Sunday, March 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Arctic meltdown
Riches await as Earth's icy north melts, by Doug Mellgren
This article discusses the international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes in the Arctic. The polar ice cap is melting faster than anywhere on earth, due to greenhouse gases. This is catastrophic for both wildlife and the native inhabitants, who depend on frozen waters. But some see the transformation of the Arctic ecosystem as an opportunity to make lucrative profits.
This has motivated governments and businesses to scramble for control of the area. Norway is already planning to tap for oil and gas in the Barents sea. In addition, Arctic warming could open up new sea routes from Europe to the Far East and to Alaska. The possibility of a new north-west passage has focussed attention on Hans Island, a half-square mile rock which, for strategic reasons, is being claimed by both Denmark and Canada. As well as this dispute, Norway and Russia have issues in the Barents Sea, the USA and Russia in the Beaufort Sea and the US and Canada over the north-west passage. The scramble is exacerbated by the fact that the ice cap could melt in 10-15 years, not 100 as previously thought. Furthermore, fish stocks are moving further north to colder waters and Norway and Russia have already clashed over fishing rights.
Finally, the article highlights, firstly, the environmental concerns, from the risk of oil spills to the introduction of alien organisms, associated with the Arctic melt, and, secondly, concern over the rights of the Arctic's indigenous peoples.
246 words
This article discusses the international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes in the Arctic. The polar ice cap is melting faster than anywhere on earth, due to greenhouse gases. This is catastrophic for both wildlife and the native inhabitants, who depend on frozen waters. But some see the transformation of the Arctic ecosystem as an opportunity to make lucrative profits.
This has motivated governments and businesses to scramble for control of the area. Norway is already planning to tap for oil and gas in the Barents sea. In addition, Arctic warming could open up new sea routes from Europe to the Far East and to Alaska. The possibility of a new north-west passage has focussed attention on Hans Island, a half-square mile rock which, for strategic reasons, is being claimed by both Denmark and Canada. As well as this dispute, Norway and Russia have issues in the Barents Sea, the USA and Russia in the Beaufort Sea and the US and Canada over the north-west passage. The scramble is exacerbated by the fact that the ice cap could melt in 10-15 years, not 100 as previously thought. Furthermore, fish stocks are moving further north to colder waters and Norway and Russia have already clashed over fishing rights.
Finally, the article highlights, firstly, the environmental concerns, from the risk of oil spills to the introduction of alien organisms, associated with the Arctic melt, and, secondly, concern over the rights of the Arctic's indigenous peoples.
246 words
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wanted: Natural Residents
In 'Wanted: Natural Residents'. Carolyn Fry describes the new Western Harbour development in Malmo, Sweden. It is located on reclaimed industrial land and is designed to promote sustainable urban living. The first phase of 1,300 new apartments, Bo01, was planned not only to showcase new green methods of waste management, renewable energy and sustainable transport, but also to promote biodiversity.
Developers have to choose 10 green features from a list of 35 to incorporate into their designs. As a result, wildlife is flourishing in Bo01. Extra green features are planned for the next 2 phases of the development. The aim is to further raise awareness so that people buy the new houses because of their green credentials, rather than because of their fashionability.There is also a school with its own recycling 'Sopstation', where the children are taught to understand ecology. Developers of Bo02 and Bo03 are being asked to install rooftop wind turbines and to promote even greater biodiversity. The green points system in Western Harbour is now being adopted in Malmo's city-wide environmental building programme.
176 words
Developers have to choose 10 green features from a list of 35 to incorporate into their designs. As a result, wildlife is flourishing in Bo01. Extra green features are planned for the next 2 phases of the development. The aim is to further raise awareness so that people buy the new houses because of their green credentials, rather than because of their fashionability.There is also a school with its own recycling 'Sopstation', where the children are taught to understand ecology. Developers of Bo02 and Bo03 are being asked to install rooftop wind turbines and to promote even greater biodiversity. The green points system in Western Harbour is now being adopted in Malmo's city-wide environmental building programme.
176 words
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
An Inconvenient Truth
I watched the movie with my class CRB. It is a very well-made and interesting film.
There were several plus points about the film, viz:
(1) The graphics, in general, were excellent, e.g.
(a) fitting the east coast of S. Amerca onto the west coast of Africa;
(b) cartoon of Mr Sunbeam & greenhouse gases;
(c) graphics of Lake Chad & stranded ships in Aral Sea;
(d) pictures of Kilimanjaro & various glaciers around the world very powerful;
(e) graphs showing 1,000 years of CO2/global warming & 650,000 years of CO2 & temperature very telling;
(f) dramatic use of Gore’s contraption;
(g) graphics of possible effects of rising sea levels on Florida, San Francisco, Beijing,Shanghai, Calcutta/Bangladesh, Manhattan very dramatic.
(2) The emphasis on hard data was most impressive, e.g.
(a) Roger Revelle’s insistence on hard data re. the 1st measurements of CO2 in theatmosphere;
(b) Statistics on coal mining in China.
(3) The film was well photographed, directed & presented. Good use of humour to emphasise points.
(4) The final analysis of the causes of global warming was clear. According to Gore, the problem is due to:
(a) population growth – 2bn to 9bn in one lifetime;
(b) technology – in many ways wonderful, e.g. medical advances, but now so powerful that it’sbecome a force of nature in itself;
(c) ways of thinking; the frog in the water was a clever analogy. The Economy v Environmentissue was cleverly presented.
(5) The film was effectively personalized, with reference to Gore’s son’s accident, his loss of thepresidential election in 2000 & the death of his sister Nancy from lung cancer. Each of theseepisodes was used to highlight the greater long-term significance of global events.
(6) The film had a positive ending, with examples of how exactly we can get back to below the level of 1970s emissions.
Postscript: it is interesting that Gore, a politician, mentions at least twice, and particularly when he talks about his personal setbacks, that the problem we face is a moral, not a political, issue. Yet his final message is that what is lacking, and what is most needed, is political will, without which the problems associated with climate change & global warming cannot be solved.
There were several plus points about the film, viz:
(1) The graphics, in general, were excellent, e.g.
(a) fitting the east coast of S. Amerca onto the west coast of Africa;
(b) cartoon of Mr Sunbeam & greenhouse gases;
(c) graphics of Lake Chad & stranded ships in Aral Sea;
(d) pictures of Kilimanjaro & various glaciers around the world very powerful;
(e) graphs showing 1,000 years of CO2/global warming & 650,000 years of CO2 & temperature very telling;
(f) dramatic use of Gore’s contraption;
(g) graphics of possible effects of rising sea levels on Florida, San Francisco, Beijing,Shanghai, Calcutta/Bangladesh, Manhattan very dramatic.
(2) The emphasis on hard data was most impressive, e.g.
(a) Roger Revelle’s insistence on hard data re. the 1st measurements of CO2 in theatmosphere;
(b) Statistics on coal mining in China.
(3) The film was well photographed, directed & presented. Good use of humour to emphasise points.
(4) The final analysis of the causes of global warming was clear. According to Gore, the problem is due to:
(a) population growth – 2bn to 9bn in one lifetime;
(b) technology – in many ways wonderful, e.g. medical advances, but now so powerful that it’sbecome a force of nature in itself;
(c) ways of thinking; the frog in the water was a clever analogy. The Economy v Environmentissue was cleverly presented.
(5) The film was effectively personalized, with reference to Gore’s son’s accident, his loss of thepresidential election in 2000 & the death of his sister Nancy from lung cancer. Each of theseepisodes was used to highlight the greater long-term significance of global events.
(6) The film had a positive ending, with examples of how exactly we can get back to below the level of 1970s emissions.
Postscript: it is interesting that Gore, a politician, mentions at least twice, and particularly when he talks about his personal setbacks, that the problem we face is a moral, not a political, issue. Yet his final message is that what is lacking, and what is most needed, is political will, without which the problems associated with climate change & global warming cannot be solved.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Task 2
Global warming is certainly happening and to deny the seriousness of the problem of climate change would be ostrich-like. It is, however, important to keep things in perspective.
There is a tendency nowadays, in certain circles, to blame all of the world's woes on global warming. The tsunami which devastated parts of Sri Lanka and other areas in S.E. Asia was not caused by global warming. It was caused by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Food shortages are also often blamed on global warming but there is enough food in the world to feed all of its inhabitants. Where food shortages occur, as in present-day Zimbabwe, they are almost always the result of political mismanagement, as is clearly the case with President Mugabe.
Probably the most devastating natural phenomenon of recent centuries, the eruption at Krakatoa, west of Java, occurred long before anyone had ever even remotely considered the concept of global warming.Its best-known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26–27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern times. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6, the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT—about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 KT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 MT), the largest nuclear device ever detonated.The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 cubic kilometres (5.0 cu mi) of rock, ash, and pumice. It also generated the loudest sound reported in recorded history—the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Western Australia, nearly 2,000 (over 3,000 kms) miles away, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles (5,000 kms) away. (Wikipedia, 2009).
There is a tendency nowadays, in certain circles, to blame all of the world's woes on global warming. The tsunami which devastated parts of Sri Lanka and other areas in S.E. Asia was not caused by global warming. It was caused by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Food shortages are also often blamed on global warming but there is enough food in the world to feed all of its inhabitants. Where food shortages occur, as in present-day Zimbabwe, they are almost always the result of political mismanagement, as is clearly the case with President Mugabe.
Probably the most devastating natural phenomenon of recent centuries, the eruption at Krakatoa, west of Java, occurred long before anyone had ever even remotely considered the concept of global warming.Its best-known eruption culminated in a series of massive explosions on August 26–27, 1883, which was among the most violent volcanic events in modern times. With a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 6, the eruption was equivalent to 200 megatons of TNT—about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 KT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II and four times the yield of the Tsar Bomba (50 MT), the largest nuclear device ever detonated.The 1883 eruption ejected approximately 21 cubic kilometres (5.0 cu mi) of rock, ash, and pumice. It also generated the loudest sound reported in recorded history—the cataclysmic explosion was distinctly heard as far away as Perth in Western Australia, nearly 2,000 (over 3,000 kms) miles away, and the island of Rodrigues near Mauritius, about 3,000 miles (5,000 kms) away. (Wikipedia, 2009).
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