Global Warming is one of the most complex environmental challenges of our time. How is it that there are doubters who say global warming is not real? Most citizens are beginning to realize that our own harmful actions like burning fossil fuels, (coal, gas, natural gas) and cutting down forests contribute to this destructive process. The only real debate among scientists is about how much and how fast the warming will continue as a result of heat-trapping emissions. We must do our part to raise awareness of the issues, the causes and the solutions so we can work together to stop the destruction of our earth. We must each learn what we can do in our daily lives to make a difference. If we fail to address global warming there will be lasting and devastating consequences for future generations. Make it personal, very personal. Send us your ideas Bigissues@voiceyourself.com.
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Arctic is melting even in winter
The Arctic icecap is now shrinking at record rates in the winter as well as summer, adding to evidence of disastrous melting near the North Pole, according to research by British scientists.
Jonathan Leake - The London Sunday Times , October 26, 2008
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Hope for Florida's Wildlife Emerges From Climate Meeting
Rare wild panther in Florida.
"The power of people can make a huge difference in our success in dealing with climate change," said Nobel laureate Dr. Jean Brennan at the closing session of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's climate change summit on Friday. The FWC spent three days with wildlife, environment and government experts from around the state and country to discuss the future for fish and wildlife in a changing climate. This summit is the first of its kind in the country, and keynote speakers included Nobel laureates Brennan, from Defenders of Wildlife, and Dr. Virginia Burkett, from the U.S. Geological Survey who shared in 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Environmental News Service | Orlando, FL , October 14, 2008
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Evidence of Warming Growing: Pachauri
Rajendra Pachauri - IPCC Chairman.
Evidence is mounting day by day that mankind is to blame for climate change, and the financial crisis is a temporary setback in the hunt for solutions, the head of the U.N. Climate Panel said on Tuesday. Rajendra Pachauri, whose panel shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. vice president Al Gore, said the downturn could dominate for 2-3 months before politicians return to focus on fixing long-term problems like global warming. "The evidence... is getting stronger by the day. We have much more evidence available of what the human role is in climate change," he told Reuters by phone from India. "One has every reason to take action on what's already been said."
By Alister Doyle - Reuters | Barcelona, Spain , October 07, 2008
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Fish stock at risk in climate change
Climate change is likely to hit supplies of many of Australia's favourite eating fish, including barramundi, salmon, rock lobster and prawns, the most extensive study on the subject yet undertaken by the Federal Government has warned. The CSIRO study, commissioned by the Department of Climate Change and to be released today, reports the overall impact of global change "will pose some very significant risks to the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in Australia". Projected changes in temperature, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather events due to climate change are all likely to significantly influence fish stocks and marine ecosystems in the $2.1 billion Australia fishery and aquaculture industry.
By Mark Metherell - The Sydney Morning Herald , October 06, 2008
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Here's one 'bailout' we don't want to face
Going under like Wall Street?
What a month September was. Some of the country's largest, oldest and best-known financial institutions went under. And then, Florida State University released a report finding that Florida is poised to go under as well. And not in a figurative, financial sense. The state is literally going under, as sea-level rise due to global warming threatens to consume vast swaths of low-lying real estate. According to the study, which looked at the costs associated with sea-level rise in six Florida counties, a rising sea will have claimed more than 5,400 acres of Miami-Dade County real estate worth $1.4 billion in less than 20 years. And by 2080, Miami-Dade will lose more than 15,000 acres worth $6.7 billion.
By Eric Draper - The Tallahassee Democrat , October 03, 2008
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Burning Down the House to Keep Warm
Only a fool would support expanded domestic exploration offshore or elsewhere under the Bush administration's dysfunctional energy policies. Here's how those policies need to change for America to responsibly find the energy it needs.
George Will penned a column for The Washington Post titled "The Gas Prices We Deserve," denouncing anyone who questioned the need for more domestic drilling. Like many of my neighbors in Augusta, Mont., I received a petition called "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" from a group called American Solutions for Winning the Future. The literature accompanying the petition featured former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who wrote that member s of Congress who opposed increased development "won't accept the idea that 21st century energy technology can protect the environment."
By Hal Herring - Miller-Mccune.com , September 25, 2008
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The Methane Time Bomb
Melting permafrost's methane release.
Arctic scientists discover new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of a gas 20 times more damaging than carbon dioxide. The first evidence that millions of tons of a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide is being released into the atmosphere from beneath the Arctic seabed has been discovered by scientists. The Independent has been passed details of preliminary findings suggesting that massive deposits of sub-sea methane are bubbling to the surface as the Arctic region becomes warmer and its ice retreats.
By Steve Conner - The Independent | UK , September 23, 2008
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Burying CO2 could pay for itself by 2030
Burying carbon dioxide.
Trapping and burying carbon dioxide from power plants could become viable without public funding by 2030, helping nations reduce their dependence on energy imports and meet climate goals, a report said on Monday. But that could happen only if obstacles to the technology are removed and polluters are forced to pay more to emit CO2 in cap and trade schemes, it added. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is seen by industry as a potential silver bullet to curb emissions from coal-fired power plants, which are multiplying rapidly in India and China, threatening to heat the atmosphere to dangerous levels.
Reuters , September 22, 2008
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Blocking the Sky to Save the Earth
Arctic ice cap shrinking.
To the relief of climate scientists around the world, it appears that the polar ice cap hasn’t shrunk as much this summer as it did last summer. The ice cap usually reaches its smallest extent around now, and although the total area of ice in September fluctuates from year to year, in the last two decades it has generally declined, probably because of carbon-driven global warming. Last year, the ice cap shrank at a record-breaking pace; at its minimum it was almost 39 percent smaller than the average from 1979 to 2000. This year it’s down about 33 percent. A couple of years’ rapid melting may be a random event. But the ice loss of recent years puts the Arctic melt decades ahead of model predictions, raising concern that climate change is proving worse than expected.
By Thomas Homer-Dixon and David Keith - The New York Times , September 20, 2008
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States Aim to Cut Gases by Making Polluters Pay
Ten states from Maryland to Maine are about to undertake the nation’s most serious effort yet to tackle climate change, putting limits on carbon dioxide emissions from utilities and making them pay for each ton of pollutants. The program is due to get off the ground in nine days, but already there are worries that it may fail to reduce pollution substantially in the Northeast, undermining a concept that is being watched carefully by the rest of the country, by Congress and by European regulators.
By Felicity Barringer and Kate Galbraith - The New York Times , September 16, 2008
