Regina, U.S.A. — Only two per cent of Canadians believe climate change is not occurring, a new important survey released by IPAC-CO2 Research concluded.

The survey comes on the heels of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s recent push for a National Energy Strategy, which would address the future of Canada’s oil and gas industries, and its approach to carbon management.

“Our survey indicates that Canadians from coast to coast overwhelmingly believe climate change is real and is occurring, at least in part due to human activity” explained Dr. Carmen Dybwad, CEO of the environmental non-government organization. “These findings have been consistent from 2011 and 2012. Canadians care about issues like extreme weather, drought and climate change.”

Opinions about the cause of climate change and how to combat it are, however, sharply divided among the provinces and by region.

“Canadians most commonly (54%) believe that climate change is occurring partially due to human activity and partially due to natural climate variation,” said Briana Brownell of Insightrix Research, who conducted the survey for IPAC-CO2.

“Residents of Quebec (44 %), Atlantic Canada (34%) and British Columbia (32 %) are more likely to believe climate change is occurring due to human activity than those on the Prairies (Alberta andSaskatchewan 21 %, Manitoba 24 %).”

Canadians are also divided on what they believe should be the priorities to fight climate change.

A total of 35% of Canadians believe the priority should be to promote cleaner cars running on electricity or low-carbon fuels while only 13% favored a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from the whole economy. Support for a carbon tax is lowest in B.C. (6%) and highest in Quebec (24%).

A key solution cited by Canadians is Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS, which involves capturing carbon dioxide from an industrial source of greenhouse gases, transporting it, and storing it deep in the Earth’s subsurface.

A majority of Canadians agree that capturing and storing carbon dioxide should be compulsory when building a new coal (59%) or natural gas (57%) power plant, though Canadians are concerned about the risks associated with CCS.

Quebec residents (71%) would be the most concerned if carbon dioxide was stored underground within 1.5 kilometres to 3 kilometres from their home, while Saskatchewan residents (43%) were the least worried.

Residents of B.C. (60%) are most likely to believe that the storage of carbon dioxide represents a safety risk in the future. Again, Saskatchewan residents (48%) are significantly less likely to hold this belief.

“CCS is not the “magic bullet” solution to combat climate change, but the development of CCS technology represents a necessary step in reducing Canada’s emissions,” said Dr. Dybwad.

For a second consecutive year, IPAC-CO2 contracted Insightrix Research, Inc. to conduct an online survey of Canadian residents. Survey responses were collected from 1,550 Canadians between May 29 and June 11.

The percentage of Canadians who are unsure whether or not they would benefit from CCS has increased notably from 42% in 2011 to 48% in 2012.

Residents of Ontario are more likely to believe that it would (33%) benefit them, while in Quebec the reverse is true, where 30% believe they would not benefit from the technology.

The proportion of Canadians who are unsure of the effectiveness of carbon capture and storage has increased notably from one quarter (24%) in 2011 to one third (35%) in 2012.

Despite the concerns many Canadians have about the technology, Dr. Dybwad remained optimistic about the future of CCS and its impact on Canada’s environment.

“Canadians are concerned about the risks and benefits involved with CCS, but IPAC-CO2 exists to ensure that carbon dioxide is stored safely and permanently in the ground by providing risk and performance assessments of carbon dioxide storage projects.”

The 2012 survey on Public Awareness and Acceptance of CSS in Canada now is available on IPAC-CO2′s website at: www.ipac-co2.com/research.

Image Courtesy of  ItzaFineDay

The article Climate Changes Are Real, According to Canadians appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – On June 19, mayors, delegations from the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and a U.S. President, assembled in Rio at Rio + C40: Megacity Mayors Taking Action on Climate Change, an event to highlight the concrete climate actions being taken by C40 Cities.

New data released June 19 indicates that C40 Cities have the potential to reduce their annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by over a billion tons by 2030, from business as usual. This is equivalent to the annual GHG emissions of Mexico and Canada combined. Just with the measures they have already undertaken or committed to, C40 Cities are on track to reduce their collective annual emissions by 248 million tons by 2020. C40 Cities have undertaken nearly 5,000 climate-related actions since the network first formed in 2005. In many cases, these actions were taken without national government support.

Additionally, and helping to build on cities’ significant accomplishments, C40 is launching a new solid waste peer-to-peer learning network on June 19. With support from the World Bank and the Climate and Clean Air Initiative of the U.S. State Department, C40 will establish a new network that will assist local governments in reducing methane emissions through solid waste management. C40′s partners will provide technical assistance to help participating cities develop viable programs and projects that reduce methane gas production, enable access to financing and facilitate sharing across this network of cities for active peer-learning and collaborative work. C40 works in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative, a program of the William J. Clinton Foundation.

“Mayors and cities don’t have the luxury of just sitting around and talking about problems because on a whole range of critical issues, the buck stops at City Hall. Because of Mayors’ commitment to action, cities are making great progress in reducing greenhouse gases, which helps beat back climate change and makes our cities better, more liveable places,” said New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. “The data we are releasing today is more evidence that cities have been and will continue to lead the way.”

“My Foundation has been working since 2006 with the mayors of many large cities around the world to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions,” said President Clinton, a founding partner of C40 who joined the event by videoconference. ”Today’s announcements prove that, through creative partnerships, we can help reduce our carbon output to protect our environment and create jobs to grow our economies.”

In a second announcement, C40 will be partnering with the Joint Initiative on Urban Sustainability (JIUS) to foster the sharing of best practices collected in all C40 Cities through a new library incorporated into the newly launched C40 website www.C40.org. This resource will be publicly available and will focus on identifying the key linkages between policy tools, financing strategies and partnerships that enable successful climate reduction strategies.

The JIUS started as a pilot program that fostered exchanges between the C40 cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) and Rio de Janeiro over the last 18 months, with the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Rio. U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Lisa Jackson joined Mayor Bloomberg and Mayor Paes to make the announcement.

“While welcoming the C40 to Rio de Janeiro, I have been reflecting on the significance of cities and their impact on our environment. I am encouraged that we, as Mayors and citizens, are implementing plans to promote change and reduce carbon emissions in an effort to halt climate change,” said Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes. “When mobilized as one, cities wield sufficient collective power to influence opinion and nudge policy further up the legislative agenda. Cities have more freedom than nation states to put into place progressive strategies that are already changing people’s lives and today’s announcement is testament to the action and unity that is thriving at a municipal level around the globe.”

These announcements came in advance of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and highlight the concrete sustainability actions being taken by C40 Cities. Based on these tangible advances, mayors and local government leaders are in Rio to call on national governments and international organizations to provide more financing and other support for local climate action. Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) research shows that cities are largely financing their climate change actions without significant external support, as 64% of city initiatives are funded through general municipal funds.

Measurement of progress and accountability toward outcomes have been two of the major themes of Mayor Bloomberg’s C40 chairmanship, which began in November 2010. According to recent reports by the CDP and Arup, cities are extremely active in taking steps to reduce carbon emissions and they have potential to do even more. One hundred percent of the 45 reporting C40 Cities and 80% of all other reporting cities were implementing a range of carbon emission reduction activities. Seventy-one percent of the 45 reporting C40 Cities reported city-wide reduction targets. Mayors have direct control over 75% of urban emissions sources. C40 Cities represent the world’s megacities and account for approximately 14% of global GHG emissions as currently estimated.

Similarly, partnerships with peer organizations are a key part of C40′s growth and service delivery strategy, which convenes networks of cities with common goals and challenges to focus on taking concrete action. In May 2012, C40 announced an expanded partnership and scope of its work on developing a global protocol for community-scale GHG emissions. C40, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability and the World Resources Institute will pilot the newly-launched protocol in at least 10 global cities; develop technical assistance support for cities; and expand the community protocol into a more comprehensive GHG accounting standard for community-scale emissions, including consideration of a full range of direct and indirect GHG emissions from urban activities. This will enable local governments to account for how demand for goods and services as well as local innovative technologies can impact a GHG footprint.

Governor of Jakarta Fauzi Bowo welcomed the two initiatives launched at the Rio+C40 meeting by the mayors of the world’s largest cities and said that “Any partnership which allows sharing of knowledge and best practices aiming to fight climate change is crucial in order that greenhouse gas emissions are reduced. Different cities face different challenges in confronting climate change. The basic approach Jakarta has taken in reducing greenhouse gas emissions has been a holistic approach based on the basic policy implemented in managing Jakarta, which is pro-poor, pro-jobs, pro growth and pro-environment. These four factors cannot be separated from each other.”

The article Megacity Mayors Start New Green Initiative appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Tony Blair and a group of international statesmen and business leaders on June 19 said that a “clean revolution” – a step change in investment in renewable energy and clean technology – was needed to lead the world out of recession.
In an open letter, they said: “We have a historic opportunity to lead the world out of recession and into a more stable, sustainable future. The ‘Clean Revolution’ is essential if we want to ensure we save our economies from the crippling costs of runaway climate change, and create meaningful jobs and enhance energy security.”

The signatories of the open letter are backing the launch in Rio of the Clean Revolution campaign, a major initiative by The Climate Group and a range of government and business partners that calls for a ‘green growth’ push out of global recession.

Tony Blair, in a speech, added: “The Clean Revolution is the expressway to the Green Economy. Because of the current financial crisis, acting on climate change is more than ever before an opportunity to lead the world out of recession and to tackle the increasing geopolitical tensions created by the lack of energy security.”

Among the campaign’s backers to date are Philips and Suzlon, a major Asian wind turbine manufacturer, as well as other businesses and venture capitalists in China and the United States.

“Government and business leaders are realizing the opportunity in the Clean Revolution and are already leading the world into a more sustainable future. But it needs to happen faster. We need a step change. And it begins, today, at Rio+20,” said Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group.

Speakers at the Clean Revolution launch event in Rio included Prince Albert of Monaco, Quebec’s PremierJean Charest, The World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Andrew Steer, Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director, senior representatives from Phillips, Suzlon and the Dutch Postcode Lottery as well as Professor Wang Yi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the key architects of China’s low carbon strategy.

“We should not expect global rules to guide us though this ‘make or break’ decade.” Instead it will be voluntary leadership that will demonstrate that success is not only possible, but also profitable, and which in turn will inspire others to act. The Clean Revolution Initiative is designed to move things across the tipping point. We’re proud to be part of it,” said Andrew Steer, Special Envoy for Climate Change, The World Bank.

The Climate Group has launched a new website  and a series of research reports demonstrating success stories of ‘clean revolutions’ under way in different parts of the world.

The Clean Revolution is a partnership of international statesmen and governments, business leaders and corporations, thinkers and opinion formers. It is coordinated by The Climate Group. It calls for a swift, massive scale-up of clean energy and infrastructure, and of smart technologies and design.

The initiative aims to create a tipping point for change by inspiring government and business leaders. It presents them with the evidence of the economic opportunities of the Clean Revolution, and profiles how innovative leadership is already transforming policies and markets around the world.

Image Courtesy of  Toni Blair

The article World Leaders Call for “Clean Revolution” appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced the formation of the U.S. Water Partnership (USWP), a new public-private organization connecting people, ideas, and resources to tackle the growing water crises throughout the world.

USWP represents a collaborative effort by NGOs, U.S. government agencies, and scientific and academic institutions to share knowledge and resources and to form partnerships to find solutions for increasing global water concerns. The Clean Water America Alliance, Coca-Cola Company, Procter & Gamble, and Rockefeller Foundation are some of the 22 partners supporting the organization.

During Secretary Clinton’s speech at this year’s World Water Day, she also spoke of the recently released Department of State report entitled “Global Water Security,” which outlines current water usage and how growing water tensions are predicted to impact U.S. national security interests. The Global Water Security report predicts that as water shortages become more critical beyond the next 10 years, shared water basins could be used as leverage and weapons, and dams, pipelines, and desalination plants could become targets for terrorism.

“Water shortages, poor water quality, and floods by themselves are unlikely to result in state failure. However, water problems—when combined with poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual leadership, and weak political institutions—contribute to social disruptions that can result in state failure,” stated the report.

The report estimates that by 2030 annual global water requirements will hit 6,900 billion cubic meters (40 percent above the current sustainable water supplies) as the 2025 projected world population nears 8 billion people—a 1.2 billion increase between 2009 and 2025.

Countries currently already experiencing “water stress” include the western United States, southern Africa, northern Africa, Australia, the Middle East, and sections of China and South Asia, according to the report. One-third of the world’s population by 2030 will reside near water basins with water deficits larger than 50 percent. NASA satellite data has shown that northern India is depleting water faster than “any other comparable region in the world,” cited the report.

Water scarcity forces affected populations to rely on unsafe water sources for drinking water, which increases the risks of cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, and other waterborne diseases, noted the report. According to a 2006 United Nations Human Development Report, one child dies from a water-related disease approximately every 15 seconds.

Decreased fresh water quality from salt-water intrusion and industrial, biofuel, agricultural, and sanitation processes, along with climate change, are contributing to increased water scarceness. Investments in water treatment, energy, and technology reducing the amount of water necessary for agriculture, along with improved water management, will offer the best solutions to water challenges.

Image Courtesy of  mistydawnphoto / Shutterstock.com

The article New U.S. Water Partnership Tackles Water Crises appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

To contradict Shakespeare, 2012 was not the winter of discontent — it may go down as the year without a winter at all in many parts of the country, and you can blame —  or praise — the jet stream, says a Texas A&M University climate expert.

John Nielsen-Gammon, professor atmospheric sciences who also serves as state climatologist, says upper level dynamics this year were unusual and the resulting change in the jet stream — a river of air that influences weather patterns — is the likely culprit.

“The jet stream follows a different average course each year, and the end results this time were warmer temperatures,” he explains.

“This is a La Nina year (when water temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean are lower than normal), but the atmosphere did not respond to La Nina in the normal way,” adds the Texas A&M professor who has studied weather patterns for years. Nielsen-Gammon points to another, less well-known factor, the North Atlantic Oscillation, as an important cause of the unusual weather.

“The jet stream in the North Atlantic often gets locked into either a southern route or a northern route,” Nielsen-Gammon explains. “The last two winters, it was the southern route. This year, it was the northern route, bringing the central and eastern United States warm air masses as the air traveled from south to north.”

One key question might be: Does this mean we should expect another warmer- than- normal summer?

“Not necessarily,” Nielsen-Gammon reports.

“Right now, the Climate Prediction Center’s outlooks show a tendency towards a warmer than usual summer across much of the United States, but a lot depends on the rain between now and then. More rain would mean cooler weather because the moisture keeps temperatures lower. We should know more about the summer outlook in the next few weeks. Certainly March has already had some very warm temperatures all over the country.”

Last week, more than 1,700 records were set for high temperatures from coast to coast, with many cities, such as Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., posting readings almost 20 degrees above normal.

“The good news locally is that rains in central and eastern Texas have eased the drought situation considerably, and lakes and reservoirs and filling back up,” the Texas A&M researcher reports. “More and more of the state is getting out of extreme drought status. But there are still large parts of west and southTexas that are very dry.”

The bad news is that the warmer weather means many people are suffering from allergies sooner than ever because pollen from plants and trees is out sooner, and there is more of it, he adds. Also, the warmer weather could mean more insects in the weeks to come.

“But I think it’s worth all that just to get to experience the beauty of Texas wildflowers,” says Nielsen-Gammon.

For more news about Texas A&M University, go to http://tamutimes.tamu.edu.

Follow it on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamu.

The article Jet Stream Is the Cause of 2012 Warm Winter, Climate Expert Says appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Verizon employees across the globe will join millions of people in more than 128 countries and territories to support Earth Hour on Saturday (March 31). From 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. local time, millions of square feet in more than 600 company locations will go dark, helping to raise awareness of energy-efficiency opportunities.

During the event last year, Verizon in just one hour saved 45,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough energy to power approximately 10 homes for a year. Throughout all of 2011, Verizon reduced its energy usage by 2.34 percent – the equivalent of powering 20,600 homes for a year.

Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is an event in which millions of people participate by turning off their lights at businesses and homes for one hour to support action on climate change and on creating a cleaner, safer and more secure future.

During the global event, now in its sixth year, the lights will be dimmed on global icons including the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia, Buckingham Palace in London, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Taiwan’s 101 Financial Center in Taipei and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

In addition to darkening numerous floors in Verizon office buildings and technical sites in 40 different countries, Verizon also will dim lights and signs outside its major office sites including the Pearl Street building in Manhattan; a twin office complex in Irving, Texas; an entire campus in Basking Ridge, N.J.; and company sites in Dortmund, Germany; and Reading in the United Kingdom.

“Verizon is proud to once again demonstrate our commitment to the environment this year during Earth Hour,” said James Gowen, chief sustainability officer for Verizon. ”In 40 countries around the world our buildings will darken, and thousands of our employees will also participate from their homes. Together with our customers and suppliers, we can deepen the connection between our business interests and those of society.”

Verizon’s Sustainable Business Practices

Earlier this month, Verizon announced a partnership with VIA Motors to develop and demonstrate plug-in electric vehicles using VIA’s proprietary technology and to evaluate the technology for possible wide-scale use in Verizon’s fleet. The company also operates an extensive fleet of alternative-energy vehicles including hybrid vans and trucks, and natural gas and electric vehicles.

Last year, Verizon announced a collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop innovative ways to reduce energy use in the communications industry. Verizon and NREL are now working together to identify ways to make Verizon’s networks, data centers and office buildings more energy efficient.

Verizon has been named to several lists for sustainability, corporate ethical standards and social responsibility, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Newsweek Global Green 100, Maplecroft Climate Innovation Inde, FTSE4Good Index, Ethibel Sustainability Index and Calvert Large Cap Value Fund.

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/earthhour

The article Verizon Joins Earth Hour to Raise Awareness of Sustainable Business appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In 1988 the scientific community established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a forum for sharing their concerns about documented – and disturbing – changes in global weather patterns. By 1997 the evidence of climate change was so convincing that 191 nations signed the Kyoto Protocols, aimed at slowing the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Fast forward to 2012. NASA has produced clear evidence that atmospheric CO2 levels are higher than they’ve been in 400,000 years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal agency in charge of the National Weather Service, states that there is no longer any doubt that human activity is changing the chemical characteristics of the Earth’s atmosphere. The national science academies of the world’s leading economies, including the U.S., Germany, Russia, and China, have declared that climate change is real and urged their governments to take immediate, aggressive action.

And then there’s Rick Santorum.

Along the campaign trail in Colorado, Ohio, and Michigan Santorum has declared climate change to be a hoax cooked up by the Obama administration to scare people about oil exploration. Spending less money on oil exploration means more money for the federal government, Santorum said, which means more government control over peoples’ lives.

He doesn’t explain how the government would make money by allowing less oil exploration, or how any of that would equate to more control over peoples’ lives. Nor is it important that concerns about global warming began long before Obama entered politics, or that America’s most prestigious scientific institutions are urging immediate action to reduce carbon emissions. Somehow it’s all connected, and in the alternative reality of Tea Party politics, the more elaborate and mysterious the conspiracy, the more plausible it becomes.

Romney and Gingrich have also questioned climate change, but it’s clear they are just pandering to conservative audiences. Both have acknowledged the problem during their political careers and will likely do so again when the primaries are over. And neither man has accused the country’s scientific establishment of being involved in a vast conspiracy to deprive the American people of their freedom.

Not Rick Santorum. His strident rejection of any scientific evidence that conflicts with his religious or social views has helped make him the new champion of the far right, which is why he is surging in the polls. But if he wins the nomination based on his anti-science agenda, he’ll be in no position to back down during the presidential campaign.

Intellectual curiosity is not a quality that American voters prize in their leaders, as the election of George Bush clearly demonstrated. But they do expect them to respect and support America’s scientific establishment, not label them as political enemies. Questioning the severity and timing of climate change is one thing; but where’s Santorum’s evidence that it’s a hoax?

Right now, Santorum is preaching to the Tea Party choir, and they’re cheering him on. But in a presidential campaign, the national media won’t be so kind. Republicans should be deeply concerned.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/

The article Santorum’s Anti-Science Agenda Should Concern Republicans appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

UNLV geoscientist Matthew Lachniet and an international team of researchers used stalagmites to unveil a 2,400-year climate history from southwestern Mexico. This discovery, coupled with archaeological evidence, links the rise and fall of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations to changing rainfall. The findings were reported Jan. 23 as a “Pre-Issue Publication” of the journal Geology.

Little is known about what contributed to the fate of the prosperous ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, though historic evidence suggests periods of above average rainfall followed by extreme drought might have played a role.

“Mexico and the American southwest are linked by climate processes in the Pacific Ocean. Our new record shows that dry conditions, likely linked to El Nino processes, recurred frequently over time,” said Lachniet. “The point to be made is that civilization runs on water. Take away a water supply and the civilization may fail.”

Lachniet and his team collected and analyzed a stalagmite from Juxtlahuaca Cave in Guerrero, Mexico. The cave is in the core region of the North American Monsoon, a climate phenomenon primarily responsible for rain in most of Mexico and parts of the American Southwest. The cave was also a great source for stalagmites – common cave formations formed over thousands of years as minerals from water droplets crystallize and accumulate. Much like tree rings, they can accurately record the rainfall history of an area.

“Only recently have scientists started to unlock the secrets of stalagmites as ancient rain gauges,” said Lachniet. “Stalagmites from tropical regions provide a much longer record than tree rings. They also grow rapidly which allows us to pinpoint climate variations on near-annual timescales.”

The team correlated the region’s cultural milestones with measured rainfall. Above average rainfall between the first and third centuries coincided with the rise of the early Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan. At its peak, more than 125,000 people lived around the massive pyramids in the highly developed city.

Conversely, a 500-year drying trend, including a drought of more than 150 years, coincided with rapid population decline in Teotihuacan around 550 CE. The drought likely impacted spring-fed agriculture practices in the semi-arid Mexican Highlands.

“We can’t say with certainty that other social factors were drivers of the cultural change, but we now have well-dated and robust climate information to compare,” said Lachniet. “Climate change was the norm for the region dating back thousands of years, and similar variations are to be expected for the future.”

The article Climate Change Linked to Fate of Ancient Civilizations appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Climate change is likely to harm California’s economy by reducing the types of natural, non-irrigated vegetation available for livestock forage and the ability of forest ecosystems to store carbon dioxide, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the scientific journal Climatic Change.

The ability of ecosystems to store carbon dioxide is a key part of implementing the state’s climate law, the Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as Assembly Bill 32 or AB 32.

“Much of the talk about climate change in California has been about the impacts of sea level rise and droughts,” said study coauthor Linwood Pendleton, director of ocean and coastal policy at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, acting chief economist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and study author. “Our work shows that even the gritty worlds of cattle ranching and forestry may take it on the chin as California skies become increasingly carbon-rich.”

The study was conducted by researchers from Duke University, Environmental Defense Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation Biology Institute, USDA Forest Service, Stanford University and the University of California at Santa Barbara. It examines how climate change will impact the fundamental character of California’s ecosystems and the valuable services that they provide to the economy.

To analyze the impact to carbon sequestration and natural, non-irrigated livestock forage—two important ecosystem services that contribute to the state’s economy—the researchers used climatic change scenario models from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and three atmospheric-oceanic models.

The researchers identified that climate change would cause a consistent decline in conifer woodlands and forests through the end of the century that could decrease the amount of carbon storage in forestlands and harm the forestry industry.

They also determined that climate change is likely to alter the amount and timing of rain, hail and snow in California, resulting in a 15 to 70 percent increase in shrub lands and a consistent decline in natural, non-irrigated forage production for livestock.

“A less stable climate will reduce the ability of natural landscapes to support cattle grazing, so ranchers may have to grow or buy extra hay instead of getting it for free from nature, as they do now,” said lead report author Rebecca Shaw, Ph.D., associate vice president of EDF’s Land, Water and Wildlife program and a working group member of the IPCC.

“We calculated that replacing lost forage caused by climate change with extra hay will hike costs for the California ranching industry by up to $235 million per year by 2070,” said Shaw. “That’s why it’s important for policymakers to better understand the value of services that nature provides to California’s economy, so that they can work to protect our natural resources and the economy in the face of climate change.”

“Fortunately, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act provides new economic opportunities for landowners—both inside and outside California—to be part of the climate solution,” said economist Belinda Morris, a report coauthor and regional director of EDF’s Center for Conservation Incentives.

“Landowners can earn credits for capturing carbon on their land that they can sell to offset industrial carbon emissions. These credits will bring in a whole new revenue stream that can benefit the ranching industry, helping ranchers to keep ranching.” Carbon credits are an integral part of the carbon cap-and-trade program that is scheduled to begin this year under the Global Warming Solutions Act. It allows for 8 percent of the law’s carbon emission reduction goals to be achieved by offsetting emissions with carbon credits.

“EDF is working with landowners, academic institutions and others to develop cost-effective methods for capturing carbon on rangelands that could generate new revenue streams for ranchers as part of a carbon credits market, while also improving soil fertility,” Morris said.

The article Climate Change Threatens California Economy appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the ten warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.

“We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting,” said GISS director James E. Hansen. “So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Nina influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the ten warmest years on record.”

The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record (2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise. Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year. However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.

The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years on record is 1998.

Higher temperatures today are largely sustained by increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. These gases absorb infrared radiation emitted by Earth and release that energy into the atmosphere rather than allowing it to escape to space. As their atmospheric concentration has increased, the amount of energy “trapped” by these gases has led to higher temperatures.

The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per million in 1880, when the GISS global temperature record begins. By 1960, the average concentration had risen to about 315 parts per million. Today it exceeds 390 parts per million and continues to rise at an accelerating pace.

The temperature analysis produced at GISS is compiled from weather data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea surface temperature, and Antarctic research station measurements. A publicly available computer program is used to calculate the difference between surface temperature in a given month and the average temperature for the same place during 1951 to 1980. This three-decade period functions as a baseline for the analysis.

The resulting temperature record is very close to analysis by the Met Office Hadley Centre in the United Kingdom and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Hansen said he expects record-breaking global average temperature in the next two to three years because solar activity is on the upswing, and the next El Nino will increase tropical Pacific temperatures. The warmest years on record were 2005 and 2010, in a virtual tie.

“It’s always dangerous to make predictions about El Nino, but it’s safe to say we’ll see one in the next three years,” Hansen said. “It won’t take a very strong El Nino to push temperatures above 2010.”

The article 2011 Is the Ninth Warmest Year on Record, Says NASA appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Devastating earthquakes and weather related catastrophes have made 2011 the most expensive year for natural disasters in terms of global economic losses, according to Munich Re, one of the world’s most renowned reinsurance companies.

In 2011, countries such as New Zealand, Japan, the US, and Australia have encountered several earthquakes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and wildfires, which have resulted in the death of many and the loss of billions of dollars. According to Ernst Rauch, the head of Munich Re’s corporate climate center, the estimated losses from natural disasters are valued at almost $380 billion.

Moreover, the Associated Press also reported that Japan’s earthquake and tsunami in March led to the insured loss of some $40 billion, while New Zealand’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake caused $13 billion worth of damage.

For many years experts have predicted that climate change would lead to several disastrous weather events. Indeed, 2011 did live up to their predictions. In a press release, Torsten Jeworrek of Munich Re said,

“We were not surprised by any of the events when seen as single events, since they were within the range of what our risk models led us to expect. The accumulation of so many severe events of this type in such a short period is unusual, but is also considered in our scenario calculations.”

Approximately 70 percent of economic losses were in Asia, with a death toll of more than 15,840. Japan’s 9.0 magnitude earthquake led to an economic loss of $210 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster to date, according to news sources.

Currently, there is a great deal of controversy over whether global warming had something to do with 2011’s natural disasters. While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believes that there might be link between the two, Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Project told The Daily Caller: “Global warming alarmists will exploit any natural disaster to promote their anti-fossil fuel agenda.” He also added that it is a part of the “global warming spin machine.”

The International Daily news reported that 90 percent of the known natural disasters were weather-related. However, most of the economic losses came from geophysical events, rather than weather related catastrophes. Munich Re said, the natural catastrophes of 2011, resulted in the death of 27,000 people, excluding those from drought in Africa and global civil war and political instability.

According to Miguel Lianos of msnbc.com, Bob Hartwig, the head of the Insurance Information Institute, told reporters that, “2011 is one for the record books, we are rewriting the financial and economic history of disasters on a global scale.”

The article 2011: The Year of Natural Disasters appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Countries across the world are currently experiencing extreme weather and droughts. The largest freshwater lake in China is at its lowest water levels for years thanks to a drought, according to state officials and media. The shrinking lake does not bode well for fishermen who rely on it for their livelihoods and for the local ecology.

The Xinhua news agency stated that Poyang Lake, located in East China’s Jiangxi province, is shrinking quickly and has experienced over a decade-long dry spell. This is due to the Gan River, which is connected to the lake, not receiving enough rain and causing the water levels to hit record lows. “This year’s level is very low,” an anonymous official declared, affirming that the rainfall for the area was 65 percent less than average for December.

Texas is also experiencing its worst drought on record. The year 2011 was the driest ever for the state, says the National Weather Service, and it was the second hottest. Meteorologists do not believe this will improve for the year 2012 and the result will be further restrictions on water and the death of millions of trees. Lake Lavon has shrunk by 12 feet due to North Texas’ lack of rain and record-setting heat. “It is a challenging time, especially to bring awareness to our consumers and businesses how critical our drought has impacted our reservoirs,” stated Denise Hickey, spokesperson for the North Texas Municipal Water District. “As we’re planning to move through this drought period, we’re also planning and initiating additional strategies to bring additional sources online.” The Texas Forest Service believes that so far, the severe drought has killed 500 million trees.

In Latin America, nations have also been dealing with a plethora of problems stemming from the extreme weather, including wildfires, droughts, and floods. Many have wondered if climate change and global warming are responsible for the unusual weather and according to experts, this is most likely the case. Chile experienced an uncharacteristic heat wave, which resulted in rampant burning wildfires, while Northern Mexico has been dealing with its worst drought in 70 years.

On the other hand, Colombia has had two seasons of heavy rain, which has killed 182 people and resulted in about $2 billion in damage. A rose farm in a Colombian town named Chia sustained an estimated $6 million dollars in damages from the April and December floods. Javier Castellanos, the rose farm manager, stated, “Never in the history of this farm- and it’s a business with 30 years in the market- have we ever had any such problem.” Researchers assert that Latin America is at more risk to the extreme weather changes worsening in the future than any other region in the world because of deforestation and its sprawling construction. These elements cause it to be more vulnerable to landslides and flooding.

The article Global Drought Defines Extreme Weather Worldwide appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Eye on Earth Summit, held in Abu Dhabi from December 12-15, brings together the world’s foremost thinkers about environmental information to reflect on how we can ensure that decision-makers everywhere make wiser decisions. Dozens of speakers with the caliber of President Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, UAE President H.E. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Conservation International boss, Russell Mittermeier, are helping delegates formulate concrete recommendations for the next Earth Summit to be held in Rio in June 2012.

Access to environmental knowledge is critical: wise decision-making depends on it. As the COP-17 climate conference in Durban, South Africa, recently showed, it is becoming urgent to address the world’s ability to prepare for coming changes to our planet. Environmental information is becoming increasingly precious.

However, much of this information is unavailable, even when it already exists. It may be absent, inaccessible, or simply hidden. Much of it is held in incompatible standards, ‘protected’ by bureaucratic complexity, restrained by lack of open access, or kept in the dark through ignorance of its existence.

Emerging economies in particular are at risk of losing valuable assets because of decisions taken without full knowledge. Yet making more environmental information available to them and others need not be expensive or especially complicated. What is needed, above all, is collaboration, information, and understanding of the problems caused by unavailable data.

Water scarcity, food security, and climate change are policy issues that require solutions that extend beyond political boundaries.

This VNR contains short, impactful statements by the following distinguished speakers:

- H.E. Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi

- Jack Dangermond, CEO & President, Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri)

- John E. Scanlon, Secretary General, Conservational on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

- President Bill Clinton

- Sha Zukang, UN Undersecretary General and Secretary General of the Rio +20 Summit

- Dr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

- Hernando de Soto, President, Institute for Liberty & Democracy

- Dr. Jane Goodall, Founder, Jane Goodall Institute

- Chief Almir Surui, Amazon Indigenous Leader

- Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director, European Environmental Agency

Dave Newman / Shutterstock.com

The article Bill Clinton Join Discussion on the Importance of Green Information appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has burnished his climate skeptic credentials by casting doubt on the idea of anthropogenic global warming.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Romney said that, although he agrees that the world is getting warmer, he is not sure whether or not the increased temperatures are caused by human activity.

“Do I think the world’s getting hotter? Yeah, I don’t know that but I think that it is,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s mostly caused by humans.” “What I’m not willing to do is spend trillions of dollars on something I don’t know the answer to,” he continued.

Shortly after announcing his candidacy in June, Romney caused a stir in conservative circles by calling for action to limit pollutants in order to combat climate change.

“I think it’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and global warming that you’re seeing,” he said.

Surveys have shown that many Republicans are skeptical of the idea of anthropogenic global warming, and Romney may well have feared that his previous statement was undermining his support. Although he was once the Republican front-runner, recent polls show him trailing Texas governor Rick Perry.

Perry has already established himself as a leading climate skeptic. He has been a vociferous critic of the Obama administration’s climate change policies, and has criticized the Environmental Protection Agency on a number of occasions. Perry has even gone so far as to accuse climate scientists of manipulating data in order to obtain grant money.

Such stalwart opposition to the Obama administration’s environmental policies has already earned Perry the endorsement of Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe. When announcing his decision, Inhofe accused Romney of being “a little mushy” on environmental issues. Last month, Romney’s camp attempted to draw a distinction between ‘greenhouse gases’ and ‘pollutants.’

“Gov. Romney does not think greenhouse gases are pollutants within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and he does not believe that the EPA should be regulating them,” said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. “CO2 is a naturally occurring gas. Humans emit it every time they exhale.”

Although many in the GOP may question global warming, a 2010 study by the National Academy of Sciences found that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities and poses significant risks,” and most climate scientists across the globe endorse this thesis.
Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

The article Mitt Romney Emerges As Climate Skeptic appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman thus far has been a nobody. In a crowded field of outspoken crazies, somewhat same candidates such as Huntsman, sort of get forgotten by the news media. However, Huntsman campaign has begun to speak out, blasting other candidates for their extreme views.

The former Utah governor and ambassador to China attacked Texas governor Rick Perry for his ideas on evolution. Perry said last week in New Hampshire that he didn’t believe in manmade global warming, calling it an unproven scientific theory. He also defended the teaching of creationism in schools because evolution “has some gaps to it.”

Huntsman responded in a tweet, saying “To be clear, I believe in evolution and trust scientists on global warming. Call me crazy.”He furthered argued his position on ABC’s “This Week.”

“When we take a position that isn’t willing to embrace evolution, when we take a position that basically runs counter to what 98 of 100 climate scientists have said, what the National Academy of Science has said about what is causing climate change and man’s contribution to it, I think we find ourselves on the wrong side of science, and, therefore, in a losing position,” Huntsman stated.

Huntsman said he couldn’t remember a time when “we actually were willing to shun science and become a party that was antithetical to science. I’m not sure that’s good for our future and it’s not a winning formula,” on the Sunday morning show.

Meanwhile, Perry continues to argue his extreme views. On a campaign stop in South Carolina, the long term Republican governor stated he believes the earth’s temperature “has been moving up and down for millenniums now and there are enough scientists out there that are skeptical about the reasons for it.”

Perry also commented on the Federal Reserve last week and its chairman, Ben Bernanke. Perry threatened Bernanke, stating that if he printed more money, it would amount to a treasonous act.  Huntsman said he wasn’t sure that “the average voter out there is going to hear that treasonous remark and say that sounds like a presidential candidate, that sounds like someone who is serious on the issues.”

Huntsman added that “people are crying out for us to get back to some level of sensibility and this just kind of perpetuates the name-calling and the finger-pointing and the blame game where we want solutions.”

“These sideshows,” Huntsman said, take “us that much farther off the ball” from the focus of fixing the economy and creating jobs.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewestend/

The article Jon Huntsman Emerges as Sanest on the Right appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In an alarming new report, scientists warn of impending mass extinction unlike any that human history has seen before. The preliminary report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) warned of dire consequences in our oceans because of pollution, overfishing, and global warming.

“The findings are shocking,” Dr. Alex Rogers, IPSO’s scientific director, said in a statement released by the group. “This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children’s and generations beyond that.”

The scientific panel that made up the IPSO concluded that degeneration in the oceans is happening much faster than has been predicted, and that the combination of factors currently distressing the marine environment is contributing to the precise conditions that have been associated with all major extinctions in the Earth’s history. According to the report, three major factors have been present in the handful of mass extinctions that have occurred in the past: an increase of both hypoxia (low oxygen) and anoxia (lack of oxygen that creates “dead zones”) in the oceans, warming and acidification. The panel stated the combination of these factors will cause a mass marine extinction.  All these factors occur to some degree in the world’s oceans currently.

This latest report is only one of many reports in the scientific community warning of the dire conditions of our environment. A recent World Resources Institute report suggests that all coral reefs could be gone by 2050 if no action is taken to protect them. A study published earlier this year in BioScience declared oysters as “functionally extinct” because their populations have been destroyed by over-harvesting and disease. Just last week scientists forecasted that this year’s Gulf “dead zone” will be the largest in history due to increased runoff from the Mississippi River dragging in high levels of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers. A recent study in the journal Nature suggests that not only will the next mass extinction be man-made, but that it could already be underway.

“The challenges for the future of the ocean are vast, but unlike previous generations we know what now needs to happen,” Dan Laffoley of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and co-author of the report said in a press release for the new report. “The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now, today and urgent.”

But will politicians listen?

The article Pollution, Overfishing, and Global Warming, Oceans Face Major Mass Extinction appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Presidential contender Rick Perry has expressed his beliefs about intelligent design before, supporting  creationism as a theory taught in Texas classrooms. However, on Thursday, he was specifically asked his feelings about evolution during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.

“How old do I think the earth is? You know what, I don’t have any idea,” said the Texas governor when asked about his position on the issue by a woman and her son. “I know it’s pretty old so it goes back a long long way. I’m not sure anybody actually knows completely and absolutely how long, how old the earth is.”

Perry regarded evolution as “a theory that’s out there” and one that’s “got some gas in it.” He mentioned how both creationism and evolution are taught to students in public schools. He explained, “I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.”

Perry is not the first presidential contender to express doubt over a theory that most scientists believe. Earlier this summer, GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann expressed doubt about the theory of evolution.

“I support intelligent design,” she said after speaking at this year’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. “What I support is putting all science on the table and then letting students decide. I don’t think it’s a good idea for government to come down on one side of scientific issue or another, when there is reasonable doubt on both sides.”

In 2006, Bachmann stated that some within the scientific community discredit the theory of evolution. “There are hundreds and hundreds of scientists, many of them holding Nobel Prizes, who believe in intelligent design,” she said.

Governor Perry was also asked about global warming. He wrote in his book, “Fed Up!” that doctored data was behind global warming. ”They know that we have been experiencing a cooling trend, that the complexities of the global atmosphere have often eluded the most sophisticated scientists and that draconian policies with dire economic effects based on so-called science may not stand the test of time,” Perry wrote.

He called former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his call to action on climate change, of being a ”false prophet of a secular carbon cult,”

In Bedford, New Hampshire on Wednesday, Perry suggested that politics is playing a large role in the global warming debate.”I do believe that the issue of global warming has been politicized.

I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects,” Perry said. “I think we’re seeing it almost weekly or even daily, scientists who are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.

Yes, our climates change. They’ve been changing ever since the earth was formed. But I do not buy into, that a group of scientists, who in some cases were found to be manipulating this data.”

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritaquinn/

The article Rick Perry Questions Evolution and Global Warming appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

In South America, a great percentage of the population depends on natural resources, agriculture and animals in order to survive. When there are any types of fluctuations in the environment or the weather, there is a great percentage of people that has to encounter difficult situations. El Niño, is a great example of a phenomenon that comes and goes leaving its scar on many.

This term was used by the fishermen in Peru, who called it “El Niño”. They were the ones who noticed this change of temperature in the Pacific Ocean, and associated this change on the water with the arrival of Jesus Christ, or “El niño Jesus” , since they noticed the changes came normally at the end of December, close to Christmas. This phenomenon affects the temperature of the water and it brings a double-faced season, either provoking flooding or droughts. This radical change occurs in intervals from 2 to 7 years, and they tend to last around twelve to eighteen months.

“In the last 40 years, there has been around nine Niño’s that have had a great impact worldwide”. A very unique characteristic of El Niño, is that whereas in South America the risk of flooding is higher on the other side of the Pacific, as in Indonesia, or Australia the effect is the opposite bringing droughts instead of floods or vice versa. The phenomenon starts in the Tropical Pacific Ocean, near Australia and Indonesia.  The atmospheric pressure is altered and it affects even distant zones such as Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. The winds blow from east to best, and this provokes an increase in water and temperature in the occidental part of the Pacific Ocean.

Many cities and towns in South America lack a good infrastructure of houses and water canals. With flooding emergence, inundations bring disastrously effects for people living in villages or closed to the seashores. A good example is the Province of Manabi located in Ecuador, where people live in houses made of Cane, normally built two meters on top of the ground. This infrastructure is made because this province lacks a good draining system and where floods appear people protect their homes and belongings by building their houses this way. When the Niño comes, normally provinces, and villages that have a similar situation to Manabi, are the main ones to be affected regarding diseases such as Dengue, and water contamination, since due to the lack of draining system the water accumulates and the bacteria’s in it reproduce rapidly and the risk of infections are extremely high.

The marine ecosystems are also affected due to the Niño, since the water temperature variations affect the marine life. The fish are not used to this drastic changes, so many drift to other environments in order to survive, leading to an economic deficit for the fishing industries and exportation.

Finally, El Niño is a phenomenon that affects several zones in the world, leading to climate change, affecting the human life such as the animal life. Like any other natural catastrophe, there is nothing the human race can do in order to control this phenomenon but the only thing we are left is to be aware o its consequences and prevent the propagation of diseases and infections.

The article The Phenomenom of El Niño Continues appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.