Environment
"...the costs of climate change, if not addressed, will be equivalent to losing 5 percent (and potentially as much as 20 percent) of the global gross domestic product (GDP) each year, now and forever." Hundreds of millions of people could be threatened with hunger, water shortages, and severe economic deprivation. "Climate change is the greatest example of market failure we have ever seen." from the Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change. (updated 8/2011 in Technology Review Magazine).
"... we are in the process of destroying a great many things which are real for the sake of something that exists chiefly in our imagination: money." Decline of the Empire: Clueless Man.
If the Kyoto Protocol is the best that the evolutionary process can provide as an example of the survival of the fittest, the very clear deduction is that we're not fit to survive, and we're not going to. We have so lost our way. Aubrey Meyer
Blinded by ignorance and self-absorption, humanity is destroying the creation. There is still time to assume the stewardship of the natural world that we owe to future human generations." E. O. Wilson, The Creation.
It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars: Arthur C. Clarke
The United States' natural resource policy - which gives away mineral rights and is controlled by special interests - is a model for how things should not be done. The secrecy with which the Bush administration formulated its energy policy - even refusing to disclose the names of the industry representatives who participated - also makes for a dismal role model. Bush's arguments for executive privilege are loved by those trying to keep secret what they are doing - whether to benefit themselves, their cronies, or a wider circle of friends who have helped them stay in power. pg 151 Making Globalization Work. Joseph E. Stiglitz. www.wwnorton.com
Links
Public Opinion favors Greater Efforts to Address Climate
Change
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
Center
For Biological Diversity
Campaign Against Climate Change
Connecticut Fund for the Environment
Connecticut Fund for the Environment & Save the Sound
Science & Environmental Health Network
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Alliance for Climate Protection
Advocates For Community Empowerment
Institute For Responsible Technology
Environment See Robert F Kennedy's comments and his book Crimes against Nature. etc The Bush record is despicable.
NRDC National Resources Defense Council
Nature Conservancy working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.
Wilderness Society people protecting America's Wilderness since 1935 through the potent combination of science, advocacy and education.
Center for Biological Diversity
Environmental Defense Action Fund
Rachel's Precautionary Reporter
Blacksmith Institute: Solving Pollution Problems
American Farmland Trust for the protection of America's remaining farmland.
Ocean Conservancy promotes healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems and opposes practices that threaten ocean life and human life.
Earth Justice a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations and communities.
National Parks Conservation Association
About Watt.
Capitalism
vs the Climate (11/28/2011)
The
Parching of the West (12/04/2011)
To
Conservatives, Climate Change Is A Trojan Horse To Abolish Capitalism
(11/27/2011)
World
is Nearing the Climate Point of No Return, IEA Says (11/9/2011)
Stop
The Keystone XL (10/18/2011)
How
the Right Wing's World View Is Torn Apart By Climate Change
How
the West Was Lost: The American West in Flames
NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries
Large, consistent majority of Americans believe climate change is happening, want government to act (6/11/2010)
An Illustrated Guide to the Latest Climate Science (2/17/2010)
Climate Change: Four Futures (5/14/2010)
How to Answer the Dumb Things Climate Deniers Say (2/9/2010)
Gwynne Dyer: Climate Wars (Video about an hour).
Climate-gate: Beyond the Embarassment
Film
on Climate Refugees Strikes a Chord (8/12/2011)
Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States
For Humanity it's already too late.
The Science of Climate Change (Guardian)
Scientists warn of a world on the brink (3/14/2009)
Lord Stern on global warming: It's even worse than I thought (3/13/2009) See Note.
State of the Wild (James Hansen)
Coming Ecological Collapse: Failing Ecosystems the Mother of All Bubbles (4/11/2008)
Jared Diamond: Why Societies Collapse (Video From 2003 TED Conference.)
Robert F Kennedy Jr on the Environment and Democracy
NASA says ozone layer hole 5th biggest on record (11/5/2008)
Rejoin the world's fight against climate change.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
US refuses to reduce emissions at Bali (12/2007)
From False to Real solutions for climate change. (01/06/2008)
Environmental causes of cancer
Climate Change is a security issue like the cold war.
Water
Flow (documentary: about 84 minutes) Watch it on line.
About Drought
Decline in snowpack because of global warming. (02/01/2008)
Oceans growing acidity alarms scientists (12/16/2007)
A Looming Oxygen Crisis and Its Impact on World’s Oceans (8/5/2010)
Blue Gold: World Water Wars (Documentary Movie 2009)
Extinction
We've
Entered The Age of Mass Extinction (8/13/2011)
Large Percent of Mammals going extinct
Loss of habitat threatens one-third of all primates (10/27/2007)
20 percent of all vertebrate species on Earth are threatened by extinction
About Pfizer's now closed production facility in Groton.
Hazardous Waste
Support the Household Hazardous Waste Facility (CT river towns only.)
Minimize your lawn. "At the Connecticut [College] Arboretum we have over the past two decades established techniques in naturalistic landscaping that have significant relevance in conserving millions of gallons of our estimated 30-year petroleum supply, saving thousands of tons of fertilizers and negating the unnecessary use of pesticides. The concept involves reducing the size of one's lawn or actually eliminating it. This is not to say that lawns are not pleasing, aesthetic, artificial creations of man, but environmentally they are very expensive to maintain. In the United States there are five million acres of lawn on which we use three million tons of fertilizer annually. Two years ago several Congressmen recommended to the President that the use of commercial fertilizers be restricted on lawns. This was not a popular request, and nothing has been heard of it since. The Lawn Institute and Fertilizer Institute might object strenuously. Note that the request was not to restrict production of fertilizers, but merely an attempt to direct their application into areas such as agriculture and food production--their highest and best use. It is especially important that we use fertilizers wisely since phosphorus, a vital element, may be in short supply in the future." William Niering
Save the River/Save the Hills is dedicated to abating and preventing pollution of the river and advocating the preservation of the Oswegatchie Hills. Due to bacterial and other forms of pollution the Niantic River is on the Federal EPA and the CT DEP's "List of Impaired Waterbodies".
Klienschmidt Energy and Water Resource Consultants are studying pollution sources emptying into the Niantic River. The final report, the Niantic River Watershed Plan, is due in September. www.kxchange.com/nrwp.
Politicization of Climate Science
Today, GAP is releasing a comprehensive report, Redacting the Science of Climate Change, detailing the findings of a year-long investigation into political interference at federal climate science agencies. The report demonstrates how policies and practices have increasingly restricted the flow of scientific information emerging from publicly-funded climate change research. This has negatively affected the media’s ability to report objectively on scientific issues, public officials’ capacity to respond with appropriate policies, and full public understanding of environmental concerns. -- Dylan Blaylock 3/27/07
NRDC The Bush Record on the Environment
How the Bush administration regulates.
Bush Administration interfering with EPA Scientists.
EPA: Enormously Pathetic Agency
The EPA is hastily closing its libraries. !
Censorship of climate Science: The case of Dr James Hanson
US at the bottom of environmental performance for industrialized countries.
Political interference at the EPA (posted 4/28/2008) See the full report.
Bush EPA dilutes environmental justice
Running Black ops on Green Groups (April 2, 2008)
Smearing Al Gore: Here We Go Again
Climate Change Deniers
Ads Call Out Clean Air Act Attackers (7/29/2010)
A Rising Tide of Climate Skeptic Disinformation
Climate change skeptics and lobbyists put world at risk, says top adviser
The
Award for Nonexcellance in Climate Journalism Goes To ...
Unfortunately, the list is
pretty long. more »
Long term Weather Forecast
Note: some of these scenarios from "The Extreme Future": James Canton, Ph.d.
Human population increase is putting pressure on the earth's environment. Malthus wasn't wrong, just early.
Expect continued warming. Check out some of the evidence for Global Warming, or the Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. CO2 levels have increased measurably in the atmosphere, and, as a result, UN scientists warn time is running out to tackle global warming.
Arctic ice will melt, open water will appear near the North Pole, glaciers worldwide are disappearing reducing the natural supply of fresh water. Serious droughts will be disastrous for many. Desertification will accelerate. Lakes will shrink. Dust Bowls expand.
More forest fires will result from warmer, dryer conditions. A recent 60 Minutes piece reported no firefighters doubt global warming.
Sea levels will rise forcing migration from areas near water level. The migration is already beginning. Insects will proliferate in northern climates bringing more disease. Many low coastal areas will become uninhabitable forcing many of the world's poorest to migrate to higher ground. Likelyhood of resource wars much higher. Massive immigration from climate impacted areas inevetable. Danger of nuclear war, particularly between India and Pakistan, will grow.
Storm severity will increase as ocean waters warm.
It is well established that Biodiversity has declined. This will be a permanent loss. Many species will need to move to preserve their habitat. Tropical species, insects, and disease will spread north.
Pollutants will become more hazardous and more threatening. Disease increase including cancer and environmentally related diseases due to overpopulation, pollution, environmental damage, and climate change.
Peak oil will not only make fuel, transport, and fertilizer, and food more expensive.
Deforestation will accelerate as demand grows for biofuels. Lack of Farmland will also be exacerbated by urban growth. Food shortages will be extensive.
Over fishing has already caused collapse of ocean ecology.
Increased financial burden due to natural-resource scarcity will result in more frequent wars.
Population growth will put further pressure on resources. Resource scarcity of food, water, and land will increase poverty. Poverty is a driver of war.
Climate change may not happen gradually because we suspect there are considerable non-linearities. For example arctic ice melt will cause a change in the albedo, permafrost melt will release large amounts of methane, fresh water runoff from melting Greenland ice can cause a slowing or stopping of the Gulf Stream. So some of these changes could happen rapidly. Arctic ice melt is much faster than computer models predicted.
It is not easy to see how the more extreme forms of nationalism can long survive when men have seen the Earth in its true perspective as a single small globe against the stars: Arthur C. Clarke
other websites:
"Petroleum geologists have known for 50 years that global oil production would "peak" and begin its inevitable decline within a decade of the year 2000. Moreover, no renewable energy systems have the potential to generate more than a tiny fraction of the power now being generated by fossil fuels. In short, the end of oil signals the end of civilization, as we know it." From dieoff.com, a web site assembled by James Hanson, NASA scientist.
Forest Guardians Environmental Activism Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly
Effective Environmental Policy in the Presence of Distorting Taxes
Tax shift legislation in Vermont
Minnesotans for an Energy-Efficient Economy (USA)
The Official Judi Bari Website
Global Dimming (Video about 45 minutes.)
Video
End of the Line (Trailer)
Bibliography
Eaarth:
Bill Mckibben
The World In 2050: Laurence C. Smith
Profit
Pathology and Disposable Planet: Michael Parenti
Climate Wars: Gwynne Dyer
Climate Cover-up, the Crusade to Deny Global Warming: James Hoggan with Richard Littlemore
Global Spin, the Corporate Assault on Environmentalism: Sharon Beder
The economics of climate change: the Stern review
The End of Nature: Bill Mckibben
Storms of My Grandchildren: James Hansen
Coming Climate Crisis: Claire L. Parkinson
Fixing the Sky: James Rodger Fleming
Hack the Planet: Eli Kintisch
Forecast: Stephan Faris
The Climate Fix: Roger Pielke Jr
Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet, Jeffrey D. Sachs
The Bridge at the End of the World: Gus Speth (2008)
The Body Toxic: Nena Baker (2008)
Storm World: Chris Mooney
The World Without Us: Alan Weisman
15 Books That Will Change How You See The World
Censoring Science: Inside the political attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming. Mark Bowen.
With Speed and Violence: Fred Pearce. Beacon Press. 2007
Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning: George Monbiot
The Next One Hundred Years: Jonathan Weiner
The Creation, An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, E. O. Wilson
When Smoke Ran Like Water, Devra Davis
Fateful Harvest: Duff Wilson (Careful what fertilizer you use.)
Our Stolen Future: Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers
Silent Spring: Rachel Carson
The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's at Stake for American Power
Our Synthetic Environment: Murray Bookchin (Read it online.)
A Matter of Degree: Gino Segre'
The Heat is On: Ross Gelbspan.
The Extreme Future: James Canton
Beyond The Limits: Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers.
The Limits to Growth: Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, William W. Behrens III.
The
Limits to Growth Revisited: Ugo Bardi. 2011
See Global Warming page also.