Global warming is having a seemingly peculiar effect on winter weather in the northern United States, detailed in a new report from the National Wildlife Federation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has announced the release of new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover across most of the nation for the 2009 crop year. The images, referred to as cropland data layers (CDL), are a useful tool for monitoring crop rotation patterns, land use changes, water resources and carbon emissions.

These crop-specific, digital data layers are suitable for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications. They can be used by agribusinesses, farmers, government agencies, researchers and academic institutions to study pesticide risk, epidemiology, transportation, fertilizer usage, carbon dioxide flux and other topics.

NASS produced the CDLs using satellite images observed at 56-meter (0.775 acres per pixel) resolution and collected from the Resourcesat-1 Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), Landsat Thematic Mapper and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The collection of images was then categorized using on-the-ground farm information including field location, crop type, land cover, elevation, tree canopy and urban infrastructure.

For the first time, the CDL images are available for 47 of the 48 contiguous states. Data for the final state, Florida, will be available this spring pending the availability of certified farm data required to produce the images. NASS is also making available, for the first time, the New Mexico CDL for 2008.

The entire inventory of CDL products, including metadata and accuracy assessments, is available online at the USDA National Resource Conservation Service’s Geospatial Data Gateway:

http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov and at this NASS website: http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/Cropland/SARS1a.htm .

Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008, according to a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities.

The survey found: Only 50 percent of Americans now say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about global warming, a 13-point decrease.

The percentage of Americans who think global warming is happening has declined 14 points, to 57 percent.

The percentage of Americans who think global warming is caused mostly by human activities dropped 10 points, to 47 percent.

In line with these shifting beliefs, there has been an increase in the number of Americans who think global warming will never harm people or other species in the United States or elsewhere.

“Despite growing scientific evidence that global warming will have serious impacts worldwide, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change. “Over the past year the United States has experienced rising unemployment, public frustration with Washington and a divisive health care debate, largely pushing climate change out of the news. Meanwhile, a set of emails stolen from climate scientists and used by critics to allege scientific misconduct may have contributed to an erosion of public trust in climate science.”

The survey also found lower public trust in a variety of institutions and leaders, including scientists. For example, Americans’ trust in the mainstream news media as a reliable source of information about global warming declined by 11 percentage points, television weather reporters by 10 points and scientists by 8 points. They also distrust leaders on both sides of the political fence. Sixty-five percent distrust Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin as sources of information, while 53 percent distrust former Democratic Vice President Al Gore and 49 percent distrust President Barack Obama.

Finally, Americans who believe that most scientists think global warming is happening decreased 13 points, to 34 percent, while 40 percent of the public now believes there is a lot of disagreement among scientists over whether global warming is happening or not.

“The scientific evidence is clear that climate change is real, human-caused and a serious threat to communities across America,” said Edward Maibach, director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University. “The erosion in both public concern and public trust about global warming should be a clarion call for people and organizations trying to educate the public about this important issue.”

The results come from a nationally representative survey of 1,001 American adults, age 18 and older. The sample was weighted to correspond with U.S. Census Bureau parameters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percent, with 95 percent confidence. The survey was designed by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities and conducted from December 23, 2009, to January 3, 2010, by Knowledge Networks, using an online research panel of American adults.

While recent political events has created uncertainty about where health care reform will go in Congress, John Crabtree of the Central for Rural Affairs said allowing current health insurance and cost-shifting trends to continue, unchecked by reform, will severely impact people across America, rural Americans in particular.

He said research by the Center for Rural Affairs, that will be released soon found that by 2019 approximately one in four rural Americans will be uninsured.

Soon to be released Center for Rural Affairs research reveals that by 2019 approximately one in four rural Americans will be uninsured. He said that in rural communities with fewer than 2,500 residents, absent reform, the uninsured will number nearly one in three.

“Shifting costs from the uninsured to those with insurance will more than double, costing the average household, conservatively, $1,206 annually,” Crabtree said.

And the average rural household will absorb nearly $4,700 of their own health care costs annually as well, compared to $2,785 currently, according to the Center for Rural Affairs research.

“America needs health care reform, rural America’s family farmers, ranchers, mainstreet businesses and rural communities need it more than most,” Crabtree said.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said Wednesday that Nebraskans with health insurance face unsustainable increases in their premiums, while 220,000 Nebraskans have no health insurance at all.  He said he still support health reform that addresses those problems.

With uncertainty about how to move forward on health care reform, Nelson want President Obama to “clarify where he stands on the path ahead.”

 “I’ve been asked about whether I’d support using the process known as reconciliation now,” Nelson said. “So, I want to make it clear:  If I support a bill, then I will vote for it regardless of whether it takes 50 votes to pass or 60 votes to pass. My position doesn’t change just because the House or Senate decides to change the process.”

 He said if the bill provides coverage for the 220,000 Nebraskans who don’t have insurance, help for all other Nebraskans who are paying too much for health care, and “doesn’t lead to government-run health care and ensures that public funds aren’t used for abortion, then I’ll at least take a look at it.”

 “I’ve also seen some mention of previous legislation I supported that moved through reconciliation, such as the major tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, and some other bills.” Nelson said. “I’d like to make it absolutely clear: I supported bills brought forward under reconciliation simply because the underlying bills met my standard for good legislation. I opposed a bill because it didn’t meet my standard of good legislation. Whether it required 50 votes or 60 votes, the process used didn’t change the substance.”

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., opposes forcing health care legislation through reconciliation.

Last year, Jonanns said he and Sen. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.V., led a bipartisan letter from 31 other Senators, including eight Democrats, opposing the use of budget reconciliation because “it would have prevented an open, public discussion of the far reaching effects of cap and trade.”

“Health care legislation is no different; impacting 1/6th of our economy, it should not be rammed through, Johanns said. “As I’ve said from the beginning, we must have an open debate and not rush this legislation. Several Senators from both sides of the aisle have spoken out against using reconciliation, and I urge the Administration and Democrats in the Senate to take leadership and do the same thing.”