Comment from North Port, Florida
November 29th, 2007 at 4:48 pm

The growth in my area is so sad. Whole tracts of land-the trees are all mowed down, none saved, the animals are all displaced, just so they can build more shopping centers!!! I hate it because when the big trucks move in and the animals struggle to get out, they get hit all the time by cars & trucks. It truly makes me cry. Then when I see the hawks on power lines – looking over what used to be their hunting areas – but no, all that's left is a huge concrete/paved parking lot with stores. And I realize that this isn't just a problem in a little town in Florida – but imagine all the areas that are being totally disrupted everyday all over the USA – what are we really leaving generations after us? Concrete and stores. Heat rising from the pavement keeps the rains from coming – soon Florida will be a desert. I've got to get outta here.

Comment from Eric Peterson
December 4th, 2007 at 5:23 pm

Over a year ago as I have all of my life I watched water on blacktop next to a concret building in the summer with air conditioning and lights running all weekend when no person was there. I saw employees throwing good paper, empty aluminum cans an empty plastic bottles in the regular trash. I then resolved to work for my own company full time and not have to drive thousands of miles per year for this. I started the first 100% environmental office product companies. The corporate office is home based, severly reducing driving. The vehicles are green, a Toyota Corolla and Toyota Camry Hybrid. All paper is 100% recycled and the computers rebuilt, reducing waste from paper and new plastic production. I also personally recycle all papers, bottles, cans, and metals every week. We even adopted the recycle symbol and Bald Eagle as our logo. Additional to all this I am very involved in Environmental defense via e-mail and by making donations. I also recently joined Greenpeace to do viable actions to help curb global warming. On top of this I sent fifty copies of Time–Global Warming–The Causes–The Solutions to fifty groups of persons. I do and will do all I can as a human being to curb the damage we have done to our planet.

Comment from Amira
December 11th, 2007 at 8:40 am

Since 2 years I am trying to find a solution to recycle HP cartridges. They do not have program in Middle East. Please assist me how to sort this major issue.

Thanks

Amira

Comment from Drew Wenchel Alexandria, VA
December 11th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Why not lobby Congress and the House to put alternative energy technologies in the "public domain." and remove the

Comment from Mary Green
December 21st, 2007 at 2:59 pm

Dec 21, Everyone has such sophisticated reasons mine is just pity the poor polar bear.

Comment from DS Long Island, NY
December 21st, 2007 at 4:38 pm

Ideas
EDF needs to advertise simple messages such as:
If all drivers shut their engines off immediately after arriving at destination rather than idling engine for 30 seconds to 3 minutes we would save (X) gallons of oil and (X) tons of greenhouse gases (I am sure savings would be enormous) EDUCATE THE MASSES!
Flourescent lights, although good for conservation, they have mercury… advertise throwing bulbs away in triple wrapped plastic bags that we can benefit from by sealing mercury in for decades…

Comment from Katherine (Falmouth,MA)
December 28th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

Unfortunatelyt my company car needs to be a large SUV. I chose the Chevy tahoe because it can run on E85 ethanol,but I still have concerns about the amount of fuel and energy required to produce E85. can anyone point me to some reading/resources to tell me more about E85 and its potential for reducing emmissions?

Comment from Norma T., Richardson, TX
December 31st, 2007 at 7:17 pm

Living in one of the worst States for air quality, not coincidentally where Joe Barton is an incumbent congressman, it's an uphill battle to get anything accomplished for the environment. Environmental Defense influenced the acquirers of TXU to reduce the nuimber of planned coal plants from 11 to 3. It's also comforting to see the actions ED takes in lawsuits to combat global warming via reductions in auto emissions.

Comment from Laura Provo, UT
January 6th, 2008 at 6:31 pm

HOW CRUDE
Gasoline Consumption: Crude Miles Per Barrel (MPB)

Ever wondered how many barrels of crude oil you as an individual consume?

There are 42 gallons of crude oil in a barrel, and each barrel makes 20 gallons of gasoline.

If it takes 20 gallons of gas to fill your tank, you use a barrel of crude each fill up.

If you car gets 28 mpg, that's 560 mpb (miles per barrel.)

If you drive 19000 miles in a year, you will use apx. 34 barrels of crude a year.

Now is the time to curb crude oil use and turn to clean, renewable fuel alternatives.

Fact resource:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html#Howused

Comment from Amarillo, Tx.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

Ok, first off-Quit your WHINING! In the town I live in, we got an ordinance passed that says any new builders and/or parking lots have to have so many trees, bushes per car parking spot. Get a petition going, join a movement, take action!Light bulbs are a givin but do you have ALL your electrical appliances on power strips you can turn off. They call it phantom power use.Stop the phantom menace. All appliances can be more effecient just by cleaning them on a regular basis. Vacumm your frig, clean or replace various filters on appliances and they don't use as much electric. Got a older car, can't afford a hybred? Check your tire pressure. If it's spot on, it will help mpg. Oil changes and tune ups help too. Have a gas credit card. Cut it up and send it back to the company and say "for now, I am still forced to buy gasoline but I do not have to give 25% interest too. Invest in solar and wind and we'll talk".If you have a house and agreeable neighbors, one of you can buy solar panels that you all buy together and share.Buy local produce and other goods as much as possible to cut down on "Oil" shipping. Think about what you buy and it's packaging. If there's a ton of plastic on the product you like, buy something else with less plastic packaging on it. As individuals we are doomed but what has been shown in Iowa and New Hampshire that when people STAND UP TOGETHER we can accomplish massive change; and I don't just mean politics. Together, we are huge numbers (Millions) and we will save this planet.So stop whining and start DOING!!!

Comment from Josh
January 26th, 2008 at 3:13 am

I enjoy reading your stuff

Comment from Save the Mountain
February 21st, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Help protect Catskill Park, "forever wild" NY state forest preserve and NYC watershed from rampant development.
Read about it at http://www.SavetheMountain.net

The "deal" Spitzer has cut with a developer would contribute to global warming by cutting thousands of trees on hundreds of mountainside and ridge top to build hotels, timeshares AND a golf course, by providing more diesel-powered artificial snowmaking at taxpayer expense, by generating tons of garbage and encouraging hundreds more car trips per day.

Sign the petition to Governor Spitzer at: http://www.petitiononline.com/stm07/petition.html

Comment from Liselotte Kragh
February 21st, 2008 at 11:00 pm

I work out of my home as an architectural designer. I like to work out of my home as it saves me time going to and from the office, and I like that I save money on gas and on all the expenses of an office. When I do use my car- every three days of so- I pool my trips so I can do several trip on a loop. If I need to pick something up from a specific store such as ink cartridges, I wait until I have a client trip in that direction. It works. I also don't make a trip to a store without first calling to make sure they have what I am there to get. I have probably less than a 1000 miles per year on my car, which gets about 25 miles per gallon- not great, but the car is from 1990, and I plan to keep it running until there is a really great alternative – so that saves the energy of building a new car and disposing of this one.
When I design a remodel, I think about how few sf can be added to get the result that the client is looking for. If we need to do a full tear down I make sure we team up with Restore or second Use here in Seattle to do a pre-demolishion to salvage usable materials and items.
I will not use or specify compact flourescent lights until Seattle comes up with a way that people can easily recycle them. Why substitute one problem for another? Energy use is one thing- mercury pollution is quite another.

Comment from Gregory
March 7th, 2008 at 10:12 am

By John Coleman, founder of the Weather Channel
It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. Some dastardly scientists with environmental and political motives manipulated long term scientific data to create an allusion of rapid global warming. Other scientists of the same environmental whacko type jumped into the circle to support and broaden the “research” to further enhance the totally slanted, bogus global warming claims. Their friends in government steered huge research grants their way to keep the movement going. Soon they claimed to be a consensus.
Environmental extremists, notable politicians among them, then teamed up with movie, media and other liberal, environmentalist journalists to create this wild “scientific” scenario of the civilization threatening environmental consequences from Global Warming unless we adhere to their radical agenda. Now their ridiculous manipulated science has been accepted as fact and become a cornerstone issue for CNN, CBS, NBC, the Democratic Political Party, the Governor of California, school teachers and, in many cases, well informed but very gullible environmentally conscientious citizens. Only one reporter at ABC has been allowed to counter the Global Warming frenzy with one 15 minute documentary segment.
I do not oppose environmentalism. I do not oppose the political positions of either party. However, Global Warming, ie Climate Change, is not about environmentalism or politics. It is not a religion. It is not something you “believe in.” It is science; the science of meteorology. This is my field of life-long expertise. And I am telling you Global Warming is a non-event, a manufactured crisis and a total scam. I say this knowing you probably won’t believe me, a mere TV weatherman, challenging a Nobel Prize, Academy Award and Emmy Award winning former Vice President of United States. So be it.
I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct. There is no run away climate change. The impact of humans on climate is not catastrophic. Our planet is not in peril. I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismissal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.
In time, a decade or two, the outrageous scam will be obvious. As the temperature rises, polar ice cap melting, coastal flooding and super storm pattern all fail to occur as predicted everyone will come to realize we have been duped. The sky is not falling. And, natural cycles and drifts in climate are as much if not more responsible for any climate changes underway. I strongly believe that the next twenty years are equally as likely to see a cooling trend as they are to see a warming trend.

Comment from ohgoditsart
March 11th, 2008 at 11:34 am

In 2000 my daughter was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a plethora of allergies. It has taken us years to eliminate different substances from her environment. Such as carpets, non processed foods, laundry detergents and other cleaning products. Just recently the company I sell for has started distributing Green Seal Products. I have used some at home and my daughter is improving everyday. Doing more and more. This has made a terrific difference in her life. She now is taking college courses and working part time.

Comment from moon
March 21st, 2008 at 8:49 pm

To Amira, who posted in December of 2007: Here's the phone number for Hewlett Packard's Customer Service headquarters for the region that includes the Middle East:(+41) 22 780-8111. Unfortunately, their site doesn't give an email address for Customer Service, and I didn't see any online forum for questions.

Comment from moon
March 21st, 2008 at 8:58 pm

Gregory: How does John Coleman explain the melting of ice floes, which is leaving polar bears to drown before they can swim the miles to the next patch of ice? Not only ice floes but glaciers are melting very quickly.

Comment from moon
March 21st, 2008 at 9:09 pm

To Katherine of Falmouth, MA: Here's the URL for Green Energy Network, which tries to make sustainably produced ethanol available: http://www.greenenergynetwork.com/
Their ethanol, when they can get it, is made from the fermentation of agricultural wastes. When the group's representatives do speaking engagements, they emphasize that trashing rain forest to plant oil-rich palms for biodiesel or sorghum for ethanol does exactly the opposite of what drivers intend by using ethanol.

Comment from moon
March 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Everyone: While there are things we can do to slow down the degradation of the environment within the present system, I really don't see any hope of doing enough, quickly enough, under capitalism. The big-time capitalists think they'll always be able to buy a pleasant place to live; they don't care what they do to the rest of us. The rich in the know are preparing to flee the sinking US. When it hits the fan, if we're ready to put socialism in place, we can still be in time to save the polar bears and ourselves.

Comment from moon
March 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pm

Anyone: Is there some way to search this blog?

Comment from Michelle
April 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 am

You know, when I read a comment like Gregory's from March 7, I am incredulous. Exactly what papers has he read? And who has written them? Because I too, have read papers. For 20 years now. I have been studying this issue for over a decade. There are hundreds upon hundreds of peer reviewed scientific papers by scientists WORLDWIDE that document the ecological changes occurring on our planet right now from climate change. There are species from plants, to insects, to coral reef organisms, to amphibians, to birds, to mammals, whose habitats are changing to the point where these magnificent creatures are losing the battle for survival precisely because of climate change. Diseases spread by mosquitos and water borne insects are reaching farther and wider then ever before because once inhospitable habitats are now breeding grounds due to changes that are occurring because of global warming. I could go on and on. I have read paper after paper, book after book. Has Gregory? I have been in the field, seen coral bleaching, and while I haven' been to Alaska, it is common knowledge that the melting permafrost is destroying the infrastructure, not to mention that polar bears, icons of our wild heritage, are drowning because they need the ice that is melting to early and freezing to late. So my message to Gregory is this: before you make these statements to the public, please do some more reading. Go work in the field with the men and women who are devoting their lives to their work, sometimes even risking their lives, so that they can bring, to the public and the politicians, the real, raw data. Go see, if you have to, the places that are most hard-hit by the rising temperatures. Do whatever it takes to really inform yourself, and then, if you really feel that global warming is a manipulation of data, or some conspiracy, go publish your own peer reviewed paper. Global warming, Gregory, is very real. There is no controversy. There are only consequences to every, beautiful life form on this planet, unless we humans wake up from our collective amnesia and act to protect our planet. I, along with so many others, have great hope that we will, and that we are on the threshold of great transformations towards a sustainable future, despite the misinformed Gregory's of the world.

Comment from Gen S.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

I agree with John Coleman from the Weather Channel!!!!!!! Last year here in the Midwest, it was hot. This year, the temps are much lower at night and I am seeing alot of rain.
I have been researching the wording in this climate bill and I don't agree that consumers need to be taxed to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollars!!! (Yes, That is what Al Gore is proposing!!!!) The majority of the public is doing their part by recycling, etc. Factories and businesses that pollute should be the ones who are taxed and fined to get the message across, NOT the general public!!!!
I have decided not to sign until you can clarify the fine print of this bill.

Comment from glloyd
August 11th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

On the premise that small steps lead to big results, we could all vow to always take the very first parking place that we encounter in a lot or on the block that is our destination, and not cruise for a closer space. In some communities this would significantly improve air quality and would save measurable amounts of gasoline.

Comment from glloyd
August 11th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

Retail establishments that want to be known as green could have preferred parking spaces for compact cars with appropriate small discounts paid for out of the savings on black topping.

Comment from countrycuz
August 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

What about getting Al Gore, former vice president and environmentalist, and T. Boone Pickens, longtime oil man, together to work on concrete ways to look for solutions to the energy crisis and global warming? They both seem very committed to making a difference now!

Comment from marielom
August 11th, 2008 at 1:58 pm

We should plan our communities for the future. Why not do as they do in Europe, where every street has a multitude of small shops (vegies/fruit, butcher, cheese, pasta, wine, bakery, dry goods, etc.) Even the supermarkets are small and well located, and supplemented by weekly farmer's markets. Walking or biking would be easier and shopping everyday possible, and one wouldn't have to carry too much on any one day. We would not need huge refrigerators and would probably buy and waste less. When I was small, living in the outer suburbs in the fifties, every neighborhood had a mom & pop market. Now we have to drive to the mega-supermarkets.

Comment from vrharris
August 11th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

We need to get over our addiction to personal vehicles. To accomplish this there needs to be accessible, inexpensive, and reliable public transportation in all areas.

Comment from mike fremont
August 11th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

Many sources say that 18% of our global warming gases come from the 1.5 billion cows on the planet. For our health we need neither meat nor milk. Some 70-80% of our U.S. cropland is dedicated to feeding animals for the table, an enormous unnecessary use of energy (plowing, fertilizer, pesticides, freezing, transportation).

I am surprised that ED has not mentioned this area of change which would be beneficial in every respect except that of the difficulty in breaking addictions – specifically for meat and cheese.

Authorities are John McDougall, MD, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D, Neal Barnard, MD (PCRM), John Robbins (EarthSave), Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, MD

Comment from boren39
August 12th, 2008 at 9:50 pm

I am reading Earth: the sequel. Pretty hard to stay awake through the first 1/3 at least, as it is highly technical and leaves me no thoughts other than to say, I am glad there are people doing this stuff. Rather than say right now what ideas I might lend, I would like to comment on a couple of things that are always mentioned. 1st(I don't own one)but, there are legitimate needs in my opinion for large SUV's by big people with lots of kids. Some body has to take these kids to their outdoor games and practice and have enough room inside to breathe. Would a cab make more sense? The auto makers need to make them more fuel efficient, not the consumers. 2nd. The idea that we can all hop on bikes is ridiculous to the max. I am 69 years old, retired and I do ride a bike frequently(for exercise)not for a commute.I recently got rid of two gas miser scooters for safety reasons. The roads are not safe due to our continually distracted, cell phone using driving public. we live in Hawaii where the roads are narrow, hilly and extremely unsafe due to a lot of drug induced drivers. Many older people and those with disabilities. cannot ride a bike, construction workers can't take their tools to work on a bike, and many more reasons why it is not possible for all except the in-shape,or those that live close to work. We don't have the luxury of rebuiding all the suburbs and cities to accomodate this mode of travel in the near and necessary time frame,even though it is a worthy cause. Many of us have known for decades that we were throwing away a very viable mode of transportation by letting our rail system deteriorate except for the freight usage. We have needed intelligent, un-influenced by big money, politicians. Has anyone seen one lately?
The world kind of forgot the book from the 60's "The Population Bomb" We take more heed of our "GNP" and trade deficit.

Comment from mardy
August 13th, 2008 at 11:04 am

Groups and individuals in church communities, museums, local schools, and every workplace have been getting together on the model already used successfully by the Northwest Earth Institute, to learn about the issues. Small groups learning together is fun and life changing. There is also now a very good small group plan called the "Low Carbon Diet" in which you calculate your carbon footprint in your own household, and learn about the footprint of others in your circle,and resolve together to take steps to lower their carbon footprint. It involves paying attention to every aspect of energy use, i.e. the details that many of your bloggers have already mentioned. When you see how much your own way of life contributes to global warming, and find concrete ways to change how you live, it is empowering.

Comment from viperrescuer1
August 14th, 2008 at 9:55 pm

There are many things I have advocated for the past thirty years. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. I have always differed from my fellow environmentalists in that I have always supported the construction of nuclear power plants for electrical energy. The newest technologies are safer, more efficient, and provide cheaper power to offset the use of coal. Try to drive slower. Tune up those engines. Yes, check your tire pressures. Support the use of public,propane powered transportation. Log onto T. Boone Pickens site for his ideas. Don't laugh when your neighbor plants corn in his front yard. Raise your own meals when you can, organically. I have bought a small motorcycle to commute to work, since, like most of the South, we DON'T have ANY public transportation here where I live, and there are no bicycle lanes or paths. Try to promote building up instead of out..less distances to travel mean less pollution and stress. Buy cars with multi-fuel capabilities and the highest mileage you can get. We also need to provide subsidies for the cost of solar power for those of us like me who cannot possibly afford it otherwise (my only solar power use is large black barrels to heat my water in. All I can afford, being poor.) Promote the building or maintaining of bicycle paths or designated bicycle lanes on the roads. Try washing your hair only twice a week or less. Turn off lights in your home, and water when you are not using it…Oh, there are sooo many ways we pioneered in the 70's. It only takes each of us doing these things to make a difference.

Comment from Carmen Guerrero
September 5th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign

http://www.unep.org/images/unepmap_trees.png
El Perú no esta tan mal ambientalmente de 500,000 árboles se ha plantado 700 millones

Se puede plantar árboles altos, de grandes hojas para ayudar a descontiminizar el aire Limeño y purificar la atmósfera.

En el Rimac un grupo voluntario de vecinos de la Unidad Vecinal del Rimac, se ha unido a mejoras en su distrito, plantado de árboles en el nuevo pasaje Carlota Villasante de Yorjes, además de arreglado de veredas costeado y realizado por los hijos de la Sra. Carlota Villasante. Carmen Guerrero y su familia, con la colaboración de Sara Velasquez han plantado mas de 200 árboles alrededor de la Libreria "Artur Lundkvist"
Se ha difundido reciclaje a todo el barrio rimense, con mejoras de empleo por los programas de trabajo del Ministerio de Trabajo, comunicación del programa de SiSalud, ayudas a la comunidad en general, etc.
La Parroquia San Francisco Solano ha brindado su ayuda, el Padre Roberto Aiquipa es de gran ayuda a la niñez peruana; el Padre Segundo López fue el fundador del Voluntariado, que reparten víveres y ropa a los mas necesitados, etc.
Se está pintado la Unidad Vecinal, se esta mejorado su iluminación, además de serenasgo y otros servicios.

Cordialmente.

Carmen Guerrero
Sicóloga
4819469
1 – 4819469
511 – 4819469

Comment from dankahl
September 7th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

In August of 2008 I was privileged to have an opportunity to volunteer with the Kansas Fisheries and Wildlife Department on an expedition to document the status of the recently reintroduced black-footed ferrets in western Kansas. There is controversy in western Kansas over prairie dogs, as some ranchers claim they reduce the profitability of the land for grazing. Even though the ferret is a primary predator of the prairie dog, the reintroduction of ferrets was seen by some as a move to protect the prairie dogs by protecting the land where the endangered ferrets were reintroduced.

As I looked across the range land of western Kansas, it was clear that the wind and sun were unforgiving and unrelenting. One creature of the prairie has developed a method of dealing with the unforgiving land by digging a network of tunnels and burrows beneath the surface. This underground prairie dog complex serves burrowing owls, kit fox, box turtles, snakes, and now, the black-footed ferret. But the prairie dogs do more than create habitat, they provide food for coyote, badger, snake, ferret, owl, and hawk. They serve a pivotal or peripheral role in the lives of most of the wildlife of the area. Many ranchers of Logan County, Kansas are seeking the support of the county government to implement county-wide prairie dog poisoning campaigns. I hope that the EDF members will monitor and become involved in the efforts to protect the recently reintroduced black footed ferret. The August live trapping confirmed that the ferrets are reproducing and surviving in the wild, but they will need the continued support of caring individuals from around the world.

Comment from Kira Lueders
December 19th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

When gas prices were high the summer of 2008, there was a sudden demand for more fuel efficient vehicles and people began using public transportation at rates not previously seen in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Everyone complained when they had to pay over $4.00 for a gallon of gas. Meanwhile, the people in Europe were paying over $8.00 a gallon, and driving much smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles. Granted that distances that have to be driven are smaller in Europe, high gas prices are still probably the most efficient way to get people to buy fuel efficient cars. Now that gas prices have fallen to less than $2.00 a gallon, a serious effort needs to be made by our politicians to increase prices by adding taxes that can be used to improve infrastructure, especially in public transportation. The price of gasoline needs to be kept high enough to provide an incentive for automakers to build more efficient cars and to provide a market for those cars. The idea that the US can be independent of fossil fuel any time soon is a delusion, but it can certainly be used more conservatively if the incentive is there to do so.

The price of electricity also needs to be increased to encourage conservation. If someone chooses to have 2 people living in a 5000 sq ft house with every electronic gadget known to man plugged in and drawing power 24/7, then they should be prepared to pay a lot for that choice. More use of technology that turns off lights in unoccupied spaces needs to be in use. This is especially needed in the many empty Government buildings blazing with lights in the middle of the night.

Water conservation is another issue that needs to be addressed. Americans need to get over the need for a green lawn that needs to be overfed with fertilizers, cut with polluting mowers, watered with precious supplies of highly purified water suitable for drinking, with the cycle repeated over and over. Lets plant more native plants, use rainbarrels to collect water, plant raingardens to slow run-off into our streams and bays, and stop using pesticides to kill beneficial insects .

Comment from corewallmama
December 27th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

We may or may not beat global warming, but the issues that will not go away are increasing world population and what goes with that: water and food supply and health issues. I'd like to see EDF plan ahead and think beyond CO2. Food and health may not seem like "environmental issues" but food supply is directly related to land use changes, and land use changes can lead to proliferation of some disease vectors. And of course, global warming and changing precipitation patterns are affecting food supply.

Reading a few posted comments, I am a bit dismayed that even those who post blogs on EDF site confuse climate, weather and inter-annual variations.

Comment from Charles Weber
January 26th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

Gregory has a point. But even so, I will do nothing to thwart the climate crusaders, because they will be instrumental in getting our civilians weaned off of oil, if it is possible.
Everyone is stressing excessive use of fossil fuels as causing a green house affect on climate. However, that is the least of our problems. Sucking our petroleum reserves dry, even our oil shale, will have disastrous consequences in the future on our economy (USA) and our security, especially military security. If we suck our oil dry, it is not beyond a possibility that we could be defeated in a major war. We should use foreign fuel as much as possible.
Increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is undoubtedly increasing climate warmth somewhat. However I suspect that as great an affect on warmth is the baring of soil by increase in annual crop acreage, roads, buildings, grazing, and desertification currently. You may see an article that briefly discusses this and gives some solutions in more detail in http://charles_w.tripod.com/climate.html .

Comment from Charles Weber
January 26th, 2009 at 6:58 pm

Boren 31 dismisses bicycles prematurely. If raised, covered bike paths were constructed they would be safe and it would cost nothing to build them since the gas saved would easily pay for them. As for old people, mopeds would solve that problem (as would eating nutritious foods). Nor do they have to be bicycles. They can easily be quadricycles or have wide wheels. For long distance travel, a wide gauge railroad could solve that problem (see http://charles_w.tripod.com/widerr.html ). I have on several occasions commuted to work on a bicycle, and I usually arrived to work before my grid locked friends.

Comment from hymines
January 29th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

I am very pleased about the increased funding for transit but want to draw attention to a very important article about the railroads which deserves attention. We need much more funding that $3 billion to update our much overlooked and decaying rail system. Please go to: http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2009/back_tracks_9914
for a good read. If this doesn't work, Google New American Foundation, then scroll down in the "Ideas and Analysis" column to "Back on Tracks," an article by Phillip Longman in the Washington Monthly. It makes a very compelling case for the immediate upgrade of our railway system!

Comment from Mike Kean
February 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am

President Obama promises to be good for America and the world and his concern for the environment is obvious. There is no contest that our climate is changing and serious steps have to be taken to lessen the environmntal impact of fossil fuels which are in any case running out, deforestation, urbanisition, younameitanisation. What is of concern though is that all the efforts are concentrated on a single issue ie. carbon dioxide. Whole industries have been founded, carbon trusts, quasi government bodies, quangos, international conferences, all devoted to a single issue, CO2. People have made money eg Al Gore and governments have not been slow to jump on the bandwagon, finding ingenious ways to tax carbon emissions all based on a premise whih has not (to my knowledge) been empirically scientifically proven beyond all scientific doubt. I am aware of the circumtantial "evidence" linking atmospheric CO2 to rising temperatures but for all we know the temperatures were rising anyway. It is to my mind too simplistic to relate change in such a complex system as the earth's climate to a single as yet unproven cause. I am reminded of the flat earthers of the Columb us era and the scenario afer the second world war when there was a huge increase in the European birthrate and a parralel increase in the number of migrating storks, bt no one seriously believed that storks brought babies!. Remember the hockey stick hypothesis. The earth's climate system is so complex and incompletely understood and influenced by so many factors beyond our control, the 1500 year cycle of warming and cooling, warm periods, mini and major ice ages have followed each other over the millennia long before man produced CO2, sunspots, cosmic rays, electromagnetic fields, changes in ocean temperatures all pobably play some part if not the whole. Untill we fully understand the factors influencing climate we should not neglect to prepare for the possible effects of climate change, cooling or warming instead of concentrating all our resources on one issue. I believe John Coleman has called global warming the "biggest scam ever perpetrated" and that people like Mr Gore should be prosecuted. Certainly the High Court in London has found that (in his film) he lied, was alarmist and many of his so called facts were unproven.

Comment from Carmen Urena
March 5th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

The world needs more and more each day to go green in every possible way. We have the green tecnology to continue the change but too many politicians and public policy advisors respond to oil and fuel fossil energy companies and their money, and they are in control of the law to implement the changes our planet urgently needs. We the people must go on putting pressure where it hurts them, in their pockets, to start the massive implementation of green energy to save the planet and our future generations. In Puerto Rico, there exists a clean energy invention which promises to revolutionize the energy industry, it is called Vectorial Energy, and it has been installed in a public agency. For three years the Agency Administration has kept this renewable energy discovery a secret. Yuo can learn about it if you visit their web page with basic information: http://www.energiavectorial.com

Carmen Urena, Fundacion San Martin de Porres
Puerto Rico

Comment from healthnut
March 13th, 2009 at 12:17 am

"Earth the Sequel" was uplifting to watch. Nothing new that I hadn't seen before except the paint that can capture sunlight like nano solar panels.
Someone blogged that we have to make big business care… never gonna happen. This green turn will be the result of innovative small businesses and the choices of those who really understand what sustainability means. The sacrifices are not hard when you "get it". 35 years ago I had to travel long distances to find organic foods. Today they are in every supermarket. As a result of smiling thru the AMA's attacks on us as healthnuts and faddists I answered questions from my doctor last month to help him understand why I have the healthy bones of a 21 year old even tho I am 67 years old. Sustainable health for me and for the planet is the only choice to make.

Comment from catwoman36
April 17th, 2009 at 8:36 pm

**This was written by my dear friend Anthony Marr-I thought this was a good forum to get the word out**
Anthony Marr predicts the Global Millennium Drought to start as early as 2012

I am not a professional climatologist, but I do have a degree in physics, and as per the average physicist, I prefer to do my own analysis and draw my own conclusions when it comes to anything involving the basic physical laws. Climatology is nothing more than a special branch of physics anyway.

Having done my own analysis, I have drawn my own conclusion which I am now presenting for your perusal. I don't feel too much trepidation in case I'm wrong, because all the predictions from the most advanced computer modeling have all proven wrong, almost always as gross underestimations, so much so that worst-case-scenarios have repeatedly been exceeded, and "experts are stunned" and "worse than scientists have expected" have become the media catch-phrase. In fact, so far, I have yet to encounter a computer projection that has not grossly undershot the mark, or at least promised to do so some time in the future, mostly commonly the year 2100. So, the worst I can do is to be wrong like everybody else. Right now, I fear I'm right, but hope I'm wrong. (If I prove to be wrong some time in the future, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation consistent to a T with the basic physical laws.

In 2008/2009, Vancouver experienced one of the coolest winters ever, which led skeptics to again say, "Global warming? What global warming?" My conclusion, on the other hand, is that this is explainable, and even predictable by the basic physical laws. It is supposed to cool off, stupid. But considering that it will last only 3-4 years, Vancouverites should enjoy the Arctic air-conditioning while it is still working, because as of the end of 2012 or thereabouts, it will konk out.

Without this natural air-conditioning, people will crank their artificial air-conditioning even more, which will inject even more CO2 into the atmosphere, which will warm the atmosphere even more. All in all, the current cooling "trend" will end. Global warming will accelerate, and the Northern Hemisphere will be hugely impacted. The United States, for example, will soon be hit by an unprecedented continental drought with no end in sight.

I will state below my line of reasoning in as simple a language as possible, with no math involved.

Fact 1: The melting rate of Arctic ice, both on land and in the sea, has been accelerating in recent years, with 2005 and 2006 being steep, and 2007 and 2008 being precipitous.

Fact 2: Since 2003, the planet has lost over 2 trillion tonnes of land ice, and many times that of sea ice.

Fact 3: Before the 2007 Big Melt, computer models used to predict that the Arctic summer would 50% ice-free come 2050; but since 2008, the time-line has been drastically shortened to 100% ice-free as early as 2013. Some still cautiously say 2030, but a few years' difference in the time-scale of geological change is little more than a split-second or two. If it's 2030 instead of 2013, then it will hit in the 2020s instead of in 2012. But it will come, and right now, the safe time frame to use is 2013.

Fact 4: The latest estimate has it that the Arctic winter could be ice-free as early as 2040.

Fact 5: The heat to melt the ice of course comes ultimately from the sun, but it is provided to the ice mostly through the water which is warmed by solar heat. This is especially so as of the advent of the Albedo Effect resulting from the decrease in heat-reflecting sea ice and increase in the darker, solar-heat-absorbing sea water.

Fact 6: The Latent Heat of Melting/Fusion of water is about 80 calories per gram of ice to be melted. To melt the 2 trillion tonnes of land ice alone lost since 2003 absorbed 160 quintillion calories (160 with 18 zeros after it, or 160 billion billion calories) from the planet's climatic system – without the air temperature being increased, and in fact, somewhat decreased. Melting almost half of the pre-21st-Century Arctic sea ice in the last decade absorbed even more, times more.

The last point needs some explaining. Let's go to the kitchen and perform an experiment. Take a steel cooking pot and fill it half full with cold water. Add enough ice cubes into the pot to raise the water level to almost full. Insert an electric heating element (e.g the kind used in aquariums) and a thermometer into the water, and mount a second thermometer outside of the pot within an inch of the pot's surface. Crank the heater up to full and stir the water constantly with the thermometer while monitoring the readings of both thermometers by 30 second intervals. The result will be as follows:

As long as the water is well stirred, the water temperature will lower to a little above 0C/32F, and it will stay there for as long as there is still ice in the pot to melt. The air temperature around and above the pot will decrease, because the melting ice absorbs heat both from the heated water and from the warmer air around the pot. Adding another heater will increase the ice-melt rate, but it will not increase the water temperature much over 0C/32F, until all the ice has melted off. After that, if the heater is kept on, the temperature both of the water and the air around the pot will rise (until the water begins to boil, when its temperature will stabilize at 100C/212F until it is boiled off).

The amount of heat required to melt all the ice – without the temperature of the water rising – is the Latent Heat of Melting (or of Fusion in case of freezing when the latent heat is released) of that quantity of ice to be melted (or frozen). For water, the latent heat of melting/fusion is about 80 calories per gram.

If the prediction that the Arctic summer will be ice-free as of 2013 is accurate, the Great Heat will begin shortly before 2013, as in 2012, since the less the remaining sea ice left to be melted, the less latent heat of melting it will absorb, thus leaving it in the climatic system to contribute to global warming.

The Arctic-summer becoming ice-free will constitute the first of the one-two climatic punch. The second will kick in when the Arctic begins to be ice-free even in the winter.

Since the summers of 2007 and 2008 registered the fastest ice-melt, they also registered the largest absorption of the Latent Heat of Melting from the Arctic atmosphere, thus cooling it more than usual. Temporarily, but enough to precipitate a cool 2008/2009 winter.

Vancouver's 2008/2009 winter was amongst the snowiest on record. This resulted from a collision of cold and warm fronts, the former dry and the latter moist. Warm air can "hold" much more water than cold air. If the warm, moisture-laden southern air collides with the cold northern air, it will be cooled, its dew point raised and whatever excess water it cannot "hold" will be precipitated as rain or snow, the more the cooling of the warm air by the cold, the heavier the precipitation. Sounds very much like Vancouver's winter of 2008/2009.

As of 2012, however, when there is no more ice to be melted in the summer, the previously absorbed "latent" heat will become manifest as measurable heat, and the temperatures of both the Arctic ocean and the Arctic atmosphere will rise. As the ice mass continues to decline towards the eventual zero in the winter, the faster will the temperature rise. But well before zero, all may already have been lost.

Since cold fronts will be severely curtailed, and since the air will be warmer, more moisture will stay in the atmosphere unprecipitated. This will start a drying trend on the ground that will be extremely extensive in both the East and West halves of the Northern Hemisphere all the way from the North Pole down to the Equator.

Where North America is concerned, since the cold Arctic air will have withdrawn northward, so will the cold-front/warm-front collisions, and the precipitation will shift due north. This will make Canada wetter and the United States drier. The current dual drought-centers of California and Georgia will expand and merge. The agricultural capacity of the US will plummet. Food will be scarce. Dare I say that the US, as Ethiopia before it, will experience a serious food crisis and perhaps malnutrition and even starvation?

And this has not yet even taken into consideration a very frightening factor – Methane.

Currently, even at a global average temperature rise of less than 1C/1.6F since 1880 (the beginning of the Industrial Revolution), the permafrost in northern Europe, Canada, Alaska and especially Russia has already begun to melt, as has the submarine methane hydrate/clathrate deposits on the shelves of the Arctic Ocean. This releases vast quantities of methane into the atmosphere. With the exhaustion of sea ice, the temperature will certainly rise, the permafrost and hydrate/clathrate melting rates will increase, and the methane will be released into the atmosphere at an accelerated rate.

Methane (CH4), being more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2) by far (20-70 X), it will warm up the atmosphere even faster, and generate its own feedback loop, where more methane in the atmosphere will melt more permafrost and release even more methane. There has always been a certain amount of methane in the atmosphere due to organic decomposition, but since methane is a fairly short-lived molecule, its breakdown and emission rates have always struck an easy balance, where the methane actually helped the CO2 in keeping the atmosphere warm enough for life to flourish. But as of the year 2000, two things have occurred:

1. the methane concentration globally has been steady for decades but now it is on the rise, and

2. the methane concentration on the Arctic region is higher than in the lower lattitudes.

This means 1. that the methane emission rate is increasing and is now overwhelming the breakdown rate, and 2. that the extra methane is being emitted from the Arctic. Bear in mind that this is with the ice chilling the air. Imagine what when there is no more ice to cool anything.

This further means to me that the methane feedback loop has already kicked in, and it will spiral exponentially out of control once the Arctic ice is gone, or maybe just nearly gone. Unless we can arrest this methane feedback loop at this opening stage, we will lose control of it. Some have even given it a name: the Methane Time-Bomb, of which CO2 is only the fuse.

I have myself given it a name: the M-Bomb – where the A-Bomb was in terms of kilotons (thousand tons equivalent of TNT), the H-Bomb in terms of megatons (million tons), and the M-Bomb in terms of gigatons (billion tons of carbon) or even terratons (trillion tons), the latter meaning that the M-Bomb itself is exponential.

2012 is widely believed to be the predestined year for the End of the World – December 21 to be exact – according to the Mayan calendar, Christian prophesies and even the I Ching. And it is indeed amazing that if the M-Bomb – the real Doomsday Machine – is to be detonated, December 21, 2012 would be a very plausible date of detonation.

When people speculate about the December 21, 2012, End of the World phenomenon, they often talk about an asteroid strike. Bam! and it's all over. The M-Bomb, infinitely more probable than an asteroid strike on the exact date of December 21, 2021, is a "slow bomb" whose explosion will span decades or even centuries. But if the detonation date is December 21, 2012, and if once detonated the M-Bomb is unstoppable, then it will still mean the beginning of the End of the World.

Again, I hope I'm wrong but fear I'm right. But one thing I know for certain. If we carry on with our current trajectory, including even all of President Obama's stimulation packages, perhaps partly because of some of them, we would be dooming ourselves, our children's children and life on Earth.

What we as a species must do:

1. Terminate the use of combustion-energy technology ASAP, including shutting down the Alberta tar sands (see http://www.youtube.com/AnthonyMarr) once and for all.

2. Massively research and develop the alternative, non-combustion-energy technologies, ones massive enough to be capable of taking over from the combustion-energy technologies within a decade.

3. Reduce the human population growth rate to below zero.

4. Substantially reduce the per-capita standard of living (as different from the quality of life) of the currently rich and high-living "developed" nations, especially regarding the consumption of the finite resources.

5. Strict protection of all remaining wild terrestrial habitats (forests, wetlands, etc.) and species.

6. Strict protection of the oceans and all marine ecosystems.

7. Extensively research and develop Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technologies to actively reduce the carbon concentration to below 350 ppm (from today's 386 ppm).

8. Major terraforming to recool the planet.

If any of the above is not met, we may not make it.

Anthony Marr, founder and president
Heal Our Planet Earth (HOPE)
http://www.HOPE-CARE.org

Comment from jide abioye
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:11 am

Sam we in nigeria sherish your publication but our surgestion is not in publish articles about our perception and courses of climate change we our part of global movement and whant to be involve thanks for your understading
yours jide abioye Revolutionary Nigeria west AFRICA