The World is Interconnected—pull one string and we unravel a Planet.

Amazon Deforestation means Food Shortage for United States.

Amazonian deforestation may lead to 50% reduction in Sierra Nevada snowpack and reduced rainfall in the Pacific NW – new modeling work out of Princeton and published in Journal of Climate this week (princeton.edu)

Via Princeton: “If a tree falls in Brazil…? Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S.”

…the total deforestation of the Amazon may significantly reduce rain and snowfall in the western United States, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires. The researchers report in the Journal of Climate that an Amazon stripped bare could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water for cities and farms in California…”It just so happens that one of the locations feeling that response will be one we care about most agriculturally,” he said. “If you change the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, where most of the irrigation for California’s Central Valley comes from, then by this study deforestation of the Amazon could have serious consequences for the food supply of the United States.”