Climate

The Skeptical Environmentalist

Marcus — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 12:42:04 -0400

Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author, academic, and environmentalist. He is an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, and Director of Copenhagen Consensus Center. In 2007, he published “Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Climate Change,” a book that offers a fresh perspective on global warming by incorporating human needs as well as economics into its plan to address climate change.

Lomborg’s visionary approach to the global climate crisis has earned him international acclaim, as well as appearances on Larry King, 20/20, The Colbert Report, 60 Minutes, BBC Newsnight, and a host of others. In 2008, Lomborg was named one of the “50 people who could save the planet” by the UK Guardian, and one of the “top 100 public intellectuals” by Foreign Policy and Prospect Magazine. Lomborg continues to be one of the most prominent and exciting environmental thinkers of our time.

In an essay entitled “The Future of the World,” Lomborg outlines some of his positions on reversing the effects of climate change, charging his readers not to focus on the problems our planet faces, but, rather, to look to our accomplishments as a source of inspiration. Lomborg points out that, over the course of the last century, malnutrition has dropped significantly, poverty has been cut in half, illiteracy rates are way down, and access to clean drinking water has been dramatically improved. Lomborg argues that, while it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the challenges the future holds, we must use our accomplishments as inspiration to continue to improve our world over the coming generations.

Lomborg also asserts that we shouldn’t focus our efforts solely on undoing global warming from an exclusively environmental perspective. Rather, we should strive to improve the global economy and bolster individual wealth, and environmental stability will follow. As an example, Lomborg points out that indoor air pollution is the single most pressing environmental problem, responsible for about 1.5 million deaths annually. Rather than certifying the dung that many impoverished families use to heat their homes, Lomborg proposes making these people “rich enough to afford kerosene.” Improving the global economy will lead to better environmental conditions around the world, and Lomborg is eager to guide the effort toward achieving global prosperity.

For more information on Bjørn Lomborg, go to www.lomborg.com.

Smog Envelops Beijing on the Eve of Opening Ceremonies

Marcus — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:00:38 -0400

Apparently, it’s unclear whether or not the “fog” that International Olympic Committee president James Rogge reported seeing earlier today in downtown Beijing is due to pollution or excessive heat and humidity. Either way, today’s haze marked the smoggiest day of the past week and, with the opening ceremonies just a day away, the I.O.C. is concerned that it may have to postpone events due to noxious air. Outdoor events, especially cycling, triathlon, and marathon running, are the most at risk, and I.O.C. officials are taking every precaution to ensure athletes’ health and safety. While Chinese authorities are confident that the air quality will remain at safe levels, the air pollution in Beijing is often three times higher than the U.S. limit on any given day.

It’s going to be interesting to see whether or not athletes opt out of tomorrow’s opening ceremony, where they’ll have to be outside for several hours. Look for Beijing’s pollution to become a theme over the course of the games—it may unfortunately play a significant role in the way several of the events unfold. There’s already been some controversy over American cyclists getting off the plane with pollution-cutting masks on. The smog, in conjunction with some serious humidity, not to mention the rising tensions of the China-Tibet conflict, could make things a little bit sticky over the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

A Two-Way Street

scleaver — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Rising food prices—up 4% last year, the largest increase since 1990—are affected by oil, global markets, speculation, biofuels, and…climate change. And, thanks to how we currently handle agriculture, food price increases and climate change are likely to continue together, if unchecked.

Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently confirmed that global warming is affecting the hydrological cycle in the U.S. Between 1950 and 1999, as much as 60% of climate-related trends in river flow, winter air temperature, and snow were caused by us humans. As precipitation patterns and glacial melting changes, water availability will change, and that will affect agriculture—think the drought that’s already affected Australia and increased the price of wheat as a result.

As Shiney Varghese, senior policy analyst for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy wrote, “[e]xisting irrigation and drainage infrastructure have been designed for stable climate conditions. They are very likely inadequate to cope with extreme climatic variations in precipitation and reduced water supply reliability and availability, as well as floods.” (Read the article at Alternet.org.) Irrigation uses up a lot of water and “accounts for 40% of global food production” (the other 60% of farms use rain water).

It’s a two-way street—climate change is affecting food production and food production is affecting climate change. As Varghese points out, “the two sectors in the world that use the most water, chemical intensive agriculture and fossil fuel-based energy production, are also the biggest contributors to global warming, which in turn further increases water stress in many regions.”

The solutions?

1. Protect local watersheds and wetlands for local agriculture systems, instead of huge, exporting industrial farms would help reduce the water sector’s contribution to climate change and improve resilience of local farming systems for food security and environmental concerns.

2. Change agricultural policies that are too water and energy-intensive. Opt instead for water management policies that are both sustainable and effective.

Photo from US Fish and Wildlife Service where you can learn more about irrigation farming.

Scuba divers: Look out for reef restoration balls

ellen — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:20:06 -0400

This, my friends, is a reefball.
While these man-made concrete creations don't directly affect our
architectural designs above ground, these new reef re-building
technologies have a huge potential impact indirectly on all of us.

Coral reefs are crucial to our ecosystem, and are sadly disappearing
everyday. This new technology gives some hope for the rebuilding of our
oceans coral reefs. These artificial reef modules have been created to
be introduced to natural coral reefs, to recreate a reef habitat where
one may have existed some time ago.

Yes we're on an island here in Brooklyn - but still pretty far from
being near a natural coral reef. However - if you happen to take a trip
down south, or are brushing up on your scuba diving skills, be sure to
check out the new rebuilding technologies - they may be more important
to our future than we think.

This article
describes how warming waters are affecting the bone structure of
juvenile reef fish, possibly causing them to lose their way during
their development stages of growth. This indirectly has a future impact
on us up north...

Carbon Footprints

scleaver — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:56:58 -0500

The Ethicurean had an interesting blog post, Thinking About Carbon "Foodprints" on March 2nd about a recent New Yorker article that explores the topic. The basic problem: how we make and get our food produces too much carbon emissions. The Pew Center on Climate Change estimates that agriculture generates 14% of greenhouse gases worldwide, factor in the 18% produced by land use changes and forestry, and the 18% that the UN estimates are caused by livestock (in their report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow”) and it’s no wonder that we’re starting to measure food miles in terms of carbon production. But, after discussing how tricky it is to actually measure carbon footprints for something as simple as a lamb, or as complex as a jar of peanut butter (its more than transport, it’s also what type of fertilizer is used, how the peanuts were grown, etc), the solution may not be eating local. What is the solution, then? I like the idea of having carbon footprint labels on food, to let consumers know just how sustainable their hamburger or frozen pizza is, or a simpler plan might just be to tackle the key ingredients in agriculture—go meat free a few days a week (to cut down on carbon emissions from livestock), buy local produce as much as possible (to cut down on the carbon produced by clearing land for agriculture and the carbon cost to transport it), and be aware of the companies that you’re buying from (to encourage companies to reduce carbon emissions to keep your business).

Here’s the Pew Center on Climate Change Report and the Livestock's Long Shadow Report.

Photo taken from www.foodcarbon.co.uk. Check out their Food Carbon Footprint Calculator!

Want to learn more about carbon credits?

How to Measure and Price Carbon Credits

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The Quest for the Perfect Carbon Calculator

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