David Calder Hardy's Cosmology
Global warming can be fought
1* Why are they so cautious? Surely we've gone beyond the 'widely BELIEVED' stage. It would be encouraging to read that 200 scientists and 400 experts agreed that " Greenhouse gases _ primarily carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide produced by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil _ are widely KNOWN to trap heat in the atmosphere, causing the phenomenon known as global warming". (Later in the article the message is a bit more positive).
2* If the planet temperature rises 10.5 degrees over the next 100 years, that would be disasterous, so we cannot afford to pussyfoot around. We know that the burning of fossil fuels is the cause of the problem so there is only one obvious solution. Because the world economy relies on motorised transport, the manufacturers of all vehicle types will have to provide an ecofriendly alternative, not next year or the year after, but right away. And existing roadworthy vehicles should have new ecofriendly motors fitted. One asks the question, why is it taking them so long? Electricity is a clean alternative and so is hydrogen and there are other fuels as well. This is a world problem, so surely the decision makers realise that change is vital to our very existence, as well as their own.
The trouble with this report and so many others in the past is that the grimness and importance of the problem is discussed and reported, but there is no clout. The ship is being sunk by a handfull of greedy people who are quite prepared to take us all with them into oblivion, so these 200 scientists and 400 experts, will all head back to their labs. knowing that their combined voice was not going to inspire the desired action, yet again. Search this site
Genesis Continuous - Complete
InfoBeat - U.N.: Global warming can
be fought
By KWASI KPODO
Associated Press Writer
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - The world possesses effective and affordable
means to combat the threat of global warming, but the political
will to implement them is in doubt, members of a U.N. panel said
Monday.
The panel, which met in Accra, Ghana, released a summary of a
1,000-page study called ``Climate Change 2001: Mitigation,''
written by 200 scientists and reviewed by 400 independent experts.
The report is the third in a series on climate change. The first
predicted that global temperatures could increase faster than
expected. The second, released last month, warned of potentially
devastating effects.
``The earth is really warming, and this warming needs to be
mitigated,'' said Narasimhan Sundararaman, secretary of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. ``Fortunately, the
options are there.''
Greenhouse gases _ primarily carbon dioxide produced by burning
fossil fuels like coal and oil _ are 1*widely believed to trap heat
in the atmosphere, causing the phenomenon known as global warming.
Research indicates that existing technologies could stabilize
carbon dioxide levels over the next 100 years or more, panel
members said. To reach that goal, however, means clearing an array
of technical, economic, political, cultural, social and
institutional hurdles.
``The good news is that there are cost-effective policies and
technologies available for cutting emissions,'' said Klaus Topfer,
executive director of the U.N. Environment Program. ``The bad news
is that there are many barriers to rolling these out.''
Among the possible energy sources it cited were forestry and
agricultural byproducts, municipal and industrial waste, wind
energy, hydropower _ and nuclear power, which is widely opposed by
environmental groups.
There are also hundreds of technologies and practices to improve
energy efficiency in buildings, transportation and manufacturing.
But the report concedes that at least until 2020, energy supply
is likely to be dominated by relatively cheap and abundant fossil
fuels _ despite the existence of energy sources involving low
levels of carbon emission.
The panel also noted that the world's poor have little means to
adopt new technologies or change their practices.
2* The U.N. panel's first report, released in January, predicted
global temperatures could rise by as much as 10.5 degrees over the
next century and said industrial and auto pollution would be
largely to blame.
The second installment outlined the potential effects, saying
sea levels could rise worldwide, while melting polar ice caps could
unleash climate changes that would continue for centuries.
The latest report followed a meeting Sunday in Trieste, Italy,
where environment ministers from the Group of Seven leading
industrialized nations and Russia renewed promised to seek a
detailed agreement on reducing pollution.
American and European environmental officials have been at odds
over the implementation of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which calls for
reductions in the output of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Genesis Continuous - Complete