Progress on global warming is questioned

NF Reporter · 05-05-2007, 11:30 AM

AP - European Union and U.S. leaders are hailing what they say is a major step toward bridging their sharp differences on global warming. Academics and critics of President Bush's policies, however, question whether he really gave any ground.

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05-05-2007, 03:27 PM

It SEEMS that, concurring with Gore's premise of
increasing global warming evidenced by retreating
and disappearing glaciers (GENERALLY-speaking),
there indeed has been a SLIGHT increase in average
worldwide temperature.
However, that does NOT mean that the USA should
relinquish our In-God-We-Trust Christianity-accomodating
sovereignty to the antisemitic UN nor EU.
It DOES mean that the development, mass production,
and utilization of ALL-electric vehicles should be
expedited to reduce the warming effects of greenhouse
gases. Though people are obviously more important than
trees, our oxygen-producing carbon-dioxide-eliminating
forests need protection, and industrial gases must be
significantly reduced.

- CDCCMN1

waltky · 04-16-2008, 02:16 AM

Disaster waiting to happen...

Melting mountains a 'time bomb'
April 15, 2008 - GLACIERS and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual, meaning the water has already gone when millions of people need it during the summer when rainfall is lower, scientists warn.

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"This is just a time bomb,'' hydrologist Carmen de Jong at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna said. Those areas most at risk from a lack of water for drinking and agriculture include parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, the United States, South America and the Mediterranean.

Rising global temperatures mean the melt water is occurring earlier and faster in the year and the mountains may no longer be able to provide a vital stop gap. "In some areas where the glaciers are small they could be gone in 30 or 50 years time and a very reliable source of water, especially for the summer months, may be gone.''

Ms De Jong was referring to parts of the Mediterranean where her research was focused but she said the threat also applied to the entire Alps region and other global mountain sources. Daniel Viviroli, from the University of Berne, believes nearly 40 per cent of mountainous regions could be at risk, as they provide water to populations which cannot get it elsewhere.

He said the Earth's sub-tropic zones, which are home to 70 per cent of the world's population, are the most vulnerable. And with the global population expected to expand rapidly, there may not always be enough water to drink, let alone to water crops, which use about 70 per cent of melt-water.

More Melting mountains a 'time bomb' | NEWS.com.au

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Lake pollution threatens water supply
April 15, 2008 - A POLLUTION-linked algae bloom has reappeared in China's third-largest lake, prompting renewed fears for the drinking water supplies of millions of residents.

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Taihu Lake in eastern China has seen a re-emergence of algae growth that last year forced authorities to cut water supplies to 2.3 million residents of the nearby city of Wuxi last May, the People's Daily said today. The lake in Jiangsu province, long celebrated through Chinese history as one of the country's most scenic bodies of water, has been massively polluted by the dumping of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste.

The water crisis last year made it a symbol of China's nationwide problem of deteriorating water quality, with even Premier Wen Jiabao publicly calling for the lake to be cleaned up. Drinking supplies were cut off for days last year after residents complained of foul water coming out of their taps, causing a crisis that sparked panic hoarding of water.

Authorities now fear that could happen again in coming months, the People's Daily, the Communist Party's main mouthpiece, said in a story posted on its website. Conditions were ripe for a recurrence of the problem, caused by a combination of pollution and warm weather, the paper quoted Lin Zexin, vice head of the Taihu Administrative Bureau, as saying.

More Lake pollution threatens water supply | NEWS.com.au

waltky · 09-27-2008, 02:21 AM

Global Warming Pollution Increases 3 Percent...

Carbon Output Grows Faster Than Expected
WASHINGTON September 25, 2008 - Chinese Greenhouse Gas Pollution Largely Responsible for Bringing CO2 Emissions to Record High

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The world pumped up its pollution of the chief man-made global warming gas last year, setting a course that could push beyond leading scientists' projected worst-case scenario, international researchers said Thursday. The new numbers, called "scary" by some, were a surprise because scientists thought an economic downturn would slow energy use. Instead, carbon dioxide output jumped 3 percent from 2006 to 2007. That's an amount that exceeds the most dire outlook for emissions from burning coal and oil and related activities as projected by a Nobel Prize-winning group of international scientists in 2007.

Meanwhile, forests and oceans, which suck up carbon dioxide, are doing so at lower rates than in the 20th century, scientists said. If those trends continue, it puts the world on track for the highest predicted rises in temperature and sea level. The pollution leader was China, followed by the United States, which past data show is the leader in emissions per person in carbon dioxide output. And while several developed countries slightly cut their CO2 output in 2007, the United States churned out more.

Still, it was large increases in China, India and other developing countries that spurred the growth of carbon dioxide pollution to a record high of 9.34 billion tons of carbon (8.47 billion metric tons). Figures released by science agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Australia show that China's added emissions accounted for more than half of the worldwide increase. China passed the United States as the No. 1 carbon dioxide polluter in 2006.

Emissions in the United States rose nearly 2 percent in 2007, after declining the previous year. The U.S. produced 1.75 billion tons of carbon (1.58 billion metric tons). "Things are happening very, very fast," said Corinne Le Quere, professor of environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey. "It's scary."

More ABC News: Global Warming Pollution Increases 3 Percent

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China overtakes US in carbon emissions
September 26, 2008 - CHINA has leapfrogged the US as the world's biggest carbon emitter and India is heading for third place, scientists say in a report that warns global greenhouse-gas levels are scaling record peaks.

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The report, by a research consortium called the Global Carbon Project (GCP), confirms an estimate that China has become the biggest producer of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas that causes global warming. Until 2005, rich countries emitted most of the world's man-made CO2. Today, developing countries now accounted for 53 per cent of the total, the GCP said. "The biggest increase in emissions has been taking place in developing countries, largely in China and India, while developed countries have been growing slowly,'' it said.

"The largest regional shift was that China passed the US in 2006 to become the latest CO2 emitter, and India will soon overtake Russia to become the third largest emitter.'' The GCP said CO2 emissions last year were the equivalent to almost 10 billion tonnes of carbon. Fossil fuels accounted for 8.5 billion tonnes and changes to land use, mainly through deforestation, accounted for the rest. Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 surged 2.2 parts per million (ppm) in 2007 to reach 383 ppm. The rise was 1.8 ppm in 2006.

At 383 ppm, CO2 levels were 37 per cent above the benchmark of 1750 when the start of the Industrial Revolution unleashed voracious use of coal, oil and gas, it said. "The present concentration is the highest during the last 650,000 years and probably during the last 20 million years,'' the report said. It warned: "All of these changes characterise a carbon cycle that is generating stronger climate forcing, and sooner than expected.''

More China overtakes US in carbon emissions | NEWS.com.au