Climate change inaction will cost trillions
rudkla - 14. Okt, 11:01
Global Warming - Globale Erwaermung
Samstag, 14. Oktober 2006
Freitag, 13. Oktober 2006
Global warming is changing our state
RON SEELY
608-252-6131
rseely@madison.com
https://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=102840
Climate change is happening now, scientists are telling us.
Presented here are five instances where studies have documented the changes being wrought in Wisconsin by the warming planet.
These are scientific, often peer-reviewed studies, of the birds that trill in our backyards, the lake ice upon which we plop our ice-fishing buckets, the aspen trees that grace our parks.
While some may still debate global warming, scientists pondering the data say without a doubt that climate change is already upon us, that it has been happening for some time, and that it is altering the landscape and changing life's intricate mechanisms.
In fact, Don Waller, a UW-Madison botanist, is convinced that the stories being told us by science are the very earliest and subtle chapters of a work that will eventually describe a profoundly altered world.
"There is more going on," Waller said, "than we have even the slightest inkling of right now."
Bugs
Goldenrod aphids in northern Wisconsin produce more winged offspring in response to predators if the carbon dioxide level is high, research published in the journal Ecology showed.
The science, conducted by former UW-Madison entomologist Edward Mondor, shows that changes in climate are likely affecting the numbers of such insect pests and relationships between those insects and the predators that normally keep them in check.
Ice
It doesn't take a scientist to know that something is up with the ice on Madison's lakes. UW-Madison limnologist John Magnuson studied 150 years of ice records on 39 bodies of water across the Northern Hemisphere, including lakes Mendota and Monona. Magnuson found that the lakes are freezing 8.7 days later and the ice is breaking up 9.8 days earlier than
150 years ago.
Birds and flowers
Analyzing 61 years' worth of springtime data on blooming plants and migrating birds at her family's famous farm, plant ecologist Nina Leopold Bradley found that a third of the events recorded are occurring earlier. Forest phlox, for example, is blooming in late April instead of early May.
And birds such as this rose- breasted grosbeak are arriving up to 20 days earlier in the spring.
Trees
One of the confusing things about climate change is that some species suffer while others benefit.
UW-Madison botanist Don Waller and colleagues have studied growth patterns of more than 900 aspen trees in southwestern Wisconsin. Those studies show aspen growth has increased more than 30 percent over 70 years. The growth, Waller said, corresponds with increasing levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Lakes and rivers
The levels of lakes and the flow of rivers and streams in Wisconsin are changing.
Researchers have found greater fluctuation of water levels. Currently, water levels in some central Wisconsin lakes are at 50-year lows. John Lenters, a UW-Madison climatologist, studied data on Great Lakes levels for 139 years and found the annual rising and falling of the lakes has gotten earlier by about a month. Similar changes have been observed on the Upper Mississippi.
Informant: binstock
608-252-6131
rseely@madison.com
https://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/index.php?ntid=102840
Climate change is happening now, scientists are telling us.
Presented here are five instances where studies have documented the changes being wrought in Wisconsin by the warming planet.
These are scientific, often peer-reviewed studies, of the birds that trill in our backyards, the lake ice upon which we plop our ice-fishing buckets, the aspen trees that grace our parks.
While some may still debate global warming, scientists pondering the data say without a doubt that climate change is already upon us, that it has been happening for some time, and that it is altering the landscape and changing life's intricate mechanisms.
In fact, Don Waller, a UW-Madison botanist, is convinced that the stories being told us by science are the very earliest and subtle chapters of a work that will eventually describe a profoundly altered world.
"There is more going on," Waller said, "than we have even the slightest inkling of right now."
Bugs
Goldenrod aphids in northern Wisconsin produce more winged offspring in response to predators if the carbon dioxide level is high, research published in the journal Ecology showed.
The science, conducted by former UW-Madison entomologist Edward Mondor, shows that changes in climate are likely affecting the numbers of such insect pests and relationships between those insects and the predators that normally keep them in check.
Ice
It doesn't take a scientist to know that something is up with the ice on Madison's lakes. UW-Madison limnologist John Magnuson studied 150 years of ice records on 39 bodies of water across the Northern Hemisphere, including lakes Mendota and Monona. Magnuson found that the lakes are freezing 8.7 days later and the ice is breaking up 9.8 days earlier than
150 years ago.
Birds and flowers
Analyzing 61 years' worth of springtime data on blooming plants and migrating birds at her family's famous farm, plant ecologist Nina Leopold Bradley found that a third of the events recorded are occurring earlier. Forest phlox, for example, is blooming in late April instead of early May.
And birds such as this rose- breasted grosbeak are arriving up to 20 days earlier in the spring.
Trees
One of the confusing things about climate change is that some species suffer while others benefit.
UW-Madison botanist Don Waller and colleagues have studied growth patterns of more than 900 aspen trees in southwestern Wisconsin. Those studies show aspen growth has increased more than 30 percent over 70 years. The growth, Waller said, corresponds with increasing levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
Lakes and rivers
The levels of lakes and the flow of rivers and streams in Wisconsin are changing.
Researchers have found greater fluctuation of water levels. Currently, water levels in some central Wisconsin lakes are at 50-year lows. John Lenters, a UW-Madison climatologist, studied data on Great Lakes levels for 139 years and found the annual rising and falling of the lakes has gotten earlier by about a month. Similar changes have been observed on the Upper Mississippi.
Informant: binstock
rudkla - 13. Okt, 18:56
Mittwoch, 11. Oktober 2006
Water for millions at risk as glaciers melt away
rudkla - 11. Okt, 23:34
We can avert global thirst but it means cutting carbon emissions by 60%
The freshwater boom is over.
Our rivers are starting to run dry: We can avert global thirst - but it means cutting carbon emissions by 60%. Sounds ridiculous? Consider the alternative.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1891588,00.html
From Information Clearing House
Our rivers are starting to run dry: We can avert global thirst - but it means cutting carbon emissions by 60%. Sounds ridiculous? Consider the alternative.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1891588,00.html
From Information Clearing House
rudkla - 11. Okt, 14:25
Dienstag, 10. Oktober 2006
Die Bundesregierung setzt weiterhin auf wachsende Energieimporte statt auf erneuerbare Energien
#Die Linkspartei.PDS: Pressemitteilungen
10. Oktober 2006
Gipfel entpuppt sich als Talsohle
Zu den Ergebnissen des zweiten Energiegipfels erklärt der stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Wolfgang Methling:
Der zweite Energiegipfel ist den hohen Erwartungen nicht gerecht geworden. Es gab weder verbindliche Absprachen für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik noch für eine Entlastung der Verbraucher durch eine andere Energiepreispolitik. Die Antwort auf die zentrale Frage der Bürgerinnen und Bürger, wie auch in Zukunft eine preiswerte und für jedermann bezahlbare Energieversorgung gesichert werden kann, ist die Bundesregierung erneut schuldig geblieben. Ob das Bekenntnis der Kanzlerin zum Atomausstieg Bestand hat, bleibt abzuwarten. Erste Stimmen aus den Reihen der Union nähren die Befürchtung, dass auch hier das letzte Wort noch nicht gesprochen ist. Das gestrige Treffen machte vor allem eines deutlich: Die Bundesregierung ist vor allem mit sich selbst beschäftigt und verschläft so die neuen Anforderungen in der Energiewirtschaft. Sie setzt weiterhin auf wachsende Energieimporte statt auf erneuerbare Energien. Und es gelingt ihr nicht, die vier marktbeherrschenden Energiekonzerne in die Schranken zu weisen. Über Wettbewerbsfragen und den Energiemix soll erst beim nächsten Mal geredet werden. Ein nationales Energiekonzept wurde jetzt für den Herbst 2007 angekündigt. Die Erfahrungen mit der Gesundheitsreform lassen befürchten, dass man wohl getrost auch noch ein oder zwei Jahre drauf geben kann. Die gegenwärtige Situation auf Bundesebene zeigt einmal mehr, dass stabile Mehrheiten einer Großen Koalition noch lange nicht gleichbedeutend mit solider Politik sind.
https://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=34196
10. Oktober 2006
Gipfel entpuppt sich als Talsohle
Zu den Ergebnissen des zweiten Energiegipfels erklärt der stellvertretende Parteivorsitzende Wolfgang Methling:
Der zweite Energiegipfel ist den hohen Erwartungen nicht gerecht geworden. Es gab weder verbindliche Absprachen für eine nachhaltige Energiepolitik noch für eine Entlastung der Verbraucher durch eine andere Energiepreispolitik. Die Antwort auf die zentrale Frage der Bürgerinnen und Bürger, wie auch in Zukunft eine preiswerte und für jedermann bezahlbare Energieversorgung gesichert werden kann, ist die Bundesregierung erneut schuldig geblieben. Ob das Bekenntnis der Kanzlerin zum Atomausstieg Bestand hat, bleibt abzuwarten. Erste Stimmen aus den Reihen der Union nähren die Befürchtung, dass auch hier das letzte Wort noch nicht gesprochen ist. Das gestrige Treffen machte vor allem eines deutlich: Die Bundesregierung ist vor allem mit sich selbst beschäftigt und verschläft so die neuen Anforderungen in der Energiewirtschaft. Sie setzt weiterhin auf wachsende Energieimporte statt auf erneuerbare Energien. Und es gelingt ihr nicht, die vier marktbeherrschenden Energiekonzerne in die Schranken zu weisen. Über Wettbewerbsfragen und den Energiemix soll erst beim nächsten Mal geredet werden. Ein nationales Energiekonzept wurde jetzt für den Herbst 2007 angekündigt. Die Erfahrungen mit der Gesundheitsreform lassen befürchten, dass man wohl getrost auch noch ein oder zwei Jahre drauf geben kann. Die gegenwärtige Situation auf Bundesebene zeigt einmal mehr, dass stabile Mehrheiten einer Großen Koalition noch lange nicht gleichbedeutend mit solider Politik sind.
https://sozialisten.de/presse/presseerklaerungen/view_html?zid=34196
rudkla - 10. Okt, 13:53
Rising Seas Could Leave Millions Homeless in Asia
rudkla - 10. Okt, 10:23
Montag, 9. Oktober 2006
Uncertain future: growth, climate change could spell disaster for valley, state waterways
rudkla - 9. Okt, 21:54
Rising consumption of ecological resources is pushing the world into ever earlier ecological deficit or 'Overshoot'
The "ecological footprint" has become a powerful indicator of the unsustainability of the current global economy.
Now the Global Footprint Network is promoting another concept that also caries some "punch".... October 9th 2006 is (Ecological) Overshoot Day
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/newsletters/footprint_network_enews_1-9-1.html
Beginning on October 9th and continuing through the end of the year, the world will be living beyond its ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 9th, humanity has already consumed the total amount of new resources nature will produce this year.
"Humanity is living off its ecological credit card and can only do this by liquidating the planet's ecological assets," said Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of Global Footprint Network, "While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources, such as the forests, oceans and agricultural land upon which our economy depends."
Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanity's Ecological Footprint, its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries, and compares it with global biocapacity, the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin running our annual ecological deficit. Designated "Overshoot Day," this year demand begins outstripping supply on October 9.
Overshoot has been called 'the biggest issue you've never heard of.' Yet despite its lack of publicity, its causes and effects are as simple as they are significant.
As humanity's consumption of resources increases, Overshoot Day creeps earlier on the calendar. Humanity's first Overshoot Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. Today, with Overshoot Day on October 9, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planet's biocapacity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=footprint_overview
https://www.neweconomics.org/gen/ecologicaldebt091006.aspx
Best wishes
-- David Duthie
UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit Geneva
Email: david.duthie @ unep.ch
Informant: Teresa Binstock
Now the Global Footprint Network is promoting another concept that also caries some "punch".... October 9th 2006 is (Ecological) Overshoot Day
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/newsletters/footprint_network_enews_1-9-1.html
Beginning on October 9th and continuing through the end of the year, the world will be living beyond its ecological means. Ecological Footprint accounting shows that, as of October 9th, humanity has already consumed the total amount of new resources nature will produce this year.
"Humanity is living off its ecological credit card and can only do this by liquidating the planet's ecological assets," said Dr. Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of Global Footprint Network, "While this can be done for a short while, overshoot ultimately leads to the depletion of resources, such as the forests, oceans and agricultural land upon which our economy depends."
Each year Global Footprint Network calculates humanity's Ecological Footprint, its demand on cropland, pasture, forests and fisheries, and compares it with global biocapacity, the ability of these ecosystems to generate resources and absorb wastes. Ecological Footprint accounting can be used to determine the exact date we, as a global community, begin running our annual ecological deficit. Designated "Overshoot Day," this year demand begins outstripping supply on October 9.
Overshoot has been called 'the biggest issue you've never heard of.' Yet despite its lack of publicity, its causes and effects are as simple as they are significant.
As humanity's consumption of resources increases, Overshoot Day creeps earlier on the calendar. Humanity's first Overshoot Day was December 19, 1987. By 1995 it had jumped back a month to 21 November. Today, with Overshoot Day on October 9, humanity's Ecological Footprint is almost thirty per cent larger than the planet's biocapacity this year. In other words, it now takes more than one year and three months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year.
https://www.footprintnetwork.org/gfn_sub.php?content=footprint_overview
https://www.neweconomics.org/gen/ecologicaldebt091006.aspx
Best wishes
-- David Duthie
UNEP-GEF Biosafety Unit Geneva
Email: david.duthie @ unep.ch
Informant: Teresa Binstock
rudkla - 9. Okt, 21:54
Trotz des Klimawandels baut die Stromwirtschaft in Deutschland vornehmlich fossile Großkraftwerke
Neue fossile Großkraftwerke: Stromwirtschaft baut Kohle-, Erdgas- und Müllkraftwerke (09.10.06)
Trotz des Klimawandels baut die Stromwirtschaft in Deutschland vornehmlich fossile Großkraftwerke. Nach Angaben des Verbandes der Elektrizitätswirtschaft (VDEW) nahm die Branche zwischen 2001 und Mitte 2006 rund 40 Kraftwerke mit einer Leistung von zusammen 5.700 Megawatt (MW) in Betrieb. Der Verband erfasste hierbei Anlagen ab 20 Megawatt Leistung. Das Investitionsvolumen habe rund 5,5 Milliarden Euro betragen. Weitere 53 konventionelle Kraftwerke mit zusammen 31.400 MW Leistung sind nach Angaben des Stromwirtschaftsverbandes in Deutschland in Bau oder in Planung.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
https://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14485
Steigende Strompreise: Gabriel wirft Energieversorgern Ablenkungsmanöver vor (09.10.06)
Im Vorfeld des Energiegipfels in Berlin hatte Bundesumweltminister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) scharfe Kritik an den Energieversorgern geäußert. Diese stellten das "öffentlich sehr interessante Thema" Atomenergie deshalb in den Mittelpunkt, damit sie sich um andere Bereiche wie steigende Strompreise und den Bau effizienter Kraft-Wärmekopplungs-Kraftwerke "herumdrücken" könnten, sagte Gabriel am Montag im ZDF-Morgenmagazin. Er warf den Versorgern in diesem Zusammenhang vor, mit diesem Trick von getroffenen Selbstverpflichtungen abzulenken.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
https://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14486
Trotz des Klimawandels baut die Stromwirtschaft in Deutschland vornehmlich fossile Großkraftwerke. Nach Angaben des Verbandes der Elektrizitätswirtschaft (VDEW) nahm die Branche zwischen 2001 und Mitte 2006 rund 40 Kraftwerke mit einer Leistung von zusammen 5.700 Megawatt (MW) in Betrieb. Der Verband erfasste hierbei Anlagen ab 20 Megawatt Leistung. Das Investitionsvolumen habe rund 5,5 Milliarden Euro betragen. Weitere 53 konventionelle Kraftwerke mit zusammen 31.400 MW Leistung sind nach Angaben des Stromwirtschaftsverbandes in Deutschland in Bau oder in Planung.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
https://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14485
Steigende Strompreise: Gabriel wirft Energieversorgern Ablenkungsmanöver vor (09.10.06)
Im Vorfeld des Energiegipfels in Berlin hatte Bundesumweltminister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) scharfe Kritik an den Energieversorgern geäußert. Diese stellten das "öffentlich sehr interessante Thema" Atomenergie deshalb in den Mittelpunkt, damit sie sich um andere Bereiche wie steigende Strompreise und den Bau effizienter Kraft-Wärmekopplungs-Kraftwerke "herumdrücken" könnten, sagte Gabriel am Montag im ZDF-Morgenmagazin. Er warf den Versorgern in diesem Zusammenhang vor, mit diesem Trick von getroffenen Selbstverpflichtungen abzulenken.
Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
https://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php?Nr=14486
rudkla - 9. Okt, 21:54
