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Livestock production has a bigger impact on climate change than transport, UN beli...
People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist.
Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will make the call at a speech in London on Monday evening.
UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport.
But a spokeswoman for the UK's National Farmers' Union (NFU) said methane emissions from farms were declining.
Dr Pachauri has just been re-appointed for a second six-year term as chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning IPCC, the body that collates and evaluates climate data for the world's governments.
"The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat productino account for about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions," he told BBC News.
"So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider."
The FAO figure of 18% includes greenhouse gases released in every part of the meat production cycle - clearing forested land, making and transporting fertiliser, burning fossil fuels in farm vehicles, and the front and rear end emissions of cattle and sheep.
The contributions of the three main greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide - are roughly equivalent, the FAO calculates.
Transport, by contrast, accounts for just 13% of humankind's greenhouse gas footprint, according to the IPCC.
(click the link for the rest of the article) People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist. ... more -
Reverse Graffiti
"Painted" Skulls on the inside of a tunnel in Sao Paolo, Brazil created by wiping away dirt caused by car emissions. Although it may not have had a huge impact on reducing green house gases, at least it got people to notice and made the authorities clean all the tunnels. Not bad for just one guy with a towel, some water and a gas mask. "Painted" Skulls on the inside of a tunnel in Sao Paolo, Brazil created by wiping away dirt caused by car emissions. Althoug... more
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Earth hotter now than in past 2,000 years
From the report: The planet is hotter now than it has been for nearly the past 2,000 years, researchers report.
The new study is led by Michael Mann, a climatologist who helped develop the famous 1998 "hockey stick" graph—a reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere temperatures over the past thousand years showing a sharp uptick beginning around 1900.
In their new work, Mann and colleagues back up the hockey stick graph by citing other temperature indicators in the natural record.
The researchers analyzed coral reef skeletons, cores from glaciers and ice sheets and sea floor sediments, and stalagmites and stalagtites formed in caves—all of which trap chemicals that reveal what the temperatures were across past centuries.
"Ten years ago the estimates for earlier centuries were really primarily reliant on just one sort of information: tree ring measurements," said Mann of Pennsylvania State University.
"To satisfy the critics, we now have enough other sources that we can achieve meaningful reconstructions back a thousand years without tree ring data, and we get more or less the same answer"—that global warming is not mainly due to natural variability.
Hot Anomaly.
Measurements of the planet's temperature from reliable thermometers stretches back only about 150 years, and measuring temperatures of earlier centuries is quite a bit harder.
Taking the planet's temperature in, say, A.D. 1000, requires measuring tree rings, cores from ice sheets and glaciers, and other natural records that reveal, indirectly, how warm it was in a given year.
But in these reconstructions, "there was quite a bit of uncertainty," Mann said.
The climate has varied over the centuries, with warmer and cooler stretches, the study affirmed.
And yet, Mann said, "you can go back nearly 2,000 years and the conclusion still holds—the current warmth is anomalous."
"The burst of warming over the past one to two decades takes us out of the envelope of natural variability."
The study will appears today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Hockey Stick Graph.
The hockey stick graph has become a lightning rod for criticism of the idea that the planet is warming mainly due to human-made greenhouse gases.
Many critics contend that tree rings are unreliable temperature gauges, because temperature is not the only factor that affects the rings.
The controversy led to hearings in the U.S. Congress over the methods Mann and colleagues used in the 1998 study.
However, a 2006 report from the National Research Council—a private, nonprofit scientific institution that advises the U.S. government—supported the hockey stick study while detailing the major uncertainties.
Pleasantly Surprised.
In centuries past, isolated regions have warmed up from time to time, such as during the so-called Medieval Warm Period, when Europe experienced warmer temperatures from about A.D. 900 to 1400.
"But what's unique about modern warming is that essentially the whole globe is warming up in tandem," Mann said.
"The so-called hockey stick … it's alive and well."
Climatologist Gabriele Hegerl of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland is "pleasantly surprised" by the new study.
"Being able to get essentially [the] same result without tree ring data shows that what we are seeing is not something specific to tree rings," Hegerl said, "but a real temperature response." From the report: The planet is hotter now than it has been for nearly the past 2,000 years, researchers report. ... more -
Iraq War's Environmental Impact
Iraq War's Environmental Impact
A fascinating report by Oil Change International calculates greenhouse gas emissions of the Iraq War and a snapshot of the opportunities lost involved in fighting war rather than climate change.
Some of the findings of the report:
* Activities in the Iraq war have released at least 141 million metric tons of carbon since March 2003, equal to putting 25 million more cars on the road in the U.S.
* Projected U.S. spending on the Iraq war would be enough for all of the GLOBAL investments required in renewable energy generation between 2008 and 2030 to stop current global warming trends.
* The $600 billion allocated by Congress for Iraq military operations could have built 9000 wind farms, enough to meet a quarter of U.S. present electricity needs.
* In 2006, The U.S. spent more on the Iraq War than the entire world spent on renewable energy investment.
* U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama has pledged to spend “$150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of green energy technology and infrastructure.” The U.S. spends nearly $150 billion on the Iraq War in just 10 months.
Where do these Iraq War emissions come from?
Fuel used in combat, oil well fires and increased gas flaring, the increase in cement consumption due to reconstruction efforts and security needs, and explosives and chemicals that contribute to global warming.
The report authors note that these emissions estimates are very conservative
Source: A Climate of War: The War in Iraq and Global Warming By Nikki Reisch and Steve Kretzmann, March 2008 Iraq War's Environmental Impact ... more -
The final countdown: 100 months to save the world
A group of global warming experts has announced that time is running out to stop irreversible climate change and the situation might be even worse than expected: apparently, we only have 100 months to avoid disaster and that is a conservative estimate!
The article explains why we will reach a tipping point for the beginnings of runaway climate change in just 100 month's time unless we start to act now!
Read the article and come back to let us know what you think. Is this just another example of panic-mongering? Or do you believe in the figures and think we are headed for disaster? If the latter is the case, do you intend to change your behaviour and if so, how? A group of global warming experts has announced that time is running out to stop irreversible climate change and the situation might b... more -
California to sue EPA on greenhouse gas emissions
California will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "wantonly" ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, aircraft, and construction and agricultural equipment, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said on Wednesday.
Brown said the lawsuit, to be announced at a news conference at the Port of Long Beach on Thursday and filed in Washington after a 180-day waiting period mandated by the Clean Air Act, was meant to force the EPA into action.
The lawsuit follows two similar ones this year by California in conjunction with other states on car and truck emissions and ozone pollution.
"Ships, aircraft and industrial equipment burn huge quantities of fossil fuel, causing greenhouse gas pollution, yet President (George W.) Bush stalls with one bureaucratic dodge after another," said Brown, a strong advocate for the environment since his two terms as a liberal California governor in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Because Bush's Environmental Protection Agency continues to wantonly ignore its duty to regulate pollution, California is forced to seek judicial action," he said.
Brown said he was filing the lawsuit because he had petitioned the EPA three times to implement such regulations and was met only with a "pathetically weak" proposal that did not conclude greenhouse gases endangered public health. California will sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "wantonly" ignoring its duty to regulate greenhouse gas emi... more -
Destruction of Wetlands Could Unleash Carbon Bomb
The worlds wetlands, threatened by development, dehydration and climate change, could release a plant warming "carbon bomb" if they are destroyed, say ecological scientists. The worlds wetlands, threatened by development, dehydration and climate change, could release a plant warming "carbon bomb" ... more
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Americas 10 Most Walkable Cities
This is a "walk score" list of the ten most walkable cities today. It's great to see that a lot of the big cities are emphasizing urban travel without the family car. This is a "walk score" list of the ten most walkable cities today. It's great to see that a lot of the big cities are e... more
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Exelon to slash greenhouse gases by 2020
"Exelon Corp. said Tuesday that it plans to slash its greenhouse gas emissions and those of its customers within 12 years to levels below what one of the nation's largest power generators currently emits every year.
The Chicago-based company, already on track to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent from 2001 levels, said its $10 billion plan to cut 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually will be the equivalent of removing nearly 3 million cars from American roads. Greenhouse gases are cited for rising world temperatures.
"The science is overwhelming - climate change is happening now and human activity is the primary cause," John Rowe, Exelon's chairman, president and chief executive, said in a statement." "Exelon Corp. said Tuesday that it plans to slash its greenhouse gas emissions and those of its customers within 12 years to leve... more -
Climate Change could mean Global Political Instability
"Without curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, the volume of warming pollution worldwide could hit 42.3 billion metric tons per year by 2030—a 51 percent increase over present levels, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. This gloomy, worst-case scenario also foresees oil prices of $186 per barrel and a world that consumes 50 percent more energy, mostly fossil fuels. Such a lack of action could also lead to global instability, according to a classified National Intelligence Assessment report (pdf) presented to Congress this week by the U.S.'s 16 intelligence agencies. The report concludes that climate change over the next two decades will contribute to political instability in Africa and Asia, due to changing rainfall patterns or an increase in extreme weather. The U.S. would remain relatively unaffected—other than some thawing in Alaska, water shortages in the Southwest and storm surges on the eastern and southern coasts. The U.S., however, may benefit from increased crop yields, although its military may be stretched dealing with global "humanitarian emergencies" (spawned by devastating natural disasters and regional conflicts)." "Without curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, the volume of warming pollution worldwide could hit 42.3 billion metric tons per year... more
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Oil sands: Canada's dirty secret
As oil prices continue to reach record highs, the search for new sources of energy has led the world to Alberta, Canada, and its vast oil sands. Now, John Vidal finds, the country famed for its wilderness and clean living finds itself caught between fuelling the world's oil-hungry economy and the ecological devastation and soaring greenhouse gas emissions that exploiting the tar sands produces.
The Caterpillar 797B heavy hauler is the world's biggest truck. It's taller than a four-storey house, as wide as a tennis court and it removes nearly 35,000 tonnes of oily sand a day from a deep open cast mine in northern Alberta in western Canada.
Truck number 108 is driven by Norman Johnson, 63, a long-time Shell man who is planning to spend his retirement fishing, camping and "hunting the critters" in the vast boreal forests and bogs that stretch across the region. "It's just like driving your car. Couldn't be easier - once you get used to its size," he says from his cab, 40ft off the ground. He won't let the Guardian start up either of its two great engines.
But the future of northern Alberta's aspen and pine woods, its rivers and animals are in doubt as the world's greatest modern oil rush accelerates. Shell, Chevron, Exxon, Total, Occidental, Imperial and most other oil majors have so far invested nearly $100bn Canadian dollars (£50bn) in the 1,160 square mile (3,000 square kilometre) "bitumen belt", which is being called the "new Kuwait".
A decade ago, the vast landscape of forests and lakes around Fort McMurray and the Athabasca river provided a fairly minor and barely profitable sand oil industry. But it is now pitted with hundreds of square kilometres of toxic waste ponds, mines that are 300ft deep, hundreds of miles of pipes and burgeoning petrochemical works. Every day brings a bumper to bumper stream of lorries carrying the world's largest plant, pipes and machinery to the area, as well as young men seeking fortunes, and, say critics, the devastation of a pristine land. As oil prices continue to reach record highs, the search for new sources of energy has led the world to Alberta, Canada, and its vast ... more -
Flat-Screen TV Gas 'a Climate Time Bomb'
A greenhouse gas called nitrogen trifluoride, used to make the TVs, is 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide
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Watch the Climate Change on your Flat Screen TV
Nitrogen trifluoride is a greenhouse gas that’s used to make flat-screen televisions and computer screens. The crux of the problem with NF3 is that it has 17,000 times more destructive atmospheric potential than carbon dioxide. Production of the gas has grown to 4,000 tons per year and is expected to double by next year. Nitrogen trifluoride is a greenhouse gas that’s used to make flat-screen televisions and computer screens. The crux of the problem wit... more
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Flat panel TVs worse for the environment than a coal plant
Oh crap. It looks like these seemingly more environmentally benign TVs actually contain nitrogen triflouride, which is a pretty nasty chemical, sometimes referred to as 'the missing greenhouse gas'.
It's something that few people know about, and we need better education on the chemicals that go into our electronics!
The best promising technology is OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode), which are far superior environmentally. Let's push this technology and stop buying huge (and increasingly cheap) flat panel LCDs! Oh crap. It looks like these seemingly more environmentally benign TVs actually contain nitrogen triflouride, which is a pretty nasty... more -
White House asserts executive privilege in air-quality case
WASHINGTON — Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House on Friday asserted executive privilege in denying a congressional request for thousands of pages of documents related to the federal government's rejection of California's efforts to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. Congress is attempting to determine whether President Bush played a role in the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to deny California's request for permission to impose tougher air-quality regulations than federal law called for. California had been granted such waivers numerous times over the years, but the Bush administration delayed and then rejected its request for authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. "I don’t think we’ve had a situation like this since Richard Nixon was president," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is conducting the investigation. An EPA official, Jason Burnett, has told committee investigators that EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson had favored granting the waiver but denied it after meeting with White House officials. In testimony last month, Johnson refused to say whether he’d discussed the waiver request with Bush. Waxman canceled a contempt vote that had been scheduled for Friday morning against Johnson and White House official Susan Dudley after the White House informed him of its last-minute decision. Waxman said the two had refused to cooperate with his panel...
(Click on the link for the rest of the story) WASHINGTON — Setting up a constitutional showdown, the White House on Friday asserted executive privilege in denying a congressional r... more -
The new vegetarianism: meat is more murderous than ever
Back in April, under the auspices of a campaign titled No Meat No Heat, around a million people in Taiwan - including the speaker of parliament, the environment minister, and the mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung - vowed to never again touch flesh nor fish. Given that Taiwan's Buddhist traditions mean around 1.2 million of its people are already vegetarian, this was perhaps not such a bold move as it seemed, but still: the organisers of the mass pledge cited the often overlooked contribution of livestock farming to greenhouse gas emissions, and presented it as an environmental move par excellence. Back in April, under the auspices of a campaign titled No Meat No Heat, around a million people in Taiwan - including the speaker of p... more
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Science academies urge 50 pct CO2 cuts by 2050
Major economies should aim to halve world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and work out ways to bury gases in a wider assault on climate change, the science academies of 13 nations said on Tuesday.
"Progress in reducing global greenhouse gas emission has been slow," the academies of the Group of Eight (G8) nations and China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa said in a statement targeting leaders at July 7-9 summits in Japan.
The statement noted that G8 leaders agreed in 2007 to "consider seriously" a goal of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to help limit changes such as droughts or flooding, heatwaves, more powerful cyclones or rising seas.
Developing nations argue that rich countries have to take the lead before they sign up to any curbs on their rising emissions. Major economies should aim to halve world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and work out ways to bury gases in a wider assault on ... more -
Government Sponsored Chaos! is Ruining our Planet
Sky Watch up in Oregon is Pissed!
CAN WE CONTROL THE WEATHER?
By Rosalind Peterson
August 10, 2007
NewsWithViews.com
On August 5, 2007, a Discover Channel Program, “CAN WE CONTROL THE WEATHER?” was aired for the first time. It was an interesting program about hurricanes, scientific interest in controlling them, and also scientific interest in local and global control of the weather.
However, the underlying theme of the presentation was about ethics, politics, technology, scientific uncertainty, and morality. Part of the program was based upon a paper written in February 2002, by Dr. Ross N. Hoffman, “Controlling the Global Weather.”
What are the risks and ethical considerations if scientists “play god” and try to control the weather? Who has oversight over their actions? Does the public have a right to know about these experiments and their environmental and human health implications?
Weather Modification may adversely impact agricultural crops and water supplies. If the weather is changed in one state or region of our country it may have severe consequences for other regions of our country. And who is going to decide the type of weather modification experimentation and who it will benefit or adversely affect? There are many ethical questions to be raised with regard to weather modification programs.
The Discovery Channel Program did not address Sky Watch up in Oregon is Pissed! CAN WE CONTROL THE WEATHER? By Rosalind Peterson August 10, 2007 NewsWithViews.com ... more -
Oz TV advises CO2-emitting children to die early
Carbon Cult sickos are under fire for an interactive website that tells children they should die because they emit CO2.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's "Planet Slayer" site invites young children to take a "greenhouse gas quiz", asking them "how big a pig are you?". At the end of the quiz, the pig explodes, and ABC tells children at "what age you should die at so you don’t use more than your fair share of Earth’s resources!"
It's one of a number of interactive features that "Get the dirt on greenhouse without the guilt trips. No lectures. No multinational-bashing (well, maybe a little...). Just fun and games and the answers to all your enviro-dilemas," ABC claims.
The site is aimed at 9-year olds. However even a "virtuous" rating (e.g. not owning a car and recycling) is outweighed by eating meat, or spending an average Aussie income - with the result that many 9-year olds are being told they've already outstayed their environmentally-compliant stay on the planet.
"Do you think it's appropriate that the ABC ... depict people who are average Australians as massive overweight ugly pigs, oozing slime from their mouths, and then to have these pigs blow up in a mass of blood and guts?" asked Senator Mitch Fifield in the Herald-Sun.
The state-sponsored broadcaster (why is that not a surprise?) defended the morbid quiz, with ABC managing director Mark Scott insisting "the site was not designed to offend certain quarters of the community but to engage children in environmental issues."
Which is eco-speak for frighten them witless. However, as the excellent science blog Watts Up With That points out, the site clearly breaches Australian broadcasting guidelines on "harmful or disturbing" content.
Meanwhile, the site's designers are revelling in the controversy:
"Thank God for outraged senators - you can't buy publicity like that," PlanetSlayer's "creative director" Bernie Hobbs crowed to the New York Post. Carbon Cult sickos are under fire for an interactive website that tells children they should die because they emit CO2. ... more -
Bay Area Imposes First Pollution Tax In U.S.
Air quality regulators in the Bay Area have become the first in the nation to impose a tax on greenhouse gases emitted by local businesses.
The board of the Bay Area Quality Management District (BAAQMD) voted overwhelmingly (15 to 1) for the measure. The fees will be imposed on around 2,500 local businesses once the new rules come into effect on July 1.
The BAAQMD's jurisdiction covers nine districts that surround the San Francisco Bay, including Napa, Sonoma, San Mateo, and Marin County. The organization is charged with attaining and maintaining air quality standards "to protect the public's health and the environment."
The region’s seven biggest polluters are expected to have to pay more than $50,000 each in the first year of the scheme, however fees for the majority of businesses are expected to be less than $1 per year. With polluters being charged a nominal fee of 4.4 cents per ton of CO2, the measure is more symbolic than punitive.
Though the penalties are low, many local business leaders are concerned that reporting mechanism will add additional, unforeseen costs, since, like our tax system, the program will be honor-based, with businesses being expected to measure their own emissions.
The measure is expected to raise $1.1 million in the first year, which will be used to fund air quality programs. Meanwhile, officials hope the scheme will set a precedent and serve as a model for others across the nation. Air quality regulators in the Bay Area have become the first in the nation to impose a tax on greenhouse gases emitted by local busin... more
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