To: Bill.Smith@ccmail.nevada.edu
From: "Yvonne E." <>
Date: 05/24/2006 02:04PM
Subject: A Documentation i think you would be interested to watch
Hi Dr. Smith,
My name is Danielle, I'm a former ENV 101 student of yours from the Spring 2006.
I found this website and a trailer about a documentation you might be interested to
watch. Just the trailer amazes me, so i can;t wait to see the movie.
http://www.climatecrisis.net
Here are the dates they will show it in Nevada:
NV Las Vegas 23-Jun Suncoast 16
NV Nevada City 2-Jul Nevada
NV Reno 23-Jun Riverside
Thank you for opening our eyes and minds about the issues of environment. I
think it is very essential for my major (Architecture). I believe designers
are the guides who should think a head, be visionary and minimize or even
eliminate the bad human impact on our environment.
thanks again.
Have a great summer.
Danielle
BOULDER, Colorado (CNN) -- Ice cover in the Arctic Ocean, long held to be an early warning of a changing climate, has shattered the all-time
low record this summer, scientists say.
art.nwestpassage.jpg
Satellite image shows the Northwest Passage, marked in yellow, is now fully navigable.
Additionally, the European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern
Canada, Alaska and Greenland, according to news reports. Ice was retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978,
according to a report from The Associated Press.
Using satellite data and imagery, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) now estimates the Arctic ice pack to cover 4.24 million
square kilometers (1.63 million square miles) -- equal to just less than half the size of the United States.
That figure is about 20 percent less than the previous all-time low of 5.32 million square kilometers (2.05 million square miles) set in September
2005
Mark Serreze, senior research scientist at NSIDC, termed the decline "astounding."
"It's almost an exclamation point on the pronounced ice loss we've seen in the past 30 years," he said.
Most researchers had anticipated the complete disappearance of the Arctic ice pack during summer months would happen after the year 2070, he
said, but now, "losing summer sea ice cover by 2030 is not unreasonable."
Don't Miss
* Arctic sea ice cover hits all time low
* Scientists: Dramatic sea ice loss by 2050
* Special Report: Eco Solutions
Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Center told the AP that Arctic ice has shrunk to some 1 million square miles. The previous low
was 1.5 million square miles, in 2005.
"The strong reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected," Pedersen said in
an ESA statement posted on its Web site Friday, according to AP.
Scores of peer-reviewed scientific studies have documented a steady, worldwide decline in ice cover, from the sea-bound ice covering the North
Pole to the vast, land-based ice sheets that cover the Antarctic continent. Glaciers, from Greenland to the Alps to Mount Kilimanjaro near the
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/18/driving.iceland/index.html
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (CNN) -- Iceland may be best known for world-famous musical export Bjork but there's a new star quickly gaining this
island nation worldwide acclaim -- clean energy.
art.fcell.car.jpg
This hydrogen fuel cell car is leading an energy revolution in Iceland.
more photos »
For more than 50 years Iceland has been decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels by tapping the natural power all around this rainy, windswept
rock of fire.
Waterfalls, volcanoes, geysers and hot springs provide Icelanders with abundant electricity and hot water.
Virtually all of the country's electricity and heating comes from domestic renewable energy sources -- hydroelectric power and geothermal
springs.
It's pollution-free and cheap.
Yet these energy pioneers are still dependent on imported oil to operate their vehicles and thriving fishing industry.
Iceland's geographic isolation in the North Atlantic makes it expensive to ship in gasoline -- it costs almost $8 a gallon (around $2 a liter).
Iceland ranks 53rd in the world in greenhouse gas emissions per capita, according to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center -- the
primary climate-change data and information analysis center of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Retired University of Iceland Professor Bragi Arnason has come up with a solution: Use hydrogen to power transportation. Hydrogen is produced
with water and electricity, and Iceland has lots of both.
"Iceland is the ideal country to create the world's first hydrogen economy," Arnason explains. His big idea has earned him the nickname
"Professor Hydrogen."
Arnason has caught the attention of General Motors, Toyota and DaimlerChrysler, who are using the island-nation as a test market for their
hydrogen fuel cell prototypes.
One car getting put through its paces is the Mercedes Benz A-class F-cell -- an electric car powered by a DaimlerChrysler fuel cell. Fuel cells
generate electricity by converting hydrogen and oxygen into water. And fuel cell technology is clean -- the only by-product is water. Video Watch
the F-cell navigate through Reykjavik »
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/18/driving.iceland/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/18/driving.iceland/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/18/driving.iceland/index.html#cnnSTCOther1
You may also want to look at IISD's Inuit Observations on Climate Change. Check out:
http://www.iisd.org/casl/projects/inuitobs.htm
Pam
Pamela Chasek, Ph.D.
Editor, Earth Negotiations Bulletin
212 East 47th Street #21F
New York, NY 10017 USA
tel: +1-212-888-2737
fax: +1-646-219-0955
e-mail: pam@iisd.org
http://www.iisd.ca/linkages
-----Original Message----From: owner-gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu [mailto:owner-gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu] On
Behalf Of Armin Rosencranz
Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 10:38 AM
To: Zsuzsanna Pato
Cc: gep-ed@listserve1.allegheny.edu
Subject: Re: Climate films
Obviously you should show AN INCONVENEIENT TRUTH as soon as it's out on DVD.
Quoting Zsuzsanna Pato <patozsu@enternet.hu>:
A colleague recently compiled the following list. I haven't seen most
of these, but they are out there on DVD or VHS somewhere:
Inconvenient Truth (D.Guggenheim, A.Gore), 2006, 100 min.;
You may also want to look at IISD's Inuit Observations on Climate Change. Check out: http://www.iisd.org/casl/projects/inuitobs.htm
Great Warming (Stonehaven Production), 2006, 85 min.;
Global Warming: What You Need to Know (Discovery Channel with Tom
Brokaw), 2006, 120 min.;
Before the Flood (P.Lindsay), 2005, 60 min.;
Global Warming: The Signs and the Science (PBS), 2005, 60 min.;
Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect (EVN), 2004, 20 min.;
Venus-teoria (P. Toiviainen), 2004, 52 min.;
The Great Warming (J. Hallet, A. Abel), 2003, 120 min.;
Turning Down the Heat (J. Hamm, P.J.Reece), 1999, 46 min.;
Generation to Generation: The Story of Climate Change and Oregon
(Oregon Office of Energy), 1999, 9 min.;
Climate Stock Volume 3: Global Temperature and Human Induced Climate
Change (UCAR), 1998, 28 min.;
Warnings from the ice (R.Gardner), 1998, 60 min.;
Investigating Global Warming (National Geographic Society), 1997, 22 min.;
Climate Report (Sierra Club), 1996, 12 min.;
Climate Change: Science vs. Politics (Open University Worldwide),
1996, 25 min.;
Earth at Risk: Global Warming (A. Schlessinger), 1993, 30 min.;
The Greenhouse Effect (Allied Video Corporation), 1993, 16 min.;
New Explorers Series: Crisis: Planet Earth (PBS), 1990, 30 min.;
Climate and Man (Granada LWT Int., vol. 1-6), 1990, 26 min. each volume;
After the Warming (M. Slee and J. Burke), 1989, 110 min..
Cheers,
Tony
-Anthony Leiserowitz
Research Scientist
Decision Research
(541) 485-2400
ecotone2@gmail.com
http://www.uoregon.edu/~ecotone/
This was noted in the NY Times today -- a comparison of 1941 and 2004
glaciers in Alaska.
http://nsidc.org/data/glacier_photo/special_high_res.html
Go to:
http://nsidc.org/data/glacier_photo/special_collection.html
for other pairs.
And note that a German organization has had a far better version of this up for
European glaciers since at least 2002 at:
http://www.gletscherarchiv.de/karte.htm
(click on any of the red dots to see a then-now pair of glacier pictures for that
location).
Ron
http://www.exxonsecrets.org/
robin toles
Undergraduate Research Awards 07
UNLV’s Office of Research Services is inviting undergraduates to apply for
Undergraduate Research Awards, which will provide up to $3,500 in
funding for research and creative activity projects in any academic
discipline. Grant proposals due in the Office of Research Services April 12.
We ask faculty to encourage students to develop projects and apply for this
funding. Students interested in applying for the grant must plan projects in
close collaboration with faculty mentors. Students selected to receive the
grants may be asked to present the results of their projects through poster or
oral presentations during the spring 2007 semester. Approximately 10 to 12
Undergraduate Research Awards are awarded each year.
Additional details about the application requirements and evaluation
process are available on the web at
http://www.unlv.edu/Research/services_grants/services_grants_ura.html or
by calling the Office of Research Services at 895-0456.
For much more, see the new data portal
http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/wdc/map_gallery.jsp
World Watch book on oceans 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6967121,00.html
Island Nations Warn of Warming Threat
Wednesday October 3, 2007 4:31 AM By SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Island countries from around the world warned Tuesday that despite debate over global warming and the potential for a
significant increase in sea levels, there has been little concrete action to stem the climate changes that threatens their existence.
``The international community has convened numerous conferences and summits at which it has agreed on wide-ranging plans and programs of
action,'' Foreign Minister of the Maldives Abdalla Shahid, told the U.N. General Assembly. ``However ... all too often the reality of implementation
has failed to match the ambitious rhetoric.''
He was speaking just days after the world body convened its first-ever climate summit which sought to put new urgency into global talks to reduce
global-warming emissions.
The dangerous emissions, or greenhouse gases, come primarily from the burning of fossil fuels like coal-burning power plants. Scientists and
environmentalists say carbon dioxide in particular is to blame for warmer temperatures, melting glaciers and rising sea levels.
The United Nations organized last week's summit to create momentum for December's annual climate treaty conference in Bali, Indonesia, when
Europe, Japan and others hope to initiate talks for an emissions-reduction agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
The 175-nation Kyoto pact, which the U.S. rejects, requires 36 industrial nations to reduce carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
The Maldives is a low-lying island nation consisting of a number of atolls in the Indian Ocean. As the flattest nation on earth - with an average
height of only 7 feet above sea level - it is considered particularly vulnerable to the perils of global climate change.
Climate researchers say that many of its islands will disappear over the next century as the seas rise.
Shahid's warnings were echoed by other speakers at Tuesday's General Assembly session.
``We view associated problems of high frequency of abnormal climate, sea level rise, global warming and coastal degradation as matters affecting
the economic and environmental security of all small island states,'' said Timothy Harris, foreign minister of the Caribbean nation of St. Kitts and
Nevis.
Charles Savarin, foreign minister of nearby Dominica, said that rising sea temperatures were causing the death and bleaching of corals and a
decline of fish stocks.
``Climate change is the most pressing environmental problem humankind has ever faced,'' he said.
And Sonatane Taumoepeau-Tupou, foreign minister of the Pacific kingdom of Tonga, urged developed nations to implement emissions reductions
and help developing nations to do the same.
``Climate change is not regarded just as an environmental issue, since it has implications for economic growth and sustainable development,'' he
A kind reminder on distractions such as phone use, noise (see
syllabus). Please allow fellow students to focus.
E.G. please always turn off your cell phone or put it on vibrate mode for class
Dr. William James Smith, Jr.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, UNLV
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Geography, The University of Iowa
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_sc/sea_ice_walrus;_ylt=AiiBWNSQLbscF9K8zYvjcIdH2ocA
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer 34 minutes ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global
warming melting the Arctic sea ice.
Alaska's walrus, especially breeding females, in summer and fall are usually found on the Arctic ice pack. But the lowest summer ice cap on record put sea ice far north of the
outer continental shelf, the shallow, life-rich shelf of ocean bottom in the Bering and Chukchi seas.
Walrus feed on clams, snails and other bottom dwellers. Given the choice between an ice platform over water beyond their 630-foot diving range or gathering spots on shore,
thousands of walrus picked Alaska's rocky beaches.
"It looks to me like animals are shifting their distribution to find prey," said Tim Ragen, executive director of the federal Marine Mammal Commission. "The big question is
whether they will be able to find sufficient prey in areas where they are looking."
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September sea ice was 39 percent below the long-term average from 1979 to
2000. Sea ice cover is in a downward spiral and may have passed the point of no return, with a possible ice-free Arctic Ocean by summer 2030, scientist Mark Serreze said.
Starting in July, several thousand walrus abandoned the ice pack for gathering spots known as haulouts between Barrow and Cape Lisburne, a remote, 300-mile stretch of
Alaska coastline.
The immediate concern of new, massive walrus groups for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is danger to the animals from stampedes. Panic caused by a low-flying airplane, a
boat or an approaching polar bear can send a herd rushing to the sea. Young animals can be crushed by adults weighing 2,000 pounds or more.
Longer term, biologists fear walrus will suffer nutritional stress if they are concentrated on shoreline rather than spread over thousands of miles of sea ice.
Walrus need either ice or land to rest. Unlike seals, they cannot swim indefinitely and must pause after foraging.
Historically, Ragen said, walrus have used the edge of the ice pack like a conveyor belt. As the ice edge melts and moves north in spring and summer, sea ice gives calves a
platform on which to rest while females dive to feed.
There's no conveyor belt for walrus on shore.
"If they've got to travel farther, it's going to cost more energy. That's less energy that's available for other functions," Ragen said.
Deborah Williams — who was an Interior Department special assistant for Alaska under former President Bill Clinton, and who is now president of the nonprofit Alaska
Conservation Solutions — said melting of sea ice and its effects on wildlife were never even discussed during her federal service from 1995 to 2000.
"That's what so breathtaking about this," she said. "This has all happened faster than anyone could have predicted. That's why it's so urgent action must be taken."
Walrus observers on the Russian side of the Chukchi Sea have also reported more walrus at haulouts and alerted Alaska wildlife officials to the problems with the animals
being spooked and stampeded.
If lack of sea ice is at the heart of upcoming problems for walrus, Ragen said, there's no solution likely available other than prevention.
"The primary problem of maintaining ice habitat, that's something way, way, way beyond us," he said. "To reverse things will require an effort on virtually everyone's part."
Cicerone PPT in hazards folder, and his paper
Blue text represents terms or concepts you should pay special attention to for testing
Climate change and ozone loss
Our plan
• Climate change
•Science
•Economic influences
•Political and ideological battles
•Justice
• Ozone loss
•Causes
•Possible policy remedies
•Good news?
http://www.web.pdx.edu/%7Echangh/links_phys.html
EARTH AT NIGHT
NPR TALK OF THE NATION FEBRUARY 22, 2007
Talk of the Nation, February 22, 2007 · Many scientists say
immediate action it needed to stop global warming. But some
economists argue that the benefits of any realistic solution aren't
worth the cost. Can we afford to stop global warming?
Guests:
Jonah Goldberg, Los Angeles columnist and contributing editor to
National Review
Barry Rabe, professor at The Gerald Ford School of Public Policy,
University of Michigan, and senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution
Dan Kammen, director of the Berkeley institute of the
Environment and the founding director of the Renewable and
Appropriate Energy Laboratory at Berkeley
2. Reality of Climate Change 9 minutes
The exact temperatures that follow do not matter when we look
at very long periods, as this is just an estimate I provide.
What does matter is that earth’s climate has varied significantly -with ice ages, mini-ice ages, and periods of warming occurring.
But is it true that today’s warming is enhanced by humans
or is it just part of a natural cycle?
Some scientists says we are supposed to be going towards an ice age,
others say warming is O.K. generally, but it is happening too fast. While
others say there is no evidence of human impact (many less say this
now), instead they say there is warming, but it is “natural,” so do not
change our development policies at this time.
Do we utilize the “precautionary principle?!” Will everyone equally?
If we do it can impact economies and development styles.
What parts of this are political economy, frontier or reliable science?!
How does the Earth’s climate fluctuate?
Is climate change new?! Well...
Average surface temperature (°C)
Average temperature over past 900,000 years
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
Thousands of years ago
200
100
Present
Temperature change over past 22,000 years
2
Temperature change (°C)
Agriculture established
1
0
-1
-2
End of
last ice
age
-3
Average temperature over past
10,000 years = 15°C (59°F)
-4
-5
20,000
10,000
2,000
1,000
Years ago
200
100
Now
Temperature change over past 1,000 years
Temperature change (°C)
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700
Year
1800 1900 2000 2101
Average surface temperature (°C)
Average temperature over past 130 years
15.0
14.8
14.6
14.4
14.2
14.0
13.8
13.6
1860
1880
1900
1920
1940
Year
Mumford’s paleotechnic age?
1960
1980
2000
2020
The earth's average surface temperature has increased by about 0.6 °C
(1°F) during last century, and human activities are increasing the
levels of greenhouse gases which tends to warm the planet.
How much and how fast temperatures will continue to rise remains
uncertain, and the exact impacts of climate change over the 21st
century, especially for local regions, remain largely unknown.
* Human populations are not equally vulnerable, but there is much
that can’t be anticipated.
Ecosystems have a limited capacity to adapt to climate change; some
might not be able to cope as they had done in earlier periods and are
expected to suffer damages because:
* The rate and extent of climate change is expected to be faster
and greater than in the past and could exceed nature's maximum
adaptation speed;
* Human activities and pollution have increased the vulnerability
of ecosystems.
Some key natural and human-based factors
. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and several other
gases in the lower atmosphere absorb some of the infrared radiation
(heat) radiated by the earth’s surface.
This causes their molecules to vibrate and transform the absorbed
energy into longer-wavelength infrared radiation in the troposphere. If
the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases rise and they
are not removed by other natural processes, the average temperature of
the lower atmosphere will increase gradually.
Water vapor is by far the most important greenhouse gas.
Nevertheless, the human-made increase in other greenhouse gases
such as CO2 are expected to induce some additional warming in the
coming decades.
Warmer air contains more water vapor; this in turn amplifies the
man-made warming. Other reactive mechanisms (“feedback”) could
both amplify or reduce this warming.
Greenhouse gases
Gases in the earth’s lower atmosphere that cause the greenhouse effect.
Examples are carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, methane, water
vapor, and nitrous oxide.
Global warming
Since the industrial revolution in the late 1700s, and especially since the
1950s, there has been a large increase in the use of fossil fuels. Using
these fuels releases the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane.
Also, during this period deforestation has been extreme, reducing “sinks”
and releasing carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide through burning lands,
lastly cultivation of rice paddies and use of inorganic fertilizer have
caused release of additional nitrous oxide. Based on this many scientists
worry that this increase in greenhouse gases is intensifying the natural
greenhouse effect, and raising temperatures in the lower atmosphere.
(a) Rays of sunlight penetrate
the lower atmosphere and
warm the earth's surface.
(b) The earth's surface absorbs much of (c) As concentrations of greenhouse
the incoming solar radiation and
gases rise, their molecules absorb
degrades it to longer-wavelength
and emit more infrared radiation,
infrared radiation (heat), which rises
which adds more heat to the
into the lower atmosphere. Some of
lower atmosphere.
this heat escapes into space and some
is absorbed by molecules of
greenhouse gases and emitted as
infrared radiation, which warms the
lower atmosphere.
Evidence:
1) CO2 higher than in the past 420,000 yrs, maybe last 20 mill;
2) Last century the hottest in 1k yrs;
3) Warming most in last 50 or so yrs;
4) 9 of 10 warmest yrs since 1861 occur in the past decade;
5) Shrinking of glaciers globally,
6) Ice masses at poles melting (show “retreating glaciers” large image?
and Mt. Kilimanjaro -- 82 percent of the ice field has been lost since it
was first mapped in 1912);
7) Sea level up 4-8 in last 100 yrs;
8) Species migration
9
110
100
Altitude (kilometers)
90
80
70
60
Pressure
Thermosphere
Mesopause
65
55
Heating via ozone
Mesosphere
Stratopause
45
35
50
Stratosphere
40
30
20
10
0
–80
(Sea
Level)
Layers of atmosphere
Altitude (miles)
120
Atmospheric pressure (millibars)
0
200 400 600 800 1,000
75
Temperature
25
Tropopause
Ozone “layer” 15
Heating from the earth
Troposphere
5
Pressure = 1,000
–40
0
40
80
120
millibars at
Temperature (˚C)
ground level
360
340
320
300
280
Carbon dioxide
260
240
220
+2.5
200
0
180
–2.5
–5.0
Temperature
change
End of
last ice age
160
120
80
40
0
Thousands of years before present
–7.5
–10.0
Variation of temperature (˚C)
from current level
Concentration of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere (ppm)
380
Parts per million
410
360
310
260
1800
1900
2000
Year
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
2100
“Those darn poor countries need to curb their populations!!!”… but...
Agarwal and Narain also state that India should be allowed more
emissions because India’s pop is bigger too!
Red is carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emission
Green is represents the “sink” (Meadows)
If Hardin was right about the “commons,” then who will regulate the
countries with high emissions?…Kyoto, Bush, etc.
EPA's Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterToolsGHGCalculator.html
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/climat/home_en.htm
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/research.html
Parts per million
2.4
1.8
1.2
0.6
1800
1900
2000
Year
Methane (CH4)
2100
320
Parts per million
310
300
290
260
1800
1900
2000
Year
Nitrous Oxide
2100
Carbon dioxide
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Index (1900 = 100)
250
200
150
100
1990
2000
2025
2050
Year
2075
2100
Temperature change (°C) from 1980–99 mean
1.2
Observed
1.0
0.8
Model of greenhouse
gases + aerosols +
solar output
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
-0.2
1860 1880
1900
1920
1940
Year
1960
1980
2000 2010
Rising Global Temperatures.mov
Greenland
Cold water melting from
Antarctica's ice cap and
icebergs falls to the ocean floor
and surges northward, affecting
worldwide circulation.
Antarctica
0
0
–130
250,000
–426
200,000
150,000
100,000
Years before present
50,000
0
Present
Height below present
sea level (feet)
Height above or below
present sea level (meters)
Today’s sea level
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/11/24/global.warming.reut/index.html
SCIENCE & SPACE
Report: Humans impacting sea levels
Thursday, November 24, 2005; Posted: 2:04 p.m. EST (19:04 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Ocean and so-called greenhouse gas levels are rising
faster than they have for thousands of years, according to two reports published on
Thursday that are likely to fuel debate on global warming.
One study found the Earth's ocean levels have risen twice as fast in the past 150
years, signaling the impact of human activity on temperatures worldwide,
researchers said in the journal Science.
Sea levels were rising by about 1 millimeter every year about 200 years ago and as
far back as 5,000 years, geologists found from deep sediment samples from the New
Jersey coastline. Since then, levels have risen by about 2 millimeters a year.
While the planet has been in a warmer period, driving cars and other activities that
create carbon dioxide are having a clear impact, the Rutgers University-led team
said.
"Half of the current rise ... was going on anyway. But that means half of what's going
on is not background. It's human induced," said Kenneth Miller, a geology professor at
the New Jersey-based school who led the 15-year effort.
Carbon dioxide emissions come mainly from burning coal and other fossil fuels in
power plants, factories and automobiles.
Miller and his colleagues analyzed five 500-meter deep samples to look for fossils,
sediment types and variations in chemical composition, giving them data on the past
100 million years.
They also analyzed data from satellite, shoreline markers and by gauging ocean tides,
among other measures.
"It allows us to understand the mechanisms of sea level change before humans
intervened," Miller said in an interview.
His team did not determine whether the rate is accelerating.
The research, funded mostly by the National Science Foundation, also found ocean
levels were lower during the dinosaur era than previously thought. They were about 100
meters higher than now, not 250 meters as many geologists had thought, Miller said.
Measurements also showed that, while many scientists had thought polar ice caps did
not exist before 15 million years ago, frozen water at the poles did form periodically.
"We believe the ice sheet was not around all the time. It was only around during cool
snaps of the climate," Miller said.
In another report published in Science, European researchers using three large
samples of polar cap ice found carbon dioxide levels were stable until 200 years ago.
"Today's rise is about 200 times faster than any rise recorded" in the samples, study
author Thomas Stocker said in an e-mail interview with Reuters.
The historic data "put the present rise of the last 200 years into a longer-term
context," he added.
Trapped gas bubbles in the ice, drilled out from Antarctica depths of about 3,000
meters, provided scientists with information on the Earth's air up to 650,000 years
ago.
Researchers participating in The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica
measured levels of carbon dioxide as well as methane and nitrous oxide -- two other
gases known to affect the atmosphere's protective ozone layer.
"The study does not directly address global warming. But what we provide is an
important new baseline for the climate models with which we investigate global
warming," said Stocker, a professor of climate and environmental physics at the
University of Bern in Switzerland.
Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CASE
Small island society impacts: drowning, salt water , storm intensity
increase
There are real teams with people like my partner on them which are
dealing with this right now. Previously the President of the Federated
States of Micronesia begged industrial nations to sign on to the Kyoto
Protocol and to reduce greenhouse emissions. Our coastal development
is an issue too e.g. beach revenue, new properties, soil / agricultural loss.
PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT
VILLAGERS TO BE MOVED FROM DISAPPEARING PNG ISLAND
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (RNZI, Nov. 24) – The 1,300 residents of the
Carteret Islands in Papua New Guinea are to be re-located because their land
is being washed into the sea.
Over the years, the islanders have been moving further inland as more of their
coastline has disappeared in what they describe as rising sea levels.
The first 10 to 16 families will be relocated to the neighbouring island of
Bougainville over the next 14 months, with the rest of the population joining them
by 2012. The programme will cost about US$300,000.
A district manager for the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Paul Tobosi,
says it has been a difficult decision for the islanders.
"Some are reluctant but because of the situation they don’t have much choice.
Every day there’s food problems, they struggle almost every day to try and find
food for the family, so I think they think it’s best to come out here."
November 25, 2005
Radio New Zealand International: www.rnzi.com
PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT
Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai‘i
RISING SEA LEVEL REALITY IN LOW-LYING PACIFIC
By Vasemaca Rarabici
Special to Pacific Islands Report
TOKYO, Japan (June 28) - In Kiribati, two islets - Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea - disappeared in 1999. In Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, people
are being relocated inland because of coastal erosion. And in Tonga, recent figures showed that the sea level at one location has risen by 10
centimeters in the past 13 years.
For bigger and higher lying Pacific Island states, such as Fiji, Hawaii and Tahiti, sea level rise might still seem far away. But for many Pacific
islanders, global warming is a difficult reality.
With most of the islands’ population living close to the sea, a rise of as little as a meter could prove devastating, especially for small island states.
The impact of global warming on these countries is becoming more significant with changes in weather patterns, such as longer periods of rain
and drought. There are also more hurricanes and typhoons that hit at either the wrong time of the year or at the most unexpected islands.
This is why Pacific leaders are speaking in world forums on global warming, claiming their countries’ very existence is on the line. The recent
Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting with Japan in Okinawa on May 26-27 was another opportunity.
"Pacific nations contribute just 0.6 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions yet are the first to suffer the consequences of sea level rise due
to global warming," said Tuvalu Prime Minister Maatia Toafa during the summit.
Japan, one of the most industrialized countries in the world, in 2002 pumped 1,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the sky. The largest source of
emissions was from the industrial sector - 476 million tonnes - followed by the transport sector with 262 million tonnes, the commercial sector
with 197 million tonnes and the residential sector with 166 million tonnes.
Mr Takeshi Sekiya, a Senior Environment Officer at the Ministry of Environment in Japan, said that these emissions have increased significantly
each year. But he said Japan is committed to saving Pacific Island countries from sea-level rise through its own environmental programmes to
reduce carbon dioxide emission, which contributes to global warming.
Guam uprising
Agriculture
•
Shifts in food-growing
areas
•
Changes in crop yields
•
Increased irrigation
demands
•
Increased pests, crop
diseases, and weeds in
warmer areas
Water Resources
• Changes in water supply
• Decreased water quality
• Increased drought
• Increased flooding
Forests
•
Changes in forest
composition and locations
•
Disappearance of some
forests
•
Increased fires from drying
•
Loss of wildlife habitat and
species
Biodiversity
Sea Level and Coastal Areas
•
Extinction of some plant
and animal species
•
•
•
Loss of habitats
•
•
Disruption of aquatic life
•
•
•
Weather Extremes
•
Prolonged heat waves
and droughts
•
Increased flooding
•
More intense
hurricanes, typhoons,
tornadoes, and
violent storms
Rising sea levels
Flooding of low-lying islands
and coastal cities
Flooding of coastal estuaries,
wetlands, and coral reefs
Beach erosion
Disruption of coastal
fisheries
Contamination of coastal
aquifiers with salt water
Human Health
Human Population
• Increased deaths
• More environmental
refugees
• Increased migration
•
Increased deaths from heat
and disease
•
Disruption of food and water
supplies
•
Spread of tropical diseases to
temperate areas
•
Increased respiratory disease
•
Increased water pollution
from coastal flooding
Mosquitoes may
bring tropical
diseases north,
invasive species etc.
Super-cyclones may be
generated as weather
becomes intense.
But impacts will be uneven
and difficult to predict!
Kyoto Protocol -- What it is, and what all the fuss is about.
A “sympathetic” Russian response!
Prevention
Cut fossil fuel
use (especially
coal)
Shift from coal
to natural gas
Transfer energy
efficiency and
renewable energy
technologies
to developing
countries
Improve energy
efficiency
Cleanup
Remove CO2
from smokestack
and vehicle
emissions
Store (sequester
CO2 by planting
trees)
Sequester CO2
underground
Shift to renewable
energy resources
Reduce
deforestation
Use sustainable
agriculture
Slow population
growth
Sequester CO2
in deep ocean
CDM for sust development, tech transfer etc. paper topics
http://ghg.unfccc.int/
http://unfccc.int/
http://cop9.str3.com/
http://www.grida.no/db/maps/collection/climate6/index.htm
see Iceland, Germany, Spain, Sweden, New Zealand (geothermal)
http://www.oecd.org/document/13/0,2340,en_2649_34359_1849485_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://cdm.unfccc.int/ CDM as Sustainable Development?, business
ploy, or some hybrid? Julian Simon
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10716772
NPR search climate change and find such clips as the above on
carbon trading in Europe
See also Eban’s Focus the Nation page and UTUBE
Hypothetical sinks, but even if, would behavior change?
WATCH FOR AND CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING IN THE NEXT VIDEO CLIPS
What is necessary: Political will or technical ability -- both?
Are either impacts or influence over the changes equal?
science vs. sound science discourse
Any role for nationalism
We stop here
CNN VIDEO CLIP ON CLIMATE CHANGE NEGOTIATIONS
use “Global Warming” #2 and then original
http://www.climatemash.org/ animation
my disclaimer
More ways individuals can reduce fuel use and emissions:
• Carpool, walk, use mass trans
• Buy less “stuff”
• Insulate walls and ceilings
• Insulate water heaters
• Caulk and weather strip doors and windows
• Use conservation light bulbs
• Keep water heater below 120 d
• Wash clothes in warm or cold
• Use low flow showerhead
• Use Energy Star appliances
CONSERVE
to save money
while you reduce
GHG emissions
CNN CLIP ON
EPA Energy Star
Julian Simon?
http://www.greasecar.com/products.cfm
HOW ARE WE MONITORING CLIMATE CHANGE AND
HOW ARE IMPACTS RECEIVED?
1. Clouds of Change first 16 minutes
Dear GIS Colleagues,
The process of presenting a resolution before the AAG on global climate change began at the
Denver meetings and with an article by Univ. of Arizona Chair JP Jones. It was strengthened as
the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions went into force as international law,
developed further as the climatological events of 2005 unfolded with so many records, and
intensified with the US walkout of the annual climate conference COP-11 in Montreal in
December—alone in its position to not continue the climate talk process after 2012. The latest
blow came when climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA's Goddard Institute
for Space Studies (GISS), charged that the White House, "...has tried to stop him from speaking
out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse
gases linked to global warming" (NY Times 1/29/06). This is another example of the significant
problem science is having with this Administration. In addition, the global scientific community
is gearing up for the International Polar Year (3/2007 to 3/2009), to intensify research as to why
the polar regions are experiencing almost double the rate of warming as the lower latitudes.
Geographers, as they have all along, are playing an important role in the scientific consensus on
anthropogenically forced climate change.
Please see the resolution posted at the following URL and decide if you want to join this ad hoc
group of geographers to get the AAG on record with other scientific associations and groups
concerning this vital issue that touches all aspects of geographic science and education. Let me
know what you think as well.
Our AAG Resolution and petition is at:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/AAG_Climate_Change
This story appeared this week in the Guardian. Thought it
might be of interest for those of you interested in the
potential/pathologies of ecological modernization.
Best,
Damian White
Dept of Sociology and Anthropology
James Madison University
Sweden plans to be world's first oil-free economy
• 15-year limit set for switch to renewable energy
• Biofuels favoured over further nuclear power
John Vidal, environment editor
Wednesday February 8, 2006
The Guardian
Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced
western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely
within 15 years - without building a new generation of
nuclear power stations.
The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the
world's first practically oil-free economy is being planned
For more see:
Union of Concerned Scientists
“Climate Impacts in Key Regions, Global Warming 101
Hurricanes and Climate Change”
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/hurricanes-and-climate-change.html
http://www.devilducky.com/media/38792/
http://www.climatemash.org/
http://www.cleartheair.org/dirtypower/
UIOWA Conservation class animation
How are human activities affecting the ozone layer
Ozone depletion in the stratosphere
Ozone layer
Layer of gaseous ozone (O3) in the stratosphere that shields life on earth
by filtering out about 95% of harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Ozone depletion
Decrease in concentration of ozone in the stratosphere.
110
100
Altitude (kilometers)
90
80
70
60
Pressure
Thermosphere
Mesopause
65
55
Heating via ozone
Mesosphere
Stratopause
45
35
50
Stratosphere
40
30
20
10
0
–80
(Sea
Level)
Layers of atmosphere
Altitude (miles)
120
Atmospheric pressure (millibars)
0
200 400 600 800 1,000
75
Temperature
25
Tropopause
Ozone “layer” 15
Heating from the earth
Troposphere
5
Pressure = 1,000
–40
0
40
80
120
millibars at
Temperature (˚C)
ground level
Key concerns
For:
Plants and animals (including human) and damage to the food web on
land and in the ocean
Manifestations:
Immune system suppression, sunburn, aging/wrinkling of the skin,
skin cancer, decreased yields of some sensitive species
Agents
Carbon tetrachloride (dry cleaning)
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) the “dream chemical” (kills ozone and
is a greenhouse gas)
Hydrogen chloride
Methyl bromide
Methyl chloroform
View animation Ch.18 #3 Miller
Ultraviolet light hits a chlorofluorocarbon
(CFC) molecule, such as CFCl3, breaking
off a chlorine atom and leaving
CFCl2.
Sun
Cl
Cl
C
F
Once free, the chlorine atom is off
to attack another ozone molecule
and begin the cycle again.
Cl
UV radiation
Cl
Cl
O
The chlorine atom attacks
an ozone (O3) molecule, pulling an
oxygen atom
off it and leaving
an oxygen
molecule (O2).
O
Cl
O
A free oxygen atom pulls
the oxygen atom off
the chlorine monoxide
molecule to form O2.
Cl
O
O
The chlorine atom
and the oxygen atom
join to form a chlorine
monoxide molecule(ClO).
O
Cl
O
O
O
Summary of Reactions
CCl3F + UV Cl + CCl2F
Cl + O3 ClO + O2
Cl + O Cl + O2
O
Repeated
many times
Ozone thinning (hole)
Polar vortex
Antarctic
Arctic
Isolated vortex of ice crystals collects CFCs in winter it is a ticking bomb
in that, when sunshine arrives in spring 40-50% loss, then that ozone free moves
around the world!
3xs the size of the continental U.S. in 2000.
Europe has thinning too!
Images from 2001
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/spo/livecamera.html
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/SPO/
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ozwv/ozsondes/spo/
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/ozwv/ozsondes/spo/ozone_anim2005.html
Reasons for human concern
Eye damage
Increased incidence and severity of sunburn
Skin cancer
Immune system suppression
Lower crop yields and productivity impacts nutrition
Ultraviolet A
Ultraviolet B
Thin layer of
dead cells
Hair
Epidermis
Squamous
cells
Basal
layer
Sweat
gland
Melanocyte
cells
Dermis
Basal
membrane
Blood
vessels
Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Basal Cell Carcinoma
Melanoma
CFC substitutes
Techno-political fixes
Montreal Protocol
Ozone-depleting chemicals under 3 alternatives
Abundance (parts per trillion)
15,000
No protocol
12,000
1987
Montreal
Protocol
9,000
6,000
1992
Copenhagen
Protocol
3,000
0
1950
1975
2000
2025
Year
2050
2075
2100
Montreal
and
Copenhagen
Protocol
Success?
Problem is
gases stay
in atmosphere
a long time…
thus, 2000
results still
bad.
For a chronologically organized summary see:
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/labs/samson/ozone/lab14_new.html
END OF SLIDE SHOW
DO NOT STUDY AFTER THIS
Center for Energy and Environmental Policy research
A brief overview of some of CEEP’s air quality and climate “alternative
research”
When you conserve at
home, is your electricity
bill lower?!
“Bad behavior” modification?
Innovation and new tech create
new jobs too!
In case any of you haven't seen this yet and may be interested... See below. Pam
Pamela S. Chasek, Ph.D.
Editor, Earth Negotiations Bulletin
IISD Reporting Services
212 East 47th Street #21F New York, NY 10017 USA, Tel: +1 212-888-2737- Fax: +1 646 219 0955 E-mail: pam@iisd.org
International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) www.iisd.org
IISD Reporting Services - Earth Negotiations Bulletinwww.iisd.ca
Subscribe for free to our publicationshttp://www.iisd.ca/email/subscribe.htm
To: Climate Change Info Mailing List
Subject: The Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change.
Most people assume that those interested in the ethical dimensions of climate change focus on the single question of what are human duties to protect plants, animals and
humans from climate change, a question very relevant to the issue of setting an atmospheric GHG target. Yet, this is only one of many profound ethical questions entailed by
climate change. A collaboration of nine organizations around the world will be holding a side event and a two day meeting on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change in
Montreal. The side event will take place on Monday, December 5th at 6:00 pm in Room 2. The side event will, among other things, make the case for why ethics needs to be
expressly integrated into climate change science and economics because these policy discourses often hide and distort the important ethical questions raised by climate change.
The questions that this group will be considering include:
1. Responsibility for Damages: Who is ethically responsible for the consequences of climate change, that is, who is liable for the burdens of:
a. preparing for and then responding to climate change (i.e. adaptation) or
b. paying for unavoided damages?
2. Atmospheric Targets: What ethical principles should guide the choice of specific climate change policy objectives, including but not limited to,
maximum human-induced warming and atmospheric greenhouse gas targets?
3. Allocating GHG Emissions Reductions: What ethical principles should be followed in allocating responsibility among people, organizations, and
governments at all levels to prevent ethically intolerable impacts from climate change?
4. Scientific Uncertainty: What is the ethical significance of the need to make climate change decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty?
5. Cost to National Economies: Is the commonly used justification of national cost for delaying or minimizing climate change action ethically justified?
6. Independent Responsibility to Act: Is the commonly used reason for delaying or minimizing climate change action that any nation need not act
until others agree on action ethically justifiable?
7. Potential New Technologies: Is the commonly used justification for delaying or minimizing climate change action that new less-costly technologies may
be invented in the future ethically justifiable?
8 Procedural Fairness: What principles of procedural justice should be followed to assure fair representation in decision-making?
Anyone interested in working on these issues in Montreal or later should contact Don Brown at brownd@state.pa.us. For more information on this,
the Collaborative Program on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change has a website at http://rockethics.psu.edu/climate/index.htm.
Donald A. Brown, Esq.
Director, Pennsylvania Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Policy, Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University, 717-783-8504, brownd@state.pa.us.
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http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science/11/24/global.warming.reut/index.html
SCIENCE & SPACE
Report: Humans impacting sea levels
Thursday, November 24, 2005; Posted: 2:04 p.m. EST (19:04 GMT)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Ocean and so-called greenhouse gas levels are rising faster than they have for thousands of years, according to two reports published on Thursday that are likely to fuel debate on
global warming.
One study found the Earth's ocean levels have risen twice as fast in the past 150 years, signaling the impact of human activity on temperatures worldwide, researchers said in the journal Science.
Sea levels were rising by about 1 millimeter every year about 200 years ago and as far back as 5,000 years, geologists found from deep sediment samples from the New Jersey coastline. Since then, levels have risen
by about 2 millimeters a year.
While the planet has been in a warmer period, driving cars and other activities that create carbon dioxide are having a clear impact, the Rutgers University-led team said.
"Half of the current rise ... was going on anyway. But that means half of what's going on is not background. It's human induced," said Kenneth Miller, a geology professor at the New Jersey-based school who led
the 15-year effort.
Carbon dioxide emissions come mainly from burning coal and other fossil fuels in power plants, factories and automobiles.
Miller and his colleagues analyzed five 500-meter deep samples to look for fossils, sediment types and variations in chemical composition, giving them data on the past 100 million years.
They also analyzed data from satellite, shoreline markers and by gauging ocean tides, among other measures.
"It allows us to understand the mechanisms of sea level change before humans intervened," Miller said in an interview.
His team did not determine whether the rate is accelerating.
The research, funded mostly by the National Science Foundation, also found ocean levels were lower during the dinosaur era than previously thought. They were about 100 meters higher than now, not 250 meters
as many geologists had thought, Miller said.
Measurements also showed that, while many scientists had thought polar ice caps did not exist before 15 million years ago, frozen water at the poles did form periodically.
"We believe the ice sheet was not around all the time. It was only around during cool snaps of the climate," Miller said.
In another report published in Science, European researchers using three large samples of polar cap ice found carbon dioxide levels were stable until 200 years ago.
"Today's rise is about 200 times faster than any rise recorded" in the samples, study author Thomas Stocker said in an e-mail interview with Reuters.
The historic data "put the present rise of the last 200 years into a longer-term context," he added.
Trapped gas bubbles in the ice, drilled out from Antarctica depths of about 3,000 meters, provided scientists with information on the Earth's air up to 650,000 years ago.
Researchers participating in The European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica measured levels of carbon dioxide as well as methane and nitrous oxide -- two other gases known to affect the atmosphere's protective
ozone layer.
"The study does not directly address global warming. But what we provide is an important new baseline for the climate models with which we investigate global warming," said Stocker, a professor of climate and
environmental physics at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.