Did you know that the carbon emissions caused by deforestation are greater than those caused by the entire global transportation sector?

The Nature Conservancy wants to equip you with facts like this so you can start thinking about the solutions that nature holds for slowing carbon emissions and dealing with the effects of climate change.

In fact, last week, the Nature Conservancy launched a web-based campaign that aims to inspire a movement to respond—and offer solutions— to the threat of climate change.

The campaign, called “Planet Change,” educates site visitors about:

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Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States, has resorted to the example of Winston Churchill in his latest word of warning about global warming.  Al Gore, environmental campaigner and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, also won an Oscar for his film titled An Inconvenient Truth – a film that helped bring the grave question of global climate change to a worldwide audience.

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The agreement reached at the recent summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations (the G8) held in Italy to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) could help a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty materialize in December 2009.

According to Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission (EC), an agreement on the global temperature target, especially by the developing economies like the United States, could form the global benchmark and catalyst for the crucial negotiations on climate change to be held in Copenhagen in Denmark in December 2009.

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I listened to Jay Richards, PhD, give a Christian Perspective on the Environment.

Besides some interesting questions that he posed such as “Is a warmer Earth bad?” he through out some numbers. Yeah, I know the warming trend is bad for some, now, but when considering the big picture over the course of many years, is a warmer Earth bad? This question is far from answered.

Still, Dr. Richards also threw out some numbers.

If all the countries in the world were to seriously make every attempt to meet the Kyoto Protocol, it could costs $10-50 trillion. That’s a ‘T’ and the range is big because nobody really knows. And even if all the goals were met and the if the climate models are correct, two big IFs, temps MIGHT be lowered by .0.07C overall, an insignificant amount to say the least.

Now…to give the entire world sanitary water, the cost is estimated to be $200 billion – 1/50 the cost of the lower end of the global temperature fighting costs.

How might we spend our money more wisely?

What say you?

I was confused before. I am even more confused now.

Researchers are saying that Antarctic sea ice is growing rather than melting thanks to the hole in the ozone layer. And here we thought the hole was going to let too much heat in.

Ozone Effect: Antarctic Ice is Increasing

The frozen seas surrounding the South Pole have increased at the rate of 100,000 square kilometer a decade over the last 40 years. Scientists think there are stronger surface winds over Antarctica and more frequent storms in the Southern Ocean because of the whole in the ozone hole but resulting in more ice.

Ozone effect: Antarctic sea ice is increasing. Ozone hole— delayed the impact of greenhouse gases there.

Antarctic sea ice is increasing. The Ozone hole delayed the impact of greenhouse gases

just so as we don’t get our hopes up, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and NASA is warning the ozone hole is only delaying the impact of greenhouse gases on the climate of the continent. Give me a break!

If ozone levels recover over the next 100 year, weather patterns will return to normal and Antarctic sea ice will shrink rapidly. Then we’ll cry global warming again! Can’t win for trying here.

Professor John Turner of BAS, said: ‘Its quite ironic that the continent directly beneath the ozone hole is the one seemingly least affected.

‘While there is increasing evidence that the loss of sea ice in the Arctic has occurred due to human activity, in the Antarctic human influence through the ozone hole has had the reverse effect and resulted in more ice.

‘Although the ozone hole is in many ways holding back the effects of greenhouse gas on the Antarctic, this will not last, and we expect ozone levels to recover by the end of the 21st Century.

‘By then there is likely to be around one third less Antarctic sea ice.’

In other words, the scientists don’t know what is going on. Or, can’t realize that this amazing home we call Earth is able to make tremendous adaptations to the many burdens we place upon it.

Professor Turner said, ‘We have finally solved the mystery of why we are not seeing the same degree of warming that we have seen around the rest of the world.

‘Understanding how polar sea ice responds to global change, whether human induced or as part of a natural process, is really important if we are to make accurate predictions about the Earth’s future climate.’

Dr Ted Maksym, who is also involved in the research said it would be wrong to conclude that growing sea ice meant global warming was under control. Yeah! Do NOT, I repeat do NOT do anything to subdue global warming hype!

He said: ‘You have to be quite ambivalent about whether these findings are good news or bad news.

Huh!? (me)

‘What we are trying to do is explain why there has been the pattern of ice growing when everyone was expecting it to have started shrinking by now.

‘Our research answers part of the puzzle as to why the ice has not changed much. It’s worth bearing in mind it’s a relatively small amount of growth.’

Their research does nothing but confuse those who will insist on man-caused global warming and the dire predictions of the end of the world. As for me, I can see a clear balance in how the Earth compensates. After all, that’s how the Earth was designed.

Apparently Daimaru department store is all for global warming. The hotter it is the more they sell … swimming suits that is.

I suppose, in a pitch FOR global warming, Daimaru is selling swim suits in Japan 6 weeks EARLIER this year than normal. What’s up with that?

It seems to me that for good or for bad, everyone is trying to capitalize on the global warming trend hype in one way or another. Or, am I just being over sensitive?

Maybe there is nothing wrong with department stores putting their wares out earlier and earlier each year. Maybe that’s it. I mean, who could object to seeing Japanese girls in bathing suits more and more throughout the year, right?

But, seriously. Are companies taking advantage of the global warming trend news? What do you think?

Image by idua_Japan

The Arctic ice is the thinnest it has ever been at this time of the year.  What’s more, it’s spring and summer is on the way. Researchers are saying that some 90% of the Arctic ice is just 1-2 years old. The researchers are with NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

The Arctic Ocean

“We’re not set up well for summertime,” ice data center scientist Walt Meier said Monday. “We’re in a very precarious situation.”

Apparently sea ice needs to survive for two years before it becomes the type of thick sea ice that is key.

Thick sea ice, 10 feet thick or more, can be found from the northern boundaries of Greenland and Canada almost to Russia. But not this year. The ice barely extends the center of the Arctic Circle.

This year is an all-time low— just 378,000 square miles, down 43 percent from last year.

“Thick ice traps ocean heat; it keeps the planet in its current state of balance,” said the director of the Center for the Study of Earth from Space at the University of Colorado and NASA’s former chief ice scientist. “When we start to diminish that, the state of balance is likely to change, tip one way or another.”

Sea ice is also important because it reflects sunlight away from Earth. The less see ice there is the more heat is absorbed by the ocean, heating up the planet even more. That can cause changes in global weather patterns.

Younger, thin ice accounts for about 70 percent of the ice cover, however this year it is 90 percent.

What is it they say? “It’s going to be a long summer.” Or was it winter?

Source: Sina
Images by toddraden & nileguide

The Australian reports that – “THREE senior Japanese scientists separately engaged in climate-change research have strongly questioned the validity of the man-made global-warming model that underpins the drive by the UN and most developed-nation governments to curb greenhouse gas emissions.”

Image by brandnewbrain

One says -”I believe the anthropogenic (man-made) effect for climate change is still only one of the hypotheses to explain the variability of climate,” Kanya Kusano told The Weekend Australian.

It could take 10 to 20 years more research to prove or disprove the theory of anthropogenic climate change.”

Another says - “Before anyone noticed, this hypothesis has been substituted for truth.”

The IPCC assertion that atmospheric temperatures are likely to increase continuously and steadily “should be perceived as an unprovable hypothesis”.

There is widespread skepticism that “most of the observed global temperature increase since the mid-20th century ‘is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations.’”

At a Japan Geoscience Union symposium last year, one of the scientists said, “the result showed 90 per cent of the participants do not believe the IPCC report”.

“Our nation must pay huge amounts of money to buy carbon discharge rights,” another scientist said. “This is not reasonable, but meaningless if global cooling will come soon — scientists will lose trust.”

A JSER representative said, “This paper (written by the scientists) represents the views of the individuals and not of the society.”

So, it really doesn’t matter what the scientists think, it matters what the society thinks, which at this point is neutral.

Yet another scientist said “many scientists were doubtful about man-made climate-change theory, but did not want to risk their funding from the government or bad publicity from the mass media, which he said was leading society in the wrong direction.”

My question – who stands to make out if the global warming scare continues? Those who are for the global warming hype or those who think it’s, well, um, just hype?  There’s the answer.

More doom and gloom is predicted for the northeast portion of the United States.

New York City, Boston and other coastal cities are expected to get eight inches more than a possible 2-3 feet sea rise by 2100. Let me see, if it’s two feet, then two feet plus eight inches falls within the 2-3 feet prediction. Will the Northeast then still have to worry extra?

Scientists have been talking about rising sea levels due to global warming both from warm water expanding and melting of ice sheets. But, if the ice sheets melt, won’t that keep the warm water from expanding? I’m confused.

You can read about it more here.

But just a quick test – put some ice in a glass of water and mark the level. Let the ice melt and tell me or tell your friend what the resulting water level is AFTER the ice melts. And the way I understand it, if it is cold enough for the ice to melt, it’s warm enough for there to be more snow, thus offsetting the ice that melted.

Seriously, why is it always doom and gloom?

Image by schultzlabs