THE EARTH IS OUR MOTHER!!!

The Earth supports us.  Stripping her bare of all her resources is like a baby sucking it's mother dry and then dying in the womb.   Ripping up her forests, dumping waste into her oceans, exploding nuclear missiles in the South Pacific, and burning trash that we should be recycling is the same as turning on your Mother and trying to kill her!!! 

I hear you cry, 'but there's nothing I can do!'

There IS something you can do, whether it is only recycling your waste.  Paper, glass, aluminum and some plastics can all be recycled.  It doesn't take a great deal of effort to do this.  If you are a political activist write to you local politician and join an organization dedicated to the care of the world.   If you are attending college there may be a body concerned with these things already in place, and if there isn't, start one.  Don't buy things from companies known to pollute, try not to pollute yourself.  

Yes, all these things well take effort and time, but in the long run if we all took just 5 minutes a day to do the right thing, we could stop the world from being completely drained within the next generation.

Whenever you save energy--or use it more efficiently--you reduce the demand for gasoline, oil, coal, and natural gas. Less burning of these fossil fuels means lower emissions of carbon dioxide, the major contributor to global warming.   Right now the U.S. releases about 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per person each year. If we can reduce energy use enough to lower greenhouse gas emissions by about 2% a year, in ten years we will "lose" about 7000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per person.

Here are 20 simple steps that can help cut your annual emissions of carbon dioxide by thousands of pounds. The carbon dioxide reduction shown for each action is an average saving.

HOME APPLIANCES

1.Run your dishwasher only with a full load. Use the energy-saving setting to dry the dishes. Don't use heat when drying.  Carbon dioxide reduction: 200 pounds a year.

2.Wash clothes in warm or cold water, not hot. Carbon dioxide reduction (for two loads a week): up to 500 pounds a year.

3.Turn down your water heater thermostat; 120 degrees is usually hot enough.  Carbon dioxide reduction (for each 10- degree adjustment): 500 pounds a year.


HOME HEATING AND COOLING

4.Don't overheat or overcool rooms. Adjust your thermostat (lower in winter, higher in summer).  Carbon dioxide reduction (for each 2-degree adjustment): about 500 pounds a year.

5.Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5% of the energy used.  Carbon dioxide reduction: About 175 pounds a year.


SMALL INVESTMENTS THAT PAY OFF

6.Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights.    Carbon dioxide reduction (by replacing one frequently used bulb): about 500 pounds a year.

7.Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket.   Carbon dioxide reduction: Up to 1000 pounds a year.

8.Install low-flow shower heads to use less hot water.  Carbon dioxide reduction: Up to 300 pounds a year.

9.Caulk and weatherstrip around doors and windows to plug air leaks.  Carbon dioxide reduction: Up to 1000 pounds a year.

10.Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy-inefficient.  Carbon dioxide reduction: Potentially, thousands of pounds a
year.


GETTING AROUND

11.Whenever possible, walk, bike, carpool or use mass transit.  Carbon dioxide reduction (for every gallon of gasoline you save): 20 pounds.

12.When you buy a car, choose one that gets good gas mileage.  Carbon dioxide reduction (if your new car gets 10 mpg more than your old one): about 2500 pounds a year.


REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

13.Reduce waste: Buy minimally packaged goods; choose reusable products over disposable ones; recycle.  Carbon dioxide reduction (if you cut down your garbage by 25%): 1000 pounds a year.

14.If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recycled whenever you have it serviced.  Equivalent carbon dioxide reduction: Thousands of pounds.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

15.Insulate your walls and ceilings; this can save about 25% of home heating bills.   Carbon dioxide reduction: Up to 2000 pounds a year.

16.If you need to replace your windows, install the best energy-saving models.    Carbon dioxide reduction: Up to 10,000 pounds a year.

17.Plant trees next to your home and paint your home a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color in a cold climate.  Carbon dioxide reduction: About 5000 pounds a year.

18.As you replace home appliances, select the most energy-efficient models.  Carbon dioxide reduction (if you replace your old refrigerator with an efficient model): 3000 pounds a year.

SCHOOLS, BUSINESS, AND COMMUNITIES

19.Reduce waste and promote energy-efficient measures at your school or workplace. Work in your community to set up recycling programs.  Carbon dioxide reduction (for every pound of office paper recycled): 4 pounds. 

20.Be informed about environmental issues. Keep track of candidates' voting records and write or call to express concerns.  Carbon dioxide reduction (if we vote to raise U.S. auto fuel efficiency): Billions of pounds.

WHATS WRONG WITH DESTROYING THE OZONE AND MELTING ALL THE ICE AT THE POLES?

There are some idiots out there who say that we have nothing to really worry about, that global warming can't possibly harm us, that the hole in the ozone over antartica is not a problem since cars and lightning creates ozone, so it will replenish itself.  AND that big business has a right to be excused from polluting since it creates jobs.  AND that it is somehow not right for people to make money from protecting and improving the environment.   Wrong!!!

Climate leaves indelible evidence in the geologic record. That means that by carefully studying core samples of ice (the most accurate medium) and earth, we can get a very accurate indication of the climate of the area the core was taken from for the time period the strata corresponds to. Since we can and have studied core samples covering millions of years, it is indeed possible to make reasonable models of how the climate is changing and how our actions as a species are affecting this change.

The geologic record shows no other period in earths history when the planet warmed as rapidly as it is now. Yes it has gotten much hotter than this in past ages, but it is the rate of change that is of concern here.  Typically, change occurs over a longer period of time giving nature a chance to adapt and find new ways of maintaining life on the planet. The current rate of change is too fast for this slow process. Maybe nature will make sudden changes to overcome this rapid change, maybe not. Maybe we can survive this and maybe not. Does the earth care if we do or don't? Not really. Do we really want to risk an uncertain future where our children may suffer and not realize the same quality of life we take for granted? Not me. Not when we have alternative means to do the things that currently use materials, which are threatening the future.

"Well if the ice melts at the poles, there isn't a problem since when Ice melts, it doesn't raise the level of water.  Simple science rules... "

Wow, what high school did you go to? Maybe you were cutting class to smoke Pot the day they taught displacement in science class. Here is a simple experiment for you to try. Yes do this at home. Fill two glasses with ice. Then pour water into one until all the ice floats and the other only half way, with the top of the ice well above the level of the water. With a marker, draw a line at the water level on each glass. Now, cover the top with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation from affecting the results. Leave both glasses on the counter for an hour. When the ice is all melted take a look at the results. The glass that had the floating ice has no change in the water level. The glass where the ice was piled up above the water shows that the water level is above the line.

So why is this you may ask? Simple displacement in the case of the floating ice. The ice may have less density than the water but has the same mass. That means that the ice will displace the same volume of water as it will when melted. Why did the water in the other glass rise?  Because not all the ice was in the water. So no displacement occurred. As the ice melted it drained into the water adding to the total volume. This caused the water to rise above the line you drew earlier. In both cases the amount of water in the glass remained the same but the relationship between the water and the ice was different.

So how does this apply to the earth and global warming? The ice at the North Pole floats on the water and therefore will have no effect on water levels. But the ice on Greenland and on Antarctica is partly on the land and so isn't fully displacing the water. As it melts it will drain into the ocean just as the ice in the glass that was half filled with water. So you see the overall effect will be a rise in water level. This is Jr. High School science.

Next, the Ozone. To start with, the ozone hole is over the South Pole and extends over Australia in their summer. Ozone blocks UV radiation, which damages organic tissue. This ozone is very slow to make. Yes, ozone is created by thunderstorms.  However much of the ozone generated doesn't last very long. In the atmosphere, ozone is short lived. This is why the ozone created by internal combustion engines will not help replenish the ozone layer. It never gets to the upper layers of the atmosphere before breaking down. Since we have alternative means of doing the things we want that will not destroy the ozone, why don't we just use these instead?

Also if you were thinking "so what if the ozone disappears we can use sun block or stay indoors," think about this. If the rock a building stands on turns to sand and can no longer support the foundation of the building, the building comes down. Do you want to be on the top floor of this building? You are. We as a species are on the top floor of the building of life. If the plankton in the oceans (especially the Antarctic Ocean) and the bacteria on the soil die, then so too will all life on earth. They are the bottom of the food chain. If they die then the next level dies. Then the next and so on. (plankton die then fish die then we die)  You say you don't like fish?  How about if the bacteria in the soil dies, then the earthworms will die, then insects which live in the soil dies, then small animals which eat the insects die then large insects die then animals which eat the large insects die, then larger animals which eat smaller animals die, the we die.  You say you are a vegetarian?  The nitrogen fixing bacteria in the soil dies, the bacteria which helps earthworms live, dies, the bacteria that breaks down vegetation and returns it to rebuild the soil, dies, eventually the vegetation becomes sterile and the vegetation leaches all the nitrogen out of the soil.  All vegetarians, frutarians, lacto vegetarians, and omnivores will die if the ozone disappears. There is neither sun block to prevent that nor any indoor facility big enough to protect these most essential members of the building of life.

And what the hell is wrong with people making a buck on environmentalism? Are you some kind of Nut!!?

You think it's ok for Big Business to make money from destroying the environment, but working to curb its destruction should be done for free?    If I come up with another way of doing something and can make a buck from it, then that is capitalism. If it helps save the world, wonderful! Who has any right to condemn my motivation for the product?

Greenland Glacier Warming Feared - 04-06-2000

Worried about the effects of global warming, scientists watching for signs of melting now say a key threat comes from glaciers in Greenland.

Scientists fear that a rise in the Earth's average temperature could make the oceans rise and swamp low-lying coastal cities in the coming century.

New research suggests that Antarctica's second-largest ice sheet is more stable than had been believed. The glaciers of Greenland, more than 9,000 miles to the north, are more likely to melt with dire consequences as Earth warms up, said Kurt Cuffey, a geographer at the University of California, Berkeley.

The findings are reported in today's issue of the journal Nature.

``If nothing is done to stabilize our climate and sea levels rise as much as 6 meters (20 feet), you'll flood the southern half of Florida, the southern half of Louisiana. A 2-degree global warming doesn't sound like much, but you have to realize the consequences can be really quite disastrous,'' said Cuffey, the study's co-author.

A United Nations-sponsored panel predicts that average global temperatures will rise 2 to 6 degrees in the next 100 years if current greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed.

For their study, Cuffey and colleagues extracted ice cores from Greenland's ice sheet to look for clues to the last ``interglacial period'' -- a warm period 110,000 to 130,000 years ago that preceded the last ice age.

They found evidence that much of Greenland's ice melted during that balmy interlude, and calculated that the massive Greenland meltoff accounted for nearly all of the rise in sea levels around the globe during that time. They concluded that the melt from the West Antarctic ice sheet was comparatively negligible.

Greenland covers 840,000 square miles, 85 percent of which is covered by ice up to 2 miles thick. Its ice sheet is particularly vulnerable to ice melt because it is closer to the equator than the West Antarctic ice sheet at the South Pole.

Cuffey and co-author Shawn Marshall of the University of British Columbia estimate that Greenland's meltwater raised ocean levels 13 to 20 feet and inundated coastal regions worldwide during the last
interglacial period.

The researchers also dropped thermometers into the holes created by their ice drilling operations and took the temperature of the ice sheet's deep interior.

They found that temperatures in central Greenland during the last interglacial period were 8 to 15 degrees warmer than had been estimated, offering additional evidence that much of the ice sheet melted
during that period.

The team's findings fit with other evidence, including a lack of old ice near the bottom of some parts of Greenland's ice sheet, said Richard Alley, a professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University.

``I think this accounts for most or all of the high sea levels during the previous warm period,'' Alley said. ``It's not absolutely certain, but I think the evidence is good.''

Although the findings suggest that the West Antarctic ice sheet was stable during Earth's last warm period, scientists can't predict what will happen now that human activity has disrupted Earth's natural cycles and accelerated atmospheric warming, said Jim White, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado.

He agrees that Greenland could be the more immediate threat but says the possible long-term role of melting in Antarctica is still unclear.

On the Net:

Cuffey's home page:
http://www-geography.berkeley.edu/People/faculty/K--Cuffey.html

National Science Foundation's polar programs page:
http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp

Study: World's Oceans Warming   03/24/2000

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The oceans have warmed significantly over the past four decades, providing new evidence that the Earth may be undergoing long-term climate change, a study by government scientists says.

The broad study of temperature data from the oceans shows average temperatures have increased from one-tenth to one-half degree, depending on depth since the 1950s, an amount described as surprising. 

The findings, reported Thursday by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, also may support the findings of computer climate models that suggest more severe temperature increases than are shown by actual historic surface temperature readings.

The computer models have produced temperature increases that are larger than those observed by surface and atmospheric monitors, prompting skeptics of global warming to say such modeling -- when used to predict future climate changes -- exaggerates the threat.

But the NOAA study has uncovered significant warming over the past 40 years in the oceans in depths of as much as 10,000 feet, suggesting this ``missing heat'' -- as one scientist characterized it -- may explain the difference between the computer simulations and actual readings.

``We've known the oceans could absorb heat, transport it to subsurface depths and isolate it from the atmosphere. Now we see evidence that this is happening,'' said Sydney Levitus, chief of NOAA's Ocean Climate Laboratory and principal author of the study.

Levitus and fellow scientists, who have worked on the project for seven years, examined temperature data from more than 5 million readings at various depths in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, from 1948 to 1996.

They found the Pacific and Atlantic oceans have been warming since the mid-1950s, and the Indian Ocean since the early 1960s, according to the study published today in the journal Science.

The greatest warming occurred from the surface to a depth of about 900 feet, where the average heat content increased by 0.56 degrees Fahrenheit. Water as far down as 10,000 feet was found to have gained on average 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit.

``This is one of the surprising things. We've found half of the warming occurred below 1,000 feet,'' Levitus said in an interview. ``It brings the climate debate to a new level. We can no longer ignore the ocean.''

Jim Hansen, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the expected warming of the Earth from so-called ``greenhouse'' gas emissions ``would tend to give you a warming of the oceans of that magnitude.''

``It confirms that the earth is heating up,'' said Hansen, who was among the earliest proponents of the argument that heat-trapping manmade pollution -- greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels -- in the atmosphere is causing Earth to become warmer.

The study did not pinpoint the cause of the ocean warming trend over such a lengthy period, but said both natural and human-induced causes were likely.   ``Our results support climate modeling predictions that show increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases will have a relatively large warming influence on the Earth's atmosphere,'' said Levitus.

He discounted short-term climate phenomenon such as the El Nino effect as a significant factor, adding: ``We're seeing a 35-year warming trend and El Nino occurs on a time scale of two to seven years. There's something much more significant occurring than just short-term
variability.''

A U.N.-sponsored panel of more than 200 scientists has predicted that average global temperatures will increase 2 degrees to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century if current greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. The Earth has warmed about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last 100 years, according to scientists.

The panel's predicted future warming is believed by many scientists to have broad economic and environmental impact including sea level rise as well as changes in agriculture and human health.

``It is possible that ocean heat content may be an early indicator of the warming of surface, air and sea surface temperatures more than a decade (from now),'' said Levitus.

Antarctic Melting Blamed on Global Warming 10/01/1999

Detectable climatic change seems to be occurring in the central and southern parts of the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Climate records from this region extend back 50 years and, over this period, annual mean temperatures have risen by about 2oC - a far larger rise than seen elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere.   Although climate model predictions do indicate an enhanced response to future global warming in some parts of the polar regions, the Antarctic Peninsula is not one of these areas. The lack of a clear modelled association between Peninsula warming and global warming means that it is premature to attribute warming in the Peninsula to an enhanced "greenhouse" effect. 

However, climate models are currently unable to reproduce the warming observed over the past 50 years in the Peninsula (while they simulate global changes over this period quite well). Given this weakness in current model performance, future climate scenarios for the region must be treated with some caution and a link between Peninsula warming and the enhanced "greenhouse" effect cannot be ruled out completely at present.

Whatever the case, we know that the climate of the region is highly sensitive as a result of complex interactions between atmosphere, oceans and sea-ice and studying it can tell us much about polar climate processes. Recent research also shows that the climate of this region is strongly influenced by climate variations in the subtropical and tropical South Pacific, such as those associated with El Nino - Southern Oscillation (ENSO). While such "teleconnections" are responsible for much of the short-term variability in climate seen in this region, their role in driving longer term (decadal to century scale) change remains to be clarified.

The observed warming has already had a significant impact in the region and is believed to have caused the disintegration of both the Wordie Ice Shelf and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf. Warmer conditions in recent years have also led to increased colonisation by plants at certain sites in the region.

Changes have also occurred in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica. Measurements made over the Antarctic Peninsula and the Falkland Islands show that the level of peak electron concentration in the ionospheric F-region (at about 300 km  altitude) has fallen by about 8 km over 38 years. Unlike the surface temperature trends, these changes can be attributed to increased greenhouse gas concentrations with some level of confidence. While the lower atmosphere warms in response to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gasses, the upper atmosphere cools. Theoretical studies indicate that the observed fall in the height of the F-region is compatible with expected temperature changes in the thermosphere.

Winter sea-ice has been shrinking in the Antarctic area. Measurements taken between 1973 and 1988 show a decrease in sea-ice extent of around 33 kilometers per decade [13].

While some researchers maintain that warming temperatures will result in an expansion of some glaciers, at least in the short to medium term [14], BAS scientists working at Faraday Station, Galindez Island, in the Antarctic Peninsula, report that the thickness of the ice cap on the island has diminished by one metre between 1973 and 1988 [15]. Glacial retreat has also reportedly accelerated on other glaciated sub-Antarctic islands in recent decades [16].

Footnotes:
13. Jacka, T.H. (1990) "Antarctica and southern ocean sea-ice and climate trends," Annals of Glaciology, v. 14, 1990.

14. Domack, E.W., Jull, A.J.T. & Nakao, S., "Advance of East Antarctic outlet glaciers during the Hypsithermal: Implications for the volume set
of the Antarctic Ice Sheet under global warming", {Geology}, vol.1033, p.1059-1062, 1991.

15. {World Climate News}, World Meteorological Organisation, no.4, January 1994.

16. Chittleborough, R.G., "Potential impacts of climatic change on southern ocean ecosystems," {Memoirs of the Queensland Museum}, vol.30, p.243-247, 1991.

BAS Press Release 1/95, 27 February 1995

ONE SMALL ICE SHELF DIES, ONE GIANT ICEBERG BORN

The disintegration of an ice shelf and the calving of a new giant iceberg have dramatically changed the outline of Antarctica.  Satellite images relayed to Cambridge from the British Antarctic Survey's (BAS) Rothera Research Station confirm that recent warming of the Antarctic Peninsula is having a major impact on the ice sheet covering this climatically sensitive region.

The ice shelf which formerly occupied Prince Gustav Channel and connected James Ross Island to the Antarctic Peninsula has disintegrated. For the first time in recorded history, James Ross Island is circumnavigable. The new iceberg calved from the Larsen Ice Shelf and measures 78 km x 37 km, (roughly the size of Oxfordshire), and is around 200 m thick.

Alerted by glaciologists 9000 miles away in Cambridge, scientists on board a BAS Dash 7 aircraft confirmed both the disintegration and calving, and reported a dense plume of ice fragments extending several hundred kilometres into the sea.

Speaking from Antarctica, chief geologist Dr Mike Thomson said, "Looking out of the aircraft window I was utterly amazed to see the dramatic and very recent changes to the Larsen Ice Shelf.  In 25 years of Antarctic field work I have never seen anything like it."

These observations come hard on the heels of the disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, also discovered by BAS scientists. There is now little doubt that the retreat of these ice shelves is, in the short-term, irreversible. The retreat is a result of a warming of the regional climate by 2.5 °C since the 1940's.

Glaciologist David Vaughan says, "There is no doubt that the climate on the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed significantly over the last few decades. What we're  seeing now are changes only just working through to glaciers and ice sheets. It's an exciting time for glaciologists".

Over the next months and years the icebergs will drift north under the action of ocean currents and wind. The giant iceberg will melt rapidly once it crosses the Antarctic Convergence and enters warmer water. The calving of icebergs is normal within the
lifecycle of ice shelves, which may be quiet for decades between calving events. Exceptionally the calving of one large iceberg may be a fore-runner of a more serious disintegration. It will take time before the implications are completely understood.

Background notes:

Ice shelf.  An ice shelf is the floating extension of the grounded ice sheet. It is composed of freshwater ice that originally fell as snow, either in situ or inland and brought to the ice shelf by glaciers. These are largely considered as permanent features.

The larger Ronne and Ross ice shelves, cover areas the size of Spain and are up to 2000 m thick. It is thought that these ice shelves help restrain the inland ice sheet and so control sea level.  A huge increase in air temperature would be required before these large ice shelves succumb to the same type of collapse as those on the Antarctic Peninsula. Such an event is thought unlikely in the near future.

Sea ice. Frozen sea water. Sea ice forms around the Antarctic Peninsula in the Autumn, forming a floating layer only a few metres thick. Most of it melts during the summer.

Prince Gustav Channel was discovered in 1903 by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition under Nordenskjöld, who named it for Crown Prince Gustav of Norway. Until recently the ice shelf in Prince Gustav Channel provided a frequent route for sledging parties, from James Ross Island to the Antarctic Peninsula. Observations by glaciologists in Argentina and the UK showed that the retreat of its margins began decades ago, but this has accelerated and the recent disintegration has destroyed 700 km2 of ice shelf (roughly the size of the Isle of Man).

James Ross Island was discovered and roughly charted by Sir James Clark Ross, leader of a British Naval Expedition in 1842.

Larsen Ice Shelf was named for the Norwegian whaler, Capt. C.A. Larsen, who sailed along the ice front in the ship Jason in 1893.

Climate data. Meteorological records from the BAS's Faraday Research Station have shown a rise in mean annual air temperature of more than 2.5 °C since the 1940s. Climatologists have noted that the climate of this area is highly variable and is sensitive to the extent of the winter sea-ice.

Arctic Melting Blamed on Warming 12/03/1999

WASHINGTON (AP) - The giant arctic ice cap may be melting as a result of global warming, according to a new paper by an international team of researchers.

An analysis using complex computer programs that mimic the climate system indicates only a 2 percent chance that arctic melting over the last 19 years is a result of natural climate changes, according to the paper appearing in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

Also, there only is a 0.1 percent chance that the melting over the last 46 years is natural, according to the team led by Konstantin Vinnikov of the University of Maryland.

In recent years scientists increasingly have become concerned about the possibility that chemicals released into the atmosphere by industry are causing the climate to warm, though some contend that the changes are part of natural variability.

Vinnikov's team concentrated on satellite measurements of sea ice in the Arctic taken since 1978, showing an overall decline in ice area larger than the state of Texas.

Since the ice is floating, the melting does not affect sea levels.

They used computers in Princeton, N.J., and at the Hadley Center in Britain to calculate the probable normal changes in the Earth's atmosphere over long periods.

They then studied computer simulations that include greenhouse gas increases, tending to warm the atmosphere, and aerosol increases, tending to cool the atmosphere.

The model results with these human-induced changes included were a much better match with the observed sea ice decreases than the model results simulating natural variability.

The result, the team reports, ``strongly suggests that the observed decrease in northern hemisphere sea ice extent is related to (human caused) global warming.''

The probability that melting under normal conditions would equal that over the last 19 years was less than 2 percent, they said, and the likelihood that it would equal that over the last 46 years was under 0.1 percent.

In addition to the University of Maryland, participating in the study were researchers at Rutgers University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Illinois, NASA, the Hadley Center in Great Britain and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in Russia.

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR ECOLOGY, REPORT WARNS; NEW THREAT IS FOUND

By Rosalind Russell, Reuters, 09/22/99

NAIROBI - It is too late to halt global warming and time is quickly running out to prevent other potential environmental catastrophes, the UN's environment agency said in a major report yesterday.

''Global Environment Outlook 2000'' offers a gloomy view of the planet's condition on the eve of the next millennium. It points to new threats - such as increased levels of nitrogen in the water supply - that the world has not yet tackled.

''The gains made by better management and technology are still being outpaced by the environmental impacts of population and economic growth. We are on an unsustainable course,'' Klaus Toepfer, head of the United Nations Environment Program, said at the launch of the report in Nairobi.

The report says emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming have quadrupled since the 1950s, and that ''binding'' targets to reduce emissions, agreed by governments at the summit last year in Kyoto, Japan, may not be met.

The rate at which humans are destroying the environment is accelerating, often because of excessive consumption by the rich, and to the detriment of the poor.

About 20 percent of the world's population lack access to safe drinking water, and 50 percent have no access to a sanitation system. This state of affairs will deteriorate as the world's population, set to reach 6 billion next month, will increase by 50 percent in the next 50 years.

Eighty percent of the world's original forest cover has been cleared or degraded, and logging and mining projects threaten 39 percent of what forest remains.

A quarter of mammal species are at risk of extinction, while more than half the world's coral reefs are threatened by human activity.

There were 850 contributors to the report, which took two and a half years to compile, and which highlights some lesser-known environmental problems.

Disasters such as hurricanes and forest fires are increasing in frequency and severity, and have killed 3 million people in the past three decades. Armed conflicts and refugee flows are causing greater damage to the environment than ever before.

There is also mounting evidence that humans are seriously destabilizing the global nitrogen balance. Huge amounts of nitrogen are being deposited on land and in water through intensive agriculture and the burning of fossil fuels.

Eventually, this problem could make fresh-water supplies unfit for human consumption, the report says.

''The full extent of the damage is only now becoming apparent as we begin to piece together a comprehensive overview of the extremely complex, interconnected web that is our life support system,'' said Toepfer, a former German environment minister.

Much of the damage is irreparable, but through a huge mobilization of resources and political will, much can be done to prevent further destruction, the report says.

A long-term target of a 90 percent reduction in the consumption of raw materials in industrialized countries may seem far-fetched, but without it hundreds of millions of people will be condemned to a life of suffering, the report concludes.

This story ran on page A05 of the Boston Globe on 09/22/99.

© Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.

SUMMARY of reports from the Union of Concerned Scientists

Human culture now has the potential to inflict irreversible damage on the environment and on its life sustaining systems and resources. Already, critical stress suffered by our environment is clearly manifest in the air, water, and soil, our climate, and plant and animal species. Should this deterioration be allowed to continue, we can expect to alter the living world to the extent that it will be unable to sustain life as we know it.

Indiscriminate dumping of toxic, nuclear, and biomedical waste and environmental disasters of enormous scale have begun to cut deep scars into the Earth's ecosystem and disrupt its delicate ecological balance. Global warming, though to be resulting from increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from fossil fuel use and from deforestation, may have the potential to alter climate on a massive scale. Air pollution near ground level and acid precipitation, and stratospheric ozone depletion causing enhanced ultra-violet radiation at the earth's surface, are causing widespread injury to human and animal populations, forests and crops. Our remaining rainforests and many wild forest regions, essential to worldwide ecological balance, are slated for clear cutting due to poor management policies. 

Uncontrolled exploitation of depletable ground water supplies have endangered food production and other essential human systems and heavy demands for surface waters have resulted in serious shortages in many countries. Pollution of rivers, lakes and ground water has further limited the supply of potable water.   Destructive pressure on the oceans is severe. Rivers carrying heavy burdens of eroded soil into the seas also contain toxic industrial, municipal, agricultural, and livestock waste. With the marine catch at or above the maximum sustainable yield, some fisheries are already showing signs of collapse.

Soil productivity is on the decline and per capita food production in many parts of the world is decreasing, as a result of destructive agriculture and animal husbandry practices.   Already, more than ten percent of the earth's vegetated surface has been degraded, an area larger than India and China combined.

Over one third of the valuable topsoil used to grow the grains that feed much of the world has blown or washed away. This desertification, caused by overgrazing domestic animals and by over-cultivation, salinization, and deforestation, has already impacted over 35 percent of the land surface of the earth (United Nations Environmental Program). Desertification has caused many millions to abandon the land, lacking the bare essentials of survival, they have migrated to urban slums, where all that awaits them are meager government relief packages and poverty wages.

We are fast approaching many of the earth's limits; its ability to provide for growing numbers of people, to provide food and energy, and to absorb wastes and destructive effluent. Current economic practices which damage the environment, in both developed and underdeveloped nations, cannot be continued without the risk that vital global systems will be damaged beyond repair.

No more than a few decades remain before the chance to avert the threats we now confront will be lost and the prospects for humanity immeasurably diminished. We must begin to bring environmentally damaging activities under control to restore and protect the integrity of the earth's ecosystems. The greatest peril is to become trapped in spirals of environmental decline, poverty, and unrest, leading to worldwide social, economic and environmental collapse from which we may be unable to recover.

Most Recent State of the Earth Report from the United Nations Environment Programme

"From a global perspective the environment has continued to degrade during the past decade, and significant environmental problems remain deeply embedded in the socio-economic fabric of nations in all regions. Progress towards a global sustainable future is just too slow. A sense of urgency is lacking.  Internationally and nationally, the funds and political will are insufficient to halt further global environmental degradation and to address the most pressing environmental issues-even though technology and knowledge are available to do so.

The recognition of environmental issues as necessarily long-term and cumulative, with serious global and security implications, remains limited. The reconciliation of environment and trade regimes in a fair and equitable mannerstill remains a major challenge. The continued preoccupation with immediate local and national issues and a general lack of sustained interest in global and long-term environmental issues remain major impediments to environmental progress internationally. Global governance structures and global environmental solidarity remain too weak to make progress a world-wide reality. As a result,
the gap between what has been done thus far and what is realistically needed is widening.

Comprehensive response mechanisms have not yet been fully internalized at the national level. The development at local, national, and regional levels of effective environmental legislation and of fiscal and economic instruments has not kept pace with the increase in environmental institutions. In the private sector, environmental advances by several major transnational corporations are not reflected widely in the practices of small- and medium-sized companies that form the backbone of economies in many countries.

In the future, the continued degradation of natural resources, shortcomings in environmental responses, and renewable resource constraints may increasingly lead to food insecurity and conflict situations. Changes in global biogeochemical cycles and the complex interactions between environmental problems such as climate change, ozone depletion, and acidification may have impacts that will confront local, regional, and global communities with situations they are unprepared for. Previously unknown risks to human health are becoming evident from the cumulative and persistent effects of a whole range of chemicals, particularly the persistent organic pollutants. The effects of climate variability and change are already increasing the incidence of familiar public health problems and leading to new ones, including a more extensive reach of vectorborne diseases and a higher incidence of heat-related illness and mortality. If significant major policy reforms are not implemented quickly, the future might hold more such surprises.

GEO-1 substantiates the need for the world to embark on major structural changes and to pursue environmental and associated socio-economic policies vigorously. Key areas for action must embrace the use of alternative and renewableenergy resources, cleaner and leaner production systems world-wide, and concerted global action for the protection and conservation of the world's finite and irreplaceable fresh-water resources."

From B.F. Skinner, 1971 (via Uri Cogan)

"In trying to solve the terrifying problems that face us in the world today, we naturally turn to the things we do best. We play from strength, and our strength is science and technology. To contain a population explosion we look for better methods of birth control. Threatened by a nuclear holocaust, we build bigger deterrent forces and anti-ballistic-missile systems. We try to stave off world famine with new foods and better ways of growing them. Improved sanitation and medicine will, we hope, control disease, better housing and transportation will solve the problems of the ghettos, and new ways of reducing or disposing of waste will stop the pollution of the environment. We can point to remarkable achievements in all these fields, and it is not surprising that we should try to extend them. But things grow steadily worse and it is disheartening to find that technology itself is increasingly at fault. Sanitation and medicine have made the problems of population more acute, war has acquired a new
horror with the invention of nuclear weapons, and the affluent pursuit of happiness is largely responsible for pollution. As Darlington has said, 'Every new source from which man has increased his power on the earth has been used to diminish the prospects of his successors. All his progress has been made at the expense of damage to his environment which he cannot repair and could not forsee."

Warming Trend is Ominous!  8/3/1999

Washington, D.C.  Global warming is rapidly melting the ice sheet at the North Pole, threatening to unleash more extreme weather patterns, Vice President Al Gore said Monday.

Michael Ledbetter, a national Science Foundation expert on Arctic systems said, "The one thing we know for sure is that if the ice melts, the heat balance between the equator and the poles will change dramatically."

Study Looks at Prehistoric Climate  3/10/99


In what may be a warning for the next century, a new study suggests carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere fluctuated after the last Ice Age, helping to warm the climate and trigger the spread of deserts.

Scientists say the findings -- which were based on an analysis of ice cores drilled from glaciers in Antarctica -- may indicate what global warming could do to the Earth in the 21st century.

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is called a ``greenhouse gas'' because it traps the sun's heat.

Levels of carbon dioxide fell and rose by small but persistent amounts between 11,000 and 1,000 years ago, according to the Swiss and American scientists who examined the ice cores and reported their findings in today's issue of the journal Nature.

They also found that the fluctuations correlate with droughts and the spread of deserts in Africa and Asia during the prehistoric period known as Holocene.

These ancient carbon dioxide levels, while significant, were far lower than the rising concentrations in today's atmosphere that are blamed on industry and motor vehicles, as well as the increasing population of humans who are expelling carbon dioxide in ever increasing amounts.

As a result, the findings raise questions about whether the Earth is headed for rapid and drastic climate changes in the 21st century.

``The carbon dioxide changes over the last few thousand years have been tiny and slow compared to what humans are doing,'' said glaciologist Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University, who did not participate in the study. ``We are moving into uncharted waters.''

Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., examined 400 samples drilled from the upper layers of the Taylor Dome glacier in Antarctica.

From 11,000 to 8,000 years ago, carbon dioxide levels overall dipped by 8 parts per million, the scientists reported. During the next 7,000 years, carbon dioxide rose by 25 ppm. The increase probably came from carbon that was released as plants burned or deteriorated in a drying climate, they said.

The researchers reached their conclusions by analyzing different forms, or isotopes, of carbon dioxide in the layers of ice. 

The findings challenge the assumption that Earth's climate has been stable since the glaciers retreated.

"We have tended to view the last 10,000 years as being constant,'' said ice core expert James White of the University of Colorado.  "But carbon levels really haven't stabilized. Humans have continuity built into their thinking, and this study will shock people.''

The Holocene's climate swings were a natural phenomenon. But during the past 200 years, the burning of coal, gasoline and other fossil fuels has added more than 80 ppm of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The total amount is now above 370 ppm and is expected to double in the 21st century.

The 1990s is the warmest decade on record. Many scientists fear that human activity is the driving force behind the warming.

White and other scientists said the group's analysis is plausible, but suspect it is too neat to be precisely accurate. It does not adequately reflect the complex interactions of oceans, forests and other ecological features in the carbon cycle, White said.

Global Warming - Are Our Oceans Dying?1/26/99

What causes Global Warming?  Nobody knows for sure.  We know that Human activites contribute greatly but we also know that volcanic activity and natural gas emissions from the environment also contribute.  But everyone agrees Global Warming is upon us.

CORAL IMPORTANT TO SEAS' HEALTH
Porter said the loss of coral is significant because the reef-building animal “is the basis for the health of the  tropical seas.”  New studies show that vast colonies of human viruses migrate regularly into coastal waters of Florida from the 1.6 million septic tanks in the Sunshine State, said Joan B. Rose, a University of South Florida researcher.
Many people are becoming infected with viruses picked up while swimming, windsurfing or boating in infected waters. One study found that almost a quarter of  the people using marine beaches develop ear infections,  sore throats and eyes, respiratory or gastrointestinal
disease.

Some of the viruses detected in coastal waters are linked with heart disease, diabetes, meningitis and hepatitis.   “Most people who come in contact with these viruses do not get ill,” she said. But of the 20 to 24 percent who do, about 1 percent become chronically infected, she said.

Healing and Ecological Responsibility Links

Global Warming - Early Warning Signs
Click here for a list of warning signs all over the earth.

EPA Global Warming Site

United Plant Savers
is a grass roots, non-profit organization dedicated to saving at-risk native medicinal plants. An organization for herbalists and people who love plants, our purpose is to ensure the future of our rich diversity of medicinal plants.

Re-Vision Site
Welcome to the Re·Vision site - an exploration of the signs of the times through a psychological perspective

Sacred Earth
The Seed of Life. We are aware of Mother Earth's Needs

"Global Warming". Environmental Issues Site
From grassroots to the philosophical Guide Patricia Michaels helps you stay green. Info on recycling,    sustainability, water pollution and more.
URL: http://environment.about.com/index.htm

Weather Site
Whether you're chasing storms or ducking out of the rain, Guide Michael Cyger has the links and features you're looking for.
URL: http://weather.about.com/index.htm

Global Warming - Ecology - 11/25/97
Global warming is a subject of debate in Kyoto, Japan find out what we learned, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://ecology.about.com/library/weekly/aa112597.htm

Global Warming - Weather - Net Links
Global Warming, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://weather.about.com/msubglob.htm

Web Stops Global Warming - Weather - 02/10/99
The Center for Energy and Climate Solutions predicts a slowing of global warming due to the Internet economy...Others disagree, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://weather.about.com/library/weekly/aa021000a.htm

Global Warming or Climate Change? - Geology - 10/31/99
Why I avoid sites about the first and seek the second, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://geology.about.com/library/weekly/aa103199.htm

Global Warming and Climate Change - Geography Net Links
Climate change resources, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://geography.about.com/msub50.htm

Carbon Dioxide - greenhouse gas global warming and environmental carbon dioxide
Carbon Dioxide: Global warming versus beneficial uses, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/aa020298a.htm

Global Change - Ecology Net Links
Global change resources and information, from your About.com Guide
URL: http://ecology.about.com/msub33.htm