If Rajendra Pachauri goes, who on Earth would want to be IPCC chair? | John Vidal | Environment | guardian.co.uk

If Rajendra Pachauri goes, who on Earth would want to be IPCC chair? | John Vidal | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The absurdity of the latest attack is that Pachauri himself called on the IAC report specifically to improve IPCC procedures. If the plenary session of the IPCC does pass the recommendations made, then it will be up to Pachauri to implement them. The report suggested that in future one term only should be served, but it did not suggest that the man who implements reform should have to step down immediately.

Pachauri, in fact, has been a rare find and a staunch defender of international science. As the first chair of the IPCC from a developing country he has not just succeeded in engaging Africa and the poorest countries in the climate debate, but has given them a voice. It is quite possible that it is exactly this loud, uncompromising voice from the south demanding justice and compensation from the polluters, that so offends the western press and its commentators.

The Hindu : Sci Tech : Sea levels rising in parts of Indian Ocean: study

The Hindu : Sci Tech : Sea levels rising in parts of Indian Ocean: study

Controversy over Carbon Produced at each Google Search

Google responds to search carbon cost claims
By Jack Riley
Monday, 12 January 2009


A recent claim from a Harvard fellow that two Google searches release as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as that required to boil a kettle has drawn criticism from the company's Senior Vice President of Operations.

Responding on the official Google blog, Urs Hölzle claimed that the actual cost of a search query is just a fraction of the figure now touted across the internet. In relative terms, the cost of 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide per search stated on the official Google blog is closer to one twenty-fifth of the carbon released when making a cup of tea. It is far below the 7 grams which Alex Wissner-Gross, a physicist and co-founder of Enernetics, a business which sells IT companies carbon credits to help them go carbon neutral, claims is released every time a user makes one of the estimated 400 million queries the search engine receives per day. more

Euro MPs seal major climate deal

Critics fear the climate deal may have been undermined by compromises The European Parliament has backed a package of measures to combat global warming - seen as a key EU initiative. The plan, agreed by EU leaders last week, sets out how the 27 member states will cut carbon emissions by 20% by 2020, compared with 1990 levels. With the backing of MEPs, the package - hailed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy as "historic" - becomes law. But critics say concessions made to some industrial sectors will lessen the package's long-term impact.  more

24 million climate refugees

24 million climate refugees around world today

Sat, Dec 6 08:37 PM

Poznan (Poland), Dec 6 (IANS) 'Climate change is going to lead to a bigger human migration than we've ever seen before,' Koko Warner from the UN University said here Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Dec 1-12 summit of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Warner said 24 million people around the world had become climate refugees already, according to an estimate made by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Academics estimated that this figure would go up to 50 million by 2010.

The International Organisation for Migration, a UN body, has estimated that the number of people forced out of their homes by the effects of climate change - lower agricultural output, more frequent and more severe droughts, floods and storms and a rising sea - may reach 200 million by 2050.  more

A sustainable future

The Hindu 

Opinion page/ Editorial

The most comprehensive study yet of the status of mammals on land and in marine environments, published recently in Science, has revealed that 1,141 species, representing one in four, are threatened with extinction worldwide. Data for many others are deficient, but they are also at considerable risk. The Western Ghats in India with their high species endemism constitute a hotspot; in Southeast Asia, primates are extremely threatened; globally, animals ra nging from shrews to elephants and whales are distressed. This is unambiguous evidence emerging from the five-year study led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, better known as the IUCN. The organisation has the monumental task of helping governments take the right steps to avert more extinction (76 mammal species have gone extinct since 1500). The IUCN resolved at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona recently that it would work with governments, civil society, and the private sector towards a sustainable future. The major tool it has crafted for biodiversity protection is the Red List, which flags individual species as vulnerable, critically endangered and so on. Yet, the effects of key factors — habitat fragmentation and loss, hunting, and climate change — on listed species are growing more serious.  more

Green Theology and deep ecology

Dominion is based on Genesis 1:28, where two Hebrew words lie at the heart
of the problem: radah and kabas. Kabas (subdue) is a very strong word, even
translated in one place as ‘rape’ (Est. 7:8) radah (rule over) is also a strong
word. Westermann translates it as ‘to tread the wine press’ and von Rad as
‘trample’.
Yet, despite the strength of these words they do not provide humanity with a
mandate to dominate or conquer nature. The meaning of these two words is
best seen, not in their derivations, but in their context. This of course has
several different aspects: the cultural mandate; the creation story; and the
cultural milieu.
(i) The cultural mandate. The immediate context is that of the ‘cultural
mandate’ (Gn. 1:26-28): the call for humanity to develop and unfold the
creation as the image-bearers of God.

13

If we compare the mandate given to humanity with that given to the rest of
the animals (Gn. 1:22), it is clear that subduing and ruling are one facet of
being the image of God, and thus an essential part of what it means to be
human. Subduing and ruling the creation, then, are to be done as God’s
representatives: he is our role model.
Barr suggests that humanity’s role is ‘less exploitation and more leadership’

14

;
this, however, is only satisfactory if we see (with Houston

15



) leadership as
servanthood, as exemplified by Jesus the Shepherd-King (cf. Phil. 2) 
This twofold commission echoes the
cultural mandate of 1:26-28: they are to work (abad implies work as a slave)
and take care (shamar) of the garden. There is no sense of dominion being
exploitative. McHarg and Collard’s interpretation owes more to their own
cultural perspectives than it does to the biblical acThe earth is not humanity’s to do with as it sees fit. It is God’s creation, and as
God’s delegates we are to take care of it on his behalf; humanity is
accountable to God for its treatment of the earth (cf. P99. 115:6; 8:4-6).
It is not rulership without limits. God follows on from the cultural mandate to
place immediate constraints on dominion: men are not to kill for food (vv.
29-30). F.W. Welbourn identifies the other limitations that God placed on
Israel’s use of nature:
16
•
No blood of any animal may be eaten (Lv. 17:10-14).
•
Fields are not to be reaped to the border (Lv. 19:9).
•
The grower may only harvest from trees five years old (Lv. 19:23).
•
Fruit trees may not be used for siege works (Dt. 20:19).
•
A kid is not to be boiled in its mother’s milk (Dt. 14:21).
•
An ox is not to be muzzled when treading corn (Dt. 25:4).
•
A mother bird is not to be taken with her young (Dt. 22:6).
•
The land is to lie fallow regularly (Lv. 25:1-12).
•
All the tithe of the land is the Lord’s (Lv. 27:30-33).
It is evident, then, that it is not, as White contends, ‘God’s will that man
exploit nature for his proper ends’This struggle with nature is taken up in the following chapters of Genesis.

Cain’s murder of his brother means that the ground will no longer yield its

crop, and he will be homeless, driven from the land (Gn. 4:10-14). The prophet

Hosea takes up the same theme (cf. Ho. 4:1-3): sin results in the land

mourning and even in a reversal of creation.

27

Throughout the OT we can see examples of God’s concern for the whole of

the non-human creation. The story of Noah is a case in point: Noah was

perhaps the first conservationist.

28

The flood was a direct consequence of

human rebellion which caused the earth to be corrupt in God’s sight (Gn.

6.11). The ark, and the subsequent covenant that God made with Noah, his

descendants and with every living creature on earth (Gn 9:10), is testimony to

God’s concern for non-human life;

29

his promise that ’never again will there

be a flood to destroy the earth’ illustrates his concern for the earth.

30

Beginning (IVP, 1984), who thinks not. See also D. Keith Innes, Resources for a Green

Theology, Science and Technology Papers No. 2 (Framlington Institute, 1987).

26

See my ‘Towards a biblical view of environmental care’, Evangel 7(2) (1989), p. 8.

27

Michael Deroche, ‘The reversal of creation in Hosea’, VT 31 (1981), comparing Gn.

1 with Ho. 4:3: ‘Thus, Hosea is not merely employing the image of a drought to

illustrate Israel’s punishment; he is announcing the reversal of creation’ (p. 403). Cf.

also his, ’Zephaniah 1:2-3: the “sweeping” of creation’, VT 30 (1980), pp. 104-109.

28

Richard Bauckham, The Bible and Politics (SPCK, 1989) ‘I am surprised that Noah

has not become, as he deserves to be, a model for Christian conservationists’ (p. 16).

29

Bernard W. Anderson, ‘Creation and the Noahic covenant’, in Cry of the

Environment, pp. 45-61; see also his ’Creation and Ecology’ in Creation in the Old

Testament, ed. B.W. Anderson (SPCK, 1984): ‘This Noahic covenant opens up the

horizon of the future by predicating the hope of the human and nonhuman creation

on the unconditional commitment of the creator to humankind, to nonhuman

creatures and , and to the order land regularity of “nature”‘ (p. 169).

30

Bauckham, The Bible and Politics, p. 132: ‘the message of the story [of the flood] is

not so much that God once brought a universal deluge on the earth, but rather that

he will never do so again’.

This struggle with nature is taken up in the following chapters of Genesis.

Cain’s murder of his brother means that the ground will no longer yield its

crop, and he will be homeless, driven from the land (Gn. 4:10-14). The prophet

Hosea takes up the same theme (cf. Ho. 4:1-3): sin results in the land

mourning and even in a reversal of creation.

27

Throughout the OT we can see examples of God’s concern for the whole of

the non-human creation. The story of Noah is a case in point: Noah was

perhaps the first conservationist.

28

The flood was a direct consequence of

human rebellion which caused the earth to be corrupt in God’s sight (Gn.

6.11). The ark, and the subsequent covenant that God made with Noah, his

descendants and with every living creature on earth (Gn 9:10), is testimony to

God’s concern for non-human life;

29

his promise that ’never again will there

be a flood to destroy the earth’ illustrates his concern for the earth.

30

Beginning (IVP, 1984), who thinks not. See also D. Keith Innes, Resources for a Green

Theology, Science and Technology Papers No. 2 (Framlington Institute, 1987).

26

See my ‘Towards a biblical view of environmental care’, Evangel 7(2) (1989), p. 8.

27

Michael Deroche, ‘The reversal of creation in Hosea’, VT 31 (1981), comparing Gn.

1 with Ho. 4:3: ‘Thus, Hosea is not merely employing the image of a drought to

illustrate Israel’s punishment; he is announcing the reversal of creation’ (p. 403). Cf.

also his, ’Zephaniah 1:2-3: the “sweeping” of creation’, VT 30 (1980), pp. 104-109.

28

Richard Bauckham, The Bible and Politics (SPCK, 1989) ‘I am surprised that Noah

has not become, as he deserves to be, a model for Christian conservationists’ (p. 16).

29

Bernard W. Anderson, ‘Creation and the Noahic covenant’, in Cry of the

Environment, pp. 45-61; see also his ’Creation and Ecology’ in Creation in the Old

Testament, ed. B.W. Anderson (SPCK, 1984): ‘This Noahic covenant opens up the

horizon of the future by predicating the hope of the human and nonhuman creation

on the unconditional commitment of the creator to humankind, to nonhuman

creatures and , and to the order land regularity of “nature”‘ (p. 169).

30

Bauckham, The Bible and Politics, p. 132: ‘the message of the story [of the flood] is

not so much that God once brought a universal deluge on the earth, but rather that

he will never do so again’.

.............




 more 

Church leaders blame environment destruction for poverty

11/05/2008 | 04:30 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Church social action officials blamed environmental destruction for worsening and "dehumanizing" poverty and hunger in Mindanao at a recent general assembly in Surigao.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website also said there is worsening food security brought about by landlessness and development aggression.

Participants also pinpointed as the cause of such a situation land use conversion, poor governance, ongoing mining, logging, mono-cropping and irreversible destruction of the environment as the further marginalization and displacement of communities, especially the indigenous peoples.

Attending the two-day meet were Bishops Nereo Odchimar (Tandag, Surigao del Sur), Juan De Dios Pueblos (Butuan), Antonieto Cabajog (Surigao del Norte), Dinualdo Gutierrez (Marbel, South Cotabato) and Patricio Alo (Mati, Davao Oriental). 

more

George Zachariah in Geneva Consultation on Climate Change

Giving an account of what his students heard when they went out to local communities using the LWF survey, Dr George Zachariah, who teaches at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute in Chennai, India, focused on the spirituality of those displaced from their land and livelihood because of climate change. He argued that many prevailing climate change discourses were an attempt to “absolve the sins of neo-liberal capitalist plunder,” and called for attention to the spiritual resources of subaltern communities that can “decolonize our minds, our faiths, our communities, and our planet.”

GLifeLine

Geoengineering, cooling the earth

How to Cool Earth - At a Price/Scientific American

So if we can't do anything about the Sun, we can work to cool the Earth. And that's what geoengineering is about - deliberate actions taken to slow or reverse global warming. So far, very little research has gone into geoengineering or its possible side effects. Among the proposals are, injecting several million tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, spraying seawater into the air from wind-powered vessels, and building a sunscreen in space. But someday, if this giant sunshade were to fail, the accumulated CO2 will warm the Earth in one swoop. So till the research throws up something more conclusive, keep track of your carbon footprints and stay green.  more 

Holistic Economics for the 21st Century: ecology and equity

Holistic Economics for the 21st Century

First published in 2008
by Schumacher College as an initiative of The Dartington Hall Trust

Contents
Introduction by Satish Kumar 7
1 What's the Problem? 9
2 The Money Renaissance 18
3 The Energy Renaissance 27
4 The Food Renaissance 32
5 Where do we go from here 40

Introduction
by Satish Kumar
There is a big problem with the economy, namely that it is
disconnected from both ecology and equity. In the past hundred years
the economy has grown twenty-fold, yet during the same period the
ecological capital of the Earth and the livelihoods of hundreds of
millions of people have been in constant decline.

In spite of the many efforts and good intentions of governments, UN
agencies and NGOs, the Earth's natural resources have continued to be
pillaged. Economic growth has been matched only by the growth of the
gap between rich and poor. Moreover, nobody seems to know how to
address this fundamental fault line in the economy.

In the light of this predicament, in November 2007 Schumacher
College organised a think tank bringing together a group of holistic
economists who share a vision of a new economic order which can
simultaneously bring about ecological sustainability and human
wellbeing. The group spent three days at the College exploring
practical ways and means of economic transformation and developing a
cohesive framework for a new economic order based on the principles
of equity, sustainability and spirituality. They addressed the
following questions:

What are the key components of an economic system which would
successfully achieve poverty elimination, climate sustainability and
human fulfilment?
How can we bring about systemic change to address the root causes of
the present economic crisis rather than treat the symptoms?
What kind of economy do we need to protect ecosystems and people's
livelihoods at the same time?

After three days of extensive discussions and deliberations we agreed
that an economic "renaissance" is needed to meet the enormous
challenges of sustainability, equity and climate change. In
particular, we need to redesign our food systems, energy systems and
money systems in order to create a new economic order. Food, energy
and money are the three fundamental components which need root and
branch reform. Colin Tudge, who participated in the discourse
throughout, was given the task of summarising the essential spirit
and pertinent points of the discussions held. This small book is the
result. Colin has been able to capture the intricate arguments of the
participants in a most admirable and impressive way. There is a
wonderful combination of idealism and pragmatism in this book. I hope
that economists, environmentalists, politicians and business leaders
will find here a direction which has wisdom and vision as well as
enough material for practical action. At the end of the three days we
agreed to establish two working groups:
one called Polestars and the other Flashpoints. The responsibility of
the Polestars is to develop the big picture and create a new vision,
new analysis and new theories of holistic economics on a long-term
basis; whereas Flashpoints will focus on action and implementation,
responding to the day-to-day events impacting on ecology and
equity.

It was agreed that the second think tank will take place in November
2008. Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks
to Cherian Eapen for his generous support, financial contribution and
participation in the discourse. Without his sponsorship this
gathering would not have been possible.

Also, I would like to thank James Martin-Jones who facilitated the
think tank in a most efficient and coherent manner. Without his
diligent and focused facilitation we would not have been able to
achieve such a remarkable outcome. source 

China and India exceed their biocapacity

State of the World’s Cities Report 2008/9 of UN-HABITAT: Harmonious Cities



The report puts the current ecological footprint of humanity as 2.2 hectares per person, while the earth’s biocapacity remains at 1.8 ha. China and India have ecological footprints that are twice their biocapacity. In other words, what the population consumes in a year, their area of earth will take two years to produce. Other challenges facing cities are mobility, waste management and environment. The report says a number of cities in Asia have a high rate of car ownership. In this context, it cites the World Health Organisation’s estimates that more than a billion people in Asia are exposed to air pollution levels that exceed its guidelines. more 

Climate change 'happening faster' than predicted

Yahoo News

Mon, Oct 20 12:47 PM

Climate change is occurring far faster than the predictions of the world's best scientists, a new report has warned.

According to the report, "extreme weather events" will happen more frequently unless action is taken on a global scale to combat global warming, leading British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

The report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has also predicted massive crops failures and the collapse of eco-systems on both land and sea.

The agency has clearly pointed out that global warming could result in rapid and abrupt climate change rather than the gradual changes forecast by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The report, titled 'Climate Change: Faster, stronger, sooner', WWF claims, has updated all the scientific data and concluded that global warming is accelerating far beyond the IPCC's forecasts.  more 

The National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA): A Case of hoodwinking people

Take out those earplugs, pleaseKumKum Dasgupta, Hindustan Times that was set up through a Parliamentary Statute in 1997 on the suggestions of the Supreme Court. Its mandate: hear the grievances of affected people impacted by approvals to industries, dams and mines etc by the Ministry of Enviro-nment and Forests (MoEF). The simple rationale behind its formation: reduce the burden on the country’s legal process and ensure that environmental matters are decided by a panel of judicial, administrative and scientific experts. In other words, a one-stop shop for putting up your case.

But trying to find details about the body, or procedures for filing a case or, the simplest of all, where it is housed in Delhi, is a waste of time. The NEAA has no internet presence and is housed somewhere in Bhikaji Cama Place, a commercial complex in the Capital. With this kind of mystery shrouding such a premier body, you can be forgiven for feeling that this is a deliberate ploy by the ministry to keep it out of reach of the complainants.

There are other reasons for people to question the NEAA’s existence: in its 11 years of existence, it has dismissed every single case which was filed before it, except one. In fact, 11 years on, the NEAA is yet to become ‘fully functional’. It does not have a Chairman since Justice N. Venkatachala retired in 2000 and has had no Vice-Chairman since the last three years. At present, the ‘technical experts’ panel comprises retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) and IAS officers, not members with a scientific and technical background. In 2005, the Delhi High Court directed the MoEF to fill the two top posts within 45 days. Today, three years after the ruling, they are still lying vacant. The reason given is that the MoEF officials “could not locate the phone number of retired judges”. On August 6, 2008, the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court directed the MoEF to produce records and files relating to the appointment of its Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

According to lawyers appearing before the NEAA, the functioning of the body has been handicapped because there are no judicial members and technical experts in it. According to an activist, this body has become a ‘parking lot’ for retired babus. There is also the case of a conflict of interest here: the MoEF appoints the NEAA members and also makes all the budgetary allocations. Therefore, it is unlikely that the MoEF will appoint people who will overrule its decisions.

Considering that the fight for resources looks set to escalate, is it prudent to leave matters as they are?

Even if you manage to locate the panel and file your case, chances are the babu will throw the rulebook at you and delay proceedings. Ironically, the NEAA was envisaged as a forum to provide a simplified and liberal procedure. Appeals are routinely dismissed on the ground that the appellants could not file an appeal within 30 days from the approval granted by the MoEF, despite an outer limit of 90 days. “For a grassroots worker in some faraway town, it is not always easy to file within 30 days. For example, if you are in the hilly areas, to get even one signature from an affected party, you need to walk miles. And, yet when you knock at the NEAA doors, after spending considerable time and money, there are procedural hassles,” says Vimal Bhai, a grassroots worker. “This deters villagers from filing cases”.

He narrates an incident when one of the present NEAA officers deliberated for more than three hours on the usage of two words in a case: ‘access’ and ‘provide’. “Non-issues are made issues. All we demand is a fair hearing but they don't seem to see the problems that often crop up due to faulty public hearings and Environment Impact Assessment studies,” he adds.

Transparency and grievance redressal are key to a democracy. But unfortunately, the more doors we open, an equal number get shut elsewhere. read it all 

Eco Spirituality

Eco Spirituality by Charles Cummings

Green Theology

Beat greenhouse effect with greenhouses

How to solve greenhouse effect? Build greenhouses

Thu, Oct 9 07:01 PM

By Juan Arias

EL EJIDO, Spain (Reuters Life!) - The greenhouse effect may be heating the planet but a new study says Europe's driest spot, Almeria, Spain, is actually cooling ... thanks to greenhouses.

A group of researchers at the University of Almeria found that the southern Spanish province had so many commercial greenhouses, seen from space as a white swathe across the arid province, that they reflected solar energy back into space.

Seventy percent of the province's coastal strip -- 30,000 hectares (74,130 acres) -- is covered in transparent plastic sheeting used to grow thousands of tonnes of fruit and vegetables for export. more 

Climate change could force millions from homes

Enlarge Photo Giant tabular icebergs surrounded by ice floe drift in Vincennes Bay in the Australian Antarctic...

Thu, Oct 9 07:50 AM

BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Environmental damage such as desertification or flooding caused by climate change could force millions of peoples from their homes in the next few decades, experts said on Wednesday.

"All indicators show we are dealing with a major emerging global problem," said Janos Bogardi, director of the U.N. University's Institute on the Environment and Human Security in Bonn, Germany.

"Experts estimate that by 2050 some 200 million people will be displaced by environmental problems, a number of people roughly equal to ...  read more 

Why does earth's magnetic field occasionally reverse direction.

Earth's Magnetic Field Reversals Illuminated By Lava Flows Study

ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2008) — Earth's north magnetic pole is shifting and weakening. Ancient lava flows are guiding a better understanding of what generates and controls the  – and what may drive it to occasionally reverse direction.

---

See also:

Earth & Climate

• Atmosphere
• Geology
• Earth Science
• Ice Ages
• Climate
• Geography

Reference

• Mid-ocean ridge
• Shield volcano
• Igneous rock
• Basalt rock

The main magnetic field, generated by turbulent currents within the deep mass of molten iron of the Earth's outer core, periodically flips its direction, such that a compass needle would point south rather than north. Such polarity reversals have occurred hundreds of times at irregular intervals throughout the planet's history – most recently about 780,000 years ago – but scientists are still trying to understand how and why.

A new study of ancient volcanic rocks, reported in the Sept. 26 issue of the journal Science, shows that a second magnetic field source may help determine how and whether the main field reverses direction. This second field, which may originate in the shallow core just below the rocky mantle layer of the Earth, becomes important when the main north-south field weakens, as it does prior to reversing, says Brad Singer, a geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  more

Pollution Increases 3 Percent

Global Warming Pollution Increases 3 Percent

Chinese Greenhouse Gas Pollution Largely Responsible for Bringing CO2 Emissions to Record High

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON September 25, 2008 (AP)

The Associated Press 
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Carbon dioxide output rose 3 percent from 2006 to 2007.

(ABCNews Photo Illustration)

The world pumped up its pollution of the chief man-made global warming gas last year, setting a course that could push beyond leading scientists' projected worst-case scenario, international researchers said Thursday.

The new numbers, called "scary" by some, were a surprise because scientists thought an economic downturn would slow energy use. Instead, carbon dioxide output jumped 3 percent from 2006 to 2007.

That's an amount that exceeds the most dire outlook for emissions from burning coal and oil and related activities as projected by a Nobel Prize-winning group of international scientists in 2007.

Meanwhile, forests and oceans, which suck up carbon dioxide, are doing so at lower rates than in the 20th century, scientists said. If those trends continue, it puts the world on track for the highest predicted rises in temperature and sea level.The pollution leader was China, followed by the United States, which past data show is the leader in emissions per person in carbon dioxide output. And while several developed countries slightly cut their CO2 output in 2007, the United States churned out more.  more 

Food and Agriculture: Global Crop Diversity Trust collects seeds from Azerbaijan to Nigeria

Crop diversity is the raw material needed for improving and adapting food crops to harsher climate conditions and constantly evolving pests and diseases. However, it is disappearing from many of the places where it has been placed for safekeeping—the world's genebanks. Compounding the fact that it is not well conserved is the fact that it is not well understood. A lack of readily available and accurate data on key traits can severely hinder plant breeders' efforts to identify material they can use to breed new varieties best suited for the climates most countries will experience in the coming decades. The support provided by the Global Crop Diversity Trust will not only rescue collections which are at risk, but enable breeders and others to screen collections for important characteristics. 

Read more :- Food and Agriculture: Global Crop Diversity Trust collects seeds from Azerbaijan to Nigeria

Dirt Make More Rain

Moderate Quantities Of Dirt Make More Rain

ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2008) — Drought or deluge? Scientists working with Meinrat O. Andreae, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, have now discovered how aerosols affect the when, where and how much of rainfall.

Until now, the answers to these questions have been as varied as they have been inconsistent. Andreae and his co-authors are now tracing a common theme through the sometimes contradictory effects that these tiny particles have on precipitation.

Their new approach: they are observing how aerosols change the flow of energy in the atmosphere and thus air circulation, the way drops form and the way they fall. Because the role of aerosols has to date been very much a subject of dispute and a source of great uncertainty in climate predictions made by researchers, this work removes one of the largest obstacles to the development of more accurate climate forecasts.

....> full story

Threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Thursday, 11 September 2008

PA

The Kingsnorth Six leave Maidstone Crown Court after being found not guilty of causing criminal damage during a protest at a coal-fired power station in Kent

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.  More

Rajendra Pachauri, chairperson of the IPCC:Shun meat to combat global warming

Shun meat, says UN climate chief

By Richard Black  Environment correspondent, BBC News website Livestock production has a bigger climate impact than transport, the UN believes People should consider eating less meat as a way of combating global warming, says the UN's top climate scientist. Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), will make the call at a speech in London on Monday evening. UN figures suggest that meat production puts more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than transport. But a spokeswoman for the UK's National Farmers' Union (NFU) said methane emissions from farms were declining. "The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that direct emissions from meat production account for about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions," he told BBC News. "So I want to highlight the fact that among options for mitigating climate change, changing diets is something one should consider. Read more