Aqua Green Blog

ECOLOGY NEEDS MASSIVE STIMULUS

2012-08-22T05:39:00.001-07:00

IT is not difficult to understand why we must preserve our seas and prevent further destruction to the marine environment.

Considering that over 75 percent of the Earth is water, our seas and oceans are the lungs of our planet. They supply us with over 50 percent of our oxygen and absorb over 30 percent of carbon dioxide. Close to two billion people rely on the seas for food and their livelihood.

There is no doubt that our seas play a vital role in our planet’s survival and yet, so little is known about it, hence we continue to destroy her.

The marine environment harbors three main ecosystems, all representing the beginning of the marine food chain. These ecosystem consist of coral reefs, mangrove swamps and estuaries.

All these ecosystems are in dire danger. Our mangrove forests and estuaries are feeling the havoc brought forth by terrestrial activities. Soil erosion continues when the rains come and top soil erodes to the sea. The pollution and climate change continue to take their toll.

Coral reefs are suffering the same fate as ocean acidification, pollution and climate change persist. It has been reported that 85 percent of our coral reefs are dead or dying.

Take note: we are the heart of the Coral Triangle. The benefits provided by these ecosytems have no monetary value. Money and economic stimulus alone cannot save the marine environment.

Mangrove forests, wetlands and estuaries are not spared by pollution as they continue to degrade due to ocean acidification and the fact that 40 percent of our rivers have been dammed, preventing valuable sediment to reach and replenish these ecosytems.

As the scourging heat continues to bear down on the United States, most of their agricultural produce suffer in what could be the worse drought that has hit the U.S. in the last 50 years. The price and supply of corn, wheat and soy have been affected. Never has it reached such a high cost as the supply will not be able to meet the demand.

The lives of most Americans will be affected as the economy and ecology continue to experience human-induced pressure of pollution and climate change.

While the United States is on fire, Asia is experiencing severe floods and typhoons. Our country has not been spared. This will trigger a food shortage and possible more Arab springs will unfold as the battle for resources is imminent.

Why do we need to reach this stage? Why do we need to mine and follow the old and destructive development model?

Why don’t we do things differently?

We must change our ways and recycle, reuse and maximize renewable energy.

To my surprise, there are multitudes of people who are unaware or don’t care about the sate of our dying planet.

Many of them are still stuck in old, consumptive and wasteful ways. They don’t even know that the air they breathe is toxic and the fish they catch, sell or consume contains high levels of mercury.

The ecology needs a massive stimulus to stop pollution totally and deter the prevalence of climate change.

We need a massive transformation in our ways, and we need it soon.

A stimulus of the environment – that is what we exactly need.

How Is Earth Time Measured ?

2012-07-17T05:08:00.000-07:00

Just as we divide human history into periods according to events or the rulers of the time like Pre-Columbian, Ming, victoria and so on, so we divide the vast sweep of geological time into periods and eras based on the kinds of animals and plants that existed during those times.

For about seven-eights of the time that the Earth has been in existence, what life there was left little in the way of fossils. For this reason , this vast period called the Precambrian era, tends to be dismissed. It is divided into two eons: the Archaean, in which there was no life, and the Peroterozoic, in which life of some sort existed.

Then, 570 million years ago, the Palaeozoic Era began. This opened with the Cambrian in which there was a sudden flourishing of animals with hard shells. From then onwards, the rocks are full of fossils. The lower Palaeozoic, consisting of the Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian periods, showed a great development of life in the sea and the evolution of the first backbone animals --- the fish. In the Upper Palaeozoic --- the Devonian, Carboniferous and Permian periods --- life colonized the land. Plants left the water first, followed by invertebrates that developed into insects and spiders, then came tha amphibians and these evolved into reptiles.

During the Mesozoic era --- consisting of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods --- the pattern of life changed. At the begining, the primitive reptiles evolved into dinosaurs, that dominated the land thorough out the era, and into the mammals, that were to play a less prominent role for a while. In the sea, too, changes were taking place, with modern-type fish evolving.

A sudden mass extinction that saw brought the Mesozoic to an end --- an extinction that saw the loss of the dinosaurs and many of the sea creatures. The Cenozoic era then began, and in this time the mammals radiated to fill all the niches left vacant by the extinction of the great reptiles. The bulk of the Cenozoic is taken up by the Tertiary period. The last silver is known as Quaternary period and this embraced the last Ice Age and modern times in which human beings developed.

The rocks that were laid down in these various periods can usually be dated by the types of fossils found in them. That is fine when dealing with sedimentary rocks in which fossils are abundant, but what about metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks, or even unfossiliferous sedimentary roks? Here the principles of cross- cutting relationships is used. If a metamorphic rock has been formed by the alteration of a sedimentary rock containing Silurian fossils, then the ignious rock must have been formed later still. If this whole sequence is then overlain by undisturbed sedimentary rock containing Carboniferous fossils, then we can deduce that the metamorphism and the igneous emplacement took lace between Silurian and Carboniferous times, in the Devonian period.

How Do We Put Dates To All This ?

We can glibly talk about the hundreds of millions of years involved in the geological time scale, but how is such a scale calibrated? The secret lies in the radioactive elements in the Earth's crust. A radioactive element will decay to a non-radioactive form in a particular length of time. For Example, after a mineral containing potassium-40 is formed it will take a a known length of time for half the mass of period of time for half the mass of potassium-40 to decay into argon-40, then the same period of time for half of the remainder to decay, and so on. This period is known as "half life". By finding the proportion of potassium-40 to argon-40 in a mineral we can work out how long ago that mineral formed. Many radioactive elements are used, each with a different half life.

What Was Earth's Early History ?

2012-07-17T00:28:00.003-07:00

The oldest known rock lies in Greenland. It is part of a sequence of rocks that is 3,800 million years old.

On the face of earth this may seem a long time ago but as the earth is some 4,500 million years old, this rock was formed quite a way into the story.The Ancient rocks in the Greenland are examples of gneissic rock and are metamorphic --- that is, they were formed as heat and pressure changed a rock that was already in existence. Previously this rock would have been a sedimentary rock, like sandstone, made up of tiny grains and fragments. These fragments would, in turn have been worn off some other rock that existed even before this. earth history is extremely complex!

Some of the most ancient rocks are sedimentary and have not been metamorphosed. These are known as greenstones and are interesting because they contain iron ore that has not been combined with oxygen, suggesting that there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere at that time. Iron ores that form nowadays tend to be reddish in color as they are combined with oxygen. We are familiar with this effect in the rusting of exposed iron. The red substance known as rust is an oxide of Iron.

Life Evolves:

At around 3,800 million years ago life got going. The earliest form of life occurred in the sea and was probably no more than a molecule that had the power to reproduce itself by absorbing chemicals in the water round about. Any change to the molecule that made reproduction more efficient would have been passed on to the offspring molecules, and so evolution would have begun. The first living cell were probably cyanobacteria --- sometimes called "blue-green algae" --- similar to those that can form a poisonous scum on modern waterways. Microscopic organisms like these leave no fossils but they can leave signs of their passing. Where mats of cyanobacteria lie on the sea bed, the currents bring sand layer, which will in turn attract more sand. the result is a dome-like structure, called a stromatolite, consisting of alternating sand and bacteria layers. such structures can only form in waters where there are no other living things to disturb them. They have been found in rocks 3,500 million years old.

Some premitive micro-organisms powered their reproductive cycle by absorbing energy from the sun. We can think of these as the first plants. Other organisms did not use the raw chemical materials but absorbed the ready-made foodstuffs and molecules produced by the early plants. These were the first animals. The chemical process that uses the sun's energy for reproduction produces oxygen as by product, and this was given off and dissolved in the ocean waters or put into the atmosphere. Free oxygen --- oxygen gas that is not combined with any other substance --- was present in the atmosphere by 2,000 million years ago.

The Growth Of Continents

While all this was happening in the sea, what was happening on the land? As wall as the metamorphic rocks which formed the cores of the continents, and the sedimentary rocks int the surrounding seas, there is a third type of rock which was produced by volcanic action. This is called igneous rock and was created when molten rock solidified. The continents grew building processes along the edges threw up chains of sedimentary rock, shot through by igneous rock.
Nowadays, most continents consist of a core of ancient metamorphic rock surrounded by successively younger suites of sedimentary and igneous rocks in the form of mountains.

Green Economy & Its Principles

2012-06-02T03:52:00.001-07:00

Green Economy:

★ A Green Economy can be thought of as an alternative vision for growth and development; one that can generate growth and improvements in people’s lives in ways consistent with sustainable development. A Green Economy promotes a triple bottom line: sustaining and advancing economic, environmental and social well-being.

★ The prevailing economic growth model is focused on increasing GDP above all other goals. While this system has improved incomes and reduced poverty for hundreds of millions, it comes with significant and potentially irreversible social, environmental and economic costs. Poverty persists for as many as two and a half billion people, and the natural wealth of the planet is rapidly being drawn down. In a recent global assessment, approximately 60 percent of the world’s ecosystem services were found to be degraded or used unsustainably. The gap between the rich and poor is also increasing – between 1990 and 2005, income inequality (measured by the gap between the highest and lowest income earners) rose in more than two thirds of countries.

★ The persistence of poverty and degradation of the environment can be traced to a series of market and institutional failures that make the prevailing economic model far less effective than it otherwise would be in advancing sustainable development goals.

★ A Green Economy attempts to remedy these problems through a variety of institutional reforms and regulatory, tax, and expenditure-based economic policies and tools.

Principles that cover key dimensions of a green economy:

1. The Primacy of Use-value, Intrinsic Value & Quality:

This is the fundamental principle of the green economy as a service economy, focused on end-use, or human and environment needs. Matter is a means to the end of satisfying real need, and can be radically conserved.

2. Take economic policy seriously:

A transition to a green economy needs to involve fundamental changes to both macro-economic and micro-economic conditions and institutions. Business as usual with respect to economic policy is not a viable alternative to achieve sustainable development. A central challenge is not only to think creatively about economic policy, but also to engage international economic institutions and make environmental considerations central to global economic decision-making.

3. Following Natural Flows:
The economy moves like a proverbial sailboat in the wind of natural processes by flowing not only with solar, renewable and "negawatt" energy, but also with natural hydrological cycles, with regional vegetation and food webs, and with local materials. As society becomes more ecological, political and economic boundaries tend to coincide with ecosystem boundaries. That is, it becomes bioregional.

4. Waste Equals Food:
In nature there is no waste, as every process output is an input for some other process means that outputs and by-products are nutritious and non-toxic enough to be food for something.else.

5. Reduce, reuse and recycle (R3):
The three essential components of environmentally-responsible consumer behavior. The concept behind the first R, reduce, is that you should limit the number of purchases, The concept behind the second R, reuse, is that you should reuse items as much as possible before replacing them, The concept behind the third R, recycle, is that you should ensure that items or their components are put to some new purpose as much as possible

6. Appropriate Scale:
This does not simply mean "small is beautiful", but that every regenerative activity has its most appropriate scale of operation. Even the smallest activities have larger impacts, however, and truly ecological activity "integrates design across multiple scales", reflecting influence of larger on smaller and smaller on larger (Van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996).

7. Diversity:
In a world of constant flux, health and stability seem to depend on diversity. This applies to all levels (diversity of species, of ecosystems, of regions), and to social as well as ecological organization.

8.Cyclic Use of Renewable Resources:
People should use renewable energy because non-renewable energy resources threaten the environment and cause pollution. Greenhouse gases, which are the production of burning fossil fuels, trap the sun’s heat and lead to global warming. Consequently, extreme weather conditions, such as floods, heat waves, and droughts, could arise out of this increasing global warming.

World Environment Day 2012

2012-06-01T03:21:00.000-07:00

World Environment Day (WED)

★ A day that stimulates awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and public action.

★ It is held on 5th June every year.

★ It was the day that United Nations Conference on the Human Environment began.

★ The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was from 5–16 June 1972. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972.

★ The first World Environment Day was on 1973.

★ World Environment Day is hosted every year by a different a different theme and is celebrated with honour and solemnity with an international exposition in the week of 5 June.

★ "Stockholm was without doubt the landmark event in the growth of international environmentalism", writes John McCormick in the book Reclaiming Paradise. "It was the first occasion on which the political, social and economic problems of the global environment were discussed at an intergovernmental forum with a view to actually taking corrective action."

Theme 2012

★ The 2012 theme for World Environment Day is Green Economy: Does it include you?

★ Green Economy: The UN Environment Programme defines the Green Economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.

★ But what does all this mean for you? The Green Economy is really something that is applicable all around you and it is easy to imagine how you fit in.
If the Green Economy is about social equity and inclusiveness then technically it is all about you! The question therefore asks you to find out more about the Green Economy and assess whether, in your country, you are being included in it.

Siachen: Pakistan's climate change challenge

2012-05-13T01:46:00.001-07:00

Siachen & Pakistan's Environmental Troubles

A Study By Michael Kugelman Wednesday, May 10, 2012 - 11:12 AM

★ Last month, an avalanche (a massive slide of snow) on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir killed 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians. The tragedy has intensified debate about the logic of stationing Pakistani and Indian troops on such inhospitable region. And it has also brought attention to Pakistan's environmental insecurity.

★ Siachen is rife with glacial melt; one study concludes the icy peak has retreated nearly two kilometers in less than 20 years. Pakistan's United Nations representative, Hussain Haroon, contends that glacial recession on Pakistani mountains has increased by 23 percent over the past decade.

★ It has also been described as "the world's highest waste dump." Much of this waste-generated from soldiers' food, fuel, and equipment-eventually finds its way to the Indus River Basin, Pakistan's chief water source.

★ Siachen, in fact, serves as a microcosm of Pakistan's environmental troubles. The nation experiences record-breaking temperatures, torrential rains (nearly 60 percent of Pakistan's annual rainfall comes from monsoons), drought, and glacial melt . Experts estimate that about a quarter of Pakistan's land area and half of its population are vulnerable to climate change-related disasters.

★ Sindh's environment minister said that millions of people across the province face "acute environmental threats."

What Is Inside The Earth ?

2012-05-12T07:28:00.002-07:00

STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH

As far as we can tell, Earth is made up of layers, Geophysical studies have revealed that the Earth has several distinct layers. Each of these layers has its own properties.

★ The outermost layer of the Earth is the crust. This comprises the continents and ocean basins. The crust has a variable thickness, being 35-70 km thick in the continents and 5-10 km thick in the ocean basins. The crust is composed mainly of alumino-silicates.

★ The next layer is the mantle, which is composed mainly of ferro-magnesium silicates. It is about 2900 km thick, and is separated into the upper and lower mantle. This is where most of the internal heat of the Earth is located. Large convective cells in the mantle circulate heat and may drive plate tectonic processes.

★ At the center is the core, which is separated into the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. The outer core is 2300 km thick and the inner core is 1200 km thick. The outer core is composed mainly of a nickel-iron alloy, while the inner core is almost entirely composed of iron. The inner core heated to such a high temperature and subjected to such a great pressure that it nature can't be imagined. Rules of conventional physics just do not apply to the Earth's core. Earth's magnetic field is believed to be controlled by the liquid outer core.

Earth: Its Begining

2012-05-12T01:07:00.002-07:00

How Did The Earth Begin ?

★ The current theory of How the EARTH and other solar system formed is that it originated Back in the mists of time ___ Over 6,000 million years ago, as a cold cloud of gas and dust floating in Space. Even now, such clouds ___ called nebulae___ can be seen through astronomical telescopes.
★ At first , gravitational attraction caused the particles of nebulae to clump together and form a mass at the center. As the cloud contracted it began to spin, and centrifugal action flattened it out into a disc.
★ The bulk of the gas and dust concentrated at the center and began to heat up. Then the ancestral Sun formed and it began to radiate energy to the rest of the solar system.
★ The disc of material around the embryo sun began to split up into rings and the matter or the rings. Accumulated into lumps. These were to form the planets, and the other solar system bodies.

A GOOD ESTIMATE FOR THE TIME

★ The Earth began at 9 am on 23 October 4004BC. These were the findings of Archbishop James Ussher (1581 - 1656), Archbishop of Armagh from 1625, who worked back from the dates in the Bible to find the actual time of the Creation as described in the book of Genesis. This figure was inserted as a footnote in the Authorized Version of the Bible until the nineteenth century.

A Fault In Mount Fuji, Japan

2012-05-11T23:30:00.002-07:00

Fault In Japan's Mount Fuji Could Trigger A 7 Richter Scale Earthquake

★ (Reuters) - Japan's Mount Fuji may be sitting on a large, active fault that could trigger a magnitude-7 earthquake, changing the shape of the mountain and devastating nearby communities, the education ministry said on Thursday.

A survey commissioned by the ministry found a 30-km fault beneath Japan's highest mountain, believed by many to be sacred, and research results indicate it was likely to be active, a ministry official said.

If the fault sets off an earthquake, it could lead to a major landslide and hit communities at the foot of the 3,776-metre-high mountain. Further research was required, the official said.

Existence Of A New Unseen Planet

2012-05-11T11:44:00.001-07:00

Unseen Planet Revealed by Its Gravity

★ (May 10, 2012) — More than a 150 years ago, before Neptune was ever sighted in the night sky, French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier predicted the planet's existence based on small deviations in the motion of Uranus. In a paper published May 10 in the journal Science online, a group of researchers led by Dr. David Nesvorny of Southwest Research Institute has inferred another unseen planet, this time orbiting a distant star, marking the first success of this technique outside the solar system.

New Weak Point Discovered in the Antarctic Ice Sheet

2012-05-10T11:42:00.001-07:00

Antartctic Ice Sheet May Start Melting More Rapidly

(May 9, 2012) — The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf fringing the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, may start to melt rapidly in this century and no longer act as a barrier for ice streams draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet. These predictions are made by climate researchers of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association in the journal Nature. They refute the widespread assumption that ice shelves in the Weddell Sea would not be affected by the direct influences of global warming due to the peripheral location of the Sea.

Dr. Hartmut Hellmer, oceanographer at the Alfred Wegener Institute and lead author of the study, and his colleagues Dr. Frank Kauker, Dr. Ralph Timmermann and Dr. Jürgen Determann as well as Dr. Jamie Rae from Met Office Hadley Centre, U.K, Using different model calculations, demonstrate that as a result of a chain reaction large ice masses could presumably slide into the ocean within the next six decades.

This chain reaction is triggered by rising air temperatures above the southeastern Weddell Sea. "Our models show that the warmer air will lead to the currently solid sea ice in the southern Weddell Sea becoming thinner and therefore more fragile and mobile in a few decades," says Frank Kauker.

Water: A Vital Resource

2012-05-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

Water: A Continually Renewable Resource

Water is absolutely fundamental to life as we know it. It is difficult even to imagine a form of life that might exixt without water. Happily, Earth is virtually flooded with water.

★ A total volume of some 325 million cubic miles ( 1.4 billion cubic kilometers ) covers 71% of Earth's surface.
★ About 97% of this volume is the salt water of oceans and seas.
★ The remaining 2.5% of this volume is Fresh Water with salt content less than 0.1%
( 1,000 ppm ).
★ This is the water upon which most terrestrial biota, ecosystems , and humans depend.
★ Of 2.5%, though two-thirds is bound up in the polar ice caps and glaciers.
★ Thus only 0.77% of all water is found in lakes, wetland, rivers, ground water, biota, soil, and the atmosphere.
★ Nevertheless, evaporation from the oceans combines with precipitation to resupply that small percentage continually through the solar-powered hydrologic cycle as FRESH WATER is a continually renewable resource.

Basic Units Of Ecosystem

2012-05-09T11:33:00.002-07:00

Biodiveristy Impacts

2012-05-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Biodiversity and Other Environmental Issues

(May 2, 2012) — Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study from an international research team.

The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the impacts of biological diversity loss to effects of other human-caused environmental changes.

"Loss of biological diversity due to species extinctions is going to have major impacts on our planet, and we better prepare ourselves to deal with them," said University of Michigan ecologist Bradley Cardinale, one of the authors. The study is scheduled for online publication in the journal Nature on May 2.

"These extinctions may well rank as one of the top five drivers of global change," said Cardinale, an assistant professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment and an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Climatic Change Impacts

2012-05-06T09:16:00.002-07:00

According to some studies, the Earth could warm another 2 to 11.5°F this century if emissions from burning fossil fuels are not reduced and deforestation rate remains the same.

Impacts of Climate Change On Earth Today

Loss Of Biodiversity
Thousands of species risk extinction from disappearing habitat, changing ecosystems and acidifying oceans. According to the IPCC, climate change will put some 20% to 30% of species globally at increasingly high risk of extinction, possibly by 2100.

Sea level is rising
During the 20th century, sea level rose about 15 cm (6 inches) due to melting glacier ice and expansion of warmer seawater. Models predict that sea level may rise as much as 59 cm (23 inches) during the 21st Century, threatening coastal communities, wetlands, and coral reefs.

Coral bleaching
Coral reefs are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature. Heat triggers corals to shed the algae that nourish them—a bleaching event that leaves coral white.

In 1998, the world's coral suffered its worst year on record, which left 16% bleached or dead.

Arctic sea ice Shrinkage
The summer thickness of sea ice is about half of what it was in 1950. Melting ice may lead to changes in ocean circulation. Plus melting sea ice is speeding up warming in the Arctic.

Satellite images show that the extent of Arctic summer sea ice has decreased by almost 9% per decade since 1979.
The Arctic summer could be ice-free by mid-century, according to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Warming of Sea-surface temperatures
Warmer waters in the shallow oceans have contributed to the death of about a quarter of the world's coral reefs in the last few decades. Many of the coral animals died after weakened by bleaching, a process tied to warmed waters.

Melting glaciers
A 2005 survey of 442 glaciers from the World Glacier Monitoring Service found that 90% of the world's glaciers are shrinking as the planet warms.

Glacier National Park now has only 25 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. At the current rate of retreat, the glaciers in Glacier National Park could be gone in a matter of decades, according to some scientists.

Seawater Becoming More Acidic
Carbon dioxide dissolving into the oceans, is making seawater more acidic. There could be impacts on coral reefs and other marine life.

A surge in wildfires
Hot, dry conditions create a tinderbox ideal for wildfires. This could have a devastating impact on America's Southwest.

Increased flooding
The 2007 IPCC report concludes that intense rain events have increased in frequency during the last 50 years and that human-induced global warming has been a factor.

More intense hurricanes
As the oceans warm, scientists predict that hurricane intensity could increase. The associated storm surge poses particular risk to low-lying coastal cities like Miami, Charleston (SC) and Wilmington (NC).

Facts about Global Warming

2012-05-06T03:04:00.003-07:00

Global Warming

★ The Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

★ According to a number of Climatic Change Studies world wide, the rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia.

★ The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850.

★ The Arctic is feeling the effects the most.

Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.

★ Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040 or earlier.

★ Polar bears and indigenous cultures are already suffering from the sea-ice loss.

★ Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace

★ Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's Glacier National Park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere.

★ Coral reefs, which are highly sensitive to small changes in water temperature, suffered the worst bleaching—or die-off in response to stress—ever recorded in 1998, with some areas seeing bleach rates of 70 percent.

★ Experts expect these sorts of events to increase in frequency and intensity in the next 50 years as sea temperatures rise.

★ An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heat waves, and strong tropical storms, is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

★ It's becoming clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives.

★ Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than in the last 650,000 years.

Global Environmental Initiatives Led By US

2012-05-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Initiatives Led By United States

In mid-February 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was expected to announce a new international effort focused on reducing emissions of common pollutants that contribute to rapid climate change and widespread health problems.

Impatient with the slow pace of international negotiations, the United States and a small group of countries — Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico and Sweden as well as the United Nations Environment Program — are starting a program that will address short-lived pollutants like soot (also referred to as black carbon), methane and hydrofluorocarbons that have an outsize influence on global warming, accounting for 30 to 40 percent of global warming. Soot from diesel exhausts and the burning of wood, agricultural waste and dung for heating and cooking causes an estimated two million premature deaths a year, particularly in the poorest countries

Scientists say that concerted action on these substances can reduce global temperatures by 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 and prevent millions of cases of lung and heart disease by 2030.

The United States intends to contribute $12 million and Canada $3 million over two years to get the program off the ground and to help recruit other countries to participate. The United Nations Environment Program will run the project.

Officials hope that by tackling these fast-acting, climate-changing agents they can get results quicker than through the laborious and highly political negotiations conducted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Facts About Plastic

2012-05-05T11:25:00.001-07:00

Interesting Facts About Plastic

★ Plastic needs about 450 years just to start decomposing. Then, it takes another 50-80 years to decompose completely.

★ That means that every single produced piece of plastic has not decomposed yet.

★ 90% of the price you pay for the bottled water goes to the plastic bottle, while the water cost you only 10% of the money you give.

★ 24 million gallons of oil are needed for producing of billion plastic bottles.

★ Only 25 recycled bottles are enough to make one adult’s fleece jacket.

★ Sad but true, the worldwide fishing industry throws huge amounts of plastic garbage in the oceans. Amazing 150,000 tons go into the water every year, including packaging, plastic nets, lines and buoys.

★ This thrash causes death of many animals in the seas, which mistake the garbage for food. Estimations say that the number of killed animals is over one million.

★ Over 13 billion of plastic bags are produced every year, which are about 300 per adult

★ Recycling a single plastic bottle can conserve enough energy to light a 60W bulb for up to 6 hours.

★ Recycling plastics can save up to 2/3 of the needed energy for producing plastic from raw materials.

★ Surveys show that more than 90 percent of consumers reuse their plastic bags at least once for things like wastebasket

★ There are many countries which have banned or restricted the use of plastic bags. Australia, China, Austria, Bangladesh, Ireland and several European Union countries are among them.

Environmental Facts

2012-05-04T23:27:00.004-07:00

Recycling :

★ If 10,000 people switched from 0 to 100% Post-Consumer recycled office paper for one year, the collective annual impact is equivalent to taking 230 cars off the road for a year.
★ Recycling just 48 cans is the energy equivalent of conserving one gallon of gas.
Since 1990, the paper recovered through US recycling efforts would fill 200 football stadiums to a height of 100 feet.
★ The most recycled consumer product in America is the automobile, with 26 cars being recycled every minute.
★ Every ton of recycled paper saves17 trees and 462 gallons of oil.
One pound of newspaper can be recycled into 6 cereal boxes or egg cartons.

Environment & Health :

★ The EPA estimates indoor levels of pollutants, on average, are 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor. 50% of all illnesses are either caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.
★ One out of every three cleaning chemicals used in US schools has been shown to cause health or environmental problems, so switch to greener cleaning products.
★ The average home today contains over sixty-two chemicals. More than 72,000 synthetic chemicals have been invented since World War II.
★ Topping off your gas tank can increase the amount of ground-level ozone and other air pollutants.

Recycling Facts

2012-05-04T11:45:00.002-07:00

Aluminum
★ Aluminum cans made from recycled aluminum use only 8 BTUs, which is a 95% energy savings.
★ Aluminum cans made from recycled aluminum release 40% less carbon emissions.
★ Aluminum cans are made from 50% recycled aluminum.

Steel

★ Steel cans made from recycled steel result in a 50% energy savings.
★ Steel cans made from recycled steel emit 4 to 5 times less carbon.
★ The steel industry claims that it is the number one recycled material in North America with a 68.7% recycling rate in 2006.

Paper

★ Paper made from recycled paper results in a 64% energy savings.
★ Paper made from recycled paper uses up to 80% less water.
★ Recycling one ton of paper conserves 17 trees.

Glass

★ Glass made from recycled glass results in a 50% energy savings.
★ Glass bottles made from recycled glass emit 4 to 5 times less carbon.
★ A ton of glass made from 50% recycled materials saves about 300 lbs. of mining waste.

Plastic

★ Recycling a pound of PET plastic saves approximately 12,000 BTU's.
★ Plastic containers made from recycled plastic emit up to 8 times less carbon.
★ Recycling a ton of PET containers saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space

Climate Change to Cost Pakistan $14 billion Annually

2012-04-28T06:05:00.002-07:00

Climate Change to Cost Pakistan $14 billion Annually

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Islamabad: Climate Change could cost the economy of Pakistan up to 14 billion dollars annually for natural disasters and other losses, which are almost 5% of the GDP, said former state minister for environment, Malik Amin Aslam.

He was addressing a seminar titled, “Outcomes of Post-Durban Climate Change Negotiations” organised by the Centre of Excellence, Environmental Economics and Climate Change, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here on Thursday.

PIDE’s Vice Chancellor Dr Rashid Amjad said that unfortunately such global conferences are becoming a futile exercise as all member countries either developed or developing want to safeguard their own agendas and individual benefits.

“However, there is a strong need to understand that instead of upholding individual interests and blaming one another for GHG emissions we should look for practical and collective preventive measures as climate change is a threat for the entire world,” he said.

Amin Aslam said that the Durban Climate Change Negotiations were very important platform to discuss the three challenges like resuscitate the Kyoto Protocol, deliver climate finance to vulnerable countries and how to survive in the overall economic recession.

Talking about its implication on Pakistan he said that Pakistan is a very low emitter but one of the worst victims of climate change, as according to German watch places Pakistan as ‘most affected’ for 2010 and in top 10 for 1990-2010.

He said that Pakistan was focused on its red lines like Pakistan should be included in extreme climate vulnerability definition. He added that Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate change but on the other hand a country with a sharply rising emissions future.

He said in Pakistan maximum natural disasters (90%) are climate related and the damage costs of these natural disasters is going up with the top three disasters occurring in the past three years, “Most alarming thing is that the frequency of these natural disasters is going up with 60 pc occurring in the past ten years.

Sindh Flooding And Climate Change

2012-04-28T06:04:00.003-07:00

Climate change blamed for Sindh flooding

Dr Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry

According to the lead author of Pakistan Climate Change Policy, Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry, climate change may be the responsible of severe floods in Sindh. – AFP Photo

ISLAMABAD: A weather scientist on Friday blamed climate change for the unprecedented torrential monsoon rains in Sindh that have caused severe flooding in the 16 districts of Sindh province.

“If we look at the frequency and the trend of the extreme weather events impacting Pakistan then it is easy to find its linkage with climate change,” said Dr. Qamar uz Zaman Chaudhry Advisor, Climate Affairs in a statement here.

The pattern of recent extreme weather events in Pakistan show clear indication of increased frequency and intensity of such events in Pakistan which is in line with the international climate change projections, he added.

Dr Qamar, who is also the lead author and architect of the country’s first Draft National Climate Change Policy, said Pakistan is heading for increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which includes frequent floods and droughts.

“We need to adapt and plan for that,” he said and added, the formulation of Draft National Climate Change Policy is the first step in this direction.

He said the rains in Sindh are the highest ever recorded monsoon rains during the four weeks period. Before the start of these rains in the second week of August, Sindh was under severe drought conditions and it had not received any rainfall for the last 12 months.

The last severe rainfall flooding in Sindh occurred in July 2003, he said and added, but this time the devastating rains of 1150 mm in Mithi, Mirpurkhas 676 mm, Diplo 779 mm, Chachro 735 mm, N. Parker 792 mm, Nawabshah 547 mm, Badin 512 mm, Chhor 456 mm, Padidan 381 mm Hyderabad 249 mm etc during the four weeks period have created unprecedented flood situation in Sindh.

According to Dr. Qamar, the total volume of water fallen over Sindh during the four weeks is estimated to be above 37 million acre feet, “which is unimaginable.”

He said that the rainfall was predicted well in advance by Met Office and the disaster management agencies were well prepared. “But the scale of this natural calamity combined with the topography of the area having very poor natural drainage. Most of water stagnates and breaches in LBOD and irrigation channels further complicated the scale of flooding.”

Dr. Qamar said that it was also forecast that in Pakistan climate change would be causing considerable increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, coupled with erratic monsoon rains causing frequent floods and droughts, and increased temperature would result in enhanced heat and water stress conditions, particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions.

Climate Change In Pakistan

2012-04-28T06:02:00.002-07:00

PAKISTAN NOW THE MOST VULNERABLE COUNTRY TO DISASTERS DUE TO CLIMATIC CHANGE

ISLAMABAD:
In the list of countries most vulnerable to disasters due to climate change, Pakistan’s ranking has been downgraded to 16 in 2011-2012 from its previous position at 29 a year earlier, according to the Climate Change Vulnerability Index by Maple Croft, an organisation which maps over 100 global risks.
The country is now facing serious wide-ranging climatic hazards with frequent occurrence of floods, cyclones and droughts. Pakistan has been suffering from a major drought for the past four years which according to experts is likely to continue. At the same time, yearly floods triggered by prolonged monsoon rains have destroyed vast residential and production lands. Earthquakes and cyclones have also become an annual feature.
“The government needs to prioritise disaster risk reduction and invest in systems today to reduce the cost of damage in the future,” said Adviser on Disaster Risk Reduction, OXFAM, Javeria Afzal. “Pakistan was familiarised with disaster preparedness after the 2005 earthquake.” Responsibilities of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority and the National Disaster Management Authority have not been redefined after changes in laws and policies. There are scientific centres operational in Pakistan to determine what the situation would look like in 2030, she added. “It won’t be a pretty sight if there is no planning for tomorrow. “
According to Climate Change and Environment Planning and Development Division, if proper measures are not taken, adaptation costs are likely to exceed 10% in the next 40 years ranging from $13 to $40 per capita. Adaptation costs in the year 2010 were $5.75 billion, while losses due to floods were estimated to be 5% of GDP.
Director General Jawed Ali Khan stated that the government is in the process of finalising the National Climate Change Policy. A disaster management organisation will be set up to address threats posed by natural disasters in the near future. It will also be responsible for dealing with the humanitarian aspects of emergencies, preparedness, response and recovery in particular to lower the impact of disasters.
In recent decades, temperatures in Pakistan have witnessed accelerated jumps compared to global variations. At 53.70C in Mohenjo Daro broke previous world records in May 2010 and temperature in Lahore was the highest in 78 years in 2007. Severe cyclonic storms hit the Arabian Sea in May 2010 which is very rare phenomenon in the history of the sea. It is very likely that weather extremes, heatwaves and heavy rains will occur with increased frequency. There will be more rainfall at higher latitudes and less in most subtropical areas.
Tropical cyclones like typhoons and hurricanes will become more intense, with larger peak wind speeds and heavier precipitation associated with ongoing increases of tropical sea surface temperatures.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2011.

Pakistan most environmentally engendered country of region

2012-04-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Pakistan most environmentally engendered country of region

According to experts Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries affected to climate change and also an environmentally challenged state. – Reuters Photo

KARACHI: A safe environment is prerequisite for healthy life. Major environmental issues currently confronting Pakistan include water, energy, pollution and waste management, salinity and water logging, irrigated agriculture, biodiversity and climate change. Pakistan being one of the most urbanized countries of the region is facing overall deterioration in all these areas.

Environmental hazards have become a major global issue in of this century. Rapid economic development and manmade interference to the natural systems are the main reasons behind this problem. To address this issue, the initial step is to monitor the extent of these hazards.

The Institute of Space Technology (IST), Karachi Campus in collaboration with National Space Agency (SUPARCO), organized a Five Days short training on Integrating Ground Based Methods and Spatial Techniques for Environmental Monitoring, from 24-28 October, at its National Centre For Remote Sensing and Geo-Informatics Karachi, for sensitizing the above mentioned issues. The Institute of Space Technology, established in year 2002 offers graduate and undergraduate programs in a number of specialized fields of engineering and science. The objective of this course is to train various stakeholders in an area where integrated approach utilizing geospatial and ground based monitoring techniques are required to address environmental issues.

Recent advances in application of Satellite Remote Sensing (RS) for environmental monitoring have provided the capacity to acquire the needful information at spatial and temporal scales. Through integrating Remote Sensing data with ground based data, an advanced approach to study environmental issues are now possible. SUPARCO has been actively promoting uses of space science and technology for the socio economics uplift in the country as well as in the Ummah. Its research and application programs cover remote sensing for earth resources and environmental studies.

The course was inaugurated by Imran Iqbal, Member Space Applications and Research of SUPARCO. A number of participants hailing from brotherly Islamic countries are participating in is course.

This training program encompassed a number of areas such as Environmental Issues (both local and Global), Environmental Monitoring and Impact Assessment, Introduction to Satellite System and their Application,

Satellite Based Environmental Monitoring, GIS for Water Resources using hydrological, model Arc Hydro (ESRI Software), Snow and Glacier Monitoring and Modeling, Environmental problems of Pakistan and their Solutions (success stories by environmental experts of Pakistan), Hands on Exercises using Remote Sensing, GIS and Hydrologic Software.

A Summary Of Environmental Issues Of Pakistan

2012-04-28T06:00:00.001-07:00

Pakistan – Summary of the Environmental Issues
APRIL 27, 2012

The Most Critical Environmental Issues in Pakistan

A number of serious environmental problems are inherent in the Pakistan, which are of great ecological concern in terms of its sustainable economic future. These include

soil erosion,

pesticide misuse,

deforestation,

desertification,

urban pollution,

waterlogging

& salinity,

freshwater pollution and

marine water pollution, just to name a few. The major constraint to overcoming these problems, in-fact perhaps the main contributor to their intensity is the population growth, which is very high in contrast to the natural limited resources that are available to the people. Also included in the constraints is the unsustainable use and management of these resources. Around 150 million people live in this country, making it the seventh most populous country in the world. The rate of population growth is one of the fastest and according to estimates it would double in just 25 years (UNDP 1997). What is obvious from this is, if the population continues to grow at this rate, it would take a severe toll in the environment. The reason being that the country is not endowed with the resources required sustaining a huge population.

Although it is primarily an agricultural country, the landscape is predominantly arid. Water, already a scarce commodity in most parts of the country, is now facing further shortages. This is also due in part to inadequate distribution and the coercion of the water-tanker mafia. This shortage is hindering the country's potential to develop agriculture. There are limited indigenous sources of energy, fossil fuel reserves are low and there is no great potential in the biomass energy. The combination of a large population and poor resource environment means that judicious means of energy use and minimum waste systems of production as well as lifestyles must be employed for sustainable development. The picture in Pakistan is however very different in fact totally opposite to this. Energy use is excessively inefficient; Pakistan's GDP per unit energy used is 4.0, which ranks it 69th out of 110 countries. This waste of energy is combined with the need to import fossil fuels and as a consequence there is a very low productive per capita use of energy. The use of raw materials is also inefficient and many reusable resources are discarded as waste. Only 3% of the industrial plants meet international waste treatment standards. There are serious effluent problems and lack of sanitation affecting the natural resources and posing unmitigated health risks.

Industry in Pakistan is one of the major causes of pollution and unhealthy environment, which is dangerous for biodiversity and human life alike. As far as the industry in Pakistan is concerned, almost all-chemical waste is dumped untreated into the river system from where it is taken out to sea. A large number of industries discharge deadly and toxic waste into storm-drains, open nullahs or in the Lyari and Malir rivers. These include leather tanning units, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, refineries, chemical, textile, paper and pulp, engineering works and thermal power plants. According to a PCSIR (1999) study, huge amounts of toxic metals have been found in the marine life, such as fish, lobster, crabs and shrimp. The metals include mercury, cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic, and zinc. Many of these metals are carcinogens and can cause genetic deformities and other fatal diseases. They are mainly released by the industrial estates. Hardly 2% of these industries have the facilities to treat their effluents before releasing. Poor natural resource management over many years and continuing high population growth has had a negative impact on Pakistan's environment. Agricultural runoff–caused by ongoing deforestation–and industrial runoff have polluted water supplies, and factory and vehicle emissions have degraded air quality in the urban centers. Similar to other developing countries, Pakistan has focused on achieving self-sufficiency in food production, meeting energy demands, and containing its high rate of population growth rather than on curtailing pollution or other environmental hazards. As a result, "green" concerns have not been the government's top priority. Yet, as Pakistan's cities suffer from the effects of air pollution and unplanned development has caused degradation, environmental issues have become more salient.

Safeguarding public health, as well as preserving Pakistan's natural wonders, has made environmental protection increasingly important. In an attempt to redress the previous inattention to the nation's mounting environmental problems, in 1992 the government issued its National Conservation Strategy Report (NCSR) outlining Pakistan's state of environmental health, its sustainable goals, and viable program options for the future with the National Conservation Goals Building on the Pakistan Environmental Protection Ordinance of 1983, the NCSR stipulated three goals for the country's environmental protection efforts: conservation of natural resources; promotion of sustainable development; and improvement of efficiency in the use and management of resources. Fourteen program areas were targeted for priority implementation, including energy efficiency improvements, renewable resource development/deployment, pollution prevention/reduction, urban waste management, institutional support of common resources, and integration of population and environmental programs. In addition, in 1993 Pakistan applied National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) (Revised in 1999) to municipal and liquid industrial effluents and industrial gaseous emissions, motor vehicle exhaust, and noise. However, attempts to legislate environmental protection have fallen short, and regulations have not been enforced strongly. Enforcement does not imply effectiveness, though–even if regulations were strictly enforced, many industries would be unable to comply: when new revised environmental regulations were implemented in 1999, only 3% of industries were able to pass the test for compliance.