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War on climate change
Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006 @ 22:31:50 GMT by vlad
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solaris writes: Rationing could be key to war on climate change
Governments may be forced to turn to
wartime-style rationing to combat climate change, or risk mass
migration and more than 40 million deaths, an expert in global warming
has warned.
John Grant, a lecturer in sustainable development from Sheffield Hallam University, believes that governments across the globe should consider rationing carbon to help cut down on carbon and methane emissions, which are produced from burning plants and fossil fuels, and are contributing to increasingly severe weather conditions.
Britain is in the grip of its hottest July since records began in 1659, while five of the hottest years recorded have come in the last ten years.
"We have to tackle climate change as if we're going to war. Global warming is a common enemy for us all and it's a case of having to pull together. Fuel, gas and food were all successfully rationed during World War II and a similar strategy could be effectively used now with carbon. A carbon card system, whereby individuals would be given a carbon allocation and pay high prices for any extra on the market, would work. Buying petrol for example would have a high carbon rating, whereas for locally grown apples, it would be very low. Identity cards could be an ideal vehicle for such a scheme", John Grant said.
"The permafrost peat bog in Western Siberia is already melting, and if it continues to do so, it will release 11,000 years' worth - billion of tonnes - of carbon into the earth's atmosphere, trapping the heat in like a blanket.
"The next 100 years will be a tipping point. By 2050, we could have an intensely hot summer like 2003, where 35,000 people died across Europe, every other year. If we don't do anything about global warming in the next twenty years, it's likely that by 2100, the temperature across the planet will have risen by two to five degrees Celsius. We could cope with that here in the UK, with all our money and resources, but that small rise would make living in the Sahara basin or around North Africa for example, unbearable.
"We could be looking at 100 million people moving north to escape the heat, and around 40 million deaths."
He warned that glacial melting and the slowing down of the Gulf Stream current could also spell global disaster.
"Research over the last 12 years has shown a drop in the speed of the Gulf Stream by 30 per cent, because the Arctic Ice shelf and the Greenland glaciers are melting at an unprecedented speed, and the fresh water is reducing the current's density. The Gulf Stream current acts like a central heating system, helping make temperatures around the world more stable and temperate. Without it, here in the UK, we could have icebergs off the coast of Scarborough and winter temperatures could plunge to -35 degrees Celsius.
"Glacial melting will spell disaster for the UK, but the Himalayan glaciers that feed the great Asian rivers like the Ganges and the Yangtze are also likely to disappear within forty years. If these rivers dry up during the irrigation season, then the rice production, which currently feeds more than one third of humanity, collapses and the world goes into net food deficit."
Mr Grant urged the UK Government to make renewable energy such as solar power, easier for people to use.
"Solar panels should be subsidised like coal is. Nuclear power is a bit of a red herring because it produces lots of carbon dioxide. We need to see more action and less talk from the Government, especially where sustainable housing is concerned. By 2025, we will supposedly have carbon neutral, energy self-sufficient houses, but work on this needs to start now."
He added that people could make small lifestyle changes to help the planet.
"We're driven by conspicuous consumption and decadence is seen as a sign of personal success, so our perceptions of the importance of global warming need to change. No one piece of technology will save our bacon; we need to make lifestyle changes. Choosing low energy light bulbs, walking or cycling to work and turning down the thermostat at home can all make a difference, as can turning electrical items off rather than leaving them on standby."
"I fear it will take a climatic catastrophe to compel governments across the globe to take action, but the human race has shown repeatedly that it can reverse the damage.
Parts of Western Europe were rebuilt after World War II in less than ten years for example, and a ban on CFCs was achieved after it was revealed they were damaging the ozone layer, so I'm optimistic we can make the changes. Giving up is not an option."
Source: Sheffield Hallam University
Link: http://www.physorg.com/news73277193.html
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Also read:
BETTER GET USED TO KILLER HEAT WAVES, July 29
(AP) -- In Fresno, the morgue is full of victims from a California heat wave. A combination of heat and power outages killed a dozen people in Missouri. And in parts of Europe, temperatures are hotter than in 2003 when a heat wave killed 35,000 people.
Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news73358908.html
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Re: War on climate change (Score: 1)
by ElectroDynaCat on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 @ 07:44:08 GMT
(User Info | Send a Message) | People won't wake up until record heat and drought has withered most of the crops in the field and the store shelves are empty.
Global warming caused by GHGs will correct itself, when most of the human race starves to death and quits emitting CO2.
Most people won't quit smoking until they have to carry an oxygen tank or get lung cancer. They are in denial, and so is the human species in denial about GHGs and climate change.
Still someone is still willing to proclaim that there's no correlation between the facts, whether its smoking/cancer or GHG/climate change, if someone pays them to do it. We don't have to listen to them. |
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Re: War on climate change (Score: 1)
by Crayden on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 @ 10:04:51 GMT
(User Info | Send a Message) | I can't say I like the title. "War on..." seems to invoke a drama in people that gets them looking the wrong way, and anything that's begun with "War on..." the past 10 years has been a mislabeled disaster scheme.
However, the problem behind each is real, albeit manipulated for several ends.
As EDC has also referred to, global warming is more a problem of denial than it is anything else.
In one sense it surprises me that there hasn't for long been a global government mandated implementation program of the GEET technology, given that it can be retrofitted onto any normal engine, reducing both fuel consumption and emissions *drastically*, and that it is easily built practically from standard plumbing store parts.
Then again, practically everyone knows that driving your car to work each day when
you could ride a bike or at least take the bus, is driving another nail
into the coffin, yet most also seem to just ignore
the impending disaster in favour of this very temporary and short-sighted convenience.
In that sense, it's not so surprising that proper solutions haven't been allowed to flourish. It's not the oil companies, they're just minor catalysts in a much larger process where WE comprise the actual problem. The very lacking demand for, or interest in better solutions, and the widespread outright *support* for something most civilized people are well aware the damages and dangers of, is one of the biggest disasters yet.
Given the context, I'll reference those who're not already familiar with the GEET to the free basic plans avaliable online:
http://www.teslatech.info/ttstore/articles/geet/geet.htm
plus Naudin's replication, where he runs it on 75% water and 25% gasoline:
http://jlnlabs.imars.com/bingofuel/pmcjlnen.htm
I sort of hope this is news to someone, and I encourage even those to whom it isn't to help spread the word. This technology, given it's immediate compatibility with our apparently beloved petroleum technology/industry, can be one of the very major steps towards avoiding a gigantic disaster.
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