http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/revenge-of-the-rainforest-1638524.html
The title of this article says it all. As the rainforest becomes more depleted, our go to for carbon storage will no longer carry the burden we once depended on it for and now it seems it is revolting.
“But this massive natural “sink” for carbon cannot be relied on to continue absorbing carbon dioxide in perpetuity, a study shows. Researchers have found that, for a period in 2005, the Amazon rainforest actually slipped into reverse gear and started to emit more carbon than it absorbed.
Four years ago, a sudden and intense drought in the Amazonian dry season created the sort of conditions that give climate scientists nightmares. Instead of being a net absorber of about two billion tons of carbon dioxide, the forest became a net producer of the greenhouse gas, to the tune of about three billion tons.”
Without a serious movement to preserve this precious resource, the ‘lungs of the earth’ may begin its last exhale.
Filed under: Environmental | Tags: Adaptation, Birds, Butterflies, Cliamte Change
Seems the orinthologists and entomologists are the new line of defence against climate change.
Recent observation of bird behavior and migration has shown that they are now shifting significantly further north, according to a recent report from the Audubon Society.
“Analyses of citizen-gathered data from the past 40 years of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count reveal that 58% of the 305 widespread species that winter on the continent have shifted significantly north since 1968, some by hundreds of kilometres.”
Meanwhile, the scientists are assisting the butterflies in their move, as they can’t really keep up with the changes in climate. This is being done to safeguard wildlife and avert potential extinctions.
This research could be helpful to other species as well. “Thomas said that assisted colonization could be applied anywhere, from Australian tropical forests to coral reefs. It could be costly but cheaper than allowing species to dwindle to numbers where they had to be bred in zoos.”
not to mention with the aforementioned birds, some of which are not adapting and face their own peril.
Recently the S&P 500 launched a ‘Carbon Efficient Index’ to assist investors and fund managers in finding companies that are responding best to climate change.
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/03/10/pg-wal-mart-chevron-join-sp-carbon-efficient-index
The S&P Index aims to profile companies doing the most on climate change and uses a metric of total emissions to total company revenues in order to determine the most ‘effiicient’ companies in each sector. This is a simple and interesting approach; unfortunately, their work focused more on excluding the 100 worst than finding the best. If 400 of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 are actually carbon inefficient, this index will still only screen out at most 100 of them, leaving the other 300 inefficient companies with a ‘carbon efficient’ label. Additionally, the desire to maintain a 50% market cap weighting in each sector means that potentially even big inefficient polluters will have to be included.
At the end of the day, if you’re an investor who is concerned about climate change, it is still better to invest in companies on the S&P Carbon Efficient Index than the traditional S&P 500.
Valuing of externalities continues to grow and putting a cost on climate change (or carbon in particular) is just the first step towards true cost pricing for resources currently outside the economic system like water and ecosystem services. More climate change indices are expected in the future, and it is safe to assume that other environmental topics will be next.
I am always amazed at human hubris when I stare out into space. There is so little we know. And people seem divided into two camps, scared to death or completely enamored (a guess a few don’t give it much thought). Given the revelation by the recent report from the National Academy of Science, the former have reason for feeling that way.
The sun it seems is about to launch into an active period of solar flares. The largest of which could easily disrupt and possibly break down the communication grid we have come to depend on. They are not looking to alarm anyone, merely raise awareness.
“The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) gathered experts from around the country to look at the economic and social costs from these space storms. While they didn’t make any recommendations, the scientists hope their report is a wake-up call.
“We’re not trying to be alarmist,” said Dan Baker, who is the lead author of the report, “but we are trying to show how our systems are interconnected.”"
This has pretty serious potential for huge disruption, but the threat is unpredicatble and unquantifiable. Sound familiar?
Filed under: Environmental | Tags: Climate Change, Geo-engineering, Iron Fertilisation
We all knew it was coming. It is what everybody subconsciously plans to depend on to save their souls in the end. But now it is here.
There was a great ted talk about 14 months ago that concluded that we should begin researching the option now so as to know how to prevent the worng applications later. According to him, climate change has been an issue since the 50s.
That said, the time has come, apparently, to start trying things out. there have been a variety of articles lately related to geo-engineering. recently, the idea of iron fertilisation has been strongly contested as a viable solution. Its detractors claim that it “that the practice could have devastating unintended effects on the oceans, including killing off large areas of sea, and releasing methane and nitrous oxide, which are even more potent causes of global warming. They also fear that the plankton could absorb sunlight, heating up surface waters and hastening climate change.” Then there are “claims by green campaigners that it breaches a UN moratorium on ocean fertilisation.”
All of this seems moot in the light of a new study released from NOAA claiming that cliamte change is largely irreversible for the next 1000 years!
Still scientists abound with the vision of being able to influence the natural cycles and put things back the way they were without destroying the whole ecosystem in the process. As Bob Marley said, ‘Only time will tell….think you’re in heaven, but…”
While the weather here in Scotland may be bringing snow this way, I’m left concerned with the newest droughts and heat waves affecting Australia and Kenya.
The Aussies are getting a 70 year heat record, causing blackouts to hundreds of thousands, buckling public transit railroad tracks in Melbourne, and killing over 20 people so far from bushfires and heat exhaustion. And to make matters even worse, expectations are that this year’s wine crop could see serious losses in productivity.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Kenya’s own current drought conditions are leading to the risk of mass starvation. In a country where corruption runs free and everyday people can’t pay the high food prices being charged by the few vendors with food to sell, very few options remain. Wait and hope for timely foreign aid, begin a migration in the hopes of finding a better world, use violence to meet your needs, or just pass away.
Climate scientists have predicted an upward trend in the frequency of severe weather events for this century, with particular areas such as Australia and Africa being more exposed to the worst conditions. However, the frequency and severity of severe weather events seems to be rising more sharply this decade, let alone this century. Could we have underestimated our expectations?
Filed under: Environmental, Technology | Tags: airplane, algae, biofuel, Climate Change, environment, jet
The preliminary trials in alternative fuels for airplanes continues, with more positive results.
** First flight of algae-fuelled jet **
Continental Airlines is the latest to to test-fly a jet biofuel, this time with a product derived partially from algae.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7817849.stm >
Filed under: Environmental | Tags: Biomass, Carbon Capture, Climate Change, Energy
The Independent has reported on ancient method on enriching the soil could provide yet another solution to the issue of energy production and climate change. Scientists plan on using this technique to create energy from biomass while simultaneously trapping the CO2 in the the remaining charcoal to be trapped in the soil for centuries. This will simultaneously enrich the soil for growing more vegetation.
“They aim to grow trees and plants to absorb CO2 and then trap the carbon by turning the resulting biomass into ‘biochar’, a fine-grained form of charcoal that can be buried in the soil, keeping it safely locked up for thousands of years.
The pre-Columbian Indians used biochar to make the poor soils of the rainforest – which otherwise quickly become exhausted – productive for harvest after harvest. It is still there today, many hundreds of years later, forming islands of black fertile earth in the otherwise unpromising ground.
But it is now being widely cited as a possible solution to global warming by scientists shocked at how climate change is taking place much faster than predicted and convinced that the world must now start not just rapidly to reduce CO2 emissions, but to get the greenhouse gas out of the air.”
This three pronged approach to carbon reduction, energy creation, and soil enrichment has huge potential.
from tree hugger]
“Is Mother Nature calling it quits? Along with the baffling collapse of bee populations worldwide to other strange natural phenomena, we can now add the bizarre disappearance of acorns in widespread areas along the eastern seaboard – Virginia, Pennsylvania, Nova Scotia, and even as far away as the Midwest.
“I’m used to seeing so many acorns around and out in the field, it’s something I just didn’t believe,” says Rod Simmons, a field botantist based in Arlington, Virginia, where at this time of year, acorns are usually everywhere – either underfoot or falling from oaks. “But this is not just not a good year for oaks. It’s a zero year. There’s zero production. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
He wasn’t the only one who noticed this odd occurrence:
“Simmons and Arlington naturalists began calling around. A naturalist in Maryland found no acorns on an Audubon nature walk there. Ditto for Fairfax, Falls Church, Charles County, even as far away as Pennsylvania. There are no acorns falling from the majestic oaks in Arlington National Cemetery.
“Once I started paying attention, I couldn’t find any acorns anywhere. Not from white oaks, red oaks or black oaks, and this was supposed to be their big year,” said Greg Zell, a naturalist at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington. “We’re talking zero. Not a single acorn. It’s really bizarre.”
Zell began to do some research. He found Internet discussion groups, including one on Topix called “No acorns this year,” reporting the same thing from as far away as the Midwest up through New England and Nova Scotia. “We live in Glenwood Landing, N.Y., and don’t have any acorns this year. Really weird,” wrote one. “None in Kansas either! Curiouser and curiouser.” (from Washington Post)”
It’s strange because oaks in other areas are overproducing, yet in these areas, oaks (which are self-pollinating) seem to be on reproductive strike, despite dropping an overabundance of acorns last year. Plenty of animals will starve this time around. Is it climate change or could it be the extreme opposite of a natural boom-and-bust cycle?”
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/mysterious-disappearing-acorns.php
