- Older adults contributing to healthier environment

Manorama Online English News - Older adults contributing to healthier environment

Older adults contributing to healthier environment
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Washington: Elderly people who volunteer for environmental protection are likely to find the activity physically and mentally stimulating, according to a recent study.

Post retirement volunteerism provides opportunities for social integration among different generations, through the initiative of environmental organisations. Many of these involve healthy physical activity, such as the testing of rivers or clean up of natural areas.

"Citizen involvement on a large scale is needed to address pressing issues of environmental conservation and sustainability," stated the study's co-authors Karl Pillemer and Linda P. Wagenet of Cornell University.

In one of four articles, they examined the prospects and promise for what the two call "environmental volunteerism and civic engagement" (EVCE) among older persons and point to some directions for encouraging this movement.

The ongoing increase in the number of older citizens, coupled with a senior population seeking meaningful participation in society, can greatly serve environmental protection efforts.

Even the US government has begun to tap this resource. For over five years, the Environmental Protection Agency's Ageing Initiative has provided opportunities for older adults to become environmental stewards in their own communities.

This group is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of air pollution, temperature extremes and major weather events.

These articles have been published in Public Policy & Ageing Report brought out by National Academy on an Ageing Society.

Gmail - [GSC] YOU THOUGHT JONAH HAD BAD NEWS ?! - jacobthanni@gmail.com

Gmail - [GSC] YOU THOUGHT JONAH HAD BAD NEWS ?! - jacobthanni@gmail.com

environment

American crisis in food, economy environment

tag: environment

[GSC] YOU THOUGHT JONAH HAD BAD NEWS ?!

maria_heisch
to GregorianStudy.

show details 10:20 AM (9 hours ago)


Reply

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS

The frightening thing about what you are now reading is..not..the
fact that America is facing the worst food shortage in our history:
with all out famine very likely - when you consider that half our
crops are dying from drought, while the other half are dying from
excessive moisture in the form of floods; with much of our food
causing serious health problems that no one has yet been able to
explain: Such as our problems with Lettuce, Spinach, Hamburger,
Pork, Celery, Chicken, Packaged Chili, Peanut Butter, Tomatoes,
and a host of other food products, even Dog Food: Not to mention
that all these things combined are pushing food prices so high that
many will simply not be able to afford to buy it anyway. And as
stated by the news media, there is a "Silent Famine" already on
American soil. ...In New York City, for just one example.

The frightening part is not even the fact that every aspect of what
we are now seeing with our food supply was prophesied in the
early
1990's, to specifically take place this year. To include the above
mentioned famine. (To occur in the year 2008.)

What part of this "word for word" prophecy has not come to
pass
??
"A prophetic drought is now being directed at America's waters;
They will be dried up, and her crops will fail for lack of water. .In
instances where her waters are not dried up, America's crops will
rot in the ground from excessive moisture. .And, in cases where she
does manage to get her food stuffs to market, most of them will not
be fit for human consumption; and much of it will cause serious
health risks..." (Vince Diehl - in 1990, for the year 2008 - as
taken from Yahoo archive 1521, the link to which is provided
below)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/parousia/message/1521.html

Nor is the frightening part, the fact that every detail regarding our
present day war with Iraq, including how it will end, what it's
actually about, the conduct of George Herbert Walker Bush, and of
George W. Bush, was prophesied in the year 1990, at a time when
Iraq was our most staunch allie in the Middle East. See link below
titled "OUR IRAQ WARS"

All of which was stated in public, in writing, .at a time when we
had
all the seventeen dollar a barrel oil, and seventy cent a gallon
gasoline we could use,. had no problems with our food chain,..no
floods,. droughts,.no Iraq war,. had a national trade surplus,. a
healthy banking system,..and, .at a time when as a nation, America
enjoyed one of the greatest reputations in all recorded history.

Therefore, neither can anyone claim that Diehl was just lucky, and
saw that all these things were coming, because at the time he issued
these Plagues, the future looked nothing but great for all aspects of
America.

The genuinely frightening part of the above is the fact that Vince
Diehl has accurately prophesied so many things that have come to
pass, to include all of the above. Therefore, if you consider the rest
of his prophecies, THAT is when things get truly frightening.

The fact that eighteen years ago he accurately prophesied over 150
events that were to occur in the year 2008, which are now showing
up in our nightly news, MAKES his prophecies something that we
as Americans need to take seriously.

Whereas, a full eighteen years in advance, he not only prophesied
the fifty percent drought, fifty percent floods America is now
seeing: .He as well prophesied the crop failures, the two wars with
Iraq, the total collapse of our economy, and as well, the upcoming
famine: But he ALSO prophesied that America would be literally
burned off the map, and that everything we've mentioned above
would take place before George W. Bush leaves office. He even
described in detail, exactly HOW this unimaginable fire would take
place, and precisely where. Having declared in open court after
America had literally tried to torture him into submission as
described in the link titled TORTURE (see below), that if America
continued to violate his rights as a prophet to prophesy, that, "God
will tear America limb from limb".

Anyone been watching the weather events in the news since
Katrina lately ???

The problem is: .It's no longer just Vince Diehl's prophecy saying
this will happen: In fact, the utter destruction of America, by the fire
Diehl described in his prophecy, has now, not only been proven to
be SCIENTIFICALLY possible, but scientifically inevitable!!

Whereas, due to a process called "Water Replacement" that is being
used by our energy companies to force natural gas up out of the
earth, .the ENTIRE North American Continent is now literally
sitting on top of the largest.BOMB.mankind has ever even
imagined.

Now, the fact that this unimaginably huge fire is scientifically
inevitable:

...THAT, is the frightening part of it all.

Want details as to what is being called "The Great Abyss" ? ..We
dare you to read it.

http://www.theamericannightmare.org/THE_GREAT_ABYSS.html

You might also want to read his 1990 prophecy re: our present day
war with Iraq.

http://www.theamericannightmare.org/162_OUR_IRAQ_WARS_A-D.html

If you're at all concerned with America's new weather patterns you
might also want to read the link called TORTURE below, then
perhaps you might understand the "why" behind it.

http://www.theamericannightmare.org/162_TORTURE.html

As for America's economy, Diehl prophesied as follows:
"A Plague is against America's economy, against everything that
America considers to be luxurious, powerful, pleasurable and/or
important. It will cause America's treasures, her stock markets, and
her every asset to be plundered."

Gee, America's fifth largest investment bank was just sold for
two cents on the dollar; .Her largest commercial bank has now
hemorrhaged well over fifteen Billion dollars in the last six months
alone; .One out of every ten American home owners are now either
in forclosure or they are seriously behind in their house payments;
.Exactly HALF of all American workers now live in fear of losing
their jobs; .Most home owners now have no hopes of ever selling
their house for enough money to pay off the loan they presently
have against them;. America is now losing almost 100,000 of its
best paying jobs every month;. In order to make things not appear
to be as bad as they obviously are, flipping hamburgers for minimim
wage at a fast food restaraunt has now been classified by our
government to be a "manufacturing" or otherwise "assembly line"
job;. And we are beseiged by such outrageous lies by our
government on a daily basis, in order to conceal the truth as to how.
bad. things really are.

Moreover, most of the people who went in debt within the last
few years to purchase their $40,000.00 plus SUV or giant pick up
truck,. can now NOT afford to buy fuel to drive them,. they can't
even GIVE them away,. muchless sell them,. because no one else
can either !!. .Therefore, the foreclosures on THOSE loans will be
America's NEXT banking disaster !!

Sure looks like. this. part of Vince Diehl's Plague is also in full
force. Read details from the news media, at:

http://www.theamericannightmare.org/200_ECONOMY.html

Maria

ABC News: Dead Sea Walking? Man-Made Crisis Feared

ABC News: Dead Sea Walking? Man-Made Crisis Feared


$5B Plan: Canal From Red Sea to Dead Sea
As Dead Sea's Coastline Recedes, 10-Year-Long Project Is in the Works.
By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD
July 12, 2008



The Dead Sea is lowest place on Earth and it keeps getting lower.
dead sea
Salt crystals are seen on the coast of the Dead Sea, in March 2007, showing its receding water... Expand
Salt crystals are seen on the coast of the Dead Sea, in March 2007, showing its receding water level. The Dead Sea is a popular tourist site, and its waters and low atmospheric conditions (at minus 440 meters below sea level) have been used since at least the times of the Romans for their healing powers. The Israeli government recently approved the "economic peace corridor" project, which is due to build a 160 km channel to bring water from the Red Sea, through the Arava desert valley, into the Dead Sea in order to prevent the Dead Sea from drying up.

Jordan's Prime Minister Nader Dahabi is concerned about the sea. In fact, he announced Saturday that finding additional water resources for his citizens and the Dead Sea are top priority.

This year the rate of decline in the sea's level is expected to be over 4 feet; the cause is man-made. People are using 90 percent of the Dead Sea's main source, the Jordan River, for farming and drinking.

As the Dead Sea's water recedes, hundreds of sink holes have appeared making the coastline dangerously unstable, which is not good for tourism. The sea is one the region's biggest attractions and has one of the world's most unique environments.

Zabu Levin has lived at the Ein Gedi Health Spa for 45 years, which was once close to the sea but today is 1,000 yards away. The spa has struggled as the water has receded, but Levin has been responsible for designing elaborate ways for tourists to reach the sea.


"We are chasing the water," Levin says.

But now, there is a bold new plan to save the sea, a $5 billion canal. It will pump water from the Red Sea to boost the Dead Sea.

It is a joint Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian venture that seems to have all the answers, but not everyone thinks it's a good idea.

Itai Gavrieli, who works for Israeli's Geological Institute, is skeptical. "We are playing with the environment. The Dead Sea has not seen sea water in two million years," he says. Scientists fear mixing the waters could produce huge amounts of algae turning the Dead Sea red.

"We think that there would be more problems created than problems solved. We would like to see the Jordan River rehabilitated," says Mira Edelstrein, an environmentalist from Friends of the Earth.

Even if the plan is approved, it will take 10 years to build. And every day the Dead Sea keeps slipping away.

Crawler.com - Games, Screensavers, Wallpapers, eCards and more!

After Applause Dies Down, Global Warming Talks Leave Few Concrete Goals
P
The leaders of developed and developing countries, including President Bush, and international officials on Wednesday in Toyako, Japan, on the last day of talks on climate change and other issues.

Article Tools Sponsored By
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: July 10, 2008

Nearly everyone had something to cheer about on Wednesday after the major industrial powers and a big group of emerging nations pledged to pursue “deep cuts” in emissions of heat-trapping gases in coming decades.
S

President Bush, who had insisted that any commitment to combat global warming must involve growing economies as well as the rich nations, recruited China and India to the table and received rare accolades from some environmentalists for doing so.

The developing countries received a promise that the rich countries would take the lead in curbing emissions. And environmentalists said the agreements renewed chances of reviving two ailing climate pacts, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

But behind the congratulatory speeches on Wednesday, some experts said, was a more sobering reality. The documents issued by the participating countries had very few of the concrete goals needed to keep greenhouse gases from growing at their torrid pace, they said.

The statement issued by the industrialized Group of 8 pledged to “move toward a carbon-free society” by seeking to cut worldwide emissions of heat-trapping gases in half by 2050. But the statement did not say whether that baseline would be emissions at 1990 levels, or the less ambitious baseline of current levels, already 25 percent higher.

Mentions of mandatory restrictions on emissions were carefully framed. Caps or taxes were endorsed where “national circumstances” made those acceptable. The statement urged nations to set “midterm, aspirational goals for energy efficiency.”

There were new commitments to demonstrate that carbon dioxide from coal combustion could be captured, compressed, and stashed permanently underground. But experts have said that process would have to work at the scale of billions of tons of carbon dioxide a year within a decade or two to avert a huge rise in carbon dioxide concentrations, while proposed projects are all measured in millions of tons.

The Group of 8 statement also pledged to increase aid to help developing countries improve energy efficiency or cut their vulnerability to climate risk. But developing countries have noted that in the past those pledges have gone unfilled.

“I would characterize this outcome as ‘talking the talk’ rather then ‘walking the walk’ on climate change policy,” said Michael E. Schlesinger, a climatologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who has co-written many papers on climate policy.

Dr. Schlesinger and others said that neither this week’s statements nor the two previous climate treaties seemed likely to significantly slow the rise over decades of heat-trapping gases, most notably carbon dioxide — an unavoidable byproduct of burning fossil fuels and forests.

Beyond any vagueness in this week’s statements is the challenge that climate policy must compete with other pressing global problems, particularly rising prices for energy.

This reality was on display in Japan in the days leading up to the leaders’ formal sessions. Gwyn Prins, an expert on climate policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, was there for discussions preceding the formal talks and noted that current concerns about energy security were already clearly interfering with discussions aimed at climate stability.

One day, in particular, he said, was “gloriously incoherent.” At a meeting in the morning, participants focused on finding ways to reduce gas prices, he said, while a session that afternoon focused on raising them through caps or taxes on fossil fuels.

The most discouraging aspect of the statements out of Japan, for many experts, was seeing the persistent gap between what science is saying about global warming and what countries are doing.

The United States appeared to regain some credibility at the meetings, but some environmentalists still found an opportunity to criticize President Bush. David G. Victor, an expert on climate policy at Stanford University, said that the power of any American president was limited, and that another barrier to cutting emissions was Congress.

“Nearly every government is looking beyond Bush, and while they are hopeful that the next president will surely be more constructive on this issue, they don’t know what the president can really bring to the table,” he said. “It is hard for the U.S. president to negotiate with strength when his ability to offer commitments hinges on national legislation that he does not control.”

Cutting emissions in half is just the first step in curtailing warming, climate experts have long said, because the main greenhouse gas generated by human activities, carbon dioxide, can persist for a century or more in the atmosphere, once it is released. That means that later in the century, emissions must drop nearly to zero, or large-scale techniques must be developed to pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere.

Making a bit of lemonade from lemons, Dr. Victor saw a bright spot in the disagreements at the meetings. “Inability to agree is a sign that governments are actually getting serious,” he said.

He concluded: “People are working hard and pursuing many avenues; in time, they will find routes that work. This is quite unlike the Kyoto process, which was marked by very rapid negotiations that produced agreements that looked good on paper, but didn’t really reflect what important governments, such as the U.S., could actually deliver.”

It’s G8 vs G5 on climate change issue

Indian Express - Indian Newspapers in English Language from five editions

It’s G8 vs G5 on climate change issue
Express News Service
Posted online: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 at 2312 hrs Print Email

Sapporo, July 8: While the G8 countries on Tuesday underlined their resolve to halve global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the developing countries represented largely by the Group of Five countries (G5)— India, China, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico— are not ready to accept any timeline-driven targets on cutting emissions given that it may slow progress on the development front.



“It is for those responsible to have generated greenhouse gas emissions historically to apply cuts and avert a bad situation. Countries like our make a miniscule contribution. India contributes less than a tonne in per capita terms,” said Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon ahead of the G8 and G5 interaction on Wednesday, where this issue will figure prominently.

India has been clear that it will not allow its per capita emission of greenhouse gases to exceed that of the average of developed countries. “If the developed countries bring down their emissions, it can act as an incentive for us,” Menon added.

Though the G8 countries have reaffirmed their commitment to help facilitate developing countries with financial assistance by providing access to alternate technologies, the G5 is of the view that the developed countries must first take definite steps, as they are the primary polluters.

Key to the objection by countries like India is the unwilling attitude among developed countries to go by the base year of 1990 as agreed to in the Kyoto Protocol for determining the percentage of emission cuts. India, sources said, will try and drive home the point that a restrictive trade control regime should not be built around the climate change issue. New Delhi continues to back the UN process and will make it clear that such crucial climate change decisions with long-term impact on technology and trade need to be determined in a UN forum and not in a G8 summit.

One of the spin-offs from the climate change debate, which could benefit India, is the stress being laid on reviving nuclear power. The G8 in its political declaration today welcomed the rights of states to peaceful use of nuclear energy but at the same time endorsed tighter control, stronger safeguards system and stricter conditions on transfer of reprocessing and enrichment technology.

With the nuclear deal now getting fresh momentum, India may be a benefactor but that would not be an incentive to accept emission cuts. India has already launched a National Climate Change Action Plan, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been handing out to world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.

On the issue of oil prices, the G8 in its economic resolution did call for a summit of major oil producers and consumers.

Similarly, India along with other G 5 members will emphasise the need to stop incentivising change of land use for the purpose of biofuels.

G8 leaders agree to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050

The Tribune - Indian Newspapers in English Language from two editions.

G8 leaders agree on halving emissions by 2050



Sapporo (Japan), July 8
The group of eight powerful nations (G8) today agreed to halve the global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 even as five developing countries, including India, appealed to the grouping to do more to combat climate change.

The G8 countries - the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy - also called on all major countries such as China and India to take steps to stem the potentially dangerous rise in world temperatures.

“This global challenge can only be met by a global response, in particular by the contributions from all major economies,” the G8 said in a joint statement on climate change.

However, developing countries like South Africa quickly dismissed the G8 agreement as an “empty slogan” that would not save the planet from global warming.

“While the statement may appear as a movement forward, we are concerned that it may, in effect, be a regression from what is required to make a meaningful contribution to meeting the challenges of the climate change,” South Africa’s environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said.

The G8 last year at a summit in Germany pledged to seriously consider the same target, and this year Japan had hoped to solidify that commitment at the ongoing summit. The communique, however, addressed world emissions rather than just those produced by wealthy countries.

Deeply concerned about the soaring food prices, the G8 also called on nations with sufficient food stocks to release some of their reserves to countries in need to help cope up with the situation.

Huddled in talks amid tight security in this spa resort, the G8 leaders said they were “deeply concerned” about soaring food prices and supply shortages in some developing countries.

“We also call for countries with sufficient food stocks to make available a part of their surplus for countries in need, in times of significantly increasing prices and in a way not to distort trade,” they added.

According to World Bank estimates, rising food prices have pushed 100 million people below the poverty line across the world.

Earlier, G8 today backed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposal for a forum to set up a dialogue between producers and consumers to stablise soaring oil prices which posed a “serious challenge” to world economic growth.

As the threat from spiralling inflation became the top economic concern for the G8, their leaders voiced “strong concern” over sizzling oil prices and an increase in crude production and refining capacity to dampen the crude market.

“We express our strong concern about elevated commodity prices, especially of oil and food, since they pose a serious challenge to stable growth worldwide, have serious implications for the most vulnerable, and increase global inflationary pressure,” the G8 leaders said. As a way to enhance energy security, the leaders proposed an energy forum focused on energy efficiency and new technology to help a dialogue between producers and consumers.

According to a Japanese official, some of the G8 leaders also blamed speculation behind the doubling of oil prices to $140 a barrel, a point flagged by India at the recent emergency meeting of oil ministers in Jeddah.

The communiqué said on the supply side, production and refinery capacities should be increased in the short term. — PTI

ABC News: Greenland's Ice Set for a Recovery?

ABC News: Greenland's Ice Set for a Recovery?

Greenland Ice Sheet Slams the Brakes On
By MICHAEL REILLY
July 5, 2008



Much noise has been made about how water lubricates the base of Greenland's ice sheet, accelerating its slide into the oceans. In a rare "good news" announcement, climatologists now say the ice may not be in such a hurry to throw itself into the water after all. Mother Nature, it seems, has given it brakes.

Unchecked global warming will devastate the world economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, a British government report said Monday Oct 30 2006, as the country launched a bid to convince doubters that environmentalism and economic growth can coincide. Sir Nicholas Stern, the senior government economist who wrote the report, said that acting now to cut greenhouse gas emissions would cost about 1 percent of global GDP each year. Collapse



Since 1991, the western edge of Greenland's ice sheet has actually slowed its ocean-bound progress by 10%, say the team, who have studied the longest available record of ice and water flow in the region.

Greenland's mighty ice sheet has enough water locked away to raise global sea level 6.5 metres were it to melt. Each summer, vast lakes of meltwater form on its surface. The water seeps through cracks in the kilometer-thick ice to bedrock, where it acts as a lubricant. The sheet can move up to twice as fast in the summer, when meltwater is flowing, as when it is not.

Many fear a positive feedback loop, whereby the accelerating flow will bring more ice down out of the mountains and toward warmer temperatures near sea level. Roderik Van De Waal and colleagues at Utrecht University in the Netherlands now say there is no evidence this will happen.

Daily Changes

They looked at how meltwater has correlated with the speed of ice flow at the western edge of the sheet, just north of the Arctic Circle, since 1991. They found that meltwater pouring down holes in the ice – called "moulins" – did indeed cause ice velocities to skyrocket, from their typical 100m per year to up to 400m per year, within days or weeks.

But the acceleration was short-lived, and ice velocities usually returned to normal within a week after the waters began draining. Over the course of the 17 years, the flow of the ice sheet actually decreased slightly, in some parts by as much as 10%.

"For some time, glaciologists believed that more meltwater equaled higher ice speeds," Van de Waal says. "This would be kind of disastrous, but apparently it is not happening."

Van de Waal believes that the channels that carry the meltwater out to sea freeze up during the winter months. In summer, pulses of water rushing down the moulins to the bedrock overwhelm the narrowed channels, and the increased pressure lifts the ice sheet off the rock, enabling it to move faster.

Plastic free Gurukul

Gurukul Community.Com: Towards Green Gurukul, Plastic Free Gurukul

Plastic waste stifles hydel project on Beas

Plastic waste stifles hydel project on Beas

Sat, Jun 28 03:01 AM

Tourism is taking its toll on the Larji Hydel project. While plastic is choking Beas, polythenes and bottles are flowing downwards from Rohtang Pass to the 126 MW hydel project on the river. The recent heavy downpours have swept down the plastic waste left behind by tourists in Manali and Rohtang Pass to the hydel project.

While Manali Municipal Committee Chairperson Naveen Thakur claims that efforts to curb plastic menace by banning plastic bags and removing plastic waste have been on for some time now, this tourist season, the problem has cropped up afresh.

Ajay Mittal, HPSEB Chairman and state's Principal Secretary (Power), says: "On a daily basis, we remove tonnes of plastic waste that gets accumulated at the barrage site. At times, the garbage slips into the machines as well. This could hit power generation and damage the machines."

Till now, the HPSEB has been clearing the plastic waste manually. "Our men go down into the river, close to the barrage and remove heaps of plastic. It is not only plastic bottles but also beer bottles that get stuck here," says D R Sharma, Superintending Engineer at Larji. The annual expenditure incurred in clearing the garbage exceeds Rs 1 crore, say officials.

Harinder Hira, Principal Secretary (Environment and Scientific Technologies) says: "I have directed Deputy Commissioner of Kullu, M Sudha Devi, to start a campaign for clearing all plastic garbage in the area."

Mittal has directed engineers to devise a way to ensure regular removal of plastic garbage from the river. "Cleaning of the river is an arduous task, but we have to do it to protect the project."

Climate Change Linked to National Security : Now the major players can act

Climate Change Linked to National Security
By PAMELA HESS
June 25, 2008



Global warming is likely to increase illegal immigration, create humanitarian disasters and destabilize precarious governments in political hot spots, all of which could affect U.S. national security, according to an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies.

Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia are most vulnerable to warming-related drought, flooding, extreme weather and hunger. The intelligence assessment warns of the global impact from the spillover: increased migration and "water-related disputes," according to prepared remarks by Tom Fingar, deputy director of national intelligence for analysis, who was scheduled to speak before a joint House committee hearing.

"We judge that the most significant impact for the United States will be indirect and result from climate-driven effects on many other countries and their potential to seriously affect U.S. national security interests," Fingar stated.
Related

The national intelligence assessment on the national security implications of global climate change to 2030 is one of a series of periodic intelligence reports that offer the consensus judgment of top analysts at all 16 U.S. spy agencies on major foreign policy, security and global economic issues. Congress requested the report last year.

The assessment deals with the projected effects of climate change, and not just the negative ones. It predicts modest improvements in agricultural yields in North America and more water resources in South America. It predicts that most U.S. allies will have the means to cope economically. Fingar says, however, that unspecified "regional partners" could face severe problems.

Fingar states that the quality of the analysis is hampered by the fact that climate data tend not to focus on specific countries but rather on broad global changes.

Africa is among the most vulnerable regions, the report states. An expected increase in droughts there could cut agricultural yields of rain-dependent crops by up to half in the next 12 years.

Creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency

Cuyahoga River Catches Fire (1969)
Described in a Time magazine article as a river that "oozes rather than flows" and a waterway in which a person "does not drown but decays,” Ohio's Cuyahoga River used to be so heavily polluted that it actually caught fire on a number of occasions. The river fire of 1969, which received national media attention, helped spur the environmental movement of the late 1960s and prompted the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. What sparked a 1936 fire on the river?

For more details: United States Environmental Protection Agency, Cuyahoga River Area of Concern, June 20th, 2007.

Al Gore looks to India to lead climate change fight

India Today Conclave
India Today ConclaveEvent CoverageDay 3 March 15, '08



Al Gore looks to India to lead climate change fight
Saurabh Shukla
New Delhi, March 15, 2008




"Become activist citizens; India can lead the way on climate change," global eco-warrior and former US Vice-President Al Gore said today.

Al Gore was speaking at the concluding session “Leadership For 21st Century” at the India Today Conclave 2008 in New Delhi.

"Have pollution taxes, reduce other taxes," proposed the Nobel Peace Laureate for 2007, adding that this was the mantra many countries had adopted.

Ringing the alarm bells on the global crisis of climate change, Al Gore said: "We face a planetary emergency. The change of thinking has to happen in India, changing the laws is more important."

Al Gore – an Oscar winner for his movie An Inconvenient Truth and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for creating awareness on climate change – said the sense of urgency on tackling climate change is still not there. "Advanced developing countries like India have to provide leadership," he said.

Asked why countries were not doing enough to address the crisis, Al Gore said: "India has a big role to play, India is not doing it because the US is not doing. We share each other’s excuses for not safeguarding the planet."

AL Gore
Climate change shouldn't be treated as a political problem but a moral imperative, says Al Gore
"The goal is to evoke an effective response that requires mass action," he added.

Al Gore was candid in admitting that the US needs to do much more on climate change. He said US – the single largest emitter of global emissions – has done the least in solving the problem. "The US should be providing leadership which it is not. We need to see it not as a political problem but as a moral imperative."

Al Gore said the opportunity is far more than the danger that climate crisis poses. "We must see the opportunity and rise to it for the future generations to undertake work to do our part and do it well."

Articulating his concerns on the climate change crisis, Al Gore often had the audience in splits. "I am a recovering politician," he said.

"I flew on Air Force Two for eight years, now I have to take my shoes off to get on an airplane," Al Gore earlier said to a loud applause.

Asked why he didn’t do enough about climate change when in power, Al Gore said: "I did everything I could do while I was Vice-President. I went to Kyoto against the advice of everyone, but I was not able to convince more than one out of 100 senators to ratify it. But they feared they will be defeated."

"I realised this (climate change issue) could be solved if there is a sense of urgency and a sea change in public opinion."

Earlier Aroon Purie, Editor-in-Chief, India Today, welcomed Al Gore for the event’s gala dinner. "Al, you are a rock star today in your own right. Your work on climate change is pure genius, you have made climate change a sexy subject," Purie said, complementing the global leader on sensitising the world to the dangers of climate change.

Right and Left together on ecocrisis

tag: environment

Rising sea threatens Bapu's Dandi

Rising sea threatens Bapu's Dandi
7 Jun 2008, 0441 hrs IST,Hitarth Pandya & Melvyn Thomas,TNN

SURAT/BHAVNAGAR: Has global warming started wreaking havoc on Gujarat's winding coastline? A high tide in the Arabian Sea doesn't normally create panic.

But on Friday its rising waters threatened to drown Saifee Villa where Mahatma Gandhi had taken on the British by picking up a pinch of salt at Dandi. Besides, waters were not too far away from Iran Shah, where the Parsis have kept the Holy Fire at Udwada.

Seawater also entered some coastal villages of Surat and Bhavnagar. An alert has also been sounded at Alang, asking fishermen not to venture into the sea. In Bhavnagar, Katpur, Kotda and Jashwantpura villages saw seawaters entering their fields.

"The water has already reached near Dastoor Bag. One can see the water at the rear compound wall of Atash Behram. Generally this happens during the monsoon but this time, it has happened before the monsoon," said local resident Shukkar Tandel at Udwada.

At Dandi, the water reached the makeshift police chowky at the beach. "I had to warn tourists not to go too close to the water since it was deep. Had there been a marginal increase in the water level, it would have entered the village," said forest official PH Mahida at Dandi beach.

Magan Patel, sarpanch of Dabhari village in Surat, said: "A road separates our village from the sea but it was inundated on Friday. We had a similar situation in 1998 when seawaters had entered the village washing away the earthen embankments. This time too the embankment was washed away."

Manish Lodhari, secretary of National Fish Workers' Association said the sea along coastal Saurashtra was volatile.

Biofuels - Harm to the Environment

Biofuel: Bad for the Environment?
Researchers Say Biofuels Could Do More Harm to the Planet Than Good
By ASHLEY PHILLIPS
Feb. 7, 2008



As the debate over what do about human-caused global warming increases and "green fever" sweeps the nation, many environmentalists and politicians have viewed biofuel as a logical replacement for fossil fuels.


But two new studies released Thursday call into question the global movement toward biofuel. According to these researchers, production of biofuel actually contributes to global warming, doing more harm than good.

The studies, one conducted by Minnesota-based Nature Conservancy and one by Princeton University, examined the same issue: What environmental impact does growing vegetation used for biofuel have on global warming?

U.S. demand for ethanol crops like corn, soy and switchgrass has resulted in the conversion across the globe of natural habitats – like grasslands and rainforests – into fuel-ready farmland, according to the studies. That development has released mass amounts of carbon into the air, researchers said.

"You ask the world's farmers to produce energy and that's going to take additional land and that land has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, much of it is coming from our natural ecosystem. What's the consequence of that?" Joe Fargione, the regional science director for the Nature Conservancy and the lead author of one study, told ABCNews.com. "If you imagine a grassland and a cornfield, there's much more carbon in the grassland soil. When you convert a grassland into a cornfield, that carbon has to go somewhere. It goes into the air as carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming."

"Any biofuel that causes the clearing of natural ecosystems will increase global warming," he continued.

In the Princeton study, which was led by Timothy Searchinger, a German Marshall Fund fellow and a researcher at Princeton University, numbers told a striking story.

Past data that has outlined the benefits of biofuels didn't include the issues surrounding the impact of land use and the carbon released into the air as a result, both studies said.

Using models that calculated carbon emissions in various countries, the Princeton researchers found that the production of corn-based ethanol nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years and increases greenhouse gasses for 167 years. Similarly, biofuels made from switchgrass, if grown on land originally intended for corn, increase carbon emissions by 50 percent.

$45 Trillion Needed to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050

$45 Trillion Needed to Combat Warming
New study calls for $45 trillion to cut greenhouse gases in half by 2050
By JOSEPH COLEMAN Associated Press Writer
TOKYO June 6, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press


The world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.

The report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency envisions a "energy revolution" that would greatly reduce the world's dependence on fossil fuels while maintaining steady economic growth.

"Meeting this target of 50 percent cut in emissions represents a formidable challenge, and we would require immediate policy action and technological transition on an unprecedented scale," IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said.

A U.N.-network of scientists concluded last year that emissions have to be cut by at least half by 2050 to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2 degrees above pre-18th century levels.


Scientists say temperature increases beyond that could trigger devastating effects, such as widespread loss of species, famines and droughts, and swamping of heavily populated coastal areas by rising oceans.

Environment ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized countries and Russia backed the 50 percent target in a meeting in Japan last month and called for it to be officially endorsed at the G-8 summit in July.

The IEA report mapped out two main scenarios: one in which emissions are reduced to 2005 levels by 2050, and a second that would bring them to half of 2005 levels by mid-century.

The scenario for deeper cuts would require massive investment in energy technology development and deployment, a wide-ranging campaign to dramatically increase energy efficiency, and a wholesale shift to renewable sources of energy.

Assuming an average 3.3 percent global economic growth over the 2010-2050 period, governments and the private sector would have to make additional investments of $45 trillion in energy, or 1.1 percent of the world's gross domestic product, the report said.

'India won't cut greenhouse emissions’

Friday, June 06, 2008

'India won't cut greenhouse emissions’

New Delhi: India will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the cost of development, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Namo Narain Meena said Thursday.

“India is struggling to bring millions of people out of poverty. We cannot accept binding commitments to cut down greenhouse gas emission,” Meena said at a function to mark the World Environment Day.

Though India has no commitment to reduce the global warming gases under the Kyoto Protocol, in recent climate change conferences many developed countries have said India needs to reduce the greenhouse burden.

Meena, however, said climate change was becoming a crucial issue, and needed immediate action. He added that consumptive lifestyle was putting severe pressure on biological resources. “Each of us has to become a saviour of the environment.”

“Each of us can help curb the adverse impact of climate change,” he said adding that afforestation will go a long way in reducing the carbon level in the atmosphere as “forest is the natural sink for CO2.”

S. Regupathy, who is also the minister of state for environment and forests, has said the World Environment Day provides an opportunity every year to reaffirm the commitments to work towards the sustainable conservation of environment.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Poor countries appeal to rein in global warming

Uphill Battle Marks New Round of Climate Talks in Germany Amid Concern by Poorer Nations
By ARTHUR MAX
June 2, 2008

(source:ABC News: Technology & Science)

Poor countries appealed to a 162-nation climate conference Monday to move faster on an agreement to rein in global warming, saying they already are suffering from floods and cyclones brought on by rising temperatures. The appeal came at the opening of a two-week meeting where the 2,000 delegates intend to start tackling the details of a new climate change agreement that is to take effect after 2012. "We are concerned over the slow progress of the last two years," said Amjad Abdulla of the Maldives, speaking for a group known as the Least Developed Countries. Climate change "for us is not a distant reality, but a present reality," he said. The recent cyclones that have battered Myanmar and Bangladesh "should be a wake-up call to all of us." The Bonn meeting builds on a landmark accord reached last December on the Indonesian island of Bali. For the first time, the United States, China and India had indicated they would join a coordinated effort to control the carbon emissions blamed for global warming. In Bali, delegates agreed to conclude a new climate change treaty by December 2009. They later adopted a negotiating timetable at another conference in Bangkok. "We have to roll our sleeves up and get down to work," Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official, said in an interview Sunday. Scientists say the world's carbon emissions must peak within the next 10 to 15 years and then fall by half by mid-century to avoid potentially catastrophic changes in weather patterns, a rise in sea levels that would threaten coastal cities and the mass extinction of plants and animals. The new climate change pact will succeed the first phase of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which requires 37 industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Delegates in Bonn will begin work on how to help developing countries adapt to anticipated changes in their climate, on transferring new technologies to help them avoid hefty carbon emissions as they expand their economies, and on how to raise the trillions of dollars required over the next decades to curb climate change.

Bisop on Green Taxes

A new green tax covenant
from Pickled Politics by Rumbold

With the price of oil climbing ever higher, there is increasing anger at the level at which petrol is taxed in this country. Britain has the second most expensive fuel in Europe (Germany is top), and it is tax that accounts for the majority of the cost. Protestors want Gordon Brown to reduce the tax on fuel, while environmentalists urge him to resist in the hope that people will use less oil in the future, and/or switch to alternative fuels.

Despite believing that man is contributing to climate change, many people are justifiably suspicious that green taxes, which are theoretically designed to encourage people to adopt a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, are just an excuse for the government to raise more money. A few people still think that man has nothing to do with climate change, but then they are just incestuous paedophilic kidnappers, according to the Bishop of Stafford.

Let us assume for the moment that green taxes are effective, in that they will lead to people being in a more environmentally-friendly manner. These taxes are thus desirable, so long as the overall tax burden does not rise. There is a simple enough way to convince people that green taxes are not just another means by which the government raises revenue; every pound raised by green taxes should be matched in cuts on income tax, by raising the threshold at which people start to pay income tax. Moreover, the tax on oil should be reclassified, so that 25% of the tax counts as a green tax. This 25% would then be spent on the basic state pension.

Therefore, without raising the overall tax burden, the government can encourage people to behave in a more environmentally-friendly manner (good), raise the threshold at which income tax is paid (good, and which benefits the lowest paid the most), and increase the basic state pension (good, and which benefits the poorest pensioners the most).

The 2008 Global Climate Report

The 2008 Global Climate Report

thenazareneway to Communions





White House Issues Tardy Climate Report
By SETH BORENSTEIN,AP
Posted: 2008-05-30 07:11:57

WASHINGTON (May 29) - Under a court order and four years late, the White House Thursday produced what it called a science-based "one-stop shop" of specific threats to the United States from man-made global warming.

While the report has no new science in it, it pulls together different U.S. studies and localizes international reports into one comprehensive document required by law. The 271-page report is notable because it is something the Bush administration has fought in the past.

Andrew Weaver, a Canadian climate scientist who was not involved in the effort, called it "a litany of bad news in store for the U.S."

And biologist Thomas Lovejoy, one of the scientists who reviewed the report for the federal government, said: "It basically says the America we've known we can no longer count on. It's a pretty dramatic picture of all kinds of change rippling through natural systems across the country. And all of that has implications for people."

White House associate science director Sharon Hays, in a teleconference with reporters, declined to characterize the findings, but said it is an issue the administration takes seriously. She said the report was comprehensive and "communicates what the scientists are telling us."

That includes:

Increased heat deaths and deaths from climate-worsened smog. In Los Angeles alone yearly heat fatalities could increase by more than 1,000 by 2080, and the Midwest and Northeast are most vulnerable to increased heat deaths.

Worsening water shortages for agriculture and urban users. From California to New York, lack of water will be an issue.

A need for billions of dollars in more power plants (one major cause of global warming gases) to cool a hotter country. The report says summer cooling will mean Seattle's energy consumption would increase by 146 percent with the warming that could come by the end of the century.

More death and damage from wildfires, hurricanes and other natural disasters and extreme weather. In the last three decades, wildfire season in the West has increased by 78 days.

Increased insect infestations and food- and waterborne microbes and diseases. Insect and pathogen outbreaks to the forests are causing $1.5 billion in annual losses.

"Finally, climate change is very likely to accentuate the disparities already evident in the American health care system," the report said. "Many of the expected health effects are likely to fall disproportionately on the poor, the elderly, the disabled and the uninsured."

The report was required by a 1990 law which says that every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming. It had not been done since 2000.

Environmental groups got a court order last year to force the Bush administration to produce the document by the end of this month. Hays said the White House has preferred issuing studies on individual global warming issues, such as an agricultural effects report that was released on Tuesday.

"It's totally begrudging," said Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch at the nonprofit Government Accountability Project. "It's important the government go on record honestly acknowledging this stuff."

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/white-house-issues-tardy-climate-report/20080529214409990001

"eco-awakening"of Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford's New Eco-Chic Campaign
Former Supermodel Teams Up With PUR Water Filtration System to Help the Environment and Poor Children
May 7, 2008



After giving birth to two children, former supermodel Cindy Crawford says she had an "eco-awakening."
The supermodel talks about ways to help keep our water clean.

More Photos

The celebrity mom has now teamed up with the PUR Water Filtration System company to raise awareness about water and plastic waste through the "Thirsty for Change" campaign.

Crawford has designed an eco-chic reusable aluminum bottle with PUR and is hoping her example will inspire others to adopt more environmentally friendly habits.

Though estimates vary widely, PUR says that last year Americans went through 50 billion plastic water bottles, with 38 billion of them ending up in landfills. National

By switching to filtered tap water and a reusable bottles, PUR says each person can help cut down on plastic bottle waste, save money and protect themselves from dangerous contaminates.


"As a mom, I'm particularly concerned because I want my kids to grow up in a healthy environment. I filter my tap water with PUR. It's a really simple yet impactful way to reduce the amount of unnecessary plastic my family uses, while also ensuring that we always have access to clean, great-tasting drinking water," Crawford said.

Smart Sponge the Latest Weapon Against Water Pollution

Smart Sponge the Latest Weapon Against Water Pollution
New Technology Helps Clean Up Debris and Waste in Water
By SAM CHAMPION and DARCY BONFILS
May 26, 2008


Sparkling waters and pristine beaches are part of summer fun, but keeping oceans clean has become increasingly challenging for shore communities.
sponge
(ABC News)

Water pollution led to more than 25,000 beach closures in the United States in 2006, the most in nearly two decades, according to a report by the National Resources Defense Council.

Every eight months an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez spill is dumped down storm drain systems into coastal waters.

Now a new device called the smart sponge is becoming the latest weapon in the fight against water pollution.

Long Beach, Calif., has begun using the smart sponge to help clean up pollution from the nearly 4,500 tons of waste that flow into the waters around that city each year, most of it shooting down the Los Angeles River after rainstorms.

In Long Beach, 2,000 sponges have been placed in city storm drains since 2004, neutralizing dangerous chemicals and catching debris before it has a chance to hit the ocean.



"The smart sponge is very similar to the sponge that you'd find in your home at your sink, except it has properties that allow it to absorb oil and kill bacteria on contact," said hydrology expert Duane Cook.

Tests show a drastic improvement in water quality, with a 97 percent bacterial kill rate and 1 million gallons of contaminated water diverted from the storm drain system every month.

Other beachfront cities like Miami and Norwalk, Conn., and airports and marinas are putting smart sponges to use as well.

"It's the last line of defense to protect the environment," said Glenn Rink, the creator of the smart sponge.

However promising the sponges may be in the fight against pollution, though, water experts say preventing pollution is still the best line of defense

"There is no silver bullet. … There's no golden ticket to solve our storm water problem," said Steve Fleischle at the Water Keeper Alliance. "What we really need to do is we need to educate people to not litter, to not dump motor oil down the storm drains."

Up to 9 Hurricanes This Season

Forecasters Expect Up to 9 Hurricanes This Season
NOAA Predicts Possible Above Average Hurricane Season
By ANTHONY McCARTNEY
May 22, 2008
The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season should be about as bad as normal or slightly busier, with a good chance of six to nine hurricanes forming, federal forecasters said Thursday in a new way of predicting how active the season could be.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases forecast of "normal."


National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials also said 12 to 16 named storms and two to five major hurricanes could form. They said there is only a 60 to 70 percent chance for their predictions to come true.

This is the first time they gave a probability because they want people to understand that seasonal forecasts are uncertain. Some residents become complacent because they have seen errors in previous seasonal forecasts.

Forecasters stress residents should always be prepared no matter what the seasonal forecasts say, because even a slow season can be disastrous. Seasonal forecasts don't predict whether, where or when any of these storms may hit land.
Related


"We don't want anyone changing their preparation plans because of the seasonal outlook. The only number that matters is the number one, the one storm that you need to prepare for," said Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, which is part of NOAA.

An average season has 11 named storms, including six hurricanes for which two reach major status of at least Category 3 with winds of more than 110 mph.

Forecasters and emergency responders fear that coastal residents will be apathetic this year after the United States escaped the past two storm seasons virtually unscathed.

"Living in a coastal state means having a plan for each and every hurricane season. Review or complete emergency plans now -- before a storm threatens," said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, NOAA administrator. "Planning and preparation is the key to storm survival and recovery."

Colorado State University weather researcher William Gray expects 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major this year.

Last year, there were 15 named storms and six hurricanes, two of which were major. The government predicted 13 to 17 named storms, seven to 10 hurricanes and three to five major hurricanes.

Complete ban on plastic bags not possible in Delhi: Govt

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Complete ban on plastic bags not possible in Delhi: Govt

Wed, May 21 05:15 PM

A complete ban on plastic bags in the national capital is impossible, a government panel has noted and suggested setting up of recycling units by the manufacturers on the basis of "polluter pays principle" to tackle the menace.

"Environmentally-sound and economically-viable modern recycling units must be established by licensed plastic bags manufacturers or Plastic Manufacturers Associations on the basis of polluter pays principle," the panel said in its report submitted before the Delhi High Court.

The panel comprising officials of Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Committee and Justice R C Chopra was set up by the court while hearing a petition filed by activist V K Jain from NGO Tapas.

Jain has sought a complete ban on plastic bags in the city, maintaining that they are chocking drains and the Yamuna river and leading to water-borne diseases.

He said developed and developing countries like Germany, Singapore and Bangladesh have successfully banned the product.

The panel while maintaining that polythene bags are not easy to be banned, an observation which has brought a ray of smile on the face of plastic industry, also suggested setting up of a compaction unit for plastic recycling to be managed by the civic agencies at zonal level.