Cold Cucumber Soup with Tomato Salsa.
  —Via Joe Yonan (Food Editor of Washington Post).
• How to make rice milk.
  —Video, via Happy Herbivore (Lindsay Nixon).




Photo courtesy Taste Trekkers.


• Taste Trekkers blog picks the five best crab cakes in the greater Baltimore, Maryland, area. One, is ersatz, vegetarian: not from crab, but hearts of palm, served at Great Sage Restaurant, in Clarksville, Maryland.
  —Via Taste Trekkers.

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• Why the name VeggieDag Thursday? Here.
• Read all the posts: here. Follow on Twitter with hashtag: #VeggieDag.
• Suggestions and submissions from chefs, writers, and home-cooks welcomed! Contact me here.