Environment Diary #2
This is where you will post the Environment Diary #2. Due Friday, Oct 31.
posted by Mr. Enns at
11:29 AM
Geography 12
Heritage Christian School's Geography 12 Blog
Heritage Christian School's Geography 12 Blog
This is where you will post the Environment Diary #2. Due Friday, Oct 31.
posted by Mr. Enns at
11:29 AM
20 Comments:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/529/global-dimming
Summary:
Who: Global Dimming
What: Pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels is creating clouds that reflect the suns rays away from the planet. This is causing a lack of heat to reach the planet.
Where: Atmosphere
When: Now,
Why: Pollution is pumping these gasses into the air every day causing chemical changes in the clouds.
How: Fossil fuels are creating chemicals which are changing the properties of the clouds. Clouds are formed when water droplets are seeded by air-borne particles, such as pollen. Polluted air results in clouds with larger number of droplets than unpolluted clouds. This then makes those clouds more reflective. More of the sun’s heat and energy is therefore reflected back into space.
My Opinion: Even though this sounds like a good thing that will combat global warming it is in fact very bad for the environment and for people. It has already caused the death of millions in Sahel in Northern Africa by cooling the air which makes it rain less causing mass famine. Another problem is the fact that it is masking global warming. This means that if we stopped using fossil fuels as of today global dimming would disappear faster than the greenhouse effect. This would mean global warming would get worse not better. I think the only really option is to slow slide into a non-fossil fuel world so that the full brunt of global warming doesn’t hit us head on.
October snowstorm to whiten eastern Ontario
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/10/28/ot-snowstorm-081028.html
“Environment Canada predicts eastern Ontario could be ankle-deep in snow days before Halloween this year. A winter storm watch was in effect Tuesday from Brockville and the eastern edge of Algonquin Park to the interprovincial boundary with Quebec. In Ottawa, Environment Canada's weather office expected snow to be heavy at times Tuesday night, blown by wind gusts of up to 70 km/h as the temperature drops to the freezing point. A total of 10 to 15 centimetres of snow are predicted in the city, following 20 to 30 millimetres of heavy rain early in the day while the temperature hovers around 2 C. The snow is expected to melt later in the week as the high is predicted to hit 8 C on Thursday and 15 C on Friday.”
Who: Environment Canada
What: They are predicting that eastern Ontario will have a snow storm before Halloween this year. The snow will be 10-15 centimeters deep. They are monitoring the weather with a winter storm watch.
When: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 12:36 PM ET
Where: Eastern Ontario, Ottawa.
Why: The winter is coming in early this year, so they need to make sure that people are warned of the snow storm that is coming up.
How: The Environment Canada weather office gathered information of the temperatures that are to come into Ottawa. They were able to determine the weather for the week, and how much snow is going to fall, as well as rain that follows it. The temperatures are not going to stay low for long so it’s not fully winter yet.
My Opinion: I think that it is crazy that there is snow already falling up to 10-15 centimeters deep in the month of October! It is really important thought for people to be some what warned so they can prepare there cars, or dress warmer for the snow storm. Also if people are warned they can plan ahead with what things they may or may not be able to accomplish with a heavy snow storm on the way. Thankfully it is not completely winter for them, because the temperatures begin to rise during the week melting the snow. I honestly do not think people are quite ready for the snow to be falling in the month of October. Winter time needs to slow down its pace.
“Love of sushi pushes bluefin close to extinction”
http://www.canadaka.net/link.php?id=37877
"The bluefin tuna, prized for producing the world’s best and most expensive sushi, is facing extinction through overfishing by French and Spanish fleets, scientists have warned. The iconic species is renowned for its ability to accelerate faster than a Porsche, but it has proved unable to escape the giant nets and lines deployed by southern Europe’s tuna fleets. They have spent the past 10 years hunting down the remnants of what was once one of the Atlantic’s most common marine predators, repeatedly flouting quotas and disregarding scientific warnings, say the researchers. In a review they have described the management of the Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery as an "international disgrace" and warn that the species is facing a population crash from which it may never recover. Bluefins can reach nearly 700 kilograms in weight and are renowned for their fighting ability when caught on rod and line. They are so large that the killer whale is the only marine predator to hunt them. However, research by the Madrid-based International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas carried out ahead of a critical meeting next month to set new quotas, has found that European fishermen, mostly from southern countries such as France, Spain and Italy, are landing about 54,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna a year, more than double the European Union quota set in 2006. They also warn that the quota was set twice as high as it should have been. The findings will provoke a diplomatic row because the Mediterranean, where most of the fish are caught, is the main spawning ground for bluefin tuna throughout the Atlantic. It means the overfishing there has caused a catastrophic drop in populations off America, where there is also a fishery. There are several species of tuna. The tinned variety usually encountered by consumers are mostly skipjack or albacore tuna which are also over-exploited, but the bluefin is the closest to extinction. The booming global demand for sushi means that a single fish can be worth more than $40,000. The biggest markets are in Spain and Japan. Such high prices have spurred southern Europe’s fishermen to employ extraordinary techniques, including using spotter planes to find fish. Rebecca Lent, the U.S. official who will lead the American delegation to next month’s meeting, said she wanted the fishery to be shut down so that stocks could recover. "This fishery is facing a complete collapse and it needs to be protected," she said. Britain is likely to support a sharp cut in quotas and may also back a ban. A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "We want quotas in line with scientific advice and stronger enforcement."
Summary
Who: The Bluefin Tuna
What: The bluefin tuna, prized for producing the world’s best and most expensive sushi, is facing extinction through overfishing by French and Spanish fleets
When: October 19th, 2008
Where: Southern Europe
Why: The Bluefin tuna is renowned for its ability to accelerate faster than a Porsche, but it has proved unable to escape the giant nets and lines deployed by southern Europe’s tuna fleets. They have spent the past 10 years hunting down the remnants of what was once one of the Atlantic’s most common marine predators, repeatedly flouting quotas and disregarding scientific warnings.
How: The booming global demand for sushi means that a single fish can be worth more than $40,000. The biggest markets are in Spain and Japan. Such high prices have spurred southern Europe’s fishermen to employ extraordinary techniques, including using spotter planes to find fish. European fishermen, mostly from southern countries such as France, Spain and Italy, are landing about 54,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna a year, more than double the European Union quota set in 2006. This is twice as high as it should have been.
My Opinion: I think that things like this are proving just how selfish the world truly is. How could we destroy an entire species just for our own pleasure. Every day more and more species are beginning to go extinct because of what man is doing to the earth and all we do is stand by and watch it happen. Sure, tuna and sushi taste good, but should we make an entire species go extinct just so we can have some raw fish and seaweed? Its sad to think that it has come down to that.
Coral Reefs are Dying around the World
http://www.globalissues.org/article/173/coral-reefs
Summary
Who:Coral Reefs around the globe
What: All around the world, much of the world's marine biodiversity face threats from activities and events such as coastal development, overfishing, inland pollution, and global climate change.
When: Late 1990's till now
Where: All around the world
Why: Coral bleaching - caused by elevated sea surface temperatures due to global climate change;
Rising levels of CO2
Diseases, Plagues and Invasives - linked to human disturbances in the environment.
How: If climate change is not stopped, coral bleaching is set to steadily increase in frequency and intensity all over the world until it occurs annually by 2030 - 2070.
This would devastate coral reefs globally to such an extent that they could be eliminated from most areas of the world by 2100. Current estimates suggest that reefs could take hundreds of years to recover. The loss of these fragile ecosystems would cost billions of dollars in lost revenue from tourism and fishing industries, as well as damage to coastal regions that are currently protected by the coral reefs that line most tropical coastlines.
My Opinon: Coral reefs clean our oceans, without them, or if they are damaged our water will be gruby and gross. If the oceans just keep getting more polluted and not cleaned or helped cleaned by coral reefs all our water wild life will die. In my opinon most environmental issues are all connected in some way, when we help one issue it some how effects another for the better, so as long as we are doing something to better our environment at all times, i think we shall be ok.....hopefully.
Who: The Coral Reefs
What:Climate change alone could trigger a global coral die-off by 2100
When:October 01, 2008
where:CANCUN, Mexico
why:carbon emissions warm oceans and make them more acidic, according to a study published in December.
how: If climate change is not stopped, coral bleaching is set to steadily increase in frequency and intensity all over the world until it occurs annually by 2030 - 2070. This would devastate coral reefs globally to such an extent that they could be eliminated from most areas of the world by 2100.
CANCUN, Mexico -- Dainty blue fish dart around coral shaped like moose antlers near the Mexican resort of Cancun, but sickly brown spots are appearing where pollution threatens one of the world's largest reefs.
Parts of the reef, nestled in turquoise waters, have died and algae -- which feed on sewage residues flowing out of the fast-growing resort city -- have taken over.
Coral reefs like Chitales, near the northern tip of a Caribbean reef chain stretching from Mexico to Honduras, are dying around the world as people and cities put more stress on the environment.
Climate change alone could trigger a global coral die-off by 2100 because carbon emissions warm oceans and make them more acidic, according to a study published in December.
But local environmental problems like sewage, farm runoff and overfishing could kill off much of the world's reefs decades before global warming does, said Roberto Iglesias, a biologist from UNAM university's marine sciences station near Cancun.
"The net effect of pollution is as bad or maybe worse than the effects of global warming," said Iglesias, a co-author of the study in the journal Science on how climate change affects reefs. Human waste like that from Cancun's hotels and night spots aggravates threats to coral worldwide like overzealous fishing which hurts stocks of fish that eat reef-damaging algae.
Coral reefs, underwater structures that look like rocky gardens, are covered with tiny animals called coral polyps.
The polyps build the reefs by slowly secreting calcium carbonate over thousands of years, creating structures that can dull the blow hurricanes deal to coastal cities and are vital nurseries for fish.
The polyps also give the reefs their dazzling shades of pink and purple that delight scuba divers and boost tourism from the Great Barrier Reef of Australia to the Florida Keys.
Economically, reefs generate billions of dollars a year worldwide in tourism and fishing, the Nature Conservancy environmental group says.
Across the Caribbean, the amount of reef surface covered by live coral has fallen about 80 per cent in the last three decades, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network says.
In the Pacific between Hawaii and Indonesia, reefs have been losing about one per cent of their coral coverage annually over the last 25 years.
It is hard to tell how much of that damage was caused by global warming and how much by local factors like pollution. Some scuba diving instructors around Cancun are worried about the future of their trade. Jorge Olivieri, who has been taking tourists out diving in the area for the last 16 years, says some reefs are so damaged he would not take an experienced diver to see them.
"There are still fish and coral, but it isn't like it used to be," Olivieri said.
With the fight against global warming largely outside of the reach of local officials, fixing problems like poor sewage treatment and overfishing are among the few things that countries and cities can do to help their reefs.
"The local factors are the only things we can manage at this point and they are absolutely critical," said Drew Harvell, a biologist at Cornell University.
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Jesse
Article
Extreme tastiness, ferocious cocktails and urban drunkenness could make the rare pineapple squirrels extinct within four years environmentalists are warning.
Alarms about the demise of the delicious woodland creatures, which gather nuts and eat only pure sugar cane, have been raised before.
But Cody Smith, chief executive office of the British Columbia Pineapple Squirrel Foundation, believes the animal’s plight is as bad as he’s seen it in his 40 years as a pineapple squirrel advocate.
“When an animal is as tasty as the pineapple squirrel, it tends to have a lot of predators,” Smith says while drinking a pineapple squirrel cocktail. “Unfortunately for these little guys they are scrumptious in desserts, drinks and even just raw. The pineapple squirrels future is obviously bleak.”
“Kamloops has the strongest pineapple squirrel population in the world and dwindling numbers in the area could spell disaster for the species,” said Smith.
The biggest threat to pineapple squirrels isn’t a loss of habitat or scarcity of food. “The pineapple squirrel situation is unique in that they just evolved into something far too tasty. I mean, sure they are cute but so are lambs. I had a fabulous lamb dinner last night,” Smith explains.
While it remains to be seen if the mouth-watering pineapple squirrel can fend off extinction it is clear that the threats they face are real. Several hundred
pineapple squirrel carcasses were found in the woods over the weekend and the savagery with which they were eaten is sickening. “It’s hard to stop eating them once you start,” Smith continues, “the latest craze is to put out bowls of pure vodka or rum and watch the squirrels drink up. As the pineapple squirrels begin to pass out they can be eaten alive for an incredible buzz.”
Who:
Kevin Brockman
What:
Pineapple Squirrels are becoming EXTINCT!
When:
October 9 2008
Where:
Woodlands of BC
Why:
Because they're delicious!
How:
Over hunting is driving these poor adorable creatures into extinction and its really mean and stuff
My Opinion:
Well honestly I feel bad, knowing how these poor creatures are slaughtered and eaten because of their high blood alcohol content is horrible! But really it's not going to stop untill a new method becomes cheaper, its sad but that's the way things go in our world.
FIRES IN QUEENSLAND
ARTICLE:
Several parts of Queensland, Australia, were experiencing bushfires in late October 2008. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite shows scores of fires (locations marked in red) on October 24. The largest fire was burning in the central part of Cape York Peninsula, and multiple fires burned in the area surrounding Rockhampton. Although some of these fires may be intentional brush or grass-burning fires on managed lands or private property, local fire reports indicate that several of them are wildfires that are threatening homes and closing roads.
Who: Residents of Rockhampton and near Cape York Peninsula
What: Wild fires that have been started and are spreading across the Cape York Peninsula and outskirts of Rockhampton.
When: October 2008 (image taken on 24th)
Where: Queensland Australia (-20 degrees latitude, 140 degrees longitude.
Why: Because the land down under gets very dry and burns easily.
How: Obviously fire are a cause of warm and dry periods of time but fires are believed to be wild fires and were not intentionally started.
Opinion: As we have all seen in the past little while there has been a great many fires that have consumed earths countryside such as the okanagan mountain park fire, the fires in California and now these in queensland Australia. While we prevent all fires from happening we should be doing our part to make sure that non of these fires our started by ourselves. We should also start to find methods of keeping so of the extreme dry zones a little more moist if possible.
Yours Truly,
Chuck Norris
The government agreed to redraft its bill, which was given a third reading by 463 votes to three - a majority of 460 - in the Commons.
It accepted an amendment requiring ministers to take into account projected emissions from the sectors when setting future budgets that will cap emissions.
Environment minister Joan Ruddock said that action to reduce emissions from commercial aviation and shipping was "vital" to tackle the threat of climate change.
"In setting or advising on budgets due regard should be given to emissions from international aviation and shipping," she said.
But she stressed the main way of tackling such emissions would be through international agreements such as the EU emissions trading scheme and a successor to the Kyoto climate change protocol.
Coca-Cola Going Green
http://www.enn.com/business/article/38521
Summary:
Who: Coca-Cola Co.
What: Since 2002, Coca-Cola has been improving there water-efficiency. This is just one of the top green highlights in the 07/08 Coca-Cola Sustainability Review. This report also looks at total water use, energy use, wastewater treatment, packaging and recycling. Not only are 98% of their sales made of recyclable and/or reusable materials, they invested over sixty million dollars in the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle recycling plant, which recycles over two billion bottles into new bottles a year and they improved their energy-use ratio by 19%.
Where: Coca-Cola Manufacturing plants
When: October 29, 2008, 10:53 am
Why: Coca-Cola is very concerned about the environment. In particular, water efficiency. Coca-Cola joined the CEO Water Mandate, calling for urgent action in the growing water crisis around the world. They are doing their best to lower their effect on the environment.
How: Coca-Cola is lowering their impact in many ways. From improving their water efficiency and using recyclable and/or reusable materials to funding recycling plants and improving their energy-use ratio by upgrading to 35% more efficient cooler for their products, Coca-Cola is making this world a little greener, one step at a time.
My Opinion: I think that Coca-Cola is doing a great job. They are finding many ways to reduce their impact on the environment. Finally we have a business that is looking to profit the earth rather than just themselves. With just a few minor adjustments to their factories, they are being a huge blessing to the earth and us all. I think more businesses should follow Coca-Cola’s great example.
-Ashleigh Miller
Environmental Article Summary #2
Rebekah McMurphy
October 29th, 2008
Geography 12
Community involvement with forest management can boost biodiversity
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachArticle.aspx?cid=8819&codi=37390&idproducttype=6
Who: Community-based forest management program
What: Study of forestry practices in India shows that involving local communities in conservation efforts can boost the biodiversity and stability of forest ecosystems. Community-based forest management policies can therefore represent valid carbon mitigation strategies. The EU’s Biodiversity Action Plan, called on member states to recognize the central role of biodiversity in reducing the impact of climate change and to develop programs to conserve those species and habitats most at risk.
When: Launched in 2006
Where: India (and now other rapidly developing countries)
Why: As emissions increase due to energy consumption in these countries, other strategies will need to be employed to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Forests as carbon sinks may therefore prove to be valuable resources.
How: The EU aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20 per cent of 1990 levels by 2020. One way to help achieve this may be to increase the carbon storage potential of forests by boosting the biodiversity and stability of forest ecosystems.
My Opinion: I think it’s important that people are thinking about the environment and the forests and thinking ahead. They need to have action plans to sustain natural life for longer, and to support the environment and let the forests be free to give oxygen. But in order for the tress to do there proper job, they need to reduce pollution and the way they treat there forests.
Jamie Fielder
"Climate change Affects Biodiversity"
http://www.globalissues.org/article/172/climate-change-affects-biodiversity
This Page Last Updated Monday, February 21, 2000
The World Resources Institute reports that there is a link between biodiversity and climate change, as rapid global warming can affect an ecosystems chances to adapt naturally. This highlights the importance of attempts to do things about it, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Buenos Aires Conference.
The weather phenomenon, El Niño, having wreaked much havoc around the world, coupled with deforestation and other unregulated activities by many countries, are leading to huge disaster zones, such as that in Mexico, which houses a whopping great 10% of all the species on this earth.
Summary
Who: All the ecosystems. (Everyone)
What: The global warming and climate change is destroying the biodiversity/ecosystems all over the world and hindering its chances to adapt naturally, animals will become extinct because they can not handle these harsh weather changes and eventually the food chain will be disrupted affecting everyone.
When: Monday, February 21, 2000 its been happening for the last eight years.
Where: Many different countries and ecosystems a few are U.S.A.(new orleans), Mexico, and China.
Why: All of the pollution we are emitting into the atmosphere and the radiation from the sun is causing global warming and are ecosystems are starting to rapidly change in weather aspects, also deadly storm are happening around the earth.
How: This issue can be solved if we start thinking green and attempt to do things that Kyoto Protocol and the Buenos Aires Conference. Another way is steeping in and saving animals when they start to rapidly die.
My opinion on this issue is that it should be addressed as soon as possible because it is just another one of the affects by global warming, and global warming is probably the single biggest problem now a days in terms for environmental issues. I think we have to sustain are biodeversity and not let Gods creation diminish.
This is from Maddie, who was having some issues:
Feeding Wild Ducks
by Lori Goodman / Live Ducks
http://www.liveducks.com/wfeeding.html
Who: Wild duck population
What: They are becoming overly socialized and endangered feeding
When: observations over a period of time. Their ability to fly and retain natural instincts for survival depends entirely on the foods they eat.
Where: in many areas
Why: because of human interference, especially feeding
How:By feeding wild (or dumped domestics) you are contributing to their early death, shortening their lives ten-fold.
Disease, malnutrition, overbreeding, infighting, easy pickings for predators, are just a few of the problems that occur when people feed the ducks.
In my Opinion: I dont really care about the ducks. i think there bloody annoying. but i suppose there important. so dont feed the ducks.
Global Dimming
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dimming_prog_summary.shtml
"We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.
The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel. Comparing Israeli sunlight records from the 1950s with current ones, Stanhill was astonished to find a large fall in solar radiation. "There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me," he says.
Intrigued, he searched out records from all around the world, and found the same story almost everywhere he looked, with sunlight falling by 10% over the USA, nearly 30% in parts of the former Soviet Union, and even by 16% in parts of the British Isles. Although the effect varied greatly from place to place, overall the decline amounted to 1-2% globally per decade between the 1950s and the 1990s.
Gerry called the phenomenon global dimming, but his research, published in 2001, met with a sceptical response from other scientists. It was only recently, when his conclusions were confirmed by Australian scientists using a completely different method to estimate solar radiation, that climate scientists at last woke up to the reality of global dimming.
Dimming appears to be caused by air pollution. Burning coal, oil and wood, whether in cars, power stations or cooking fires, produces not only invisible carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas responsible for global warming) but also tiny airborne particles of soot, ash, sulphur compounds and other pollutants.
This visible air pollution reflects sunlight back into space, preventing it reaching the surface. But the pollution also changes the optical properties of clouds. Because the particles seed the formation of water droplets, polluted clouds contain a larger number of droplets than unpolluted clouds. Recent research shows that this makes them more reflective than they would otherwise be, again reflecting the Sun's rays back into space.
Scientists are now worried that dimming, by shielding the oceans from the full power of the Sun, may be disrupting the pattern of the world's rainfall. There are suggestions that dimming was behind the droughts in sub-Saharan Africa which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the 1970s and 1980s. There are disturbing hints the same thing may be happening today in Asia, home to half the world's population. "My main concern is global dimming is also having a detrimental impact on the Asian monsoon," says Prof Veerhabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists. "We are talking about billions of people."
But perhaps the most alarming aspect of global dimming is that it may have led scientists to underestimate the true power of the greenhouse effect. They know how much extra energy is being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere by the extra carbon dioxide (CO2) we have placed there. What has been surprising is that this extra energy has so far resulted in a temperature rise of just 0.6°C.
This has led many scientists to conclude that the present-day climate is less sensitive to the effects of carbon dioxide than it was, say, during the ice age, when a similar rise in CO2 led to a temperature rise of 6°C. But it now appears the warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from dimming - in effect two of our pollutants have been cancelling each other out. This means that the climate may in fact be more sensitive to the greenhouse effect than thought.
If so, then this is bad news, according to Dr Peter Cox, one of the world's leading climate modellers. As things stand, CO2 levels are projected to rise strongly over coming decades, whereas there are encouraging signs that particle pollution is at last being brought under control. "We're going to be in a situation, unless we act, where the cooling pollutant is dropping off while the warming pollutant is going up. That means we'll get reduced cooling and increased heating at the same time and that's a problem for us," says Cox.
Even the most pessimistic forecasts of global warming may now have to be drastically revised upwards. That means a temperature rise of 10°C by 2100 could be on the cards, giving the UK a climate like that of North Africa, and rendering many parts of the world uninhabitable. That is unless we act urgently to curb our emissions of greenhouse gases."
Who:Scientists, Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel, Prof Veerhabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists, and Dr Peter Cox, one of the world's leading climate modelers.
What: An excess of pollution from fossil fuel burning is causing more clouds than the world is meant to have which in turn is reflecting the suns rays. This prevents heat from entering the earth, creating an opposite in the global warming issue.
When: It is happening right now and has been happening for the past few years. It will continue to advance if action isn't taken to stop this.
Where: Earth.
Why: Pollution from fossil fuels goes up to our atmosphere and has nowhere to go. It, in turn, forms clouds of pollution which blocks out the suns rays that heat the earth.
How: Fossil fuel pollution causes clouds of pollution that become "stuck" in our atmosphere and block out the sun.
My Opinion: I think that, although it evens it up with the Global Warming issue, this is also an issue that needs a significant amount more of attention drawn to it. It is not going to get better unless we do something about it. If it keeps getting worse, we could freeze and all life forms on Earth would die. The only way to stop this is to cut way back on our fossil fuel emissions and pollution as it is not only affecting the temperature but also our nature and growing world along with our health!
Energy Thinkers Ponder The Future
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/energy-thinkers-ponder-the-future/?hp
Senator Barack Obama has said that energy issues will be near the top of his presidential agenda, and he will have plenty to wrestle with — foreign oil, climate change, renewable energy and green jobs, to name a few.
In the wake of Mr. Obama’s decisive victory on Tuesday night, Green Inc. contacted experts from a variety of fields with four questions relating to the energy priorities and pitfalls facing the new administration. Their e-mailed responses were a mix of high expectations and sober realism.
Vaclav Smil, a professor at the University of Manitoba who has authored numerous books on global energy issues, told us informally that anyone expecting Mr. Obama to “transform the world” will be quickly disabused of the idea — particularly when it comes to energy policy. “The degree of disappointment that must follow such a gross naivete will be phenomenal,” Mr. Smil wrote.
“There will be precious little of any rapid change,” he added, “as energy systems are inherently inertial and as energy transitions take decades to accomplish. Besides, he will preside over a bankrupt nation.”
Who: Barack Obama, Green Inc, Vaclab Smil, USA, Environment
What: Barack Obama leaves doubts in the minds of Americans and scientists that environmental change will actually come to America and the world from Barack Obama.
Where: USA. Environment. Earth.
When: Now till a new president is found, and if not resolved, continuously into the future.
My Opinion: I think Barack Obama needs to insure that his words that he promised during his campaign don't be pushed to the back as an issue that doesn't need to be immediately resolved. If someone in a substantial world position doesn't step up to change this drastically, the world is in severe danger of collapsing. Barack Obama has an opportunity to give America a fresh start and he needs to do that by attending to the environmental issues as well as the economic and political.
Malaysian logging plans threaten rhinos and tigers
http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/38646
Who - WWF
what - Rhinos and Tigers
where- Malaysia
When- Nov.13, 2008
Why - Ther building Dams which are the animals habitat so they are dying.
My Opinion -
I think that they dont need to build dams in that spacific area. they could build it in some other area.
Disappearing ponds bad news for High Arctic
Last Updated: Monday, July 2, 2007 | 5:20 PM ET
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2007/07/02/onds-arctic.html
Who: Researchers studying ponds in Canada’s High Arctic
What: Permafrost melting. Global warming related to pond levels decreasing.
Where: Canada’s High Arctic
When: July 2, 2007
Why: Global warming.
How: Thermistors to measure water temperature and land temperature and they also measure water death. They started in 1983 and continued every couple of years. They suggest the reason that ponds are decreasing or disappearing is because of global warming.
My Opinion: Global warming sucks. Because as water levels rise due to global warming, China, Australia, Vancouver Island, and coastal cities in the States will be flooded.
- maegan knorr
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/178/climate-change-and-global-warming
summary:
who: global warming
what:With global warming on the increase and species and their habitats on the decrease, chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing. Many are agreed that climate change may be one of the greatest threats facing the planet.
where:the atmosphere
when: right now silly
why:The climate is changing. The earth is warming up, and there is now overwhelming scientific consensus that it is happening, and human-induced.Recent years show increasing temperatures in various regions, and/or increasing extremities in weather patterns.
my opinion: Well maybe sence this global warming thing is human-induced people should start caring about the environment. I've noticed that Canadians are more on top of this than Americans. Most Americans don't recycle and anything to do with a compost is out of the question, we americans are lazy and could care less. But our world is being polluted and this should be stopped get the Americans on board!!
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