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  greenhouse gases - methane resumes upward trend [.pdf]

“World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) 2007 Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, GENEVA, 25 NOVEMBER 2008

“The latest numbers show that carbon dioxide reached 383.1 parts per million (ppm), an increase of .5 percent from 2006. Concentrations of nitrous oxide also reached record highs in 2007, up 0.25 er cent from the year before, while methane increased 0.34 per cent, exceeding the highest value so far, which was recorded in 2003. Using the NOAA Annual greenhouse gas index, the total warming effect of all longlived greenhouse gases was calculated to have increased by 1.06 per cent from the previous year and by 24.2 per cent since 1990. In the meanwhile, levels of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) continue to slowly decrease, a result of emission reductions under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

“Since the mid18th Century, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have risen an unfettered 37 per cent. Population growth and urban development worldwide continue to increase the use of fossil fuels, such as oil, coal and natural gas, which emit carbon dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. At the same time, the clearing of land for agriculture, including deforestation, is releasing carbon dioxide into the air and reducing carbon uptake by the biosphere.

“While the atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and N2O are increasing steadily, the growth rate of methane concentrations has slowed over the past decade with some variations from one year to the next. The 6 ppb rise from 2006 to 2007 is the highest annual methane increase observed since 1998. It is still too early to state with certainty, however, that this latest increase is the start of a new upward trend in methane levels. Human activities, such as fossil fuel exploitation, rice agriculture, biomass burning, landfills and ruminant farm animals, account for some 60 per cent of atmospheric methane, with natural sources, for example wetlands and termites, responsible for the remaining 40 per cent.”

At the full Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, there are pretty charts, and big print! [6mb, 4-page .pdf]

related material
global warming
anthropogenic global warming, and ocean acidity
fossil fuel disasters

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#methane_ghg_261108





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burning coals - the fires of hell


5:47 mins

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fossil fuel disasters

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#chinese_coal_211108

another step in the long long fight against exposure to dangerous insecticides

Anyone wanting background may wish to read chapter 15 (43 pages long) of Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth. Governments and corporations have been trying to squish this for years. Alleged ‘gulf syndrome’ is also suspected to be related.

“Downs, who lives on the edge of farmland near Chichester, West Sussex, launched her campaign in 2001. The judge described how she was first exposed to pesticide spraying at the age of 11 "and began to suffer from ill health, in particular flu-like symptoms, a sore throat, blistering and other problems".

“Downs said the government had failed to address the concerns of people living in the countryside "who are repeatedly exposed to mixtures of pesticides and other chemicals throughout every year, and in many cases, like mine, for decades". People were not given prior notification about what was to be sprayed near their homes and gardens, she said.

“In his ruling, Mr Justice Collins highlighted that the 1986 Control of Pesticides Regulations states that beekeepers must be given 48 hours notice if pesticides harmful to bees are to be used. The judge said: "It is difficult to see why residents should be in a worse position."

“Speaking after the ruling, Downs said her seven-year battle was over "one of the biggest public health scandals of our time". She called on Gordon Brown to block any Defra appeal. "The government "should now just admit that it got it wrong, apologise and actually get on with protecting the health and citizens of this country". [guardian.co.uk]

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usa finally admits the cause of gulf war syndrome

“Gulf War illness, dismissed by some as a psychosomatic disorder, is a very real illness that affects at least 25 percent of the 700,000 U.S. veterans who took part in the 1991 Gulf War.

“It's likely cause was exposure to toxic chemicals that included pesticides that were often overused during the war, as well as a drug given to U.S. troops to protect them from nerve gas, a frequent weapon of choice of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

“And no effective treatments have been devised for the disorder.

“Those are three key conclusions of a Congressionally mandated landmark report released Monday by a federal panel of scientific experts and veterans.” [washingtonpost.com]

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Scared to Death: From BSE to 
              Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth by Christopher Booker and Richard North

Scared to Death: From BSE to Global Warming: Why Scares are Costing Us the Earth
by Christopher Booker and Richard North

Continuum
ISBN-10: 0826486142
ISBN-13: 978-0826486141

2008, $19.77 [amazon.com] {advert}
2007, £11.99 [amazon.co.uk] {advert}

Three GoldenYak (tm) award
A rather hysterical book about public, media and political hysteria. Don’t take it too seriously and you may find it useful. there are chapters on asbestos, mad cow disease, speeding, and a variety of other items popular in the press.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#organophosphate_unsecticides_191108

desertification in turkey

A short (2:50 minutes) video on water and agricultural mismanagement. A bit bizarrely, the vidoe is made by Al Jazeera (the English version).

“It used to be regarded as one of Turkey's best growing regions. However, vast sinkholes are now appearing across what was once the country's agricultural heartland. Drought, shrinking water levels and more thirsty crops, mean the rich arable land is literally turning to dust. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from Konya, one of the region's where desertification of arable land is most evident.”

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“75 percent of arable land in Turkey are at risk of desertification…” [Quoted from UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#turkey_desert_171108

asia and spain work to cool the planet

14 November 2008
“A three-kilometre thick cloud of brown soot and other pollutants hanging over Asia is darkening cities, killing thousands and damaging crops but may be holding off the worst effects of global warming, the UN said on Thursday.”

“The amount of sunlight reaching earth through the murk has fallen by up to a quarter in the worst-affected areas and if the brown cloud disperses, global temperatures could rise by up to 2 degrees Celsius.”
10 October 2008
“Since the 1970s, semi-arid pasture land in Almeria, south-eastern Spain, has been replaced by greenhouse horticulture. Today, Almeria has the largest expanse of greenhouses in the world - around 26,000 hectares.”

“In the greenhouse region, air temperature has cooled by an average of 0.3 °C per decade since 1983. In the rest of Spain it has risen by around 0.5 °C. The satellite data revealed that the white greenhouses were much more reflective than farmland. (Journal of Geophysical Research, DOI: 10.1029/2008JD009912).”
03 January 2008
“The fact that 2008 is forecast to be cooler than any of the last seven years does not mean that global warming has gone away," said Phil Jones, director of climate research at UEA.”

“2008 will be slightly cooler than recent years globally but will still be among the top 10 warmest years on record since 1850 and should not be seen as a sign global warming was on the wane, British forecasters said.”
11 November 2008
“This year is on track to be about the 10th warmest globally since records began in 1850 but gaps in Arctic data mean the world may be slightly underestimating global warming, a leading scientist said on Tuesday.”
12 November 2008
“Emissions of greenhouse gases-such as the carbon dioxide, or CO2, that comes from power plants and cars-are heating the atmosphere to such an extent that the next ice age, predicted to be the deepest in millions of years, may be postponed indefinitely.”

related material
global warming
anthropogenic global warming, and ocean acidity
fossil fuel disasters

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#asia_spain_141108

the wheel comes around - posters from ww2

Energy-saving poster from World War Two. Source: treehugger.com

Energy saving

Encouraging recycling, WW2-style. Source: treehugger.com

Recycling

Many more posters from links at bottom of ‘slideshow’ page.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#ww2_eco_posters_131108

sea water + a greenhouse = fresh water and plants

A seawater greenhouse. Image: seawatergreenhouse.com
A seawater greenhouse. Image: seawatergreenhouse.com

A seawater greenhouse in Oman. Image: seawatergreenhouse.com“The Seawater Greenhouse [...] provide[s] a low-cost solution to one of the world's greatest needs – fresh water. The Seawater Greenhouse is a new development that offers sustainable solution to the problem of providing water for agriculture in arid, coastal regions.

“The process uses seawater to cool and humidify the air that ventilates the greenhouse and sunlight to distil fresh water from seawater. This enables the year round cultivation of high value crops that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to grow in hot, arid regions.”

Diagram showing how the seawater greenhouse functions. Image: seawatergreenhouse.com
Diagram showing how the seawater greenhouse functions. Image: seawatergreenhouse.com
[to go to larger version]

related material
land conservation and food production

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#seagreenhouse_071108

only 154 spills during one storm - 49 rigs damaged

- but it doesn’t matter.

most recently - 22 September:

“There were 154 oil spills reported after Hurricane Ike, killing uncounted wildlife, but none of the spills appeared to be major, the US Coast Guard said Friday.

“The spills were scattered across about 100 miles of the coast from Houston to Lake Charles, Louisiana, and although responders were working to mitigate some, others were still being assessed, the Coast Guard said.”

6 hours before:

“Also gone: most of the oyster industry. Ben Nelson and his wife, Jeri, who own Jeri's Seafood in Smith Point, say the storm may have wiped out most of the oyster beds in Galveston Bay, which accounts for 80% of the oyster harvest in Texas. They blame oil runoff, chemical spills and storm surge churning up the bottom of the bay for ruining most of this year's harvest.”

3 days before:

“The Interior Department says at least 49 offshore oil or natural gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were destroyed by Hurricane Ike, and some may not be rebuilt.

“It said in an assessment Thursday that the platforms accounted for 13,000 barrels of oil and 84 million cubic feet of natural gas a day. There are more than 3,800 production platforms in the Gulf producing 1.3 million barrels of oil a day and 7 billion cubic feet of gas a day. Most remain shut down.

“The department also said five gas transmission pipeline systems sustained damage, [...]. ”

5 days before:

“Gulf oil rigs survived "Ike" without a single spill.

“Texas Land Commissioner hopes those opposed to offshore drilling are paying attention.

“Opponents of offshore oil drilling have long held their position by claiming the rigs could easily leak and cause an environmental disaster.

“Hurricane "Ike" is proof they're dead wrong.

“ "We came through a huge storm without any offshore production or exploration spills," says Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson.

“He's hoping those eco-nuts are paying attention.”

Good job they use short sentences for the moonbats.

related material
fossil fuel disasters

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#hurricane_ike_damage_290908

uk met office: “global warming has not stopped” [2-page.pdf]

“The evidence is clear – the long-term trend is that global temperatures are rising, and humans are largely responsible for this rise. Global warming does not mean that each year will be warmer than the last. Natural phenomena will mean that some years will be much warmer and others cooler.

“You only need to look at 1998 to see a record-breaking warm year caused by a very strong El Niño. In the last couple of years, the underlying warming is partially masked caused by a strong La Niña. Despite this, 11 of the last 13 years were the warmest ever recorded.”

This report is well-summarised by the graph below:

Global average temperature anomaly from 1975 to 2007. Image: HadCRUT3 (Brohan et al.2006)
Global average temperature anomaly from 1975 to 2007.
Image: HadCRUT3 (Brohan et al.2006)

“This graph shows global average temperature anomaly from 1975–2007, relative to the 1961–1990 average.
The black line shows the annual figure.
The red line shows the trend over the full 33 years.
The blue lines show the varying rate of the trend over 10 year periods.”

related material
global warming

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#met_office_260908

north sea fish stock collapse leads to infanticide

“Guillemots have begun killing their neighbours' chicks by pecking them to death and pushing them off cliff edges in a desperate reaction to collapsing fish stocks in the North Sea.

“The sudden rise of infanticide in a colony in the Firth of Forth marks an unprecedented breakdown in the social behaviour of the birds, described by experts as a "catastrophe" that could eventually see the whole colony die out.”

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#fish_stock_collapse_180908

returning the oceans to their primeval state by destroying their modern ecology - not wise

“In many places — the atolls of the Pacific, the shrimp beds of the Eastern Seaboard, the fiords of Norway — some of the most advanced forms of ocean life are struggling to survive while the most primitive are thriving and spreading. Fish, corals and marine mammals are dying while algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. Where this pattern is most pronounced, scientists evoke a scenario of evolution running in reverse, returning to the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago”.

“For many years, it was assumed that the oceans were too vast for humanity to damage in any lasting way. "Man marks the Earth with ruin," wrote the 19th century poet Lord Byron. "His control stops with the shore."

“Even in modern times, when oil spills, chemical discharges and other industrial accidents heightened awareness of man's capacity to injure sea life, the damage was often regarded as temporary.

“But over time, the accumulation of environmental pressures has altered the basic chemistry of the seas.”

jellyfish and microbes taking over

Jellyfish on the French west coast, near Spain
Jellyfish on the French west coast, near Spain

“There and in many other places, bacteria and algae run wild in the absence of the many mouths that once ate them. As the depletion of fish allows the lowest forms of life to run rampant, said Pauly, it is "transforming the oceans into a microbial soup."

“Jellyfish are flourishing in the soup, demonstrating their ability to adapt to wholesale changes — including the growing human appetite for them. Jellyfish have been around, after all, at least 500 million years, longer than most marine animals.

“In the Black Sea, an Atlantic comb jelly carried in the ballast water of a ship from the East Coast of the United States took over waters saturated with farm runoff. Free of predators, the jellies gorged on plankton and fish larvae, depleting the fisheries on which the Russian and Turkish fleets depend. The plague subsided only with the accidental importation of another predatory jellyfish that ate the comb jellies.

“Federal scientists tallied a tenfold increase in jellies in the Bering Sea in the 1990s. They were so thick off the Alaskan Peninsula that fishermen nicknamed it the Slime Bank. Researchers have found teeming swarms of jellyfish off Georges Bank in New England and the coast of Namibia, in the fiords of Norway and in the Gulf of Mexico. Also proliferating is the giant nomurai found off Japan, a jellyfish the size of a washing machine.”

And much more detail.

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#primaeval_oceans_150908

greenhouse gases and system analysis

“Their first step is to discover the greenhouse gas emissions produced through all aspects of their activities. They start by assessing the emissions directly produced through their home and business energy use, travel, and waste. They then identify the emissions they create indirectly, including those generated throughout the entire life cycle of the goods and services, including food, purchased or used.

“Discovery is often a life-changing experience. People become aware of the profound impacts of their activities on the climate and other people.

“Albuquerque, N.M., and Portland, Ore., have completed greenhouse-gas "inventories" of the amount and sources of emissions generated directly through internal city operations and by the broader community. Some cities have begun to assess the emissions from products manufactured elsewhere that are used locally.”

“ In Portland, more than 40 high-performance green buildings have been constructed and more than 10,000 multifamily units and 800 homes have been weatherized. Albuquerque now gets 20 percent of its energy from wind.

“Thinking sustainably produces impressive results. Emissions from city operations in Albuquerque have been reduced by 58 percent; Portland's have dropped 16 percent since 1990, Xerox's by 18 percent through 2006, and DuPont's by 67 percent. Climate Masters has slashed emissions by an average of two tons per person.

“Hundreds of other organizations are beginning to think sustainably. The State of Florida, for example, recently completed a statewide emissions assessment. More than 850 mayors have signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement that, among other actions, commits cities to inventory their emissions. IBM and Bayer have each reduced emissions by at least 60 percent since the early 1990s, collectively saving more than $4 billion.”

related material
global warming

the web address for the article above is
https://www.abelard.org/news/ecology092008.php#ghg_system_analysis_110908


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