Global Climatic Change

GLOBAL WARMING AND FUTURE INDIA

2009-12-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

Now India has an extremely faster growth in coal, gas and oil in large quantities. But at the same time we are the fourth largest producer of greenhouse gas emission all over the world. India experiences the greatest increase in energy and greenhouse gas emissions in the world and will soon become the third largest emitter of greenhouse within 2015 as per IPCC report. India imports major quantities of fossil fuels and burning of fossil fuels. Nearly 70% of our electricity comes from coal. India’s emissions are set to increase dramatically due to Major global population and changing consumption patterns. Impacts are already being seen in abnormal heat waves, cyclones, floods, and effects on agriculture, fisheries and health.

The future impacts of India due to Global warming are enormous. Some of them are:

Leads to water sacristy which will affect the cropping patterns will severely affects the livelihoods and decrease agricultural productivity.
Seawater is becoming more acidic. Carbon di-oxide dissolve into the oceans is making seawater more acidic. There could be impacts on coral reefs and other marine life.
Rising sea levels causing displacement along one of the most densely populated coastlines in the world, threatened freshwater sources and mangrove ecosystems
Carbon dioxide dissolves into the oceans, is making seawater more acidic. There could be impacts on coral reefs and other marine life.
Reduction in the production of wheat by 4-5 million tones, with even a 1ºC rise in temperature.
Decreased snow cover, affecting snow-fed and glacial systems such as the Ganges and Bramhaputra. 70% of the summer flow of the Ganges comes from melt water
Whimsical monsoon with serious effects on rain-fed agriculture, peninsular rivers, water and power supply
Hurricanes will change in its frequency and strength.
Because of the rapid increase of intensity of floods, exposure of people in coastal areas, arid and semi-arid zones of the country will greatly suffer.
Over 50% of India’s forests are likely to experience shift in forest types, adversely impacting associated biodiversity, regional climate dynamics as well as livelihoods based on forest products.

GLOBAL WARMING AND ENERGY RESOURCES ARE INTERLINKED

2009-12-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

If a country has more population and industries, their need for energy resources will rapidly increase. They want fuel to run their production, electricity for their equipment, natural gas and oil to heat their homes. The use of other petroleum-based fuels such as gasoline will increases according to the usage of vehicles increases. All these forms of energy confide heavily on production and refining methods which produce emissions that can further increase the planets greenhouse effect.

When the energy needs of the planets increases, most of these greenhouse gases produced and increases the average temperature of our planet. This is the main force behind global warming, which tends to be a very disruptive topic among people. Major scientific opinion is that the increase of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is a direct result to the planets growing need for energy and this will be a real result of this change. This is one reason why there has been a renewed interest in alternative energy solutions for our electricity and other fuels that could help reduce our need for traditional fossil fuels.

The benefits to developing alternative energy solutions for our homes are many and all of them can help reduce both the financial and environmental cost and also lower the impact our current solutions have on global warming. The advantage to using both solar and wind systems to generate electricity is that they rely on a power source that is renewable and available all over the world. This power source is also free and will produce no adverse affects. This helps to reduce the adverse affects that traditional power conversion technology has on climate change. It also provides a less expensive source for this much-needed power and reduces our dependency on these shrinking and expensive fossil fuels.

Realizing that use of energy resources and climate change are directly related is the first step in solving the problem. Reducing our current dependence on traditional fossil fuels to power our homes and cars by find alternative energies can have a dramatic and positive impact on global warming. These alternative energy solutions are available and both solar power and wind power can help you do your part and also help you spend less for the power you need for your home.

ELEGANT FACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

2009-12-23T03:18:00.000-08:00

There are number of surprising as well as interesting global warming facts that many people do not aware. Many global warming interesting facts can be found concerning the environment, wildlife, and marine life. Coral reefs can be used as a global warming Indicator. Coral reefs are grown under the ocean, used to determine the effects Global warming. These underwater reefs are extremely sensitive. Even a temperature change of one or two degrees in the water can cause the coral reefs to extinct. This will greatly helps to alert the scientists, the areas which are increasing in temperature.

American Glaciers are at risk due to these global warming. One of the global warming interesting facts is that in the northern hemisphere of the globe, the spring warm and fall freeze has changed in the last few decades. Rising sea levels is the biggest burden for concern. Currently more than one hundred million people live in coastal areas which will be flooded. Humans are speeding up greenhouse gas emissions and pollution and this may cause severe changes to occur much faster than they usually would. Unless steps are taken to correct the issues and protect the earth, global warming can cause many species to become dead. Due to the change in climate, over a million of species will no longer exist except may be in history books or museums.

From the past three decennium, the earth has seen to be warmer because of more people, Industrial plants and pollution leads global warming to grow bigger and speeding up.Increasing temperature in few degrees can affect the growth of crops and weather pattern. Even a change of two or three degrees may make the area unsuitable for some crops and food production. Less rain may also have an effect on the global food supply and food prices.

Global Warming effects can not immediately be stopped. Even if all pollution and greenhouse gas emissions were stopped, Greenhouse gases will remain in the atmosphere for many years and they damage the ozone layer and the environment.

SAND ART IN PUDUCHERRY FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AWARENESS

2009-12-23T03:14:00.000-08:00

Puducherry, on the occasion of the Gandhi Jayanti, Odisha Sudarsan Pattnaik, a sand artist carved a sand sculpture to spread awareness about the threats of global warming. The exhibition was organized by Puducherry Tourism, Rotary Club of Pondicherry Beach Town, PondyCAN and Kalakendra of Auroville. Pattnaik created the sculpture of the image of the Mahatma Gandhi with three monkeys indicating-`Conserve water', ‘Save forest ' and `Keep your city clean' were the messages wrote on the sculpture on the three monkeys. The sculpture will be shown to the public till 4th of October.

Sudarsan Pattnaik used 100 tons of sand to create the sculpture. The sculpture also featured a smiling mother earth surrounded by greenery and co-existing in tranquility.The sand sculpture exhibition was inaugurated by the Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh in the presence of Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam and Home Minister E. Valsaraj.

BIO-MASS

2009-12-23T02:37:00.000-08:00

Biomass is a renewable energy source derived from living or recently living organisms such as wood, waste, and alcohol fuels. Biomass is commonly plant matter that grown to generate electricity. Nowadays, it has become most widely used by the people. The term 'biomass' can also be refer to a great many different kinds of fuel, including wood chippings, garden waste, corn and a number of other materials that are recently living. If fuels like oil and gas run out, alternatives such as biomass are becoming much more popular. Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can used to burnt as fuel. Especially in some countries biomass offers help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels which are causing pollution.

Human waste cannot be used as a food crops but it can be used for fuel crops. This fuel is considered to be a renewable fuel which usage can still add to global warming. This occurs by cutting down trees .When biomass is utilized as a fuel for fossil fuel replacement, it will puts the same level of carbon-di-oxide back into the atmosphere of the world.

The carbon found in biomass material, that makes up about fifty percent of this dry matter content, forms part of the atmospheric carbon cycle already. This Biomass fuel takes on CO2 from the planet's atmosphere during its lifetime of growing, after which its carbon changes back to the atmosphere as a combination of methane and carbon-di-oxide depending on the final fate of the biomass. Methane is converted to carbon-di-oxide in the atmosphere above which completes the cycle.

Biomass appears to promise an ideal alternative to the polluting use of fossil fuels. While it does contribute to global warming, it is arguably a far more preferable choice. If it can be extended to many other parts of our daily lives, then it will be a powerful weapon against the increase of global warming - helping us save our planet.

TOURISM INDUSTRY AWKWARDLY BEWILDERED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

2009-09-25T22:35:00.000-07:00

Tourism and climate change has become a spotlight topic nowadays. Global warming has an effect on tourism and the economies of many countries. Climate is an essential resource for any tourism sector especially for ‎beach, nature and winter ‎spots tourism. The phenomenon of global warming already affects the tourism ‎industry and an increasing number of destinations. With an incretion of temperature, climate may be much warmer which has very important consequences on the tourism industry. Tourism operators will also examine the impact of climate change on their industry. Climate change is a gradual, creeping process that will have long-term effects on tourism. The tourism industry needs to recognize the importance of climate change and other environmental issues for its development in future. The visitors traveling from long distances by air and cruise ships it is even more very difficult.

Tourism faces a monstrous problem due to changes in climate. The whole industry is heavily smashed up by the consequences of climate change such as higher temperatures, erratic rainfalls and increased intensities of drastic happenings such as cyclones, floods, storm and coastal humiliation. Some counties may suffer from droughts and many plants may not hold off such high temperatures and they scattered. Many countries may looks more similar to a desert. Winter spots holidays will be threatened by the melting glaciers, beach holidays will be threatened by drought and heat waves. So people are very scared of getting into the holidays trips. Since the majority of the tourism industry is located in coastal areas, the tourism sector is likely to face the burden. Tourism currently accounts for 5 percent of global emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, and the sector's contribution to global warming is expected to jump as increasing numbers of people travel, particularly by air.

The entire tourism industry will be affected because every destination is climate oriented. Before this issue people are going to find tourism as a pleasure and leisure but nowadays they are highly threatened by the climate change which is also considered to be one of the major reason for swine flu etc., in order to get rid of this issues, the tourism industry needs to act positively to broadcast itself as environmentally conscious, carbon neutral and not infuriate the problem.

Global Warming Effects on Wineries

2009-09-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

The effects of global warming have been felt for many years and businesses are slowly begins to take notice of the potential adverse impacts, a changing climate may have on their industries. Particularly, the noticeable changes in weather patterns have drastically affect the winery industry. Climate change has had a marked impacted on global weather patterns and led to growing concerns among wineries about their multi-billion dollar industry. A similar fate may befall beer brewers if the earth's climate continues to warm.

The recent articles said that, the price of beer is likely to rise in coming decades because of the global climatic change. Beer-making is a delicate business which prepared with a dataset of weather patterns, crop yield and hop quality. Hops are the flowers of the Humulus lupulus, or hop used as a flavor and stability agent in beer. The quality of hops which are required to make beer has been decreasing because of the warmer temperatures caused by the climate change greatly hurting the quality of hopes.

The change in climate will de-promote the production of a key grains needed for the formulation of alcoholic beverages and alcohol fuel through fermentation especially in Australia. A climate scientist at New Zealand's national institute of water and atmospheric research said that, climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Malting barley is one of the key ingredient of beer.

Brewers use only hops, barley, water, and yeast in their beers in order to guarantee that they are "good and healthy." This means that brewers are legally unable to substitute barley with rice or corn, which both provide the same component in the brewing process. Most brewers will only accept the highest quality of barley for their malt. The vast amounts of rain that fell just prior to harvest can result in damages to the barley These effects reduce the ability or rate of germination during malting. Most brewers will not accept the inferior barley because these damages can lead to lower malt extract, reduced processing performance, most importantly it will off the flavors. The bad weather has cut the usable yield high quality barley from 1.6 million tons to 1.2 million tons in one year.

Similar effects could be expected worldwide, climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.

It will provide a lot of challenges for the brewing industry," even forcing breweries to look at new varieties of malt barley as a direct result of climate change

G8 Nations Agree to reduce Carbon Emissions

2009-07-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

U.S. President Barack Obama said at the group of eight summit conference that the World leaders have agreed to work together greatly to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. Speaking after the major economies forum meeting at the conference in L'Aquila, Italy, Obama called climate change as one of the defining challenges of our time.

The G8 members which includes the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia and other countries agreed to a target of reducing their carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050 to try to keep the earth's atmosphere from warming by more than 2 degrees Celsius. Participants in the forum also agreed to work toward a harmony on greenhouse gas emissions. He further continues to say that, no particular nation was eminently responsible for the cause of global warming, so no nations could fight each other. Active participation by all countries is a mandatory for a better solution. Still to be developed are measurable, recordable and verifiable standards by which countries efforts to reduce their carbon effect could be reported.

Leaders also agreed to provide financial support for developing countries to help them meet their emission-reduction goals. And conference participants founded a global partnership to drive new clean-energy technologies, such as solar, smart grids and advanced vehicles. So that, we made a good start, said Obama. But progress will not be easy particularly because of the global recession. We can either shape our future or we can let events shape it for us, Obama said. Urging global cooperation, he affirm that the world is facing the choice of either shaping its own future or letting events shape it for us. We know that the problems we face are made by human beings. That means it’s within our capacity to solve them,” he said

Black Carbon incline to Global Warming

2009-07-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

It is an frightening circumstances that the black carbon is becoming a Supreme contributor to global

Warming. Carbon dioxide is the most widely cited convict when it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming. But black carbon which is otherwise known as ‘soot’ is also being seen as the second-leading cause for airborne pollution and climate change after carbon dioxide, and it’s totally preventable. Black carbon has a warming effect in the atmosphere three to four times greater than the usual estimates. Black carbon produces particulates, a serious form of pollution.

Black carbon pollution is a major player in global warming. Home cooking fires, and also burning wood and coal are the originator of black carbon emission. This problem is also created in developing countries from cooking and rudimentary heating systems like people burning coal in their homes and there is no real way to stop that without a replacement form of energy. Between 25 and 35 percent of black carbon in the global atmosphere comes from china and India, emitted from the burning of wood and cow dung in household cooking and through the use of coal to heat homes. Countries in Europe and elsewhere that rely heavily on diesel fuel for transportation also contribute large amounts.

Around 400,000 people are supposed to die each year due to inhaling soot particles, mainly because of indoor cooking on wood and dung stoves in developing countries. These deaths are mainly among women and children. Breathing black carbon causes serious respiratory illness responsible for 1.6 million deaths a year, and when it falls on ice or snow in the arctic, it causes it to melt faster. Since black carbon stays in the atmosphere only for a short while, fast action to control it will buy time for addressing the larger issue of carbon dioxide, the chief cause of global warming.

Vehicles from fossil fuel to electric, plug-in-hybrid, or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles helps to reduce black carbon emission because the electricity or hydrogen is produced by a renewable energy source such as wind, solar, hydroelectric, wave, or tidal power. Such a conversion would eliminate fossil-fuel and reduce soot and co2 emissions by 1.63 gtco2–eq. per year. That the elimination of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides would also eliminate some cooling particles, reducing the net benefit by at most, half, but improving human health. Control of black carbon, particularly from fossil-fuel sources, is very likely to be the fastest method of slowing global warming

Global Dimming affect Women severely than men ?

2009-06-03T21:46:00.000-07:00

The lives of women are particularly being affected by the growing problem of climate change. The change in climate will endanger women society more then men. Women extremely affected more worstly in the recent disaster like Hurricane, Tsunami then men. Women are severely influence by climate change and natural disasters because of their social roles and their prejudice and poverty. Many destructive activities against our environment extravagantly affect women, because most women in the world especially in the developing countries are very dependent on primary natural resources like land, forests, waters etc., Women are immediately affected by the global warming because they can’t run away suddenly from their living place. But Men are not like that they can easily travel to other areas in other countries especially to a green fields. But women are not like that they have to stay and face the consequences. So when there is deforestation, drought and crop failure in their living town, it is only women and children who are the most unfavorably affected.

The natural disasters that have occurred in recent years, both in developing and in developed countries, it is primarily the poor who have suffer all over the world. The majority of the poor are women, who at all levels earn less than men. In developing countries, women living in poverty bear a disproportionate burden of climate change consequences. Because of the minimal status of women and dependence on local natural resources, their domestic burdens are increased, including additional work to fetch water, or to collect fuel and fodder.

In some areas, climate change generates resource shortages and deceitful job markets, which lead to increased male out migration and more women left behind with additional agricultural and households duties. Poor women's lack of access and control over natural resources, technologies and credit mean that they have fewer resources to cope with seasonal and discursive weather and natural disasters. Consequently traditional roles are reinforced women's ability to diversify their livelihoods and therefore their capacity to access income generating jobs is diminished. To safeguard women society from the tough time, rich countries must cut their own pollution and greenhouse gas emission in order to prevent global dimming. To make matters worse, they are also underrepresented in decision-making about climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, most critically, discussions and decisions about adaptation and mitigation.

Earth Day-Keep everything green and clean!

2009-06-03T21:45:00.000-07:00

Earth is one of the planets in our solar system. It is third in distance from the sun and the fifth largest in diameter. Earth moves around the sun in a circular type path. It is the only a planet known to support life, although some of the other planets have atmospheres and contain water. Nowadays earth is in dangererous zone because, so many people using natural resources unlimitedly. We could use up our natural resources in a very short time. Not only do all living things depend on our natural resources, but each living thing in the food chain depends on the other to survive. That's why it is important that we take care of our planet and everything in it!

“World environmental day” is celebrated every year on June 5. “World environmental day” was established in 1972 by the general assembly of the UN and was founded by former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson developed the Earth Day idea leaving the Senate in 1981. Traditionally, this is a day devoted to make green accessible to all. It's a day when each of us is invited to take small, individual steps toward reducing our carbon footprints, limiting our waste, or restoring the environment. Each year the emphasis on World Environment Day is placed on a certain earth topic of crisis. The day involves tens of thousands of events, from rallies and teach-outs to concerts and earth fairs. It supports environmental awareness in cities throughout the world.

“World environmental day” is hosted every year by a different city and commemorated with an international exposition through the week of June 5. The UN uses World environmental day to stimulate awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and public action.

Last year the main global host was New Zealand and the theme was ‘Kick the C02 Habit-Towards a Low Carbon Economy. The theme of this year is chosen by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which coordinates the day on 5 June on behalf of the UN system and the peoples of the world, will be 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. Mexico, a country at the crossroads of the Green Economy and one increasingly in the centre of regional and global affairs will host the international 2009 World Environment Day celebrations. Mexico is set to be one of the big economies of the 21st century along with nations like China and India. Mexico also playing an important role in the “Billion Tree Campaign” being planned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In this plan, Mexico plans to plant at least 25 per cent of the seven billion trees. Mexico's ambitions in terms of combating climate change under this new Special programme include renewable energy using forests and other nature-based assets as carbon sinks-will send a clear message to countries in the region and the world that Mexico means to be part of the solution.

On that particular day, heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers of Environment deliver statements commit themselves to care for the Earth. Pledges are made which lead to the establishment of permanent governmental structures dealing with environmental management. It also provides an opportunity to sign or ratify international environmental conventions.

FOSSIL FUELS LEAD TO GLOBAL DIMMING!

2009-05-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

Fossil fuels are generally a mixtures of Carbon based compounds formed by the natural resources such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms that lived up to 300 million years ago. These fuels contain high percentage of carbon and hydrocarbons. When these compounds undergo a combustion process will produce carbon-di-oxide and water. This CO₂, leads to the greatest concern, with Global Warming.

Every day we are burning large amounts of fuel like oil, coal and natural gases. These important sources of energy used to power the cars, and provide electricity. But burning these fossil fuels also produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Burning fuel in our cars, factories and power plants has push out billions of tones of microscopic particles and greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, fundamentally changing its composition. Switching from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources is vital to protect our atmosphere and climate.

Fossil fuels are composed almost entirely of carbon, and in the case of oil also composed of a lot of toxic materials when it is burned, fumes are driven out and when we inhaled these fumes will cause major problems like smog, respiratory problems, acid rain etc and the way they cause global warming is that when you burn coal for electricity or oil in the form of gasoline and diesel fuel for transportation energy, they release carbon back into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, which is said to be global warming gas, greenhouse gas because the CO2 and other kinds of global warming gases from these products act like a blanket over the earth's atmosphere and they trap more heat in the atmosphere. Of course we want some heat to be trapped in the atmosphere to keep us warm and to be able to inhabit the planet, but if we trap too much heat then things happen like melting of the polar ice caps, which results in sea level rise, the oceans become warmer, and things like hurricanes, which are designed to outlet warmth from the ocean become more intense and severe. This will undoubtedly leads to the result of global warming. So when we burn fossil fuels into the atmosphere that act like a blanket and cause increasing global temperatures.

Like that, the greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere create a obstruction which prevents the earth’s excess heat from escaping. As the obstruction grows, the earth’s temperature increases. This will magnifying the natural greenhouse effect and the result is climate change. If we continue burning fossil fuels throughout, we will have exhausted the carbon budget in merely 20 years, and global warming will go well beyond two degrees.

Biofuel from Corn Ethanol Is Not Renewable, Does Not Address Climate Change ?

2009-04-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

Caption: Massive toxic corn monocultures devastate ecosystems and provide little additional energy (link)

Regulators at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) are poised later this week to declare that biofuel from corn ethanol cannot help the state address climate change. In assessing the true environmental cost of corn ethanol, it was found this biofuel is worse than petroleum when total greenhouse gas emissions are considered. This is because as with all monocultures, corn ethanol for biofuels lead to numerous other indirect land use changes. Increased industrial agriculture results in rising land pressures and the loss of soil and forest carbon sinks elsewhere.

Such a declaration disallowing corn ethanol biofuel from counting as emissions reductions would be a considerable blow to the corn-ethanol industry in the United States and would likely set a national precedent. The regulation is part of California’s low-carbon fuel standard to reduce greenhouse emissions from transportation fuels by an average of 10 percent by 2020. Substantial research has shown converting corn to ethanol leads to more clearing of rainforests and other carbon rich natural habitats, meaning producing corn ethanol as a transportation fuel does little to slow global warming. This would be the first piece of regulation to account for such these "indirect land-use effects" of corn-based ethanol.

So called "next generation" advanced cellulosic ethanol fuels from non-food plants and plant parts, including forest biomass, will not resolve these problems. All industrially produced biofuel crops from biomass, edible or not, still require land, soil, water, fertilizer and other finite inputs. Biofuels based upon further expansion of unsustainable, industrial agriculture policies will intensify deforestation, toxic pollution and dependence upon fossil fuel based fertilizers worldwide. It is clear that industrial biofuels are not "renewable energy" given that soils, water, land and fertilizers are all in limited supply.

Ecological Internet and Rainforest Rescue are concerned with America's growing ethanol industry, and the precedent it sets for massive agricultural industrialization of the world's remaining rainforests and other natural wildlands. Please call upon the CARB to heed the overwhelming evidence that agrofuels worsen climate change through further deforestation and the destruction of other soils and ecosystems, drive food prices up, force more people worldwide into hunger and malnutrition, and decimate biodiversity and ecosystems.

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Global warming will lead to infrequent rainfall in India ???

2009-04-10T03:23:00.000-07:00

The rise in global warming will lead to major changes in rainfall patterns. In essence rainfall will decrease and become more erratic, said R K Pachauri, chairman of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

According to the noble laureate, global warming is happening at a very steep rate and its implication for South Asian continent means serious water problems for farmers.

"A large number of farmers in the continent are dependent on rainfall," he said, while speaking at a memorial lecture organised by Babu Jagjivan Ram Foundation on Climate Change here.

"India will experience heavy rains in a very short time similar to 2005 Mumbai floods,which left a million people homeless," Mr.Pachauri said, warning that the frequency of such flash floods will increase with time.

He cautioned that India will have to face water crisis as shrinking glaciers will lead to reduction in the flow of rivers, which would ultimately result in lower ground water levels.

Sunita Narain: Where is the green party?

2009-04-10T03:21:00.001-07:00

Every major political party has a green agenda, but a green party and a green revolution aren’t the same thing.

There are always two questions that are asked as elections approach. When will India get a green party? And are environmental issues important in our elections? The answer to both questions is interlinked and relates to the nature of the Indian electoral system as well as the nature of India’s environmental concerns.

The fact is that our parliamentary democracy borrows its structure from the Westminster system of first-past-the-post, which makes it difficult for any pan-India issue-based party to succeed. It is no surprise then that the green party exists in Germany and even comes to power within a coalition but that doesn’t happen in the UK. This is when, during elections for the European Parliament some years ago, the UK green party got a substantial percentage of votes, even higher than the German greens.

But there is another issue that concerns the green parties of Europe and beyond. The fact also is that all mainstream parties have incorporated the green agenda as theirs. All parties, for instance, accept the need to protect the environment, to mitigate emissions necessary for climate change and even agree to invest in low-carbon technologies like renewables and hybrid vehicles. The question is whether these governments can bite the bullet to make the structural changes required in their economies to meet the imperatives of climate change. This is the green Waterloo.

It is, therefore, not surprising that the conservative government of Germany’s Angela Merkel took on the green party agenda so totally that it almost marginalised the green party. But now, as the government has to take some tough decisions about acting on climate change on the one hand, and moving fast on the economy and job-losses, on the other, its true colours are showing. The Merkel government is backtracking — from seeking to get emission allowances for big industry to giving the automobile industry benefits in terms of subsidies to car-owners to buy new vehicles, or even desperately lobbying for time for this industry to tighten fuel efficiency standards.

It is the same in the case of Australia. The major political party came to power saying that it was against the environmental-hostile policies of its opponent, the John Howard government. But now that the new party is in power, its actions on environment and climate change are even more pathetic and miserable than those of its predecessor. It is tough to walk the talk when it comes to reinventing the economy for real change. It will be no surprise (even if it is disappointing) if Barack Obama finds that he also has little room to be the change he has so persuasively promised us all.

In India, the issue is similar, yet different. The fact is that green issues, including climate change, have made it to all major party manifestos. The Congress, the BJP and the CPI(M) all promise to protect the environment, check river pollution and invest in renewable energy systems for a low-carbon economy.

The question is whether these ‘pure’ green issues are the core environmental issues that need to be addressed, and whether these can be addressed without changing or addressing the key issues of growth and economic change? This has to do with the nature of India’s environmental concern. The fact is that in our country, the bulk of the people live on the environment — the land, the water, the forests are the basis for their survival. The core environmental issue is to improve the productivity of these natural resources in a sustainable manner. And to ensure that these benefits reach the local people and help in building a local economy and livelihood. It is about investing in the resources of the poor. It is about the governance — the political framework — in which this investment will benefit people and build green futures.

We need to care about the pollution of our rivers — because people depend on them for drinking and survival. We need to revise our strategy for ‘development’ because these projects take away land or forests which are critical for livelihood security. We need to invest in decentralised water or energy systems so that we can minimise the damage to the local environment and provide everyone access to resources, not to just a few.

But this is where political party manifestos get frayed on the green-edge. It is easy to talk about green issues — particularly those that the middle-classes of India can understand as ‘green’. But it is difficult to join the dots — to how the country will green its economy itself, so that it can provide growth for all, without compromising on the present and the future generations. This is why it is easy, perhaps, to have a ‘green party’ but not a ‘green revolution’.

Cardboard-box 'oven' wins climate change prize

2009-04-10T03:19:00.000-07:00

An $8 cardboard box that uses solar power to cook food and sterilise water could help save the lives of three billion of the world's poor.

It is to be trialled in 10 countries including Indonesia, India and South Africa.

Called the Kyoto Box, it is named after the United Nations' Kyoto protocol that seeks to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

It has won the Climate Change Challenge's $100,000 prize for ideas to fight global warming.

"We're saving lives and saving trees," said the Kyoto Box's developer, Jon Boehmer, a Norwegian based in Kenya, in east Africa.

The FT Climate Change Challenge was backed by the British newspaper, the Financial Times, the technology group Hewlett-Packard, which sponsored the award, and development group Forum for the Future.

The other four finalists were:

Global Civil Society Opposes Charred Earth Policy

2009-04-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

147 organizations from 44 countries warn against 'biochar' (large-scale charcoal) as a dangerous new false solution to climate change

TAKE ACTION: Tell Leading Climate Scientists, Industrialists and Negotiators to Stop Promoting Industrial Scale Biochar

(Earth) -- An international declaration was today launched by 147 organisations, including Ecological Internet, opposing the growing hype and political support for Biochar. The groups signing the declaration "strongly oppose the inclusion of soils in carbon trade and offset mechanisms, including in the Clean Development Mechanism.” The groups further assert that "the 'biochar' initiative fails to address the root causes of climate change.” [1]

Those issuing this warning range from small farmers associations and forest protection groups to international environmental networks and human rights advocates. Further organizations are being invited to sign the declaration. Ecological Internet has independently organized a protest alert questioning whether enough "waste biomass" and "degraded and marginal" lands exist to carry out geoengineering of the Earth's land and climate at the scale proposed, and without intensifying industrial tree plantations and all their attendant problems. [2]

This International declaration "Biochar, a New Big Threat to People, Land and Ecosystems" has been launched as UN and government delegates are meeting in Bonn this week to discuss a post-2012 climate change agreement. One of the proposals [3] which they will be discussing is to allow carbon credits for using charcoal as a soil additive in the hope that this will create a permanent 'carbon sink' and help to reduce global warming, and reclaim degraded soil. They will also discuss whether to generally include agricultural soils into carbon trading.

Civil society groups have called for caution on Biochar in view of serious scientific uncertainty. Many share concerns that this technology would lead to vast areas of land being converted to new plantations, thus repeating the unfolding disasters which agrofuels cause. They point out that large scale financial incentives for biochar or other soil sequestration could result in large scale land conversion and displacement of people.

Helena Paul from EcoNexus states: "Including biochar and agricultural soil in carbon markets would turn soils into a commodity that could be sold to offset pollution elsewhere. It would endanger smallholder farmers and indigenous peoples who cannot compete with governments and large companies and who are at risk of being displaced if the ground is literally sold out from under their feet."

Stella Semino from Grupo de Reflexion Rural, Argentina adds: "The idea that charcoal will rescue a burning planet is absurd. Some biochar proponents call for quantities of charcoal which would require over 500 million hectares of industrial tree and crop plantations. We know already that industrial agriculture and tree plantations are a major contributor to climate change and displace people and biodiversity. We need to protect ecosystems, not grow vast new monocultures and burn them! This is a farce.”

Almuth Ernsting from Biofuelwatch states: "Large-scale support for biochar is premature and dangerous. Claims that biochar is retained permanently in soils and increases fertility are based on Terra Preta soils in Amazonia, which were made by indigenous peoples hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Those farmers used biodiverse organic residues and compost, as well as charcoal. Modern biochar is not the same. Some companies are making biochar out of municipal waste and tyres, others promote using biochar to scrub flue gases from coal burners and then using this combination as a fertilizer. Some plan to use giant microwave ovens to char trees – justifying this by pointing to ancient Amazonian soils is absurd." [4]

CONTACTS:

Rachel Smolker (U.S.): rsmolker@riseup.net
- Tel +1 – 802-482-2848 or +1-802-735-7794
Almuth Ernsting (UK): info@biofuelwatch.org.uk
- Tel 0044-1224-324797
Helena Paul (UK): h.paul@econexus.ino
- Tel +44–(0)207–431-4357
Stella Semino (Denmark): stella.semino@mail.dk
- Tel +45–(0)463-25328

City in Las Vegas darkens for Earth Hour on Saturday

2009-03-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

According to the environmental activists, the “Earth Hour” in Las Vegas on Saturday was a huge success. Now the nations have a behest to deal with the climatic change.

According to the sayings of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), last Saturday hundreds of millions of people worldwide followed its call to turn-off lights for a full hour. From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, lit up that the piece of the globe went obscure on last Saturday inorder to focus the menace of drastic climatic change. Nearly 4,000 cities and 88 countries dimmed dispensable lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

World Wildlife Fund conducted an Australian event in 2007 which flourish 400 cities worldwide in last year. Ambassadors from 175 countries gathered on Sunday in Bonn for the latest round to craft a deal to control emissions of the heat-trapping gases, which is responsible for the massive climatic change. German boy and girl scouts on Sunday presented theYvo de Boer with a blue “ballot box” symbolically representing the world’s vote the night before to save the earth. A young girl said to Mr. Boer, that we will soon lose our future, if the world keeps polluting.

The young people as well as the World Wildlife Fund was thanked by the climatic chief for activating the massive show of support. Mr. Boer said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually the largest public demonstration that there has ever been on an issue like this. Finally, Andy Ridley the executive director of earth hour said that “Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign”

Lights out in 84 countries for Earth Hour 2009

2009-03-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

CHICAGO – The lights are going down from the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the Eiffel Tower to Sears Tower, as more than 2,800 municipalities in 84 countries plan Saturday to mark the second worldwide Earth Hour.

McDonald's will even soften the yellow glow from some Golden Arches as part of the time zone-by-time zone plan to dim nonessential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to highlight global climate change.

"Earth Hour makes a powerful statement that the world is going to solve this problem," said Carter Roberts, chief executive of the World Wildlife Fund, which sponsors Earth Hour. "Everyone is realizing the enormous effect that climate change will have on them."

Seven times more municipalities have signed on since last year's Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities after Sydney, Australia held a solo event in 2007. Interest has spiked ahead of planned negotiations on a new global warming treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark this December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged the convention to reach a fair and effective climate change agreement and promoted Earth Hour participation in a video posted this month on the event's YouTube channel.

"Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message," Ban said. "They want action on climate change."

Other videos have been posted by celebrities such as rocker Pete Wentz and actor Kevin Bacon and WWF has offered Earth Hour iPhone applications. Search engine Yahoo! says there's been a 344 percent increase in "Earth Hour" searches this February and March compared with last year.

New studies increasingly highlight the ongoing effects of climate change, said Richard Moss, a member of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and WWF's climate change vice president.

"We have satellites and we have ships out at sea and we have monitoring stations set up on buoys in the ocean," Moss said. "We monitor all kinds of things people wouldn't even think about. The scientific research is showing in all kinds of ways that the climate crisis is worsening."

But not everyone agrees and at least one counter-protest is planned for Saturday.

Suburban Philadelphia ice cream shop owner Bob Gerenser, 56, believes global warming is based on faulty science and calls Earth Hour "nonsense."

The resident of New Hope, Pa., and owner of Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream planned to illuminate his store with extra theatrical lighting.

"I'm going to get everyone I know in my neighborhood to turn on every light they possibly can to waste as much electricity as possible to underline the absurdity of this action ... by being absurd," he said.

Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities — including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

McDonald's Corp. plans to dim its arches at 500 locations around the Midwest. The Marriott, Ritz-Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains and Coca-Cola Co. also plan to participate.

Nearly 200 U.S. cities, towns and villages have signed on, from New York City — which will darken the iconic Empire State Building and Broadway marquees — to Igiugig, population 53 on Iliamna Lake in southwestern Alaska.

Among the efforts in Chicago, 50,000 light bulbs at tourist hotspot Navy Pier will dim and 24 spotlights that shine on Sears Tower's twin spires will go dark.

"We're the most visible building in the city," said Angela Burnett, a Sears Tower property manager. "Turning off the lights for one hour on a Saturday night shows our commitment to sustainability."

The Commonwealth Edison utility said electricity demand fell by 5 percent in Chicago and northern Illinois during last year's Earth Hour, reducing about 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

"It goes way beyond turning off the lights," said Roberts of the WWF. "The message we want people to take away is that it is within our power to solve this problem. People can take positive constructive actions."

___

On the Net:

Earth Hour: http://www.earthhour.org

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Earth Hour video: http://sn.im/enqwn

Global meeting: Climate is No. 1 threat to polar bears

2009-03-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Global meeting: Climate is No. 1 threat to polar bears



A meeting of representatives from around the world in Norway has declared that climate change is the greatest threat to the survival of polar bears. Here, a polar bear mother and her two cubs are seen on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, in November 2007.

OSLO (AP) — The very survival of polar bears depends on how well humans fight climate change, which is the biggest threat facing the giant carnivores, the five nations bordering the Arctic said Thursday.

Representatives from the U.S., Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark noted with "deep concern" that global warming was melting the Arctic ice that is home to polar bears and their main prey: seals.

"Climate change has a negative impact on polar bears and their habitat and is the most important long-term threat facing polar bears," the five nations said in a joint declaration after a three-day meeting in Tromsoe, northern Norway.

Without action, 60% of the world's polar bears could disappear by 2050, Norway's Directorate for Nature Management said separately.

The meeting in Tromsoe was the first time in 28 years the Arctic nations had reviewed their 1973 Polar Bear Agreement, meant to protect the world's estimated 20,000-25,000 polar bears.

"The parties agreed that long term conservation of polar bears depends upon successful mitigation of climate change," the statement said, and called on other forums to take "appropriate action" to mitigate it.

However, the statement did not do as the meeting's host, Norway, had asked. Norwegian officials had hoped for a direct appeal for action to the U.N. climate talks in December in Copenhagen, intended to produce a global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

"In an ideal world we would have liked that," said Clive Desire-Tesar, a spokesman for the Worldwide Fund for Nature. "But we recognize that major climate initiatives have to come from the ministerial level."

Desire-Tesar said the 30 or so delegates in Tromsoe were lower echelon bureaucrats, indicating that the countries had not come to the meeting looking for major political breakthroughs.

The Arctic nations' final statement said polar bears are also threatened by man made toxins that reach the Arctic; possible increases in shipping, oil and industrial activities in their realm; and possible over-hunting.

The statement said there was a need to manage harvests for indigenous peoples who depend on polar bear hunts for food and income.

The final statement said the next meeting will be held in Canada in 2011, followed by one in Russia in 2013.

Europe's green billions

2009-03-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

Clean-energy investments target eastern Europe, but it remains to be seen whether they will create as many new jobs as hoped.

Quirin Schiermeier

Wind farms could benefit from greater investment by the European Commission.B. STRONG/REUTERS

Three months after European Union (EU) leaders committed themselves to cutting greenhouse gases by at least 20% from 1990 levels by 2020, the European Commission has announced that it will subsidize 'green' programmes and infrastructures with €105 billion (US$136 billion).

The windfall comes from the union's €347 billion in 'structural' funds. It is the second-largest budget in the commission's portfolio, behind agriculture, and is aimed at creating equal standards of living across the EU.

Although no fresh money is involved — the size of the structural funds was agreed in 2007 — the amount allocated to green projects is nearly triple that of the previous budget period, from 2000 to 2006. Regions within the EU are free to decide how to spend the money, as long as they meet the general criteria and priorities set by the commission.

The money is necessary if Europe is to deliver on its high hopes for wind and other low-carbon energy sources, says Greg Arrowsmith, a policy officer with the European Renewable Energy Centers Agency in Brussels. Just €2.3 billion of the EU's €51-billion Seventh Framework Programme — Europe's main source of research funding — is earmarked for non-nuclear energy technologies.

The new investment will not cover carbon capture and storage projects, but it does address many others related to energy and climate. Around €9 billion is targeted for renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects, and an additional €29 billion will be invested in modernizing railways and in urban transport projects aimed at reducing emissions from cars. Significant funding will also be available for water and waste-management projects, biodiversity and nature conservation, and for encouraging the development of eco-friendly goods and services by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The commission hopes that the investment will create new jobs and help to revive regions that are suffering in the current economic downturn. "Support for the green economy and the environment goes hand-in-hand with the cohesion policy's objective to deliver sustainable growth, jobs and competitiveness," regional policy commissioner Danuta Hübner said when announcing the figures on 9 March.

The bulk of the money (€60 billion) will go to countries in eastern and southeastern Europe that lag behind the rest of the union, economically and environmentally. The largest beneficiaries will be Poland (€18 billion), Spain (€12 billion), the Czech Republic (€11 billion) and Hungary (€9 billion). Money from the regional funds could, for example, be used to convert old ports on Poland's Baltic coast into transit points for testing and installing off-shore wind turbines. It is, however, up to local politicians to decide exactly how to apportion the funds.

The plan exceeds the expectations of many economists and energy experts, who had hoped that the economic crisis would create an impetus for 'greening' the economy, as has happened with massive investments in countries such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany.

“The massive public stimulus will give a lot of extra impetus to green investment.”

"This is the way to go," says Claudia Kemfert, an expert on climate, energy and transport at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin. "This kind of economic stimulus makes a lot more sense than bonuses to people who give up old cars to buy new vehicles." A €2,500 'car-scrapping' incentive, part of Germany's own €50-billion stimulus package, is boosting car sales, but has been criticized on economic and environmental grounds.

Oliver Schäfer, policy director at the Brussels-based European Renewable Energy Council, says that the EU's renewable-energy industry — involving some 350,000 jobs, and generating €40 billion a year in business volume — will benefit substantially from the boost in public funding. Experts have estimated that it will take around €600 billion to help the EU increase the amount of energy it obtains from renewable sources from the current 8.5% to its goal of 20% in 2020. Subsidies through the structural funds programme will provide start-up financing for new solar, hydro- and wind-power facilities, for wires needed to transport 'green' electricity to consumers, and for decentralized energy supplies such as through rooftop solar-energy collectors.

But promises of funding injections have hit stumbling blocks in the past. The commission's economic recovery plan, proposed last November, foresees €3.5 billion in unspent money from the past budget period being reallocated to investment in energy technologies, including €500 million for offshore wind projects and €1.5 million for carbon capture and sequestration. But several groups in the European Parliament, which will vote on the issue later this month, are seeking to stop the plan. Critics say that few of the envisaged projects will materialize soon enough to help economic recovery.

Regardless, the €105 billion from the structural funds will still flow. "Sustainable funds have had renewable energies and water projects on their radar for quite some time," says Rolf Häßler, an analyst with the rating agency Oekom Research in Munich, Germany. "The massive public stimulus will give a lot of extra impetus to green investment."

Comments

GARNMENT INDUSTRIES RESPONSIGARNMENT INDUSTRIES RESPONSIBLE FOR CLIMATIC CHANGE:BLE FOR CLIMATIC CHANGE:

2009-03-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

The raising and production of organic natural fibers and their manufacturing into fabric and apparel would have a small impact on improving Global Warming. All the hazardous and toxic chemicals involved in conventional cotton clothing contributes hugely to poisoning our planet’s agricultural lands, turning ground water and rivers into potentially carcinogenic waste waters, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of agricultural workers worldwide, encouraging the social pollution of sweatshops, and aggravating chemical sensitivities and health problems in a growing number of people wearing conventional chemical clothing. Increase in the elongation of textiles, has simultaneously led to incretion in pollution, high energy consumption and harmful emissions. It is being estimated that clothing is responsible for one ton of individual's CO2 emissions involved in the process of washing and drying.

The textile and garment industries share in contributing to Global Warming from the growing of fibers through manufacturing through distribution and transportation of clothing to stores and customers through energy guzzling and conventional dry cleaners and finally ending in mountains of discarded clothes. Here is a partial list of the ways that the clothing, garment and textile industries contribute to global warming and environmentally-friendly green steps that can be taken to reduce the impact to global warming. We’ll work our way through the clothing product lifecycle from beginning to end.

Now, with the imminent threat of global warming, and developing consumer awareness of the ecological impact, there is a demand among people for eco friendly clothing, and energy efficient products. Increase of the consumers' interest towards eco friendly clothing is in parallel to the concern for the planet's future.
As a developing country with unbroached markets, India lacks sensitivity to the practice of eco friendly production. Although a fringe intellectual trend and weak policy posture is evident. Adequate production strategies are not incorporated for sustainable way of production. Green manufacturing and recycled materials will be become a 'short-term trend' if specific standards are not set, and practices are not followed religiously.

The industry needs to proactively work towards a sustainable supply of chain. Cotton waste recycling, low carbon manufacturing programme, carbon accounting in factories, and carbon footprint calculation projects. Benchmarking energy consumption across the textile and apparel supply chain are some issues that need to be done on private-public partnership mode. Being one of the few countries with an integrated supply chain in place, India can ensure a sustainable chain from fibre to apparel.

Half the world could become unliveable

2009-03-15T01:07:00.000-07:00

Global warming could make half the world’s inhabited areas too hot to live in and southern Europe may be turned into semi-desert, climate experts warned at a scientific congress in Copenhagen.

Marianne Bom:

The human body is unable to sweat as much as may be needed in half the world’s inhabited areas at the end of the century. If pollution by greenhouse gases continues to rise huge areas will become 'unliveable', Steven Sherwood, a climate expert at Yale University, said at a scientific climate congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The human body will simply reach its physiological limits if the average temperature rises by 7 degrees Celsius in some places of the Earth, said Sherwood, on Thursday, according to The Guardian.

»There will be some places on Earth where it would simply be impossible to lose heat," Sherwood said. "This is quite imaginable if we continue burning fossil fuels. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't end up there.«

According to the 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) the average temperature could rise by 6 degrees Celsius this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current rates.

Climate change could also lead to severe droughts every other year and semi-desert in Europe at the end of the century, if temperature rises by four degrees Celsius, said climate expert at the University of East Anglia Rachel Warren. Climate change could turn off rainfall in Spain, Portugal, southern Italy, Greece and numerous other countries, leaving large areas of land from Portugal to Ukraine, as well as southern England, severely affected.

At the congress Rachel Warren was asked what life would be like in those areas.
»Hell, I should think. It is incomprehensible to imagine adapting to that level of drought,« Warren replied according to The Guardian.

European leadership on the road to Copenhagen

2009-03-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

European leadership on the road to Copenhagen

The financial and economic crisis continues to dominate the news, and understandably so. In the short term we all face a painful reduction in global prosperity. But in the long term perhaps the greatest threat of all – not only to our prosperity but also to the survival of millions of people in vulnerable areas of the globe – comes from climate change. by Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment

The Lincoln Plan about climate change

2009-03-15T01:00:00.000-07:00

The Lincoln Plan

Climate change is a complex issue, but it can be summarized rather simply: the consensus of science is that global warming is a threat (1); the consensus of economics is that a carbon tax would be a cost-effective remedy (2). A carbon tax is a charge for emitting carbon dioxide (CO2), the main heat-trapping culprit.

For the last several years Ecological Internet has proposed a small U.S. government federal charge initially of $5 per ton of carbon emitted as CO2, which for gasoline is about 1 cent per gallon. Since Lincoln's portrait appears on both the penny and the $5 bill, the plan goes under his name - the "Lincoln Plan". A fundamental question in addressing climate change is whether cap-and-trade or a carbon tax would be more cost-effective. For a discussion of this matter, please see the following articles: Limiting Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Prices Versus Caps and After Kyoto: Alternative Mechanisms to Control Global Warming.

$5/ton is a very good starting point for a carbon charge - it would allow implementation mechanisms to be developed, and is modest enought to be politically achievable. Most of the revenue from the tax would be used to pay for measures to reduce CO2 emissions such as conserving forests, increasing energy efficiency, and adopting cleaner energy supplies.

As a stepping-stone to a $5 carbon tax, the U.S. Congress could give the public discounts on such things as compact fluorescent lights and 100 mpg vehicles. The cost would be about $1.5 billion. Congress could also announce that once a tax (or cap) was passed the discounts would be tripled. So most households could easily make more money on rebates and energy savings than the tax would cost them.

The size of the charge could then be increased as needed. Extra revenue from a charge over $5/ton would be used mostly to lower other taxes -- the plan would tax pollution rather than employment and savings.

From $5/ton, the carbon price could rise $10 a year for six or seven years, and $5 a year after that. By 2015 the charge would reach $75/ton of carbon, or about $20/ton of CO2. This is around 20 cents per gallon of gasoline and 2 cents per kWh of electricity from traditional coal-fired plants. A price trajectory such as this would appear to be reasonable. And it would greatly speed up the adoption of current low-carbon technologies and the development of new ones.

Further boosting the plan's attractiveness would be its considerable side benefits. Saving forests, particularly tropical forests (3), would help safeguard the majority of Earth's species; efficiency gains could save us a lot of money (4) while reducing dependence upon overseas sources of energy; and moving to cleaner energy supplies would reduce harmful pollutants of many kinds. Indeed, these ancillary benefits are so large that the plan would be worth trying even apart from its core benefit of climate protection.

Sensible climate protection should, indeed, be profitable. As Amory Lovins writes, "If properly done, climate protection would actually reduce costs, not raise them. Using energy more efficiently offers an economic bonanza...because saving fossil fuel is a lot cheaper than buying it."

In short, the Lincoln Plan could handle a serious problem with great effectiveness and at low, even negative, cost. Those who would like to contact a legislator or write a letter to the editor in support of the plan may forward this page or quote from it as they wish.

UPDATE, 2008

It now seems advisable to ramp up the carbon price more quickly than was envisioned above--perhaps $5 per metric ton of CO2 (about 5 cents a gallon of gas) for the first year; $10 for the second and third years; and $5 for the fourth. This builds on British Columbia, Canada's schedule of $10,5,5,5, and 5.

Rising air pollution clouds climate debate ?

2009-03-13T06:01:00.001-07:00

Darker skies have uncertain effect on global warming.

Quirin Schiermeier

Air pollution that is harmful to human health has increased over all populated continents except Europe since 1973, according to an extensive survey.

I can see dimly now: air pollution is on the rise in most areas of the world.punchstock

The results play into a long-standing debate over whether the Earth's skies are dimming or brightening, how this affects the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface and what that means for climate change.

Two studies published in Science in 2005 concluded that a global dimming trend that began in the 1950s has been replaced since 1990 by global brightening¹^,². The likely effect of all that extra solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface would be faster global warming.

Now a study published in Science concludes that in fact skies became dimmer over most land areas between 1973 and 2007³. Only in Europe have skies become cleaner than they were some 30 years ago; there, industrial production declined sharply after the collapse of communist governments around 1990, and air quality regulations have had a big effect since. Air quality in North America has changed little during the study period.

Kaicun Wang, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Maryland in College Park, and his colleagues based their conclusions on visibility measurements, a good proxy for aerosol pollution, from 3,250 meteorological stations around the world. They found that visibility has tended to decrease over that period, the most pronounced dimming having occurred in South Asia and South America. Various types of aerosol have contributed to the trend, but sulphate and soot particles from fossil fuel burning are the main culprits, the team found.

"Most countries have realized by now that air pollution is a serious health risk," says Wang. "But attempts, such as China's, to regulate air quality have not yet borne fruit."

Cloudy understanding

Significant questions remain about what these results means for climate change, because soot and different kinds of aerosols can affect cloud formation in very different ways.

In come circumstances, aerosol particles can act as seeds for clouds, which help to reflect the Sun's rays back into space and so cool the planet. Aerosols can also reduce cloudiness, however, as probably happens in northern China, meaning that the net effect of aerosol pollution on global temperatures is worryingly uncertain.

Another complication is that soot from burning biofuels, widely used for cooking and heating in India and Africa, tends to absorb sunlight rather than scattering it back into space. This means that it warms the troposphere in much the same way as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases⁴.

Wang suspects that the poor understanding of these effects might explain why previous studies, which measured incoming solar radiation rather than visibility, concluded that the skies have brightened over most land areas, including China.

"The issue of global dimming versus global brightening is not just a question of aerosols," agrees Martin Wild, an atmospheric scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, who led one of the Science studies in 2005. "One must indeed consider clouds as well."

Wang is optimistic, however, that the air in China could become cleaner in the near future — as it did in Europe in the 1980s and previously in North America — if coal is replaced by oil and natural gas as an energy source, and if particulate filters in cars and factories become more common.

Rising air pollution clouds climate debate ?

2009-03-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

Indonesia to sell carbon credits to conserve forests

2009-03-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

Indonesia has applied to join a World Bank programme intended to help developing nations fight deforestation by selling tradeable carbon credits.

International climate negotiators are working to allow developing nations the right to sell some carbon credits if they clamp down on deforestation, which is responsible for roughly 20% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The World Bank's US$300-million Forest Carbon Partnership Facility is designed to lay the groundwork for such an international agreement.

The programme already includes 25 countries, but Indonesia, the world's third-largest greenhouse-gas emitter, had remained on the sidelines until it applied in Feburary. The bank estimates that the country could earn between US$400 million and $2 billion selling credits for protecting forests.

Did you know that the average server produces the same emissions as a 15 mpg SUV?

2009-03-12T03:37:00.000-07:00

HostGator hosts over 1,300,000 websites on its shared and reseller servers. That means a lot of servers, and a lot of carbon emissions. So we asked ourselves, What can we do to be part of the climate change solution? We took steps to minimize our environmental impact at the office, but still we weren't satisfied. We then switched to 36% more efficient servers, but still we weren't satisfied!

All of our shared and reseller servers are now 130% wind powered!

That's right! 130%!
We're not just neutralizing our environmental impact, we're reversing it!

HostGator has purchased certified Renewable Energy Credits representing 130% of the electricity used to both power and cool every last one of our shared and reseller servers!

Is there a technological solution to global warming?

2009-03-12T03:18:00.000-07:00

A German research ship, the Polarstern, is steaming towards a region off the coast of Argentina in the South Atlantic, where it intends to release six tons of iron sulphate over an area of 115 square miles. The scientists point out that this supports the idea that iron-rich seas result in greater amounts of carbon being sequestered in deep layers, because atmospheric carbon dioxide is drawn into the sea by the vast blooms of plankton at the surface.

The flood due to Global Warming risks California:

2009-03-12T03:14:00.000-07:00

Sea level rise compelled by global warming could flood parts of the California coast in coming decades. The report by an independent Oakland research group, the Pacific Institute, says that nearly half a million people statewide and 110,000 in Orange County could be at risk by the year 2100 under some climate change scenarios. In Orange County which means a 55 percent increase over those already known to be at risk for a 100-year flood.

The level of risk is going to increase in the future and there are folks already in the flood plain who are going to experience increased risk. It will reach higher and reach further inland in some cases.

The strategy is to look at different sectors of the economy -agriculture, energy, water supply, forestry, parks, transportation. It helps the climate action team focus priorities for informed policy. The study says that the rise in sea level of four to five feet would place an additional 220,000 people statewide at risk in a 100-year flood event from 260,000 estimated to be at risk in 2000 to 480,000.Nearly a quarter of those would be in Orange County, the study says, although Los Angeles, Monterey, San Mateo, Sonoma and Ventura counties would have significant populations at risk as well.

In all, some $100 billion in buildings would be placed at risk along the California coast. The flooding could affect roads, hospitals, schools, emergency facilities and railroads. Wetlands and natural ecosystems also could be destroyed by changes in sea level.

Potential costs in Orange County, part of the estimated $17 billion total, include $14 billion in residential costs, $2.3 billion for commercial facilities, $610 million for industrial facilities, and $110 million each for educational and religious facilities. Because of these the actual market costs could be several times higher. Even places that are not directly subject to flooding could suffer erosion because of sea level rise. And sea level rise in Northern California could have troubling effects in the south. Increased salinity in the California delta could reduce supplies of drinking water piped to Southern California.

The report draws a distinction between mitigation measures to reduce the effects of global warming, such as reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and “adaptations” to coming changes along the coast -changes that will be inevitable, even if we reduced greenhouse gas emissions to zero tomorrow.

California is already moving to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But a variety of stakeholders, including those involved in everything from shipping, boating and recreation to habitat conservation, must come together. The choices we make in the next few years are going to have a big bearing on whether this plays itself out or not, both in terms of mitigation- greenhouse gas reduction -and in terms of adaptation.

Action Alert: Critical Elephant Corridor in India to be Severed

2009-03-04T00:58:00.000-08:00

The largest and potentially most viable population of Asian elephants is found in the mountains of the Western Ghats where the three Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka meet. You may recall that Ecological Internet's Earth Action Network first worked on Asian elephants in India, with some positive outcomes, in October of 2006.

Of a total population of about 2000 elephants surviving in Peninsular India in various fragmented habitat islands, the largest single population which may number over 1000 individuals is found in a near contiguous habitat extending over this 4500sq km tract. The best forage is in the Tamil Nadu section but the elephants need to migrate to Kerala and Karnataka each summer when water and food become scarce in Tamil Nadu

Direct movement from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka is no longer possible because of clearing and development and so now the only way for the elephants to migrate from the east to the west in the dry time and return during the wet season is via the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu, to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. But due to habitat fragmentation this route must now pass through a corridor which is only about 2.5 km wide extending from Mulehole in Karnataka to Muthanga in Kerala.

The major inter-state highway linking Bangalore with Calicut passing through this corridor is used by hundreds of vehicles round the clock. Recently a decision was made to relocate four different Kerala government departmental check-posts to within the corridor involving all manner of infrastructure - building complexes, housing, offices, toilets and dormitories for drivers, a fuel filling station and so on. The checkpoint clearance takes hours, so there would constantly be hundreds of lorries parked along the road on either side of the checkpoints within the forests preventing elephants from using the corridor. A suitable alternative site for these check-posts exists outside the forest.

In another part of this elephant population's range, the proposed establishment of the India Based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Singara, within the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, threatens to further fragment elephant migration routes.

The Wayanad Nature Protection Group (Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samati) has appealed to the world community to help prevent the severance of this critical corridor.

ENVIRONMENT: Algae Against Climate Change?

2009-03-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Algae absorb carbon dioxide.

Credit:Photo Stock

until very recently, the proliferation algae was interpreted as an undesirable consequence of the overuse of agro-chemicals, whose immediate results included skin irritation in humans and the death of aquatic fauna from lack of oxygen.

But their potential for absorbing one of the principal greenhouse gases - which cause global climate change - could be crucial for avoiding environmental catastrophes. Like terrestrial plants, the algae consume carbon during photosynthesis.

"We took algae from the ocean, we put it in plastic containers in greenhouses, where we fed it with carbon dioxide produced by conventional electric generators," explained Laurenz Thomsen, a bio-geologist from Jacobs University in the northern German city of Bremen.

"Exposed to solar light, the algae transform the carbon dioxide into biomass that can later be used as biodiesel, whose combustion doesn't emit greenhouse gases," he added.

The Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Project (GGMP) is coordinated by Thomsen, with cooperation from the Bremen polytechnic university, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine Research, and several companies, including the European electricity supplier E.ON.

Thomsen has dubbed the small greenhouse "Algenreactor", set up at Jacobs University, where the algae transform carbon dioxide into organic fuel. The project is operating at the experimental phase, producing just a half-litre of biofuel.

"The diesel that we refine here is absolutely organic. It satisfies the European standards. I'm confident that we will be able to move on to an industrial phase in the coming months," he added.

Fritz Henken-Mellier, director of the Farge thermoelectric plant just outside Bremen, agrees with that prediction. Some of the carbon dioxide emissions from this coal-fired generator were captured by GGMP.

"Surely we need to build a much bigger greenhouse, covering hundreds of square metres, so that the capture of carbon dioxide and the production of biofuel correspond to the scope of a commercial energy plant," he said in an interview for this report.

Henken-Mellier calculates that "the capture of just 10 percent of the gases emitted by the Farge plant means a reduction of 600 tonnes daily of carbon dioxide."

According to Thomsen, the area of a greenhouse capable of absorbing the carbon dioxide from a 350-megawatt electrical plant and transforming it into biofuel would have to be 25 square kilometres and would cost some 480 million dollars.

The sum is small compared to the cost of conventional crops to produce biofuel and reduce toxic gases at a scale similar to that of the "algae-based reactor." An equivalent planting of rapeseed, for example, could cost as much as 25 times more.

But Thomsen's project doesn't convince everyone. "Those calculations are very ingenuous," said Karl-Herrman Steinberg, director of one of Europe's leading algae producers, located in the northern German city of Kloetze.

"The costs of growing algae, the elimination of the water and distillation of the combustible oil are very high for this to be profitable on an industrial scale," said Steinberg.

Thomsen admits that the location of the greenhouses should be decided based on available sunshine. In northern Germany, with relatively few hours of sunlight, the model would not work. "The greenhouses would have to be built in the south and southeast of Europe," he said.

"We are already negotiating with German and foreign firms, from Brazil and India, which manage large algae crops," he added.

The GGMP is not the only project of its kind. During the first global oil crisis, in the 1970s, U.S. scientists came up with a similar process for transforming algae into biofuel. But the attempt was abandoned in 1996, when low oil prices erased the incentives to study organic fuels.

Now, with the current energy and environmental crisis, the U.S. company GreenFuel, in the north-eastern state of Massachusetts, is planning a greenhouse to cover at least one square kilometre for 2009.

Isaac Berzin, of GreenFuel, says that to capture the carbon dioxide released by a 1,000 gigawatt generate would require an algae greenhouse between eight and 16 square km, which could produce more than 150 million litres of biodiesel and 190 million litres of ethanol.

Scientists explore role of algae in climate change

2009-03-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

The Arctic Ocean could be a sink for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to global climate change, say scientists studying the marine ecosystem.

Researchers from Canada and nine other countries are on board the Amundsen icebreaker off Baffin Island. They're studying the exchange of carbon dioxide between the ocean and the atmosphere, which they say is key to understanding climate change.

Entrance to the Clark Fiord on the east coast of Baffin Island. (Courtesy: Patricia Bell)

As part of the research, an instrument called a rosette is raised from the seabed of Lancaster Sound, stopping at different depths to add water into each of its 24 bottles. It's just 4 a.m. – as Jean-Eric Tremblay of Montreal's McGill University prepares to study the samples to learn more about phytoplankton.

The tiny photosynthetic algae are an important food source in the Arctic marine ecosystem. They also absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As sea ice shrinks from warming, the algae could play an important role in slowing climate change, said Tremblay.

"The more open water there is, the more the phytoplankton are able to consume carbon dioxide and limit the effect of the greenhouse gas over the Arctic Ocean," he said. "This is one of the loops that we are looking at, but the net effect of all these processes is not known at present."

Scientists are also looking at the full cycle of carbon as it moves through the food chain, said Karine Lacoste of the Ocean Science Institute in Rimouski, Que. She explained that they're trying to determine what the capacity of the ecosystem is for taking out extra carbon dioxide from cars and industry.

Lacoste and Tremblay say they're working to understand if there is more carbon dioxide going into the ocean than coming out, and how melting sea ice may effect the cycle.

Climate Change Risk Underestimated

2009-02-27T00:30:00.000-08:00

The climate change science keeps on getting clearer, and it is not pretty. A new study by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences updating a 2001 assessment by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change that looked at temperature changes and the risks they pose, found the risks of negative impacts of climate change on humans and nature are larger than just a few years ago. The new study found that even small changes of global mean temperatures could produce the kinds of conditions singled out as "reasons for concern" in the 2001 assessment, such as damage to coral reefs or endangered species; and extreme weather events like cyclones, heat waves or droughts.

Humanity, the Earth, and our sister species are at a crossroads. We can continue to willfully downplay the dangers posed by climate change, or we can organize and resist in order to achieve the policies necessary to maintain our shared biosphere and thus our shared being. We know we must reduce human population and inequitable consumption. There is no future for logging old forests and burning coal. And energy efficiency, conservation and renewables are the only road to keeping the lights on. We can pursue these sufficient ecological policies with a revolutionary spirit of action, or we can roll over and die. We still have the power and time to stop this crisis, but just barely. Commit yourselves to a New Earth Rising.

Escalation of global Warming menace the universe

2009-02-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

An international team of climate experts said that, the earth would not have to glow-up as much as had been thought to cause serious consequences of global warming, including more extreme weather and increasing threats to plants and animals. The risk of increased severe weather would rise with a increasing global average temperature between 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit and 3.6 degrees above 1990 levels. The National Climatic Data Center currently reports that global temperatures have risen 0.22 degree since 1990.

According to the recent research report, increases in drought, heat waves and floods are cautious in many regions and would have adverse impacts, including increased water stress, wildfire frequency and flood risks starting at less than 1.8 degrees.

Another research had found that, the liability of the 2003 heat wave in Europe led to the death of many number of people extensively increased by the growth of greenhouse gas. Now humans are adding carbon to the atmosphere even faster than in the 1990s. Carbon emissions have been growing at 3.5 percent per year since 2000, up sharply from the 0.9 percent per year in the 1990s.Carbon dioxide and other gases added to the air by industrial and other activities have been blamed for rising temperatures, increasing worries about possible major changes in weather and climate. The new study found evidence of greater susceptibility to climate change for specific populations, such as the poor and elderly, in not only developing but also developed countries.

Hurricane Katrina and the 2003 European heat wave have shown to us the capacity, to adapt climate-related extreme events which is minimal than we expected. As a result, their liabilities are higher than previously thought.

Papua New Guinea Rainforests Deeply Threatened

2009-02-25T05:50:00.000-08:00

The nation's future carbon payments for avoided deforestation in doubt. As a global leader in promoting such payments,the PNG government would be well advised to focus upon better protecting its rainforests, if it wants to fully access carbon monies based upon their continued carbon storage.

An important new study in the journal "Biotropica" finds that between 1972 and 2002, a net 15 percent of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) rainforests were cleared and 8.8 percent were degraded through logging. The clearance rate of 1.1 to 3.4 percent per year in commercially accessible forests is much higher than reported previously by the FAO.

PNG located in the South Pacific, northeast of Australia holds some of the world's largest and most important intact and contiguous forests. Their fate has important implications for local livelihoods and biodiversity, and both local and global climate change. The new study quantifies forest loss in PNG for the first time with a high degree of accuracy. And the findings are not good.

Some 36% of the accessible forest estate has been degraded or deforested. This finding raises the question of whether the PNG government has a welcome leader in promoting avoided deforestation payments is pursuing the necessary policies to ensure large rainforests continue to exist as the basis for their country to receive large and continuous international payments for their forest's carbon storage.The study found that change in PNG rainforest extent and condition has occurred to a greater extent than previously recorded.The study assessed deforestation and forest degradation in Papua New Guinea by comparing a land-cover map from 1972 with a land-cover map created from nationwide high-resolution satellite imagery recorded since 2002. In 2002 there were 28,251,967 ha of tropical rain forest.

Between 1972 and 2002,a net 15 percent of Papua New Guinea's tropical forests were cleared and 8.8 percent were degraded through logging. The drivers of forest change have been concentrated within the accessible forest estate where a net 36 percent were degraded or deforested through both forestry and nonforestry processes.

It was estimated that over the period 1990-2002, overall rates of change generally increased and varied between 0.8 and 1.8 percent/yr, while rates in commercially accessible forest have been far higher having varied between 1.1 and 3.4 percent per year. The study concluded that rapid and substantial forest change has occurred in Papua New Guinea, with the major drivers being logging in the lowland forests and subsistence agriculture throughout the country with comparatively minor contributions from forest fires, plantation establishment, and mining.

Ecological Internet provides the world's largest and most used climate and environment portals at http://www.climateark.org/ and http://www.ecoearth.info/ . Dr. Glen Barry is a leading global spokesperson on behalf of environmental sustainability policy. He frequently conducts interviews on the latest climate, forest and water policy developments and can be reached for comment at:

Ecological Internet calls upon PNG to immediately reappraise its logging, biofuel and agriculture policies; to ensure maximum amounts of fully intact forests are available for anticipated international carbon market funding to stop deforestation and diminishment, and for continued non-diminishing traditional local uses. First time industrial logging of primary forests releases huge amounts of stored carbon and permanently reduces the forest's carbon holding potential. Clearly industrial forestry, certified or not, is a dying industry with no future.

CARBON MARKETS ARE COLLAPSING IN EUROPE

2009-02-25T01:56:00.001-08:00

Revolving for the great pollution fire sale, the futhermost outlook to debris the climate on the cheap.Last summer it cost an eyewatering 31 vpounds to throw up your smokestack, but in our give-away global recession sale been slashed to a crazy 8.20 pounds.Compare our offer with costly solar energy. At this low, low price you can't afford not to burn coal.

Europe's carbon markets are in collapse.Yet the jeer of escaping gas is almost inaudible.You can't see or hear a market for a pollutant fall.But at stake is what was supposed to be a central lever in the world's effort to turn back climate change.Intended to price fossil fuels out of the market, the system is instead turning them into the rational economic choice.something that exists called carbon trading which we all know. Europe has created carbon exchanges,and traders who buy and sell. Few but the professionals, however, know that this market is now failing to edge up the cost of emitting CO2. The theory sounded fine in the boom years, back when Nicholas Stern described climate change as "the biggest market failure in history"

A year ago European governments disorderly a limited number of carbon emission permits to their big polluters permits to ones that need more. As demand outstrips this capped supply, and the price of permits rises, an incentive grows to invest in green energy.All this only works as the carbon price lifts.A lot of the blame lies with governments that signed up to carbon trading as a neat idea, but then indulged polluters with luxurious quantities of permits. A tonne of carbon has dropped to about 8 pounds, down from last year's summer peak of 31 pounds and far below the 30-45 pounds range at which renewables can collied with fossil fuels.

The lesson of the carbon bust is that markets can be a passage, but not a substitute, for political will. They only work when properly primed and regulated.Europe hoped that the mere creation of a carbon market would drive everyone away from fossil fuels.It forgot that charge had to outstrip supply, and that if growth stops, demand drops too.

Carbon trading remains at the heart of the international response to climate change. Obama backs what Americans call cap and trade. Australia wants to try the same thing. But both are hesitating, given Europe's mess.The conclusive way would be to cut the number of circulating permits, but no government will be courageous to do that. And private initiatives such as Sandbag, which encourages individuals to buy and lock away permits which can exert little pressure on price in a market awash with them.

First of all the Europe must end importing permits from countries like Russia.No one really believes that 15m tonnes of imported permits will not still be emitted by a steelworks somewhere east of Novosibirsk. Second, it must publish plans to crack down on the surplus of permits when the recession is over. Like medieval pardoners handing out unlimited indulgences, governments have created a over. Europe's whizz-bang carbon market is turning sub-prime

Which generates climatic change?

2009-02-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

The earth's climate is influenced by many factors, such as the amount of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere, the amount of energy coming from the sun or the properties the Earth's surface. Changes in those factors, through human-related or natural processes, have a warming or a cooling effect on the planet because they alter how much of this solar energy is retained or reflected back to space.

The concentrations in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have all increased markedly since 1750, and now exceed by far their pre-industrial levels.

Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas. Its concentration in the atmosphere (379 ppm in 2005) is now far higher than the natural range over the last 650 000 years (180 to 300 ppm) and is growing faster than ever since the beginning of its continuous direct measurement in 1960, mainly due to fossil fuel use and to a lesser extent to land use change. For instance, emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use increased from 6.4 Gt per year in the 90s to 7.2 Gt of carbon per year over the period 2000-2005. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere have also greatly increased since pre-industrial times, and those increases are mostly due to human activities such as agriculture and fossil fuel use.

The effect on climate of each of the different drivers is expressed in terms of "radiative forcing", with positive forcing causing a warming of the surface and negative forcing a cooling of it. The overall effect of human activities since 1750 is very likely (> 90% certainty) to be one of warming, with an estimated increase of energy, or radiative forcing, of 1.6 Watt per square meter over the whole planet. The relative contribution of various factors can be seen in figure 2. The main warming drivers are the various greenhouse gases and it is likely that the warming that they cause has been increasing during the industrial era at a higher rate than at any time over the last 10 000 years. The main cooling drivers are aerosols and the changes in cloud cover that they cause

Earth's Leading Climate Change Portal Turns 10 Years Old

2009-02-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

The Climate Ark Climate Change Portal at turned ten years old this new year. Tens of millions of users have and continue to enjoy the Internet's best climate search, news feeds, blogging and action alerts. Ecological Internet has been campaigning for sufficient climate policies and been a critic of global environmental policy since Al Gore actually had the power to do something about climate change.

To mark the event, Ecological Internet's President, Dr. Glen Barry, has recommenced writing biocentric, deeply thought provoking and critically acclaimed "Earth Meanders" essays at http://www.ecoearth.info/earthmeanders/. "There is a real hunger for truthful and ambitious solutions to climate change and the many other global ecological crises that threaten planetary annihilation," notes Dr. Barry.

"After much urging and a bit of a break, I am back meandering freely regarding the failure of the environmental movement and espousing a biocentric and sufficient environmental paradigm. I am going to continue speaking shrilly and forcefully regarding necessary actions to achieve global ecological sustainability. And this time it will be as a project of Ecological Internet. Expect more challenging ecological free thinking, remembering they are essays primarily meant to spur discussion."

To diversify funding at the decade mark, Climate Ark has broken with the past and begun to accept tasteful amounts of Google advertising. "This was a difficult decision, after nearly 20 years of ad free Internet activism, but it is crucial we take all measures to remain operational, as the Earth needs bright green biocentric advocacy as never before," explains Dr. Barry.

It is hoped site users will regularly click on advertisements in which they are genuinely interested, and thus financially support Ecological Internet's non-profit work. And report inappropriate ads that may be presented in their location so they can be blocked. Ecological Internet's end-of-year fund-raising drive has nearly completed, and is only a few thousand dollars short of its goal. Donations can still be made at http://www.climateark.org/shared/donate/.

Ecological Internet provides the world's largest and most used climate and environment portals at http://www.climateark.org/ and http://www.ecoearth.info/. Dr. Glen Barry is a leading global spokesperson on behalf of environmental sustainability policy. He frequently conducts interviews on the latest climate, forest and water policy developments and can be reached at: glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org.

Climate Change Worse Than Thought

2009-02-21T05:24:00.001-08:00

A biosphere cannot be engineered quite a week in climate science. Ends up global warming is accelerating more at a much faster pace, causing more environmental damage, than predicted even a few years ago. Continued use of coal is denounced as "death factories" . And crop-based biofuels are speeding up global warming by fueling the destruction of rainforests .

These warnings comes from highly respected mainstream scientists, and illustrate how the science has progressed to indicate global ecological crises are much more dire than even recent worst case scenarios. Of course many of us have known climate change will be abrupt, and that maintaining standing rainforests and ending use of coal, would be keystone climate change responses for decades; but been stonewalled by media, government and mainstream and even radical environmental bureaucracies. It is clear that the IPCC report of 2007 is already dated, and we cannot wait until 2014 to finalize the next.

The Earth has found its voice. Unless action to topple industrial polluters and destroyers are taken immediately we are all going to die. Failure to address climate change is largely due to society's inability to transform itself, including away from coal and FSC certification of old growth forest logging. Much of the environmental movement is duped, incompetent or sold out -- or some combination of the above. Few dare to demand reducing human population and inequitable consumption immediately, which clearly is necessary to maintain a livable Earth. Without thinking big and becoming more aggressive in demanding social change, we are in for a world of hurt.

Ancient Forests Absorb 20% of Human's Carbon, Logging and Other Industrial Destruction of Old Forests Must Stop Now

2009-02-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Ecological Internet welcomes the emerging science published today in "Nature" indicating tropical trees in undisturbed forest are absorbing nearly a fifth of the CO2 released by burning fossil fuels.This is in addition to the long-term carbon sequestered within old trees' wood and soils. This is the most recent of several major scientific studies indicating the need to fully protect all remaining primary and old growth forests as a keystone response to global climate, biodiversity and water crises.

"This is huge -- not only do ancient rainforest's reliably store massive amounts of carbon, as we have known for sometime, but they continue to remove enormous amounts of carbon every day they remain standing and are non-degraded. The study partially solves the mystery of where human carbon pollution has been going, and in so doing supports the need for avoided deforestation payments," said Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet's President.

It was found that remaining tropical forests remove a massive 4.8 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year. This includes a previously unknown carbon sink in Africa, which mops up 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 a year. Over the past 40 years, each hectare of intact African forest was found to have annually trapped an extra 0.6 tonnes of carbon. This builds upon last year's studies that found old-growth forests are "carbon sinks" and continually absorb carbon dioxide, and that their first time logging releases 40 percent of their carbon

"We are receiving a free subsidy from nature," says Dr. Simon Lewis, a Royal Society research fellow at the University of Leeds, and the lead author of the paper. "Tropical forest trees are absorbing about 18% of the CO2 added to the atmosphere each year from burning fossil fuels, substantially buffering the rate of climate change."

Dr. Lee White, co-author on the study, said "to get an idea of the value of the sink, the removal of nearly 5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by intact tropical forests, based on realistic prices for a tonne of carbon, should be valued at around £13 billion ($USD 18.7 billlion) per year. This is a compelling argument for conserving tropical forests."

The findings critically demolish claims by groups as diverse as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), World Bank, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Greenpeace and WWF that "well-managed, responsible and low-impact" logging in the world's dwindling ancient forests can ever have environmental benefits. Over the past two years, each has been the target of Ecological Internet's campaign to end old growth forest logging, which is "certified" by FSC as being "green".

Late last year RAN agreed to review their long-time support for first time industrial logging of ancient forests.When Lafcadio Cortesi, RAN's new rainforest campaigner, was asked to comment upon the Nature report, he replied it is a "bit of a stretch and certainly premature to link. the nature paper findings with RAN and the FSC." He refused to answer the question "how does logging 500 year old ancient trees protect rainforests and the climate," continuing two years of RAN stonewalling on the most basic of questions regarding their support for FSC ancient forest logging.

EI President, Dr. Glen Barry, said "the science has never been clearer: global ecological sustainability depends critically upon protecting and restoring old forests. How much longer can RAN and the world dither? Our demand of RAN remains the same: either use your membership to get FSC to eliminate their sourcing of certified timbers from ancient forests, or resign immediately from FSC in protest."

"Sadly, our campaign resumes after failure by RAN to keep their earlier promises. We call upon RAN members to resign, and their funders to stop their support, in protest of America's leading rainforest group supporting -- against a growing body of ecological science -- first time industrial destruction of primeval forests. EI will be taking further protest action at a place and time of our choosing."

GLOBAL WARMING THRETENS TO RAISE SEA LEVEL

2009-02-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

Rising sea levels make our nation disappear literally. But this fate awaits millions of people as global warming threatens to raise the level of sea. According to Koko Warner of the UN University, 24 million people around the world have become the refugees of the climate. "The international Organization for Migration"have estimated that the many people were forced to come out of their home because of the drastic climatic changes like lower agricultural outputs, drought,flood, storms, rising sea levels and many more.These thing will reach two hundred million by 2050.

This fact is really fearful for the people who leads their life in island around the world. Kolkatta-based environmentalist,Mr. Subhas datta had said that, the global power must end this complacency and tackle this crises on the war footing.Rising of sea levels may eventually wash some parts of the world map.In the year 2008, the UN,s intergovernmental panel of climatic change shortly IPCC warned that rise in sea levels 18 to 59 centimeters by 2100 would be enough to make the Maldives and Tuvalu virtually inhabitable.

The current president of Maldives, Mr.Mohammed Anni Nasheed asked his government to start saving in order to buy a new homeland for his country people. But it is not only a problem of rising sea level, even two degree centigrade increase would cause a significant bleaching of the coral reefs, which would devastate our food supply and livelihood.

Frequent hurricane will spoil the low-lying agricultural land. In the carribian tourism which is often considered to be the backbone of the entire region's economy could be affected due to this. In order to avoid these happenings, the developed nations should take immediate steps to cut down pollution. This can be done by bringing down Green house gas emission. The world need to change the way it produces and consumes energy. The proper measures should be taken in order to stop the new thermal power plant and shift the focus for energy consumption towards renewable energy.

If global warming is to be halted, energy efficiency is a key factor as every unit of energy is equal to 3 unit of new energy produced and it is possible to cut down carbondioxide emission before we attain 2050.

Give for Green Ndtv green ?

2009-02-08T21:37:00.000-08:00

Give for Green
The Greenathon has raised over 2 crore for TERI's Lighting a Billion Lives campaign that aims at solar powering villages across the country. We thank you for your overwhelming support. The journey is not over yet..we will continue to strive for a better, cleaner environment. Donate for the cause and help bring the change.

Global warming leads to the motionless of wheat yielding in India

2009-02-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Ramesh, the minister of the state for Power jairam said that, because of the climatic change occurred in India, the production of the wheat in India has decayed during the past decades. He also said that, February is the pivotal month for deciding the goodness of wheat yield because, the temperature of north India have gone up utmost by 1to1.5 degree Celsius.

Pointing out the critical problems ceiled by our country, in the fields of agriculture, water supply etc he indicates that we are forced by the domestic imperatives. When he made a discussion with CEO members said that the energy propagation of India come from coal which is considered to be the one of the major source of carbon-di oxide. As per the result, the green house gas leads to multiple the level of concentration in the atmosphere. Besides these he said that, the coal devouring was reduced by moving from sub-critical to super-critical technology. The new technique will definitely grab the carbon-di-oxide flue and it is being used to generate micro-algae which will used to produce oil.

FOREST ALERT: Support Finnish NGOs in Their Fight for Lapland's Ancient Forests

2009-02-06T04:40:00.000-08:00

The last unprotected intact forest landscapes in Northern Finland are currently being destroyed by the Finnish government and timber industry. Low-productive old-growth boreal forests located hundreds of kilometers north from the Polar Circle are being logged systematically. Trees more than 300 years old are mainly ending up in pulp wood piles of timber giant Stora Enso. Only less than 5% of Finnish forests have remained untouched by modern forestry.

The Finnish old-growth forest destruction today is totally unnecessary. Finland is a rich industrialized country with no economical need for logging the remains of its old-growth forests. Logging in old-growth forests is being carried out simply because government’s logging body Metsähallitus and forest industry have decided to wipe them out for short-term profit. Shockingly, these old-growth forest areas are providing less that 0.1% of the industry's wood supply.

Many of the areas being logged are over 50 000 hectares in size and are of global significance. In May 2006, Finnish NGOs published a report identifying the eight largest unprotected old-growth forest areas in Northern Finland's Forest Lapland region. NGOs, supported by over 250 leading Finnish scientists and researchers, urged protection of these last remnant old-growth forests. However, since December 2006, Finnish government has been logging these forests. Four out of five Finland's last intact forest landscapes are now deliberately being fragmented! Hundreds of habitats for red-listed species are to be destroyed.

Finnish pulp and paper giant Stora Enso buys most of the wood. While buying wood from intact forest landscapes and from habitats of threatened species, Stora Enso claims in its propaganda to be “committed into sustainability”. The logging is "certified" by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), purposefully misleading and completely confusing consumers regarding the environmental sustainability of first time logging of ancient forests.

This winter, Metsähallitus logging activities are more systematic and widespread than before. Logging is going on in four of the areas, and there are also plans for the remaining ones. Metsähallitus even attempts to justify their current logging by claiming these forests are not ecologically valuable, but have not presented any evidence to back up this claim. This senseless, destructive logging is trashing Finland’s reputation in environmental policy and is making the European Union's (EU) efforts in global forest protection seem ridiculous.

Finland has, as an EU member, committed to halting the loss of biodiversity by year 2010. In addition, Finland has committed to the Convention on Biological Diversity forest programme, which recommends that all countries take action to protect all remaining, large natural state forest areas by 2010. Logging large intact old-growth forest landscapes instead of protecting is clearly in conflict with Finland’s commitments.

Please, help Finnish NGOs to save Finland’s natural treasures and to put international pressure on their destructive forest industry. This is the latest protest in Ecological Internet's global campaign to protect all remaining old growth forests, and promote regeneration and restoration of secondary forests to late successional old-growth status. Increasing old forest cover globally is critical for achieving global ecological sustainability -- including climate, water and biodiversity.

Recycling products helps to lead an eco-friendly life style

2009-02-04T02:23:00.000-08:00

Environmentally friendly is otherwise known as “eco friendly” or “natural friendly “are usually refers to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment. In order to create awareness among the consumers, environmentally friendly goods and services are often marked with eco-labels. Products and services awarded the Ecolabel carry the logo, which greatly helps the consumers both in private and public sector to identify them easily. Ecolabelling systems exist for both food and consumer products.

Eco friendly products usually help to avoid damaging the environment. The goals of an eco-friendly life style is to promote a green earth. The Green revolution tried to inspire people to save the earth, the trees, and life-sustaining ecologies. Unfortunately, modern societies are so far removed from the earth, the trees and the environment .It fails to change lifestyles because our lifestyles are so technologically fascinated with Cell Phones and iPods and get more reaction than anything else except for low cost, convenience, and saving money.Big energy counts on these old refrains to keep everyone rooted in modern world realities whenever "Green" threatens their little kingdoms.” Green living” is nothing but living eco- friendly life style that is nothing but leading a life with health and longevity for humans, plants and animals.

Eco- Technology describes the use of energy efficiency and clean energy in order to promote eco friendly lifestyles. Eco powered tech will give consumers what they want and deliver what they need. Eco movements create a tremendrous change in everyone’s lifestyles by wholeheartedly acknowledging the affordable eco technology because it will ensure a green future for this planet. Our planet is in trouble is a well-known fact known to everyone. Almost every day we hear a quite number of problems which totally affect our environment by means of pollution, acid rain, global warming, the destruction of rainforests and other wild habitats; it will decline extinction of thousands of species of animals and plants.

Many of us are very worried about the future of our planet and unless we find a remedy for solving the problems, our environment will suffer even more. In order to protect our environment from the dangerous zone every one of us, should do something to slow down .We cannot leave the problem entirely to the experts because each and every one have a their own responsibility for our environment. We must learn to live in a sustainable way i.e. learn to use our natural resources which include air, freshwater, forests, wildlife, farmland and seas without causing ill to them. As populations expands and lifestyles change, we must keep the World in good condition so that our future generations will follow the same way and get the same natural resources like us.

The advantages of using recycled promotional items are abundant. Most organisations and business enterprises are making use of these recycled promotional items for their betterment of business. No business organizations will eliminate the use of promotional items from their business marketing strategy these days. When any organisation invests on any product for the purpose of business promotion, they basically aim at making maximum profit out of it. The impact and effectiveness of using recycled promotional products have been proved to be much more than their regular counterparts.

Nowadays recycling promotional items have become a world wide fashion because people of today came to be aware of the endangerment of environment. The use of recycled promotional products is not only promoting business but also send the message of consciousness of environment. People respect the gesture of advertising with a noble cause. Organisations using recycled promotional products largely benefits the customers and clients. They are very much impressed by the quality recycled promotional products and at the same time they are convinced to buy the products for a social belief. Recycled promotional products are the remanufacture and reprocessing of potentially used materials and commodities. They are made from used leather, glass, wood, vending cups, paper, CD cassettes etc. The manufacturing costs of these recycled products are very low as compared to the regular promotional gifts and products. These products are extremely economical and they attach a social beliefs with the aim of brand promotion. The ultimate advantage of using eco-friendly recycled promotional products is that, they are affordable. All business organizations are using recycled promotional products for their business promotion. Recycled promotional products are eco-friendly and helps to reduce the devouring of raw materials and maintain the ecological balance.

WTO deal achievable in next months: India

2009-02-01T06:01:00.001-08:00

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) — Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Thursday he was optimistic that the World Trade Organization could reach a new global free-trade deal in coming months.

"I see that there are greater sensitivities and comprehension of each others problems," he told delegates at the Davos forum.

"I am optimistic that in the next couple of months with intensive negotiations we should be able to close this round," he added, referring to the stalled Doha round of world trade talks launched in 2001.

Leading members had been considering a meeting in December to hammer out the outline of the world trade deal, but plans were scrapped when it became clear that consensus could not be reached.

"The political space in December in the US was not adequate for them to be able to move," Nath said, pointing to the end of George W. Bush's presidency and the imminent handover to Barack Obama.

Nath called on the United States to take on the "leadership" role in the quest for a global free trade deal, saying that he is "convinced that the American administration will take a positive view on the Doha round."

"We hope that the United States would take the leadership of the conclusion of the Round," said Nath.

The Doha Round of negotiations were launched in the Qatari capital in 2001 to help poor countries take advantage of free and fair trade but have missed several deadlines due to a range of disagreements between the 153 WTO members.

But a deal has proved elusive as rich and poor countries fail to agree on market liberalisation and subsidies.

Nath stressed that the ongoing financial crisis has highlighted the importance of having such an accord, warning that some countries are beginning to adopt protectionist measures.

"Protectionism remains a threat ... I am convinced that in the long term, protectionist will not help the economic situation in any country," he said.

A traditional informal meeting of trade ministers in Davos is planned for Saturday, according to a spokesman for the WTO, but the talks will be hamstrung by the absence of the US negotiator.

WTO deal achievable in next months: India

2009-02-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

INDIA YET TO TAP 80 PC OF SMALL HYDROPOWER POTENTIAL

2009-02-01T06:00:00.001-08:00

Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): India is yet to tap 80 per cent of its estimated Small Hydropower Potential (SHP) of 15,000 MW, which can be a major source of environment-friendly and cost-effective electricity generation. Tapping SHP is all the more important now as global warming is posing a threat to the environment, throwing up vital issues like drinking water scarcity, according to energy management expert Dr V K Damodaran.
Of the country's estimated SHP of 15,000, only 16 per cent has been developed so far. At least 50 per cent could be developed immediately, Dr.Damodaran, Vice-chairman of Kerala Energy Management Centre, said in a paper presented to the national workshop on Global Warming here recently.
This could be done with private participation or community involvement. "What is expected from the Government is proper, pro-active policies to facilitate development of SHPs",he said.
As done by European Union recently and China some 50 years back, framework directives should be put in place on simultaneous and multi-purpose use of water resources, he told PTI.
Hydro electricity is the world's leading source of renewable energy, supplying 19 per cent of electricity. But SHP accounts for only 10 to 12 per cent of hydel power, though it accounts for 63 per cent of renewable energy sources.
The greatest advantage of SHP over other sources of electricity is that it is most environment-friendly. When an SHP produces on kWh electricity, its environmental impact is 300 times less than with lignite, 250 times lower than coal, 125 times less than uranium and 50 times less compared to natural gas, he said.

US must lead world on climate

2009-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Former US vice president Al Gore called Wednesday for urgent new US leadership on climate change, "reversing years of inaction," and paving the way to a new global treaty completed by 2010.

Gore urged US lawmakers to quickly pass President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package, highlighting its environmental investments as "a down payment" on clean energy and a job-creating boon amid a paralzying recession.

"How can we afford not to do this?" the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Oscar winner, who jokingly called himself "a recovering politician," told the packed hearing room of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"In order to repower our economy, restore American economic and moral leadership in the world and regain control of our destiny, we must take bold action now," Gore declared.

The committee chairman, Democratic Senator John Kerry, had asked Gore to help map the way through year-long negotiations leading to global climate change treaty talks in December in Copenhagen.

With the lights dimmed, Gore made a dramatic keynote presentation of 57 slides, featuring vanishing polar ice caps, melting glaciers, grim droughts, devastating deforestation, and apocalyptic future costs of inaction.

"This is the one challenge that could completely end human civilization," he said, urging lawmakers to reject "false choices" between the American lifestyle and fighting global warming.

Gore also underlined that major developing countries like China must shoulder their share of any burdens emerging from the Copenhagen talks, which aim at crafting a treaty replacing the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

"This treaty must be negotiated this year. Not next year. This year," said the former vice president.

If Congress "acts right away" to pass Obama's stimulus plan and "takes decisive action this year" to cap carbon emissions, the US delegation to the Danish capital will enjoy "renewed authority to lead the world in shaping a fair and effective treaty," said the former vice president.

"A fair, effective and balanced treaty will put in place the global architecture that will place the world -- at long last and in the nick of time -- on a path toward solving the climate crisis and securing the future of human civilization," he said.

Gore praised Obama's stimulus plan for including environment-friendly items such as investments in energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy grid improvements and a shift to "clean cars."

"These crucial investments will create millions of new jobs and hasten our economic recovery -- while strengthening our national security and beginning to solve the climate crisis," said Gore.

The high-profile appearance came as Democratic lawmakers, bolstered by their broad majorities in Congress and new control of White House, have signaled they will take a more aggressive role in battling climate change than under Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.

Obama on Monday signed measures to encourage production of fuel-efficient cars and vowing to lead the fight against global warming.

In another sign of change, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton picked a veteran of the Kyoto Protocol talks as her envoy for climate change, as world leaders target a historic global warming pact this year.

Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol in 2001 dealing a blow to global climate change efforts, warning it would deal damage the US economy and could not work unless global efforts imposed pollution limits on rising powers such as China and India.

The Clinton administration agreed the Protocol in 1997 but never submitted it for ratification by the Senate -- where a 95-0 vote before it was finalized found not one senator willing to sign on to its principles.

Steps to reduce global warming ?

2009-01-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

Prevention is better than cure

Nowadays the global warming is a real threat to the people because it has already disrupts millions of the lives of people in the form of natural disasters such as earthquake, flood, volcano eruption and so on. The global warming is nothing but an indication of cosmic climatic change .This is caused heavily because of the activities of the human being. They are creating an excess of green house gases which emits heat into the atmosphere and finally leads to the global warming. These green house gases naturally cover the earth and keep it above 33 degree Celsius warmer than it would be without these gases in the atmosphere. Many of the greenhouse gases occur naturally due to water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Our children and the grand children are greatly affected by the consequence of global-warming. In order to reduce the increasing level of global warming and to protect the lives of people, we should take proper measures otherwise people will surely be an apparent to famine, water shortage, extreme weather condition, loss of plants and animals and so on.

Implement the suggested steps to reduce global warming and make changes in your own way of life style which will make a wide difference:

Drive fuel-efficient vehicles like bicycle, carpooling- it is nothing but driving with someone to a particular place that you are both going to. Doing this will minimizes the amount of greenhouse gases put into the air by a car. Walk whenever possible instead of taking car, bikes etc. Transportations like bus, train and other forms also lowed the emission of greenhouse gases. Try to use electric vehicle which will help you to prevent further global warming.

Replace all the incandescent that is bright light bulbs into the fluorescent light and save the maximum number of carbon-di-oxide per year.

Trees plantation is one of the greatest ways to reduce global warming. Carbon emission and pollution is balanced by sapling trees and plants. Plants like bamboo have a faster growth and produce 35% more oxygen than others. Avoid planting a problematic species like Silver Maple, Willows, Aspens and Cottonwood because these plants will cause a rapid damage.

Whenever you make an experiment with solar power, try to use a solar plank or board.

Don’t forget to replace your car- filters once in a month. It helps you to control the pollution caused by the vehicle and leads to improve your mileage smoothier. Keep your car tuned up, and check tire pressure often to save gas.

Try to take a meatless meals 2 to 3 times a week because livestock are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation. Eat less meat and more organic foods in your diet to do your part in preventing global warming. Vegetarian foods always help us to lead a healthier longevity life style.

When you are going to buy a new home appliances like refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioners etc, it is the best to Choose the energy-efficient appliances.

Reduce travelling through the flight, and other airways travel.

Always wash your clothes in cold water and dry it in air whenever possible.

To prevent Global Warming we must lowed the amount of the emissions of carbon dioxide world wide to less than one tenth of what they are today.

Try to use laptops because it’ll take much less energy than the desktop.

Use a low-flow shower, which will lower the level of hot water used and don’t drop your water pressure in the shower.

Always try to dispatch your garbage and try to buy fewer packaged materials to reduce further global warming from the garbages.

Unplug electronics when they are not in use, because they still take up energy. At the very least, get into the practice of turn items off when they’re not being used.

Run the dishwasher and clothes washer only when you have a full load, and it is also advisible to use the energy-saving setting if available.

The biggest sources of global warming causing gases in most of the houses comes from heating, cooling, and using electricity for various purpose. Protecting our home from global warming requires a draft free windows and doors. Small gaps in your windows and doors can cause you to absorb more energy than you really need to heat and cool your home temperature. To make your home free from drafts stay until a cold day, then hold your hand along the edges of your doors and windows feeling for cold air. You have to buy weather stripping from your local hardware store and install it in case of while detecting the draft.
Buy recycled paper products and recycle as much of your waste as possible. Educate and encourage your neighbors to recycling their products because maximum number of people are not doing it.

Bring your own reusable grocery bags, refillable beverage bottles and travel mugs while your shopping.

Use non-toxic cleaning products, which will gives you an honest power-packed clean without toxins, petrochemicals, bleach, ammonia, phosphates or other harmful ingredients.

Educate the younger generation about the values of earth, nature and highlight the vital role played by each and every citizen in the society in order to reduce the cause of global warming, because they are the future ruler of this universe.

Shop locally for foods and other consumable goods. A farmer’s market is an excellent place to visit and buy goods in a economical price. And choose fresh food over frozen foods. Fresh takes less energy to produce.

The people in the world are slowly aware of the critical problem that is global warming. However many are still in doubt. If you can promote the idea and show others that you care, the needed government action is more likely to be taken.

The tiny island nation of the Maldives is in trouble

2009-01-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

Maldives -Paradise may soon be lost

The tiny Island nation of the Maldives is in trouble. If global warming continues, these beautiful islands could definitely sink beneath the ocean within 100 years. The government is doing all in order to fight against the sea, but the fate of the Maldives is ultimately a global responsibility.

The archipelago nation made up of 1,200 tiny islands ranked 175th in the world for population (330,000) and 167th in terms of gross domestic product ($660 million) is universally well known to all, if it is known at all, as a tourist destination. the island nation has never played much of a role in global affairs. And yet its very existence is becoming a global responsibility.

Consisting of some of the lowest islands on earth, its highest point is only 2.4 meters (7.8 feet) above the surface of the ocean, the Maldives are especially accessible for rising sea levels caused by global warming, and unless the world community can effectively curtail carbon dioxide emissions, the little island paradise may soon be lost. The Maldives government has several schemes in order to protect the islands from the sea, ranging from consolidating the population onto several main islands to artificially raising some areas. These plans may help to save the country in the short term.

On these tropical islands, where everyone lives within minutes of the sea and almost no one owns a car, the spectre of global warming from carbon-dioxide emissions may seem distant, yet nowhere is the threat of the rising tide more real. According to the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, sea level is projected to rise between 9 and 88 centimeters that is 3.5 and 35 inches by the year 2100. If the higher end of that scale is reached, the sea could overflow the heavily populated coastlines of such countries as Bangladesh, cause the disappearance of some nations entirely.

The Maldives was one of the first countries to sign on to the Kyoto agreement. The treaty, which goes into effect on Wednesday of this week, seeks to reduce worldwide carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to stop the process of global warming. It is this warming, which causes thermal expansion -- water volume increases as it gets warmer in addition to melting glaciers and polar ice caps, that could spell the end of the archipelago. The Maldives has desperately tried to convince the United States, responsible for one quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, to sign on. Where the Maldives have failed politically though, they might succeed only as an example of the powerful negative effects humans have on the environment.

The Maldives is doing everything it can to avoid that distinction. In January this year, the government began implementing their “Safe Islands" project and have identified five main islands that will be designed to resist the rising sea and provide a new, safe home for Maldivians. If necessary, the government has even proposed artificially raising the elevation of some islands to keep them high and dry

Global warming Antarctica

2009-01-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

“Antarctica”, a home to the world's mightiest store of ice is affected by Global Warming throughout, evidently said by the Scientists They also declared the fact that the average temperature across the great southern continent has been rising for the last half century and the finger of blame points at the greenhouse effect.

Any significant flow of Antarctica could drown many coastal cities and delta regions. Bigger than Australia, Antarctica holds enough ice to raise global sea levels by 57 metres.

Just a small sliver of ice is holding a giant Antarctic ice shelf in place, with experts saying that it will collapse any time now. The Wilkins Ice Shelf is the latest victim of global warming, set to join nine other shelves that already have been be lost around the Antarctic peninsula in the past 50 years.A general belief is that the icy slabs have even cooled slightly and possibly thickened, partly in response to the chilling seasonal effects of the ozone hole over the South Pole.

It has been calculated that the West Antarctica has been warming by 0.17 ºC per decade over the past 50 years. This is even more than the Peninsula, where the average rise is estimated as 0.11 ºC per decade. As the result of hole in the ozone layer there has indeed been some cooling seen in East Antarctica, but this was mainly due to the season of autumn, There was also a period of strong cooling between 1970 and 2000.But, overall and when calculated over 50 years, East Antarctica has warmed too – by an average of 0.1 ºC per decade,

The sense of cooling in East Antarctica, is based mainly on the period of 1970 to 2000 and it's warmed since then although we don't have a lot of data for the most recent period .The work is based on a 25-year archive of observations by satellites measuring the intensity of infrared light radiated by the snow pack. These were stayed by data from automated weather stations deployed around the Antarctic coast since 1957.

Antarctic ozone hole bigger than ever

The hole could be eliminated by the middle of this century. If that happens, all of Antarctica could begin warming on a par with the rest of the world. The West Antarctic ice sheet, which holds enough ice to boost global sea levels by up to six metres, lies at an average height of about 1,800 metres. The East Antarctic ice sheet, divided from West Antarctica by a mountain chain, has an average elevation of around 3,000 m, which makes -it not only bigger but also colder.

According to the united Nations weather agency, the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has striked the record size logged six years ago.The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said that data from the U.S. space agency NASA showed that the hole in the atmospheric layer that guards the world against dangerous ultraviolet light had grown to 29.5 million square kilometres.The hole was recorded by NASA on September 25, and just beat the previous record of 29.4 million square kilometers which was set in September 2000.

There is a growing body of evidence that 2006 will be a bad year for the Antarctic ozone layer, with scientists agreeing that the hole has reached record proportions. This is largely due to temperatures above Antarctica reaching the lowest recorded levels since 1979.The hole measured by NASA was slightly bigger than the 28 million square kilometers announced by the European Space Agency (ESA) earlier this week. However, the ESA also discovered other records: a loss of 40 million tones, exceeding the previous high of 39 million tones set in 2000.

Ozone loss is calculated by measuring the area and depth of the ozone hole in the stratosphere, about 25 kilometers above the Earth's surface. Ozone, a molecule of oxygen, filters out dangerous ultraviolet rays from the Sun that damage vegetation and can cause skin cancer and cataracts. Scientists say the layer has been badly damaged by man-made chemicals, especially by chlorine and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used as aerosol gases and refrigerants.

The chemical reaction that thins ozone reaches its peak with colder high altitude temperatures in the southern hemisphere winter, normally in late August to October. CFCs and other ozone enemies were controlled by an international treaty signed 19 years ago. However large ozone holes are expected to persist for the next couple of decades because of the amount of pollutants already stored in the atmosphere. According to officials from the WMO and the UN Environment Program me (UNEP), the ozone layer over the Antarctic now looks set to be replenished 15 years later than originally predicted, setting the date back to 2065.

While ozone in the stratosphere is protective, at ground level a chemical reaction with exhaust fumes and sunlight makes ozone a pollutant that can be dangerous for people with respiratory or heart problems.

Obama layoff Guantanamo trials on first day

2009-01-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday U.S president Mr.Barack Hussein Obama began the job of Yielding his crises-weary nation out of its ” Winter of hardship ” taking action to close Gauntanamo trials and convening top economic and foreign policy aides. His first move came in the form of an order to prosecutors at the controversial military tribunals in the bay of Gauntanamo, Cuba appealing a suspension of the trial dealings.

Mr. Obama’s request was instantly granted by the judge to suspend the war crimes trial of Omar Khadr, a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of the end for the Bush’s administration system of trying alleged terrorists. Mr.Khadr’s lawyer said that suspension of 120 days has the practical effort for concluding the process Mr.Khadr’s, a Toronto native, faces charges that include supporting terrorism and murder for killing a U.S soldiers with a grenade during a 2002 battle in Afghanistan when he was fifteen.

A day after Mr.Obama’s historic inauguration as the first African-American U.S.President, key white house staff members also set to pour into a presidential mansion with the weight of financial and foreign policy threats suddenly resting on their shoulders.me.Obama was due to spend the first part of his day at the traditional prayer service at Washington national cathedral.

Then Mr.Obama was expected to call in his top economic lieutenant to start the task of repairing the ruptured U.S economy and shepered a huge $825-billion stimulus package through the U.S Congress.Mr.Obama was also expected to meet his top military leaders to fulfill campaign promise-telling the general to formulate a plan to get U.S troops out of Iraq, and reorienting military efforts towards war in Afghanistan.

What causes Global warming? and is it real?

2008-12-27T04:17:00.000-08:00

It's been scientifically proven that this "global warming" is actually a cycle of the earth.
Not that I'm against saving the environment; we seriously need to do some work on that instead of claiming "The Republicans did it" or "The middle class did it" "They don't care" "We should do something!"
But nothing ever happens. That's the problem with people today. They will talk their heads off but nothing will ever get done.

Yamaha YZF R15 the typical Sports bike for India

2008-06-24T22:38:00.001-07:00

Yamaha YZF R15 the typical Sports bike for India

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ursgokul to all

2007-01-01T07:26:00.000-08:00