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If the benefits of avoiding climate change are taken into account, it could create an incentive for producers and consumers to invest in products and technologies that emit less greenhouse gases.

Mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse emissions are high in cost, but in the long run will have an economic benefit by reducing the impact of climate change, local air pollution and energy resource depletion. These measures could contribute to stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2100.

Changes in lifestyle that emphasize resource conservation can contribute to developing an economy that is sustainable. Education and training programs are the key to human awareness and can lead to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

All sectors including buildings, industry, energy production, agriculture, transport, forestry, and waste management could contribute to the overall mitigation efforts, such as greater energy efficiency.

Energy Supply: Energy infrastructure investments decisions will have long term impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, because of the long life-times of energy infrastructure. They can create opportunities to achieve emission reductions by 2030 through:

• investing in the reduction of energy consumption rather than in new energy supply infrastructure
• switching from coal to gas  
• renewable energy (hydro, solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy)
• combined heat and power generation

Transport: There are multiple solutions with transportation, such as more fuel efficient vehicles, hybrid vehicles, cleaner diesel engines, biofuels, shift from road transport to rail and public transport, alternatives such as cycling and walking, and urban planning that reduces the need for road transport.

Buildings: Energy efficiency options for new and existing buildings could considerably reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Available options include efficient lighting, appliances, heating and air conditioning, improved insulation, solar heating and cooling, as well as recycling or using alternatives for fluorinated gases in refrigeration.

Industry: Methods of improvement include the use of more efficient electrical equipment, heat and power recovery, recycling, and control of non-carbon dioxide gas emissions. Many industrial facilities in developing countries are new and include the latest technology. However, upgrading the many older, inefficient facilities remaining in both industrialized and developing countries could deliver significant emission reductions.

Forestry: Forest-related mitigation activities such as afforestation, reforestation, improved forest management, reduced deforestation, and use of forestry products to replace fossil fuels can considerably reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Such efforts can also improve sustainable development and adaptation to climate change. Most of the potential lies in the tropical regions, and could notably be achieved by reducing deforestation.

Waste: The post-consumer waste sector is a small contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, less than five percent, yet it can contribute to mitigation efforts at low cost through landfill methane recovery, waste incineration with energy recovery, composting, recycling, and waste minimization.

Expected Impacts Around the World

 Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change because of the existing pressures on its ecosystems and its low capacity to adapt. It is predicted that by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people will be affected by increasing water shortages. Agricultural production and fisheries resources are expected to decrease, reducing local food supplies and exacerbating malnutrition.

In Asia, climate change is projected to increase pressures on natural resources and the environment. Glacier melt in the Himalayas is projected to increase flooding and rock avalanches, and affect water resources within the next two to three decades. It is expected that less fresh water will be available due to both climate change and population growth. Heavily populated coastal areas will be at greatest risk due to increased flooding. Crop yields could increase in East and Southeast Asia while they could decrease in Central and South Asia by the mid-21^st century. The projected increase in floods and droughts is expected to increase the associated health problems and deaths due to diarrhoea.

In Australia and New Zealand a significant loss of biodiversity is projected to occur in some ecologically-rich sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef. Water security problems are projected to intensify and production from agriculture and forestry is expected to decline due to increased drought and fire. Ongoing coastal development and population growth are projected to exacerbate the risks resulting from sea-level rise and increases in the severity and frequency of storms and coastal flooding by 2050. The region has a substantial capacity to adapt because of its well-developed economy, scientific and technical capability, but natural systems can only adapt so far.

In Europe, wide ranging impacts of changes in current climate have been documented. Retreating glaciers, longer growing seasons, shifts in the geographic spread of species, and health impacts due to an unprecedented heat wave have already occurred. It is anticipated that nearly all European regions will be negatively affected, which will amplifying regional differences in natural resources and assets. Health risks due to heat waves are projected to increase in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. Negative impacts will also include increased risk of inland and coastal floods and extensive species losses in mountain areas. In Northern Europe, climate change is initially projected to bring some benefits such as reduced demand for heating, but as climate change continues, its negative impacts are likely to outweigh its benefits.

In Latin America, warming and drier soils are projected to lead to a gradual replacement of tropical forest by savanna, and to salinization and desertification of agricultural lands. There is a risk of significant species extinction in many tropical areas. Changes in precipitation patterns and the disappearance of glaciers are projected to significantly affect water availability for human consumption, agriculture and energy generation. Some countries have made efforts to adapt, through ecosystem conservation, use of early warning systems, however, the effectiveness of these efforts is outweighed by technological, financial, political and social constraints.

In North America, warming in western mountains is projected to cause more winter flooding and reduce summer flows. Moderate climate change in the coming decades is projected to increase overall yields by five to twenty percent on agricultural lands that rely of rainfall. Pests, diseases, and fires are expected to have increasing impacts on forests. Cities that currently suffer from heat waves are expected to see them increase in number, intensity and duration. The growth of populations in coastal areas increases vulnerability to tropical storms which could become more intense.

In the Polar Regions, the main effect foreseen is a reduction in thickness and extent of glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, and permafrost, and associated impacts on infrastructures, ecosystems, and traditional ways of life. Beneficial impacts would include reduced heating costs and more navigable northern sea routes. Arctic human communities are already adapting to climate change, but their capacity to adapt is limited.

Small Islands are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea level rise and extreme events. They are at risk of coastal erosion, floods, storm surges, which could harm tourism and affect the livelihood of local communities. Climate change could also cause reduce water resources and increase the risk of invasion by non-native species.

source: Greenfacts.org

What does the future hold?

LiveScience.com put out a timeline of global warming in 2007 that runs all the way through the year 2200. Each year describes future effects of global warming including diseases, population and geographical changes.

According to Greenfacts.org, the global average temperature is expected to increase by about two degrees celcius, per decade, over the nest two decades. If greenhouse gasses increase, that average temperature will also increase.

The global average sea level is expected to rise by 18 to 59 cm by the end of the 21st century. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet is projected to continue and to contribute to sea level rise after 2100. If it were to keep melting until Greenland ice disappeared completely, global sea level would rise by about 7 m.

Other projected changes include:

• increased acidification of the oceans caused by increasing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere
• shrinking snow cover and sea ice, and decreased permafrost
• increasingly frequent hot extremes, heat waves, and heavy precipitation events  
• more intense tropical cyclones (typhoons and hurricanes)
• a moving of extra-tropical storm tracks towards the poles, with consequent changes in wind, precipitation, and temperature patterns
• greater amounts of precipitation in high-latitudes and less rain in most subtropical land regions
• a slowing of the Atlantic Ocean circulation.

 

WWF Advertisements

The World Wildlife Fund created these advertisements for the fight to stop global warming.

As a side note… Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary

1970: Sidewalk Oil Spill

On the first Earth Day in 1970, protesters left oil in their wake as they rallied against offshore drilling in front of the U.S. Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C.

Earth Day was the brainchild of Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, who was upset at the scant attention political leaders paid to environmental issues. In 1970 more than 20 million people participated in protests across the country.

As of 2009 more than a billion people around the world participate each year in Earth Day activities, according to the Earth Day Network. Here are just a few things you can do to help celebrate Earth Day…

• Take public transportation, carpool or bike. Leaving your car at home twice a week can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 pounds per year.
• Allow grass clippings to stay on the lawn, instead of bagging them. The cut grass will decompose and return to the soil naturally.
• During hot weather, don’t top off your gas tank. Even a small gas spill adds to air pollution and wastes fuel.
• Run your dishwasher only when it’s full. Don’t pre-rinse dishes – tests show pre-rinsing doesn’t improve dishwasher cleaning, and you’ll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load.
• A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, but taking a five-minute shower saves water by using 10 to 25 gallons. Put a little timer or clock near your shower so you can see how fast you are.
• Help protect the environment when you shop. Keep reusable bags on your car seat or near your door so they are easy to grab when you go.
• Don’t trash it – reuse it! Be creative as you look for new ways to reduce the amount or kinds of household waste. Give cardboard tubes to pet hamsters or gerbils. Plant seeds in an egg carton. Make a flower pot out of a plastic ice cream tub. By thinking creatively, you will often find new uses for common items and new ways to recycle and reduce waste.

The Opposition

Global warming is not a top priority of the American people. In fact, it is a low priority at just 28 percent with the economy, jobs and terrorism at around 80 percent. So if we are killing the Earth, as they say we are, why aren’t Americans caring more?

According to the Hearland Institute website, “Global warming is the biggest environmental issue of our time. Its political and economic impacts will be larger than those associated with any other environmental issue.”

The Energy Tribune put out an article called “12 Facts About Global Climate Change That You Won’t Read in the Popular Press.” The article lists all of the current scares of global warming, that actually contradict this environmental issue. It says, even as carbon dioxide continues to rise, temperatures have been cooling since 2002. Greenhouse models show the warming should be greatest at mid to high atmosphere levels in the tropics. But balloon and satellite observations show cooling there.

When the oceans were warm in the 1930s to the 1950s, Arctic ice diminished and Greenland warmed. The recent ocean warming, especially in the 1980s to the early 2000s, is similar to what took place 70 years ago and the Arctic ice has reacted much the same way, with diminished summer ice extent. Antarctic ice has been increasing and the extent last year was the greatest in the satellite monitoring era, which means that wee are ahead of last year’s record pace.

The critical data that is continuously observed is the increase of atmospheric CO2 that claims to be released by humans causing temperatures to increase through the greenhouse effect. If we look closer, there is a trend with all the collected data; it all is forming the same conclusion because they come from the same data. The result is dependent upon the data and not vice versa. So where is the correct data?

The IPCC, the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva, puts out a report on the climate change every six or seven years. The 1995 IPCC report put out a chart that displays the current temperatures are well below the highest level placed at over 2,000 years ago. Then the 2001 report replaced the original chart with the “hockey stick” chart, pointing out that the year 2000 is significantly higher temperatures than ever before. The 2001 report also released a new temperature chart.

In actuality, the IPCC consists of 10 full-time unpaid volunteers and thousands of scientists and universities and research institutes around the world who contribute as authors or reviewers in the completion of each report. This is good reasoning for each report to contain many factual errors.

The accuracy of the consensus can be applied through it’s history; Y2K, global cooling, ten years of oil left, Russia as a superior military power, welfare reform starving women and children and Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction.

The Support

According to National Geographic, global warming is a subject that shows no sign of cooling down and Earth is showing many signs of climate change.

The last two decades were the hottest in 400 years, which means the rate of warming is increasing.

The Arctic would be the place that is feeling the effects the most. The average temperature in Alaska, western Canada and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average. The Arctic ice is quickly disappearing and it is predicted that 2040 will be the first completely ice-free summer.

Along with the rapid disappearing of the Arctic, glaciers and mountain snows are going at the same rate. For example, in 1910, Montana’s Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers. It currently has 27 glaciers. The Northern Hemisphere thaws come a week earlier in the spring and freezes begin a week later. Small but prolonged rises in sea temperature force coral colonies to expel their symbiotic, food-producing algae, a process known as bleaching. In 1998, coral reefs suffered the worst bleaching, with some areas seeing a 70 percent increase.

So the question is, are humans causing it?

“Very likely,” said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a 2007 February report.

The report was based on 2,500 scientists in more than 130 different countries and concluded that humans have caused most of not all of the current warming, called anthropogenic climate change when human-caused.

Industrialization, deforestation, and pollution have greatly increased atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth’s surface. Humans are creating the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere faster than plants and oceans can obsorb it. The gases maintain in the atmosphere for years, so if all the emissions were eliminated today global warming would not immediately stop.

The Truth About Global Warming

In a nutshell, global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s air and oceans and its projected continuation. The reasoning behind the increase in temperature is likely caused by greenhouse gases and human activity like fossil fuel burning and deforestation. It is predicted that the increase in global temperature will cause sea levels to rise and will change the patterns of precipitation. Other effects include the retreat of glaciers in the Arctic, intensity of extreme weather, species extinction and changes in agriculture.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies show that 2005 was the warmest year, exceeding the previous record set in 1998 by a few hundredths of a degree. Temperatures in 1998 were unusually warm because the strongest El Nino in the past century happened that year.

So here is the proposed question, is global warming an actual occurance that is continuing to get worse due to human activity or is global warming a natual occurance that the Earth cycles through every few decades?

The next few weeks will be dedicated to digging deeper toward the issue to finding a true solution.

Quakes linked to post-gas drilling process

This was published by the Associated Press on March 1o.

“FORT WORTH — A study released Wednesday says there’s a plausible connection between a series of North Texas earthquakes and a disposal process that’s done after natural gas drilling. The dozen minor quakes were reported in a few Dallas suburbs from the fall of 2008 through last spring — and another dozen too small to be felt were detected by equipment. The largest was a 3.3-magnitude quake, and no major injuries or damage were reported. The Southern Methodist University and University of Texas study says the quakes occurred during the time wastewater from the gas extraction process was injected into a deep disposal well near the quake sites. The study does not include information about last summer’s series of quakes in Cleburne, about 50 miles southwest of Dallas.”

The Majority Agrees

The votes are in for the Pew Research Center Publications and we continue to support alternative energy and offshore drilling.

A total of 78 percent of the public support federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology.

At the same time, the public continues to support offshore oil drilling: 63 percent say they favor allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters while 31 percent are opposed.

With this overwhelmingly support that we are receiving, why is there not more getting done to obtain alternative energy? Yes we see the large wind mills placed sporadically all over, but who and where is the initiative?

It is much easier to agree with a survey, than to actually have a desire to get out and make a difference.

First and foremost, everyone should recycle. It is by far the easiest way to contribute and do your part for the environment. That is going to be my personal mission for the week. If they do not already, I am going to try and get everyone to recycle, and nothing major but merely household items like plastic, glass and paper.

It doesn’t hurt to put recyclables in a red bin oppossed to a black one.