Clipmarks | invictus's 'climate change' clips

Eat less meat to fight climate change: UN expert

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:12:09 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: OK Mousie, no way out: drop that bacon back on the table and put your hands in the air. Um... And stop contaminating bourbon with that meat, please.

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

People should cut their consumption of meat to help combat climate change, a top United Nations expert told a British Sunday newspaper.

Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told The Observer that people should start by having one meat-free day per week then cut back further.

The 68-year-old Indian economist, who is a vegetarian, said diet change was important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental problems associated with rearing cattle and other animals.

Tags: climate change, carbon emission, vegetarianism, united nations, science

"Exploding Asteroid" Theory Strengthened By New Evidence

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:40:11 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (July 3, 2008) — Geological evidence found in Ohio and Indiana in recent weeks is strengthening the case to attribute what happened 12,900 years ago in North America -- when the end of the last Ice Age unexpectedly turned into a phase of extinction for animals and humans – to a cataclysmic comet or asteroid explosion over top of Canada.

A comet/asteroid theory advanced by Arizona-based geophysicist Allen West in the past two years says that an object from space exploded just above the earth’s surface at that time over modern-day Canada, sparking a massive shock wave and heat-generating event that set large parts of the northern hemisphere ablaze, setting the stage for the extinctions.

"The kind of evidence we are finding does suggest that climate change at the end of the last Ice Age was the result of a catastrophic event," Tankersley says.

Tags: ice age, catastrophe, asteroids, comets, climate change

Arctic sea ice melt 'even faster'

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:33:56 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

Greenland is already losing ice to the oceans, contributing to the gradual rise in sea levels. The ice cap holds enough water to lift sea levels globally by about 7m (22ft) if it all melted.

Natural climatic cycles such as the Arctic Oscillation play a role in year-to-year variations in ice cover. But Julienne Stroeve believes the sea ice is now so thin that there is little chance of the melting trend turning round.

"If the ice were as thin as it was in the 1970s, last year's conditions would have brought a dip in cover, but nothing exceptional.

"But now it's so thin that you would have to have an exceptional sequence of cold winters and cold summers in order for it to rebuild."

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter.

Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007.

But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss.

Scientists on the project say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years.

In March, Nasa reported that the area covered by sea ice was slightly larger than in 2007, but much of it consisted of thin floes that had formed during the previous winter. These are much less robust than thicker, less saline floes that have already survived for several years.

By the end of last year, one research group was forecasting ice-free summers by 2013.

Tags: climate change, arctic sea, melting, nsidc, science

The coming famine

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:32:27 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.cosmosmagazine.com

BARRING NUCLEAR WARS, pandemics and cosmic accidents, there will be about 9.1 billion people living in the world in 2050. Yet they will eat as much food as 13 billion people at today's nutritional levels. So how will we feed them all? The answer to this question could be the greatest scientific challenge of the 21st century – greater even than finding a solution to climate change.

The problem is that humanity is consuming more food, year-on-year, than it produces, especially as demand for high-protein food increases in high population developing countries like China and India.

The world is also moving towards a water crisis: cities are now taking up to half of the water that was once used to grow food, while groundwater levels are declining in every country where it is used for food production.

Tags: food, water, resources, population, economy, production, famine, drought, world

'No Sun link' to climate change

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:18:21 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists have produced further compelling evidence showing that modern-day climate change is not caused by changes in the Sun's activity.

The research contradicts a favoured theory of climate "sceptics", that changes in cosmic rays coming to Earth determine cloudiness and temperature.

The idea is that variations in solar activity affect cosmic ray intensity.

But Lancaster University scientists found there has been no significant link between them in the last 20 years.

Presenting their findings in the Institute of Physics journal, Environmental Research Letters, the UK team explain that they used three different ways to search for a correlation, and found virtually none.

This is the latest piece of evidence which at the very least puts the cosmic ray theory, developed by Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark at the Danish National Space Center (DNSC), under very heavy pressure.

Tags: climate change, solar activity, science

Antarctic shelf 'hangs by thread'

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 21:44:45 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A chunk of ice the size of the Isle of Man has started to break away from Antarctica in what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate.

Satellite images suggest that part of the ice shelf is disintegrating, and will soon crumble away.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf has been stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the 1990s.

Six ice shelves in the same part of the continent have already been lost, says the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Professor David Vaughan of BAS said: "Wilkins is the largest ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula yet to be threatened.

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

Tags: climate change, global warming, antarctica, wilkins ice shelf, science

Water Shortage: Worst nightmare becoming true

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:55:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Amy Goodman interviews Peter H. Gleick and Maude Barlow about "water problems" appearing seriously on the horizon, globally.

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

For the longest time, people have taken water for granted. Most people don't think about where their water comes from. They just turn on the tap, and they expect it to be there. Those days are ending.

This notion that we'll have water forever is wrong. California is running out. It's got 20-some years of water. New Mexico has got 10, although they're building golf courses as fast as they can, so maybe they can whittle that down to five. Arizona, Florida, even the Great Lakes now, there's huge new demand.

The Nile River doesn't reach its end. The Colorado River, the Yellow River in China, they, for the most part, don't flow anymore to the sea.

You know those movies where there's the comet coming at the earth, and all of a sudden the governments of the world say, "Gee, we're not -- our differences aren't so big anymore, because we're about to all die"? That's really where we are. There is a comet coming at us. It's called water shortage.

Tags: water, climate change, earth, resources, water shortage, science

Ancient Antarctic eruption noted

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:24:30 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Data came from an airborne survey which made radar images

Scientists have found what they say is the first evidence of a volcanic eruption under the Antarctic ice sheet.

They believe the volcano erupted about 2,000 years ago, and would have burst through its ice covering, producing a burst of steam and rocky debris.

The British Antarctic Survey (Bas) scientists report their finding in the journal Nature Geoscience.

They say it could aid understanding of an ice mass which is likely to play a key role in climate change.

The researchers discovered the eruption's traces by analysing radar data collected during an airborne survey of the area in 2004/5.

Tags: volcanoes, antarctica, geology, science

Rising seas 'to beat predictions'

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:37:06 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Sea level rise is fuelled by melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica

The world's sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists have previously predicted, according to a study.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposes a maximum sea level rise of 81cm (32in) this century.

But in the journal Nature Geoscience, researchers say the true maximum could be about twice that: 163cm (64in).

They looked at what happened more than 100,000 years ago - the last time Earth was this warm.

The results join other studies showing that current sea level projections may be very conservative.

Sea level rise is a key effect of global climate change. There are two major contributory effects: expansion of sea water as the oceans warm, and the melting of ice over land.

Tags: climate change, sea levels, environment, science

Ancient Flood Triggered Climate Cooling

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:42:11 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

ScienceDaily (Dec. 17, 2007) — As the giant North American ice sheets melted an enormous pool of freshwater, many times larger than all of the Great Lakes, formed behind them. About 8400 years ago this pool of freshwater burst free and flooded the North Atlantic. About the same time, a sharp century long cold spell is observed around the North Atlantic and other areas. Researchers have often speculated that the cooling was the result of changes in ocean circulation triggered by this freshwater flood. The sudden addition of so much freshwater would have curtailed (suppressed) the sinking of deep water in the North Atlantic and as a consequence less warm water would be pulled north in the Gulf stream.

In a new study in Science (published online in Science Express 6 December) Kleiven and co workers confirm that the deep ocean was disturbed in just the way previous workers had speculated.

Tags: oceans, flood, climate change, prehistory, science

2007 data confirms warming trend

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:44:45 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: "The 11 warmest years in this set have all occurred within the last 13 years."

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

In Spain's 2007 heatwave, people cooled off as best they could

2007 has been one of the warmest years since 1850, despite the cooling influence of La Nina conditions.

The UK's Hadley Centre and University of East Anglia conclude that globally, this year ranks as the seventh warmest.

The 11 warmest years in this set have all occurred within the last 13 years. For the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 was the second warmest recorded.

The findings come as politicians at the UN climate summit try to agree a path leading to cuts in carbon emissions.

Tags: climate change, global warming, science

Japan Sea Temperature Rise Nearly Triple 100-Year World Average

Thu, 17 May 2007 16:31:18 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.oceanconserve.org

Sea surface temperatures around Japan have risen as much as three times the world average over the past century, due partly to global warming, the country's weather agency said.

Average temperatures have risen in a range from 0.7 to 1.6 Celsius (35 Fahrenheit), depending on the area. World ocean temperature rose on average 0.5 Celsius from 1900 to 2006, the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a report issued yesterday.

``We assume the sea temperature change is the result of global warming,'' said Yasushi Takatsuki, a weather agency official. The JMA report itself didn't cite possible causes for the higher ocean temperatures.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says global warming is very likely the result of human activities, including gases released from burning fossil fuels, attributable to emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.

Tags: climate change, japan, sea temperatures, global warming

Snow? In Australia?!?

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 10:58:02 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: More freakish weather...and not a snowflake in sight here where it should be. Here in the country where I live at the moment, we've only had below freezing temps two nights in ALL! Just read, that here it's been/is the hottest winter on record EVER! No global warming some say? Yeah right!! Tell it to the Easter Bunny!

Clip Source: www.playfuls.com

Snow In Australia Whites-out Forest Fires

08:50 AM, December 25th 2006
by News Staff

Thousands of volunteers battling forest blazes in Australia's south-east corner received a timely Christmas present Monday when snow fell on fires that over the last three weeks have burned 870,000 hectares.

"I didn't actually believe it until it actually came last night," volunteer fireman Paul Koenig told national broadcaster ABC in the Mt Buller ski resort in Victoria.

"It's put the white cover across the buildings and the white cover over the ground, so it looks beautiful," he said.

In Melbourne, the state capital, it was the coldest Christmas Day in 70 years. In the neighbouring state of New South Wales temperatures also plummeted with the Thredbo ski resort receiving a dusting of snow.

In Hobart, the Tasmanian state capital, children were throwing snowballs where a week ago smoke plumed from a forest on fire.

"We've come all the way from England for a warm summer and here we are in the snow in Hobart, but we're still enjoying it," one tourist told the ABC.

Weather bureau forecaster Scott Williams said the unseasonably low temperatures meant fires in three states could be extinguished by the end of the week.

"It's a terrific Christmas present for the firefighters," Williams said. "It's going to go a long way to putting the fires out."

At their height, 4,000 firefighters were pitched against the blazes. There were contingents from New Zealand as well as from the military. Dozens of water-bombing aircraft have been in action.

Forest fires sparked by lightning or set by arsonists are a feature of the hot southern hemisphere summer. Four years ago seven people were killed, 500 houses razed and 3 million hectares of forest lost - an area three times the size of Britain.

© 2006 DPA

Tags: global warming, climate change

Eating Meat Could Destroy the Planet

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 03:04:40 GMT

clipped by: mykoo

Clip Source: www.emagazine.com

Organizations from Greenpeace to the Union of Concerned Scientists, World Bank and the Pentagon, all agree that global warming is, perhaps, the most serious threat to our imperiled planet. The Pentagon report, for example, states that climate change in the form of global warming “should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. national security concern,” higher even than terrorism.

What many people do not know, however, is that the production of meat also significantly increases global warming. Cow farms produce millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane per year, the two major greenhouse gases that together account for more than 90 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions, substantially contributing to “global scorching.”

Geophysicists Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin from the University of Chicago concluded that changing one’s eating habits from the Standard American Diet (SAD) to a vegetarian diet does more to fight global warming than switching from a gas-guzzling SUV to a fuel-efficient hybrid car. Of course, you can do both — and more! It has been said that “where the environment is concerned, eating meat is like driving a huge SUV.... Eating a vegetarian diet is like driving a mid-sized car [or a reasonable sedan, according to Eshel]. And eating a vegan diet (no dairy, no eggs) is like riding a bicycle or walking. Shifting away from SUVs and SUV-style diets, to much more energy-efficient alternatives, is key to fighting the warming trend.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s Unit on Climate Change, “There is a strong link between human diet and methane emissions from livestock.” The 2004 State of the World is more specific regarding the link between animals raised for meat and global warming: “Belching, flatulent livestock emit 16 percent of the world’s annual production of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.”

Tags: health, meat, global warming, vegetarianism, vegetables, science, diet

Experts warn Fla. about climate change

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:08:59 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Scientists and economists Tuesday warned lawmakers of consequences Florida faces from climate change, including more destructive hurricanes and a rising sea level, but they also said the state could be a leader in reducing global warming.

Three panels of experts spoke at a symposium held by the House Environmental Resources Council and three related committees.

Climate change will figure into comprehensive energy and environmental policy legislation the lawmakers will be considering during the 2008 legislative session, said Council Chairman Stan Mayfield, R-Vero Beach.

Some legislators, though, questioned whether Florida could do much to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, spewed mostly from power plants and vehicle exhausts, that contribute to global warming. That's because Florida emits only 1 percent of those gasses worldwide.

Tags: climate change, global warming, florida, science