Oregon: Bradbury battles global warming

By Cecelia Haack | The South County Spotlight

“We’re blowing it,” said Bill Bradbury, Oregon secretary of state. “We’re creating a situation on the planet that will leave our kids with a planet that isn’t in great shape.”

Bradbury spoke at Scappoose High School on Monday, Sept. 29. His visit was coordinated and sponsored by the Elections 2008 class. More than 50 people showed up to hear him speak.

In 2006 Bradbury was one of the first 50 people trained by former Vice President Al Gore to speak on global warming and the imminent threat it creates.

In Oregon he said rising temperatures are already changing our environment. All the glaciers on Mt. Hood are shrinking; in 20 years there has been a dramatic change. The decrease in size equals:

 

u 61 percent of the White River Glacier.

u 19 percent of the Eliot Glacier.

u 15 percent of the Coe Glacier.

u 37 percent of the Glisan Glacier.

 

Seventy-four percent of the water that sustains the crops in the Hood River Valley comes from the White River Glacier.

“What will happen to the agriculture in that valley when the glaciers melt away?” asked Bradbury.

Between 1950 and 2003 temperatures rose 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit in many areas of the Pacific Northwest. Warmer temperatures have caused an eightfold increase in the destruction of forests by the Oregon bark beetle. The beetles thrive in the warmer temperatures.

The temperature in the Columbia River in August and September is averaging between 68 and 71 degrees Fahrenheit. 70 degrees is very stressful for salmon. 75 degrees is deadly for them. Bradbury said that by 2040 the Yakima, Snake and Willamette river basins will be too hot for salmon.

Read on here.

Australia: Act or the planet is at peril: new study

Juliette Jowit | The Sydney Morning Herald

THE world will have to take drastic action within two years to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution if it is to avoid the worst effects of climate change, a new British study warns.

Weeks before leaders meet in Poland to discuss the next international treaty on cutting emissions, the scale of risk from failing to act rapidly is spelt out by the British Meteorological Office’s Hadley Centre.

The centre, which has a reputation for being cautious, recommends cutting greenhouse gas emissions much more quickly than Australia’s climate change review, conducted by Professor Ross Garnaut.

The Met Office study shows that cutting emissions by 3 per cent a year from 2010 offers the only hope of avoiding a global temperature rise of more than two degrees – recognised as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of sea-level rise and drought become a significant risk.

In the early years, responsibility for such deep cuts in emissions would have to be borne by the rich countries, which are responsible for most of the build-up in emissions.

It raises the prospect of far-reaching changes, including a rapid spread in community renewable energy and wave and tide power, improvements in public transport, big shifts to cycling and walking and changes in diet.

A leading adviser at the Met Office, l Vicky Pope, warned that failure by governments to agree to “large and early” cuts or to meet those targets “could have significant consequences”.

Such a deal will be regarded as all but impossible by many experts as the 2010 deadline is soon after a conference in Copenhagen in December next year, when the UN hopes a treaty will be signed.

Professor Garnaut feels the conference outcome will be the key element in determining policy, but has not advised targeted cuts beforehand. Leaders of the G8 group of industrial nations have signalled support for a 50 per cent cut in emissions by 2050, but have not pledged higher targets for their countries.

The Hadley Centre found that if cuts begin in 2010 and quickly reach 3 per cent a year, the probable midrange forecast temperature rise would be two degrees above pre-industrial levels by 2100. Scientists have warned a two-degree rise would mean one-fifth of species are at risk of extinction and up to 2 billion people could suffer increased shortage of water and rising sea levels.

Philippines: The Department of Tourism (DOT) urges stakeholders to protect tourism environment from global warming

News-Balita

BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan, Oct. 2 – The Department of Tourism (DOT) has started a nationwide campaign among the tourism stakeholders in the country against the affects of the global warming.

 

This was the message given by DoT Assistant Secretary Janet Lazatin during the opening of the 3,000 seater new Eco Villare Resort and Convention Center at Barangay Yapak

The convention center is the biggest in the resort island and is being managed by the Boracay Property Holdings, Incorporated.

Lazatin said that with the threat of global warming, tourism stakeholders must learn to preserve the ‘environment of tourism’ in order to ensure the sustainability of the tourism industry.

“The stakeholders could do a lot in protecting the environment by maintaining their own resorts, practice waste segregation and be concern and vigilant with the environment,” said Lazatin.

Lazatin said that stakeholders must learn to preserve the environment because Boracay has already achieved its goal of becoming a year-round tourist destination. Other tourism destinations in the country only enjoy tourist arrivals for six to nine months in a year.

“During the first three months of the year (January-March), Boracay welcomes tourists from Western and European countries; April-June, Boracay enjoys Filipino tourists; July-September the time of Koreans and October to December are mixed tourists composed of Filipinos, Koreans and Westerners,” Lazatin said. (PNA)

Event: Jay Ingram to discuss new Daily Planet book on global warming

Exchange Morning Post

WATERLOO – One of Canada’s most respected science journalists, Jay Ingram, will discuss his new book on global warming and offer people possible solutions at an event hosted by the University of Waterloo on Oct. 8.

The book, entitled The Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas: Global Warming and What People Are Doing About It, is an adaptation of the popular Daily Planet special TV series on global warming. From icecaps to hot springs, Daily Planet, which Ingram anchors, travelled to remote corners of the Earth to find out what can be done to reverse global warming and what people are doing to create a sustainable future.

“Jay Ingram is one of Canada’s best-known science popularizers and we are looking forward to finding out how does the average person make a difference in the fight to stop climate change and global warming,” says May Yan, acting director of the UW Bookstore. In his book, Ingram explains what global warming is and possible solutions — even extreme solutions — for dealing with the warming planet.

He also shows how people are making a difference, from using solar-powered ovens to living off the grid. Besides hosting the award-winning science show Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada, Ingram is the author of nine books, including Theatre of the Mind, Talk, Talk, Talk, The Science of Everyday Life and The Burning House, which won the 1995 Canadian Science Writers Book Award. The author of three children’s books, Ingram has written and hosted several radio documentaries, including Cranial Pursuits and The Talk Show.

The meet-the-author event, co-hosted by the UW Bookstore and the faculties of science and environment, begins at 7 p.m. in Federation Hall. Tickets, available in advance at UW Bookstore or at the door, cost $3. To purchase tickets online, visit http://www.bookstore.uwaterloo.ca/jayingram .

Climate change: Debating solutions

By Dean Irvine | CNN

CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Fish tanks, financial markets and the future of the world’s climate came together at the third Principal Voices debate of 2008 in Chicago.

In the tranquil and slightly surreal aquatic setting of the city’s Shedd Aquarium, the panelists and audience members plunged into the problems of climate change, their solutions and ultimately why there are still reasons to be cheerful.

Despite the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change, and the hammering the financial markets were receiving that very day, the panelists were able to find many reasons to be optimistic.

From a growing consensus that climate change existed to the myriad opportunities we have to protect the environment, there were plenty of positives.

In regards to fluctuating fortunes of the global economy, that should not make us lose sight what is at stake; “it is just a distraction,” said Dr Rajendra Pachauri, his face projected onto a giant screen, beamed into the room via video link from Mumbai.

It will cause a period of introspection and worry, he said to the audience and fellow panelists, but the results would ultimately be positive and a new system would emerge.

The good news, said Dr Carl Hodges, was that, perversely, the situation was so terrible that was it raising awareness from all quarters.

Reconnecting people with how their everyday lives impact the environment was one challenge that both Alexandra Cousteau and Suzanne Malec-McKenna, the other panelists, were working towards in different ways.

As Chicago’s Environment Commissioner, Malec-McKenna is working at the sharp end of balancing policy with the real practicalities of managing a city and transforming its environment, and its citizens’ attitudes.

Adding some political noise and bite to proceedings, she championed the latest climate initiative by Chicago and continued the upbeat tone.

Could the city’s green policy, and world in general, afford an economic recession, asked co-host Stephanie Mehta. It’s all about re-thinking, replied Malec-McKenna. “Maybe people will hunker up rather than hunker down.” Give people the opportunity to see new ways to do business and look at the assets rather than the liability, she continued, and a new energy infrastructure would follow.

Pachauri called it a “silent revolution,” and one that people across the world would follow. But, they need some form of leadership, he cautioned, otherwise, “the positive forces of human energy could be misleading and we could have another cyclical problem.”

Read on here.