MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change: The Cost of Global Reform (World Future Fund)
The Failure of the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (World Future Fund)
A Carbon Tax Would Cut The Deficit By $1 Trillion (Climate Progress, 11-14-13)
The 10 Cities Most At Risk Of Being Hit By Natural Disasters (Business Insider, 3-28-14) There are many high population cities around the world that are a sitting duck for a natural disaster. Tehran for example is a city with 15 million people and it sits on one of the most dangerous fault lines in the world. Many of the other cities mentioned are also situated on top of dangerous fault lines or are right next to large rivers, which makes them a potential target for heavy floods.
14 U.S. Cities That Could Disappear Over The Next Century, Thanks to Global Warming (Huffington Post, 8-27-13)
Thanks to Climate Change, sea levels are rising. Many
populated cities like Miami may not make it over the next century due to
rising tides.
300,000 People a Year Are Already Being Killed by Climate Change
In May of 2009 the
Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum launched a report intended to document
the impact of climate change on human society. Its conclusions: More than
300,000 people die annually due to the deteriorating environmental situation.
The report further found that over 500 million people live at extreme risk,
their existence threatened daily by climate change. The report also found that
more than 20 million people are currently climate refugees and that climate
change itself costs the world economy more than 100 billion dollars annually.
Click here for a PDF copy of the report or visit its website.
World on Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (Lester R. Brown, Book)
Lester Brown's solution for dealing with an imminent climate
change and the resulting economic collapse. Can we go in the right
direction before we go over the edge? Lester Brown is also the author of
Plan B.
A Carbon Tax Would Cut The Deficit By $1 Trillion (Climate Progress, 11-14-13)
INFORMATIVE SITES ON CLIMATE CHANGE
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Gateway to the United Nations System's Work on Climate Change
Pictures of Impact of Climate Change BBC Version
Inconvenient Truth Web Site Al Gore 2007 Nobel Prize Speech and Video (Official Nobel Prize Site) Official Transcript Al Gore Official Web Site
THE SPREAD OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Climate Change as a Matter of Public Health (Phys Org, 4-8-14)
For a long time, Climate Change was perceived only as an environmental issue. Yet Scientists since the 90's have stated that climate change is also a global public health issue. These scientists have stated that climate change is likely to bring more exotic, tropical diseases to areas like Europe and North America. Diseases like malaria could reemerge in temperate areas where they have long been under control.
Climate Change and Infectious Diseases (Harvard School of Public Health)
Many prevalent human infections such as malaria, dengue fever and cholera are climate sensitive. Many of these diseases are spread by mosquitoes who thrive in warmer temperatures. As the temperature begins to rise globally, more mosquitoes and climate sensitive diseases will spread as a result.
Climate Impact on Human Health (EPA)
More frequent and longer heat waves could increase the number of heat-related illnesses and deaths. Warmer temperatures could also increase the concentration of unhealthy air and water pollution, which will certainly have an effect on human health.
NEWS FROM THE ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC
Ice in Antarctica and Greenland Melting at Alarming Rate (NBC Report)
Most people around the world live in coastal cities. Even
most Americans live within 50 miles of the coastline. Enough ice is
melting to raise ocean levels to dangerous levels - dangerous enough to
cause constant storms for those who live on the coastline. We are
living through climate chance in real time and massive storms like
Katrina and Sandy are about to become a regular part of life.
Greenland and Antarctica ' May be Vulnerable to Rapid Ice Loss Through Catastrophic Disintegration' (Think Progress, 7-30-13)
Why Greenland’s melting could be the biggest climate disaster of all (Grist, 2-24-13)
Read the report: "Greenland ice sheet albedo feedback: thermodynamics and atmospheric drivers" (PDF)
Greenland's Ice
Cap is Melting Three Times Faster than Five Years Ago
Citing
evidence accumulated by a University of Texas at Austin team of
scientists, the article demonstrates that the Greenland ice cap, which
holds an estimated 2.85 cubic kilometers of fresh water ice (See New
Scientist), is melting away more rapidly than scientists had
previously thought. This melting process is raising sea levels
around the world, which will in turn place coastal areas underwater within
50 years. (By San Francisco Chronicle posted on Common Dreams,
8-11-06)
Arctic Death Spiral Bombshell: CryoSat-2 Confirms Sea Ice Volume Has Collapsed (Think Progress, 12-14-13)
Read the report: "Geophysical Research Letters"
METHANE IN THE ARCTIC
Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of millions of tons of methane gas locked away beneath the Arctic permafrost. Methane is a greenhouse gas much more powerful than carbon dioxide - 23 times more powerful. One of the greatest fears that many scientists have is that when the Arctic sea ice disappears (due to global warming), the trapped methane will be released into the atmosphere leading to severe and rapid climate change.
Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters (Envisionation VIDEO)
The ice in the Arctic now is half of what it was 30 years ago. So far it hasn't collapsed, but it will.
The Giant Methane Monster That Can Wipe Out the Human Race (Alternet, 7-4-14)
"Vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor" discovered in Siberian Arctic Sea (Daily KOS, 7-28-14)
Arctic Ocean Leaking Methane At Alarming Rate, Researchers Say (The Seattle Times, 11-29-13)
More Arctic Methane Bubbles into Atmosphere (Scientific American, 11-25-13)
Vast methane 'plumes' seen in Arctic ocean as sea ice retreats (Independent, 12-13-11)
Scientists Find
New Global Warming "Time Bomb"
"Global warming gases trapped in
the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher
than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate
time bomb. Methane - a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than
carbon dioxide - is being released from the permafrost at a rate five
times faster than thought, according to a study being published today
in the journal Nature." (By The Associated Press posted on
Common Dreams, 9-7-06)
OCEAN ACIDIFICACTION
Ocean Acidification: A Critical Emerging Problem For the Ocean Sciences (PDF Report)
Ocean acidification is a change in seawater chemistry due to
rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide
in the air transforms into carbonic acid in the sea. These changes have
dire effects on ocean life. According to this report, "the current rapid
rise in atmospheric CO2 is as much as 30 times faster than natural rates in the geological past, and present levels are higher than at anytime in at least 850,00 years and likely several million years."
FRACKING AND METHANE
U.S. Methane Study Says Emissions 50 Percent Higher Than EPA Estimates (Huffington Post, 11-25-13)
This means that Methane may be a greater environmental
threat than formerly thought. Much of this methane comes from the
keeping of livestock in factory farms as well as the release of gas from
the practice of hydraulic fracking.
Fracking Flares in North Dakota Bakken Shale Equal 1 Million Cars Each Year (Popular Resistance, 8-31-13)
Former Mobil VP Warns of Fracking and Climate Change (Truth Out, 7-19-13)
Oil scholar Michael Klare calls fracking the "race for what is
left." Louis Alstadt, the former VP of Mobil himself, states "The
fracking that's going on right now is the real wake-up call on just what
extreme lengths are required to pull oil or gas out of the ground now
that most of the conventional reservoirs have been exploited - at least
those that are easy to access." He goes on to discuss the reality that
fracking releases Methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more
powerful than carbon dioxide.
Drill Baby Drill: They tell us we're on the cusp of an oil and gas revolution, but what if it's all just a short term bubble? (Shale Bubble Report, February 2013)
RISING USE OF COAL AROUND THE WORLD
IEA predicts coal will grow by as a share of world energy between 2005 and 2030. This means the world's worst form of energy will grow in demand by 73%. (International Energy Agency) (Click here for report.)
Europe consuming more coal (The Washington Post, 2-7-13)
Coal set to rival oil as world’s primary energy source by 2017 (Deep Green Resistance, 12-18-12)
HYDROPOWER
Why Hydropower is Not Clean Energy (Alternet)
Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All
MAIN EXTINCTION CLIMATE CHANGE TOXIC CHEMICALS THE OCEAN GLOBAL WATER CRISIS FORESTS CHINA
POISONING THE PLANET
DANGEROUS EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS ON ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH
In America, many of the chemical companies have very loose regulations about what kinds of chemicals they can release into the public. As a result, hundreds of untested or low tested chemicals have been released into the environment that have questionable effects on human health, as well as the health of other life forms. Many of these chemicals, such as some of the newer pesticides used for farming, have killed millions of other life forms, such as bees and bats. Check out the World Future Fund Site links below for more on this chemical crisis.
Failure of U.S. Chemical Testing: Poison in The Blood(World Future Fund)
America's
track record on testing poisonous chemicals has been one of complete
neglect to public health and safety. Most Americans assume that
chemicals in everyday products such as shampoos and detergents have been
tested. In this assumption, they are dead wrong. In its entire history,
the Environmental Protection Agency has only succeeded in banning five
substances (New York Times). America clearly does not take the regulation of hazardous chemicals very seriously.
EPA and EU Sites Concerning Chemicals and Human Health (World Future Fund)
Chemicals and Health Organizations (World Future Fund)
Green Revolution (World Future Fund)
Indoor Air Report (World Future Fund)
From fertiliser to Zyklon B: 100 years of the scientific discovery that brought life and death (The Guardian, 11-2-13)
A LACK OF EPA REGULATION
The Huge Drop in America's Commitment to a Safe Environment: EPA Budget as a Percent of Total Federal Budget (World Future Fund Report)
America's commitment to a safe and clean environment has
declined drastically since the 1980's. There has been a 75% spending
drop (as a percent of the federal budget) for the EPA in the last 3
decades. In Obama's recent budget proposal for 2014, funding for the EPA
has been decreased 5% below 2013 levels. Clean air, water and the
management of hazardous chemicals are a serious matter that deserve real
funding. Not pocket change.
U.S. Methane Study Says Emissions 50 Percent Higher Than EPA Estimates (Huffington Post, 11-25-13)
Methane is a potent heat trapping gas that is 20 times more
potent than Carbon Dioxide. It ends up that the United States is spewing
50% more methane than the federal government estimates. Much of this
methane is coming from three states: Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Much of
this methane is coming from oil and gas extraction as well as
livestock. (Read the Study Here)
White House Looks To Trim EPA's Budget In FY2014 Request (GHGNews, 4-10-13)
Information from Official White House Budget Historical Tables. See table 4.1 for projected spending on different agencies (including the EPA). Or Read entire budget here (PDF).
POLLUTION
Indoor Air, Human Health and Chemicals: The Missing 90% of America's Air Pollution Problems (World Future Fund)
Water, Air and Soil Pollution Causes 40% of Deaths World Wide (Cornell University)
7 Million people die of air pollution in 2012. Air pollution was responsible for one in eight deaths (CNN, 3-24-14)
The Air We Breathe Definitely and Scientifically Linked to Cancer (Alternet, 10-17-13)
Newly Discovered 'Plastic Island' Shows Global Epidemic Worsening (Common Dreams, 1-18-13)
An entire island of human trash now exists in the Pacific
Ocean. The large mass of garbage accumulating in the ocean has large
implications on fisheries, tourism, marine ecosystems and human health.
Read the report: "Plastic pollution in the South Pacific subtropical gyre"
Drill Baby Drill: They tell us we're on the cusp of an oil and gas revolution, but what if it's all just a short term bubble? (Shale Bubble Report, February 2013)
Not-so-Clean Hydropower is Damming Us All Dam building in developing countries is occurring at an alarming rate. The public needs to know the truth about large dams. Large dams are a societal hazard, pollutants, non-renewable and economically unsound.
PESTICIDES
The Green Revolution: A New Debt Against The Future: (World Future Fund)
A report on harmful practices from the modern world of
agriculture. This includes the modern use of pesticides that is
launching a holocaust against the populations of bees, bats and frogs.
Pesticides Are Killing Our Sperm (Grist, 3-5-13)
THE POISONING OF THE BEES
In the United States, Beekeepers around the nation say that they've lost 40-50 percent of their hives on average. Honey bees are necessary for replenishing our food systems, about one third of our food depends upon bees for pollination. Without the bees, there could be a drastic collapse of the world's food supply. Many of these bee deaths are linked to a pesticide group called Neonicotinoids. This chemical was introduced to the global market place in the 1990's. Farmers no longer spray their crops with chemicals, they infuse their plants with neonicotinoids instead. While the chemical has been very successful in killing pests, it has also succeeded in killing off large numbers of bees.
The following study connects low doses of exposure to Neonicitinoids to a damaged immunity in Honey Bees:
Interactions between Nosema microspores and a neonicotinoid weaken honeybees (Apis Mellifera) PDF
Pesticide blamed for declining bee population (CBS News, 4-9-13)
An interview with a beekeeper who describes how beekeepers
around the nation have been losing half of their hives due to
pesticides.
Insanity: US Approves Bee Death Pesticide as EU Bans It (Natural Society, 5-12-13)
The EU has already taken the necessary steps to ban the
pesticides responsible for bee deaths, yet America lags behind.
Pesticide Lobby Spends Millions To Defend Chemicals Tied To Bee Deaths (Huffington Post, 3-29-13)
Bat, Bee, Frog Deaths May Be Linked (News Discover, 6-1-12)
POISONING OF THE BATS
Bat Disease, White-Nose Syndrome, May Increase U.S. Farm Pesticide Use: Study (Huffington Post, 4-13-11)
POISONING OF THE FROGS
Frog Deaths Are A Harbinger of "Sixth Mass Extinction" on Earth (iO9, 8-12-08)