Category: Climate chaos
The atmosphere is to the earth as a layer of varnish is to a desktop globe. It is thin, fragile and essential for preserving the items on the surface.150 years of burning fossil fuel have overloaded the atmosphere to the point where the earth is ill. It now has a fever. Read the detailed article, Soothing Gaia’s Fever for an evocative account of that analogy. The items listed here detail progress on coordinating 6.5 billion people in the most critical project undertaken by humanity.Â
admin /11 May, 2010
Bad medicine
Chemical dispersants being used in Gulf clean-up are potentially toxic
Coast Guard workers spray Corexit in a 2007 Berkeley, California, cleanup. It is not yet being used on Gulf of Mexico beaches. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)We finally know the main two dispersants that BP and the U.S. government are using to treat the ongoing Gulf spill. Both, by their maker’s own admission, have the “potential to bioconcentrate,” and both have “moderate toxicity to early life stages of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks,” according to a study by Exxon, the company that originally developed them. Their use may be the least-bad course, given the importance of minimizing oil’s effect on coastal wetlands. But a little digging into the chemical makeup of these two substances, which are being dumped in vast quantities into the Gulf, reveals that they could potentially do far more harm than good, both to the Gulf and to humans who later eat from it.
admin /11 May, 2010
Rising sea levels threaten Taiwan AFP May 9, 2010, 1:20PM AFP © Enlarge photo Related Links U.N. must verify north-south Sudan clashes – party May 9, 2010, 6:03 am Gangs become father, mother to Haiti’s forlorn orphans May 9, 2010, 2:59 pm Aguilera joins UN fight against hunger May 10, 2010, 9:00 am Continue Reading →
admin /10 May, 2010
Half the planet too hot in 300 yrs
Danny Rose, AAP May 11, 2010, 5:02 am
Australian scientists warn half the planet could “simply become too hot” for human habitation in less than 300 years.
New research by the University of NSW has forecast the effect of climate change over the next three centuries, a longer time horizon than that considered in many similar studies.
It suggests without action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, mankind’s activities could prompt average temperatures to rise as much as 10 to 12 per cent by 2300.
admin /9 May, 2010
Major blow in bid to stem oil leak
Posted 2 hours 54 minutes ago
Containment dome: the 90-tonne chamber was thought to be the best short-term solution to stave off disaster (AFP: Mark Ralston)
BP has been dealt a setback to capping a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after a containment dome encountered flammable hydrate formations as it was lowered onto the leak site.
The gas hydrates, similar to ice crystals, formed on the inside of the 90-tonne chamber as it neared the seabed nearly 1,500 metres below the surface, making it too buoyant and clogging it up, BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles told reporters.
admin /7 May, 2010
Green Party victory start of ‘historic new political force’ Ecologist 7th May, 2010 Newly elected MP Caroline Lucas said her party was now ready to ‘take its rightful place in Parliament’ after her landmark victory in yesterday’s general election Green Party leader Caroline Lucas has become the first ever Green to be elected into Continue Reading →
admin /7 May, 2010
British summer is coming earlier each year, study finds
Scientists say onset of British summer has become increasingly early in the last 50 years, consistent with global warming
- David Adam, environment correspondent
- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 6 May 2010 13.50 BST
- Article history
British summer in Blyth, Northumberland, May 2009. Scientists say earlier summers are consistent with global warming. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Britain is broke and the bank holiday weekend was a washout, but scientists at Sheffield University have some rare good news in these uncertain times: summer is coming earlier each year.
According to a new study, the English summer arrives some 18 days sooner than during the late 1950s, when Harold Macmillan succeeded Anthony Eden in No 10 and announced: “We have a difficult task before us in this country, all of us.”
