Friday, May 29, 2009

Yes We Can Do More

I'm copying and pasting all of this article (within quote marks for proper documentation and also including the link for proper documentation) because it's important. I'll comment after.

“Climate pressure 'building on US'
By Roger Harrabin
Environment analyst, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8073434.stm
Climate negotiations are to begin in Bonn with pressure building for the US to deliver deeper emissions cuts.
Delegates are dealing with the reality that although they are wrangling with the Obama administration, US Congress will help determine the final outcome.
President Obama has left Congress to make the running, and the Waxman-Markey Bill is reportedly being watered down as it goes through early stages.
It would deliver a cut of 4% on 1990 levels - the Kyoto Protocol benchmark.
This is a fraction of the 25-40% cut demanded of developed nations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The negotiations in Bonn, Germany, are set to begin on Monday.
And it's even less than the 60% cut urged by some developing nations who say the science has become more alarming since the IPCC report was published.
The Obama administration maintains that it represents a good start considering that US emissions have risen steadily since the Kyoto Protocol was signed. President Bush wouldn't promise to stabilise emissions before 2025.
But even the proposed cut in Waxman-Markey may be diluted further as it gets buffeted through Congress.
Brice Lalonde, the French climate adviser - and cousin of US Senator John Kerry - told BBC News: "We are in a dilemma over the United States.
"On the one hand we wish Obama well because he is a welcome change from the obstruction of the previous administration - but on the other hand he simply has to do more.
"The problem is that the United States doesn't yet have the imagination to see they can do much more. Of course they can do much more because they have so much margin, because they waste so much."
Mr Lalonde will not be impressed that Congressmen have already stripped out some clauses on improving energy efficiency.
Su Wei, the Chinese climate negotiator, told BBC News: "There's a substantial change in the US policies. The position has changed from refusing to cut emissions to some kinds of cap being set on emissions of greenhouse gases.
In that sense, we think the US policy is in the right direction but much more effort is needed."
He was supported by the Indian negotiator Surya Sethi, who told BBC News: "In simple terms they need to do more. If they believe the science - and that's what they are telling us - they need to do more."
When asked what would happen if, due to political constraints, the US could not offer deeper cuts, he said: "Then we will have to suffer the consequences."
Developing nations are also demanding huge amounts of cash from the US to buy them clean technology. The Waxman-Markey Bill will raise cash through carbon trading but it's unlikely to be enough to satisfy demands.
One ray of hope for the climate process is the strong diplomatic link forged between the US and China on the issue.
The Obama Administration needs a tangible sign of a concession from the Chinese in order to help make emissions cuts more palatable to the American public and Congress.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8073434.stm
Published: 2009/05/29 13:19:21 GMT
© BBC MMIX”

We can do something more about climate change and without wrangling: please see www.campaignforgreen.com. And the plans discussed on that site includes helping everyone everywhere get clean water, etc., which speaks to the needs mentioned in the article: "Developing nations are also demanding huge amounts of cash from the US to buy them clean technology." So, again, please see www.campaignforgreen.com. We can do this.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

If Things Don't Change

If things don't change:

"Report: CO2 Levels to Rise 40% by 2030
By AP / H. JOSEF HEBERT Wednesday, May. 27, http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1901222,00.html
(WASHINGTON) — The amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide seeping into the atmosphere will increase by nearly 40 percent worldwide by 2030 if ways are not found to require mandatory emission reductions, a government report said Wednesday."

But things can change. Please see www.campaignforgreen.com.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Permafrost and Carbon Emissions

Permafrost melt poses long-term threat, says study
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090527/sc_afp/climatewarmingpermafrost
AP Wed May 27, 2:57 pm ET


PARIS (AFP) – Melting permafrost could eventually disgorge a billion tonnes a year of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, accelerating the threat from climate change, scientists said Wednesday.
Their probe sought to shed light on a fiercely-debated but poorly-understood concern: the future of organic matter that today is locked up in the frozen soil of Alaska, Canada, northern Europe and Siberia.
The fear is that, as the land thaws, this material will be converted by microbes into carbon dioxide, which will seep into the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.
This in turn will stoke warming and cause more permafrost to thaw, which in turn pushes up temperatures, and so on.****
Burning fossil fuels adds about 8.5 gigatonnes of emissions each year, but it is a process that can theoretically be controlled.
Permafrost thaw, though, would be self-reinforcing and could be almost impossible to brake.
"It's not an option to be putting insulation on top of the tundra," Schuur said.
"If we address our own emissions either by reducing deforestation or controlling emissions from fossil fuels, that's the key to minimising the changes in the permafrost carbon pool.""

Permafrost melt is another problem caused by global warming, and fossil fuel burn cannot be that easily or inexpensively controlled. So what's to be done? For what we can do, please see www.campaignforgreen.com.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Climate Deals--Please Act Soon

"Ban Ki-moon calls for "green deal", says time short 21 May 2009 22:14:47 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Megan Davies (Edited by Philip Barbara)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21352527.htm
UNITED NATIONS, May 21 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a "green new deal" on climate change on Thursday and urged for a final push in negotiations ahead of a key summit to be held in Copenhagen in December.
"We absolutely must reach an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases and help millions of families adapt to climate change -- before our time runs out," Ban told an audience at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, according to a transcript made available at the United Nations."

But we really can't wait 'til December. Something needs to be done now. And something can be done now. Please see www.campaignforgreen.com.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

We Can Do More

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-hails-efforts-on-clean-apf-15270418.html: Weeks of negotiations have led to the introduction in the House of an energy proposal that, for the first time, would mandate reductions in the heat-trapping gases blamed for global warming and shift the country toward cleaner sources of energy.”

We can do more. See www.campaignforgreen.com.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

More on Climate and Health

"Climate 'biggest health threat'
Climate change is "the biggest global health threat of the 21st Century", according to a leading medical journal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8049061.stm
The Lancet, together with University College London researchers, has published a report outlining how public health services will need to adapt.
It also highlights the consequences of climate-related mass migrations.
The authors aim to add their voice to the call for carbon mitigation and will focus on making clear the ways in which climate change will affect health.
University College London (UCL) climatologist Mark Maslin called it "the Stern report for medics", referring to the 2006 review that outlined the future impacts of the climate change situation in economic terms and advocated comprehensive, early-stage action to address it.
"The medical profession has to wake up if we're going to save billions of lives. This is why it's in the Lancet - it is the only way to do this is working with medics and other professionals to get that message across," Professor Maslin said. *****Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/8049061.stm
Published: 2009/05/14 10:14:10 GMT
© BBC MMIX"
Yes. The medical profession needs to pay attention. But we all need to pay attention. And we can wake up now, do something now, to save lives. Wecan call for across-the-board alternative energy use, and to find out how, please see www.campaignforgreen.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Pollution and Health

"http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/12/emissions-pollution-premature-deaths

Search: guardian.co.uk Environment Web
Adam Vaughan
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 May 2009 12.33 BST
Cleaner air from reduced emissions could save millions of lives, says reportResearchers predict that 100 million early deaths could be prevented by cutting global emissions by 50% by 2050.

Tackling climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions could save millions of lives because of the cleaner air that would result, according to a recent study.

Researchers predict that, by 2050, about 100 million premature deaths caused by respiratory health problems linked to air pollution could be avoided through measures such as low emission cars. *****
The key air pollutants that can harm human health include nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, ammonia and particulate matter and are produced by burning fossil fuels in power plants and vehicles. Children and the elderly, plus people with respiratory conditions such as asthma, are particularly at risk."

We've got to do something. We can take care of each other. For more information, please see www.campaignforgreen.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Not Just There But Other Places

"Huge Bolivian glacier disappears
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8046540.stm
The Chacaltaya glacier in 1996 (left) and today
By James Painter
Latin America analyst
Scientists in Bolivia say that one of the country's most famous glaciers has almost disappeared as a result of climate change.
The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m (17,400 ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run.
But it has been reduced to just a few small pieces of ice.
Many Bolivians on the highland plains, and in two cities, depend on the melting of the glaciers for their water supply during the dry season.
The team of Bolivian scientists started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Not long ago they were predicting that it would survive until 2015.
But now it seems, the glacier has melted at a much faster rate than they expected.
Photos taken in the last two weeks show that all that is left of the majestic glacier, which is thought to be 18,000 years old, are a few lumps of ice near the top. *****
But Edson Ramirez, a scientist who has studied the region for years, says the significance of the melting glaciers goes way beyond tourism.
As well as those living on the highland plains, two of Bolivia's main cities, La Paz and El Alto, rely on the Andean glaciers for an important part of their drinking water.
The World Bank warned earlier this year that many of the Andes' tropical glaciers will disappear within 20 years.
This, the bank said, would both threaten the water supplies of nearly 80 million people living in the region, and jeopardise the future generation of hydropower.
Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru depend on that power for about half their electricity."

There's another way to get electricity: cf. www.campaignforgreen.
But water sources do not need to disappear, so there needs to be a halt to global warming, a halt to climate change, by using the other way to get electricity discussed at www.campaignforgreen.com. Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador are not the only places that depend on water. Please see the Terra Humana Foundation site today.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Let Them Know!

See www.campaignforgreen.com and find out how you can let your friends know about the new emissions-free, all-the-electricity-you-need energy alternative!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Climate Change and the Economy

"UN climate deal to fail without aid money -adviser 06 May 2009 22:08:13 GMT Source: Reuters By Timothy GardnerNEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - The world will fail to agree to control emissions of global warming pollution this year in Copenhagen unless rich countries fund billions of dollars in annual climate aid to poor nations, a U.N. adviser said" (http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06281901.htm;Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio).
There's something we can do to make manufacturing less expensive and help all of us everywhere have jobs . . . all sorts of jobs, actually . . . manufacturing and other work. And we'd still be able to trade with each other. And there'd be no pollution. For more information, please see www.campaignforgreen.com.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Dontcha Wanna?

You'll be helping take care of the environment.
You'll be helping take care of everyone on the planet.
You'll be helping all of us get energy independence.
You'll be helping all of us get clean water.
You'll be helping all of us get cheaper, more reliable energy.
You can tell future generations you helped make their world better.
Dontcha wanna?