“Global Warring” Author Cleo Paskal Video
Cleo Paskal (Photo courtesy Chatham House)
As her entry in the Wikipedea outlines:
Cleo Paskal ( aka C Paskal) is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, (aka Royal Institute of International Affairs), Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Geopolitics, Manipal University, India and Adjunct Professor of Global Change, School of Communication and Management Studies, Kochi, India. Also she is a consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Global Energy and Environment Strategic Ecosystem and a Huffington Post blogger.
She is a geopolitical expert who specializes in the geopolitical, security, and economic implications of evironmental change (including climate change). Her book on the topic, Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map was published by Key Porter Books in Canada and in 2010 by Palgrave Macmillan in the US, UK and rest of the English speaking world. Global Warring won one of three US$5000 Awards of Merit in the 2010 Grantham Prize for Excellence in Reporting on the Environment competition.
Quote of Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, from Global Warring: “We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own and so we have to buy land elsewhere. It’s an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome. After All, the Isrealis (began by buying) land in Palestine.” (more…)
The Vanishing Face of Gaia - Dr. James Lovelock Video
Corporate Knights presents Dr. James Lovelock, originator of The Gaia Hypothesis (also known as Gaia Theory), discussing the need for human adaptation and survival in a coming era of massive environmental change due to global heating based on his latest book, “The Vanishing Face of Gaia”.
Biography:
(Excerpted from Wikipedia)
A lifelong inventor, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which were designed for NASA in its program of planetary exploration. It was while working as a consultant for NASA that Lovelock developed the Gaia Hypothesis, for which he is most widely known.
In early 1961, Lovelock was engaged by NASA to develop sensitive instruments for the analysis of extraterrestrial atmospheres and planetary surfaces. The Viking program, that visited Mars in the late 1970s, was motivated in part to determine whether Mars supported life, and many of the sensors and experiments that were ultimately deployed aimed to resolve this issue. During work on a precursor of this program, Lovelock became interested in the composition of the Martian atmosphere, reasoning that many life forms on Mars would be obliged to make use of it (and, thus, alter it). However, the atmosphere was found to be in a stable condition close to its chemical equilibrium, with very little oxygen, methane, or hydrogen, but with an overwhelming abundance of carbon dioxide. To Lovelock, the stark contrast between the Martian atmosphere and chemically dynamic mixture of that of our Earth’s biosphere was strongly indicative of the absence of life on the planet.[ However, when they were finally launched to Mars, the Viking probes still searched (unsuccessfully) for extant life there.
Lovelock invented the electron capture detector, which ultimately assisted in discoveries about the persistence of CFCs and their role in stratospheric ozone depletion. After studying the operation of the Earth’s sulfur cycle, Lovelock and his colleagues developed the CLAW hypothesis as a possible example of biological control of the Earth’s climate.
After the development of his electron capture detector, in the late 1960s, Lovelock was the first to detect the widespread presence of CFCs in the atmosphere. He found a concentration of 60 parts per trillion of CFC-11 over Ireland and, in a partially self-funded research expedition in 1972, went on to measure the concentration of CFC-11 from the northern hemisphere to the Antarctic aboard the research vessel RRS Shackleton. He found the gas in each of the 50 air samples that he collected but, not realising that the breakdown of CFCs in the stratosphere would release chlorine that posed a threat to the ozone layer, concluded that the level of CFCs constituted “no conceivable hazard”. He has since stated that he meant “no conceivable toxic hazard”.
However, the experiment did provide the first useful data on the ubiquitous presence of CFCs in the atmosphere. The damage caused to the ozone layer by the photolysis of CFCs was later discovered by Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina. After hearing a lecture on the subject of Lovelock’s results, they embarked on research that resulted in the first published paper that suggested a link between stratospheric CFCs and ozone depletion in 1974, and later shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work.
Gaia hypothesis
First formulated by Lovelock during the 1960s as a result of work for NASA concerned with detecting life on Mars, the Gaia hypothesis proposes that living and non-living parts of the earth form a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism. Named after the Greek goddess Gaia at the suggestion of novelist William Golding, the hypothesis postulates that the biosphere has a regulatory effect on the Earth’s environment that acts to sustain life.
While the Gaia hypothesis was readily accepted by many in the environmentalist community, it has not been widely accepted within the scientific community. Among its more famous critics are the evolutionary biologists Richard Dawkins, Ford Doolittle, and Stephen Jay Gould — notable, given the diversity of this trio’s views on other scientific matters. These (and other) critics have questioned how natural selection operating on individual organisms can lead to the evolution of planetary-scale homeostasis.
Lovelock has responded to these criticisms with models such as Daisyworld, that illustrate how individual-level effects can translate to planetary homeostasis, under the right circumstances.
Nuclear power
Lovelock has become concerned about the threat of global warming from the greenhouse effect. In 2004 he caused a media sensation when he broke with many fellow environmentalists by pronouncing that “only nuclear power can now halt global warming”. In his view, nuclear energy is the only realistic alternative to fossil fuels that has the capacity to both fulfill the large scale energy needs of humankind while also reducing greenhouse emissions. He is an open member of Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy.
In 2005, against the backdrop of renewed UK government interest in nuclear power, Lovelock again publicly announced his support for nuclear energy, stating, “I am a Green, and I entreat my friends in the movement to drop their wrongheaded objection to nuclear energy”. Although these interventions in the public debate on nuclear power are recent, his views on it are longstanding. In his 1988 book The Ages of Gaia he states:
“I have never regarded nuclear radiation or nuclear power as anything other than a normal and inevitable part of the environment. Our prokaryotic forebears evolved on a planet-sized lump of fallout from a star-sized nuclear explosion, a supernova that synthesised the elements that go to make our planet and ourselves.”
James Lovelock in conversation with science editor Tim Radford.
A Conversation with James Hansen
Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is considered by many to be the foremost climatologist in the world. From his New York City office, he spoke with Climate Crisis Coalition Coordinator Tom Stokes, on May 10, 2008, about the science of climate change, the urgency of enacting effective climate legislation and why he is speaking out about it.
Photo by World Development Movement. CC Attribution 2.0 Generic
Carbon Dioxide is the Missing Link to Past Global Climate Changes
Timothy Herbert is a geological sciences professor at Brown University. (Credit: Brown University)
Increasingly, the Earth’s climate appears to be more connected than anyone would have imagined. El Nino, the weather pattern that originates in a patch of the equatorial Pacific, can spawn heat waves and droughts as far away as Africa.
Now, a research team led by Brown University has established that the climate in the tropics over at least the last 2.7 million years changed in lockstep with the cyclical spread and retreat of ice sheets thousands of miles away in the Northern Hemisphere. The findings appear to cement the link between the recent Ice Ages and temperature changes in tropical oceans. Based on that new link, the scientists conclude that carbon dioxide has played the lead role in dictating global climate patterns, beginning with the Ice Ages and continuing today.
“We think we have the simplest explanation for the link between the Ice Ages and the tropics over that time and the apparent role of carbon dioxide in the intensification of Ice Ages and corresponding changes in the tropics,” said Timothy Herbert, professor of geological sciences at Brown and the lead author of the paper in Science.
“It certainly supports the idea of global sensitivity of climate to carbon dioxide as the first order of control on global temperature patterns,” Herbert added, “but we don’t know why. The answer lies in the ocean, we’re pretty sure.” (more…)
Air Traffic Poised to Become a Major Factor in Global Warming
Airplanes, a source of carbon dioxide emissions, are poised to become a major factor in global warming in the future. (Credit: iStock)
The first new projections of future aircraft emissions in 10 years predicts that carbon dioxide and other gases from air traffic will become a significant source of global warming as they double or triple by 2050. The study is in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Bethan Owen and colleagues note that aviation is not now one of the main drivers of global warming, with international aviation (source of 60 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft) not even included in the Kyoto Protocol. Global air traffic currently contributes to between 2 and 3 percent of carbon dioxide emissions — the main “greenhouse” gas linked to global warming.
The scientists’ computer model forecast that emissions of carbon dioxide will likely double or triple within the next 50 years. By 2100, carbon dioxide emissions could increase by up to seven times the current levels, they say. “Even though there have been significant improvements in fuel efficiency through aircraft technology and operational management, this has been outweighed by the increase in air traffic,” the study states.
See “Flying into the Future: Aviation Emissions Scenarios to 2050″ at
http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/es902530z
New Climate Change Reports Underscore Need for Action
William Kearney, Deputy Executive Director and Director of Media Relations begins the press briefing. Robert W. Fri, Pamela A. Matson, and Thomas J. Wilbanks are seated at the panelists' table.
As part of its most comprehensive study of climate change to date, the National Research Council today issued three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, are part of a congressionally requested suite of five studies known as AMERICA’S CLIMATE CHOICES.
“These reports show that the state of climate change science is strong,” said Ralph J. Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences. “But the nation also needs the scientific community to expand upon its understanding of why climate change is happening, and focus also on when and where the most severe impacts will occur and what we can do to respond.”
‘Poses Significant Risks’
The compelling case that climate change is occurring and is caused in large part by human activities is based on a strong, credible body of evidence, says ADVANCING THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE, one of the new reports. While noting that there is always more to learn and that the scientific process is never “closed,” the report emphasizes that multiple lines of evidence support scientific understanding of climate change. The core phenomenon, scientific questions, and hypotheses have been examined thoroughly and have stood firm in the face of serious debate and careful evaluation of alternative explanations. (more…)
Saul Griffith: Climate Change Recalculated
Engineer, environmentalist, and entrepreneur Saul Griffith examines the numerical reality of the fight against climate change. Drawing from a personal assessment of his own energy needs, Griffith argues that we not only need to switch to alternative energies, we also need to drastically reduce their consumption in order to prevent a global catastrophe. Griffith connects personal actions and global climate change by analyzing his own carbon consumption.
WattzOn
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With WattzOn’s profile builder, you can easily get started in answering these questions. By examining a few key areas of energy use, the profile builder lets you know the baseline power (in watts) that your lifestyle currently requires. If you choose to sign up, you can then save this information, see how your impact compares to others’, run visualizations showing the magnitude of your energy needs, and to join our community discussions. Through Wikipedia-like data editing, WattzOn is looking to people to enter data from their own experiences to help us all understand how we use energy in our lives.
How Many More Species Will Go the Way of the Dinosaur?
Scott McRobert, Ph.D., professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University.
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which is the oldest and largest global environmental network, governments have failed to meet targets to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Their recent message says we are now witnessing the greatest extinction crisis since dinosaurs disappeared from our planet 65 million years ago.
While critics might counter that IUCN is engaging in hyperbole, claiming that extinction is part of the natural cycle, conservationist Scott McRobert, Ph.D., professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pa., says that the urgent tone of the message is accurate, and the current mass extinction has little in common with that prehistoric event. So what is different?
“Human beings are the cause of this crisis. Almost everything that humans do that causes damage to the Earth – polluting, introducing alien species, causing global climate change, sport hunting, commercial hunting and poaching – contributes to the loss of species,” he says. (more…)
“Greening Our World:” Sustainable Colleges, Corporations and Communities
On March 2, 2010, Furman University hosted a panel discussion titled “Greening our World: Sustainable Colleges, Corporations and Communities.”
The panel discussion was part of daylong celebration on campus of sustainability, which included a lecture by Whitman and the dedication of the David E. Shi Center for Sustainability. Named for Furman’s 10th president, who will retire at the end of the academic year, the Shi Center focuses on promoting sustainability through outreach programming, curricular development and original research.
“Greening our World:
Sustainable Colleges, Corporations and Communities”
Moderator:
Andrew Revkin, former environmental reporter for The New York Times and currently Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University
Panelists:
Christine Todd Whitman, former E.P.A. Administrator under President George W. Bush
David Shi, President, Furman University
David Hales, President, College of the Atlantic
Nilda Mesa, Assistant Vice President of Environmental Stewardship, Columbia University
George Bandy, Vice President, Sustainability Strategy and Diversity, Interface America
11 Questions for the Next Decade of Geographical Sciences Identified
Wetlands are one of the most biodiverse habitats.Seen here, the Macquarie Marshes, an extensive wetland system covering 220,000 hectares in north-west New South Wales, Australia.
Eleven questions that should shape the next decade of geographical sciences research were identified today in a new report by the National Research Council. Reflecting a time when populations are moving and natural resources are being depleted, the questions aim to provide a more complete understanding of where and how landscapes are changing to help society manage and adapt to the transformation of Earth’s surface.
The committee that wrote the report solicited input from the geographical science community to identify research priorities and the approaches, skills, data, and infrastructure necessary to advance research. The strategic directions span from overarching issues of environmental change and sustainability to specific areas in the field that are transforming. They are grouped by topic area, but are not ranked in any order of importance.
How to understand and respond to environmental change:
* How are we changing the physical environment of Earth’s surface?
* How can we best preserve biological diversity and protect endangered ecosystems?
* How are climate and other environmental changes affecting the vulnerabilities of coupled human-environment systems? (more…)
Is the Solution to Economic Crisis and Climate Change Sustainable Economic Degrowth?
Giorgos Kallis is an environmental scientist working on ecological economics, political ecology and water policy.
That is what is argued by a scientific study coordinated by researchers of the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
This month’s edition of the periodical Journal of Cleaner Production, a leading international journal on industrial and technological innovation, publishes the results of a coordinated study organized by Giorgos Kallis, Francois Schneider and Joan Martinez-Alier from the ICTA at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). The publication, which involves 15 analytical and empirical articles from distinguished economists, social scientists and environmental scientists, reflects on the idea of “sustainable degrowth”, i.e. an equitable downscaling of economic production and consumption that will improve environmental conditions while enhancing human well-being.
The expression, “Beyond GDP”, is in fashion in Brussels among some European civil servants and politicians, 40 years after Commission President Sicco Mansholt had already criticized GDP, and proposed zero economic growth in rich countries. The slogan in Brussels is “the greening of the economy: beyond GDP”.
But “Beyond GDP” should mean not only to devise better indicators to measure human welfare, but also to go beyond the single imperative of economic growth in the rich countries. This was the motivation behind a project coordinated by ICTA, UAB. Distinguished scientists from the fields of ecological economics, sociology and environmental studies, most of them contributors in the 1st International Conference on Economic Degrowth (Paris, 18 and 19 of April 2008) were invited to reflect, in the light of the current economic crisis, on the possibility of a “smooth landing”, i.e. a process of economic degrowth that does not have negative social impacts. (more…)
Biofuel Mandates Would Make Corn Shortfall Costly
Economists Darrel Good (pictured) and Scott Irwin say federal policymakers need to forge solutions now to cushion the blow of a shortfall that history shows is a matter of when and how severe, not if. (Photo by L. Brian Stauffer)
A corn shortage, coupled with surging demand to meet government-ordered ethanol standards, could push cash prices to $7 a bushel, the study found, squeezing livestock producers and driving up prices for meat, milk, eggs and other farm staples.
Economists Darrel Good and Scott Irwin say federal policymakers need to forge solutions now to cushion the blow of a shortfall that history shows is a matter of when and how severe, not if.
“We believe everybody will be better off with a reasoned, well thought-out response if a crisis would occur rather than rushed, short-term solutions as the crop is burning up,” Irwin said.
Irwin and Good, professors of agricultural and consumer economics, analyzed weather and harvest records in key corn-growing states, projecting U.S. yields based on the five best and worst growing seasons since 1960.
The study found that average yields could range from 135.5 bushels per acre with bad weather to 172.5 bushels per acre in peak growing conditions, compared with a trend yield of 156.7 bushels per acre forecast for 2010. If weather turns sour in 2010, for example, the nation would harvest about 10.9 billion bushels of corn, down more than 2.1 billion bushels from last year’s record crop, according to the study. (more…)
Environmental Expert Says Earth Is Reaching Critical Tipping Point
Jon Foley is the director of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment.
With climate change at the front and center of today’s political debates, the other indicators of the Earth’s environmental health are not always top of mind in the public conscience.
Featured as part of the cover story of Scientific American magazine’s April issue, which hits newsstands on Wednesday, March 24, U of M professor Jon Foley makes the case for why we need to pay more attention to all environmental processes that contribute to the Earth’s health. In his article, “Boundaries for a Healthy Planet,” he argues that while climate change gets ample attention, species loss and nitrogen pollution exceed safe limits by greater degrees. In addition, other environmental processes such as ocean acidification and stratospheric ozone depletion are also moving toward dangerous thresholds.
Foley calls for swift action to address these developments and push back from planetary “tipping points” that would thrust the global environment and human life into dangerous new territory. First steps include promptly switching to low-carbon energy sources, curtailing land clearing and revolutionizing agricultural practices.
To hear the Scientific American podcast interview with Foley, click here. (more…)
Perils of Plastics: Major Risks to Human Health and the Environment
Rolf Halden, associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering, has undertaken a survey of existing scientific literature concerning the hazards of plastics to human health and to the ecosystems we depend on. His findings are sobering. (Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University)
Plastics surround us. A vital manufacturing ingredient for nearly every existing industry, these materials appear in a high percentage of the products we use every day. Although modern life would be hard to imagine without this versatile chemistry, products composed of plastics also have a dark side, due in part to the very characteristics that make them so desirable—their durability and longevity.
Now Rolf Halden, associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University and assistant director of Environmental Biotechnology at the Biodesign Institute has undertaken a survey of existing scientific literature concerning the hazards of plastics to human health and to the ecosystems we depend on. His findings, which appear in the latest issue of the Annual Review of Public Health, are sobering.
Today, plastics accumulate in garbage dumps and landfills and are sullying the world’s oceans in ever-greater quantity. And plastics and their additives aren’t just around us, they are inside virtually every one of us— present in our blood and urine in measureable amounts, ingested with the food we eat, the water we drink and from other sources.
Halden’s study reiterates the fact that the effects to the environment from plastic waste are acute. Measurements from the most contaminated regions of the world’s oceans show that the mass of plastics exceeds that of plankton sixfold. Patches of oceanic garbage—some as large as the state of Texas—hold a high volume of non-biodegradable plastics. Aquatic birds and fish are increasingly victims because biodegradation processes are inadequate to eliminate this durable refuse. (more…)
Climate Partnership Yields Initial Research Findings
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Earthwatch met in Panama from March 1-5 to present mid-term research results from the HSBC Climate Partnership, a five-year initiative to identify and respond to the impacts of climate change. (Marcos Guerra, STRI)
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Earthwatch met in Panama from Mar. 1-5 to present mid-term research results from the HSBC Climate Partnership, a five-year initiative to identify and respond to the impacts of climate change. The program is supported financially by HSBC and involves a global team of bank employees – ‘climate champions’ – in vital forest research.
The first-ever research program of its kind has so far:
* Found rapid increases in tree growth in the forest around the Smithsonian’s Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland, USA, a finding attributed to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons, published in PNAS.
* Proposed a novel biodiversity theory relating stress and seed-size published in PNAS.
* Examined the effects a changing climate in forests is having on white-tailed deer, mice and even mosquitoes.
* Addressed the lack of a reliable method for estimating the carbon storage capability of secondary forests on a landscape scale by assessing how measurements from airborne LiDAR and other remote sensing technologies relate to ground-based measurements.
* Reviewed how human disturbance changes the way forests take up carbon in diverse environments. (more…)
High Arctic Species in Decline Due to Changing Ecosystems
Louise McRae - Living Planet Index Postgraduate Research Assistant
A new assessment of the Arctic’s biodiversity reports a 26 per cent decline in species populations in the high Arctic.
Populations of lemmings, caribou and red knot are some of the species that have experienced declines over the past 34 years, according to the first report from The Arctic Species Trend Index (ASTI), which provides crucial information on how the Arctic’s ecosystems and wildlife are responding to environmental change.
While some of these declines may be part of a natural cycle, there is concern that pressures such as climate change may be exacerbating natural cyclic declines.
In contrast, population levels of species living in the sub-Arctic and low Arctic are relatively stable and in some cases, increasing. Populations of marine mammals, including bowhead whales found in the low Arctic, may have benefited from the recent tightening of hunting laws. Some fish species have also experienced population increases in response to rising sea temperatures.
“Rapid changes to the Arctic’s ecosystems will have consequences for the Arctic that will be felt globally. The Arctic is host to abundant and diverse wildlife populations, many of which migrate annually from all regions of the globe. This region acts as a critical component in the Earth’s physical, chemical, and biological regulatory system,” says lead-author Louise McRae from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). (more…)
Forest Protected Areas a Critical Strategy for Slowing Climate Change
A MAP showing carbon stocks and potential emissions of selected forest protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon.
A new study involving scientists from 13 different organizations, universities and research institutions states that forest protection offers one of the most effective, practical, and immediate strategies to combat climate change. The study, “Indigenous Lands, Protected Areas, and Slowing Climate Change,” was published in PLoS Biology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and makes specific recommendations for incorporating protected areas into overall strategies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses from deforestation and degradation (nicknamed REDD).
“Deforestation leads to about 15 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes on earth. If we fail to reduce it, we’ll fail to stabilize our climate,” said Taylor Ricketts, director of World Wildlife Fund’s science program and lead author of the study. “Our paper emphasizes that creating and strengthening indigenous lands and other protected areas can offer an effective means to cut emissions while garnering numerous additional benefits for local people and wildlife.”
The authors highlight analyses showing that since 2002, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been 7 to 11 times lower inside of indigenous lands and other protected areas than elsewhere. Simulation models suggest that protected areas established between 2003 and 2007 could prevent an estimated area of 100,000 square miles of deforestation through 2050. That is roughly the size of the state of Colorado, representing enough carbon to equal 1/3 of the world’s annual CO2 emissions. Within these efforts, location matters; protected areas in regions that face deforestation pressures would be most effective at truly reducing emissions. (more…)
Aquatic ‘Dead Zones’ Contributing to Climate Change
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti.
As oxygen-deprived waters increase, they emit more greenhouse gasses into atmosphere.
The increased frequency and intensity of oxygen-deprived “dead zones” along the world’s coasts can negatively impact environmental conditions in far more than just local waters. In the March 12 edition of the journal Science, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science oceanographer Dr. Lou Codispoti explains that the increased amount of nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in low-oxygen (hypoxic) waters can elevate concentrations in the atmosphere, further exacerbating the impacts of global warming and contributing to ozone “holes” that cause an increase in our exposure to harmful UV radiation.
“As the volume of hypoxic waters move towards the sea surface and expands along our coasts, their ability to produce the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide increases,” explains Dr. Codispoti of the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory. “With low-oxygen waters currently producing about half of the ocean’s net nitrous oxide, we could see an additional significant atmospheric increase if these ‘dead zones’ continue to expand.”
Although present in minute concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere, nitrous oxide is a highly potent greenhouse gas and is becoming a key factor in stratospheric ozone destruction. For the past 400,000 years, changes in atmospheric N2O appear to have roughly paralleled changes in carbon dioxide CO2 and have had modest impacts on climate, but this may change. Just as human activities may be causing an unprecedented rise in the terrestrial N2O sources, marine N2O production may also rise substantially as a result of nutrient pollution, warming waters and ocean acidification. Because the marine environment is a net producer of N2O, much of this production will be lost to the atmosphere, thus further intensifying its climatic impact. (more…)
Carbon Emissions ‘Outsourced’ to Developing Countries
China is by far the largest "exporter" of carbon dioxide emissions, as seen in this map of the net flow of emissions embodied in trade among the major exporting and importing countries. Arrows indicate direction and magnitude of flow; numbers are megatons (millions of tons). (Steven Davis/Carnegie Institution for Science)
A new study by scientists at the Carnegie Institution finds that over a third of carbon dioxide emissions associated with consumption of goods and services in many developed countries are actually emitted outside their borders. Some countries, such as Switzerland, “outsource” over half of their carbon dioxide emissions, primarily to developing countries. The study finds that, per person, about 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide are consumed in the U.S. but produced somewhere else. For Europeans, the figure can exceed four tons per person. Most of these emissions are outsourced to developing countries, especially China.
“Instead of looking at carbon dioxide emissions only in terms of what is released inside our borders, we also looked at the amount of carbon dioxide released during the production of the things that we consume,” says co-author Ken Caldeira, a researcher in the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology.
Caldeira and lead author Steven Davis, also at Carnegie, used published trade data from 2004 to create a global model of the flow of products across 57 industry sectors and 113 countries or regions. By allocating carbon emissions to particular products and sources, the researchers were able to calculate the net emissions “imported” or “exported” by specific countries. (more…)
Oceans Reveal Further Impacts of Climate Change
Antarctic marine biologist Jim McClintock.
The increasing acidity of the world’s oceans - and that acidity’s growing threat to marine species - are definitive proof that the atmospheric carbon dioxide that is causing climate change is also negatively affecting the marine environment, says world-renowned Antarctic marine biologist Jim McClintock, Ph.D., professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Biology.
“The oceans are a sink for the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere,” says McClintock, who has spent more than two decades researching the marine species off the coast of Antarctica. Carbon dioxide is absorbed by oceans, and through a chemical process hydrogen ions are released to make seawater more acidic.
“Existing data points to consistently increasing oceanic acidity, and that is a direct result of increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere; it is incontrovertible,” McClintock says. “The ramifications for many of the organisms that call the water home are profound.”
A substance’s level of acidity is measured by its pH value; the lower the pH value, the more acidic is the substance. McClintock says data collected since the pre-industrial age indicates the mean surface pH of the oceans has declined from 8.2 to 8.1 units with another 0.4 unit decline possible by century’s end. A single whole pH unit drop would make ocean waters 10 times more acidic, which could rob many marine organisms of their ability to produce protective shells - and tip the balance of marine food chains.
“There is no existing data that I am aware of that can be used to debate the trend of increasing ocean acidification,” he says. (more…)
American Opinion Cools on Global Warming
Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change.
Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008, according to the results of a national survey released today by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities.
The survey found:
• Only 50 percent of Americans now say they are “somewhat” or “very worried” about global warming, a 13-point decrease.
• The percentage of Americans who think global warming is happening has declined 14 points, to 57 percent.
• The percentage of Americans who think global warming is caused mostly by human activities dropped 10 points, to 47 percent.
In line with these shifting beliefs, there has been an increase in the number of Americans who think global warming will never harm people in the United States or elsewhere or other species.
“Despite growing scientific evidence that global warming will have serious impacts worldwide, public opinion is moving in the opposite direction,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change. “Over the past year the United States has experienced rising unemployment, public frustration with Washington and a divisive health care debate, largely pushing climate change out of the news. Meanwhile, a set of emails stolen from climate scientists and used by critics to allege scientific misconduct may have contributed to an erosion of public trust in climate science.” (more…)
Managing Ecosystems in a Changing Climate
ESA President Mary Power
Global warming may impair the ability of ecosystems to perform vital services—such as providing food, clean water and carbon sequestration—says the nation’s largest organization of ecological scientists. In a statement released today, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) outlines strategies that focus on restoring and maintaining natural ecosystem functions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
“Decision-makers cannot overlook the critical services ecosystems provide,” says ESA President Mary Power. “If we are going to reduce the possibility of irreversible damage to the environment under climate change, we need to take swift but measured action to protect and manage our ecosystems.”
ESA recommends four approaches to limiting adverse effects of climate change through ecosystem management:
Prioritize low-alteration strategies. Many ecosystems sequester a sizable amount of carbon—simply allowing them to function naturally can significantly help mitigation efforts. Deforestation, for example, has a two-fold impact: removing agents of carbon sequestration—trees in this instance—while simultaneously releasing stored carbon. Therefore, preserving forests is a straightforward way to both reduce and offset emissions.
Critically evaluate management-intensive strategies. Management strategies that seek to increase carbon sequestration above natural levels should undergo thorough life-cycle analysis and evaluation prior to implementation. For example, increasing carbon uptake on agricultural lands—one approach to enhancing the sequestration potential of ecosystems—typically requires more fertilizer than standard processes; the tradeoff, therefore, is higher emissions and pollution associated with fertilizer production. (more…)
Arctic Could Face Warmer and Ice-Free Conditions
There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future.
Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions.
The U.S. Geological Survey found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10 to 18°C (50 to 64°F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current temperatures are around or below 0°C (32°F).
Examining past climate conditions allows for a true understanding of how Earth’s climate system really functions. USGS research on the mid-Pliocene is the most comprehensive global reconstruction for any warm period. This will help refine climate models, which currently underestimate the rate of sea ice loss in the Arctic. (more…)
Overwhelming Majority of Americans Support Global Warming Action in Poll
The overwhelming majority of Americans support action to limit carbon pollution and move the U.S. toward a clean energy future, according to a new poll released today by National Wildlife Federation.
“The American people can’t be more clear when it comes to solving global warming: they want the U.S. to be Rudolph out in front of the sleigh, leading the world toward a clean energy future,” said Jeremy Symons, senior vice president of NWF. “There is overwhelming public support for the Senate to pass legislation with firm limits on carbon pollution that will stimulate massive new investments in clean energy technologies.”
American voters demonstrate a strong desire for the U.S. to transition toward a low-carbon economy, with strong support among Independents.
• Strikingly, 82 percent voters and 80 percent of Independents, support the U.S. government increasing investment in clean energy sources. (more…)
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