waynechecker.net

Date: 30-Jul-10

Country: USA

Author: Deborah Zabarenko

Melting glaciers, more humid air and eight other key indicators show that global warming is undeniable, scientists said on Wednesday, citing a new comprehensive review of the last decade of climate data.

Without addressing why this is happening, the researchers said there was no doubt that every decade on Earth since the 1980s has been hotter than the previous one, and that the planet has been warming for the last half-century.

via World Environment News – Ten Key Indicators Show Global Warming “Undeniable” – Planet Ark.

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WWF and the National Toxics Network today released a list of Australia’s most dangerous pesticides, more than 80 of which are prohibited overseas because of the risks they pose to human health and the environment.

The list includes 17 chemicals that are known, likely or probable carcinogens, and 48 chemicals flagged as having the potential to interfere with hormones.

More than 20 have been classified as either extremely or highly hazardous by the World Health Organisation yet remain available for use on Australian farms.

“Australians are at risk of being exposed to a dangerous cocktail of poisonous chemicals, many of which have been prohibited in other countries due to their risks to health and the environment,” said WWF spokesperson Nick Heath.

“Surely Australian farm workers, wildlife and ecosystems deserve the same level of protection as those in Europe or the United States.”

Jo Immig from the National Toxics Network said the list was evidence that Australia’s chemical regulatory system was failing to keep people and the environment safe from dangerous pesticides.

“European pesticides regulation is founded on a precautionary principle designed to give human health and the environment the benefit of the doubt,” Ms Immig said.

“Here in Australia we have the opposite, where chemicals that are suspected of causing cancer and other health problems remain on the market for years.”

Mr Heath said the list was a warning that Australians were not being adequately informed of the risks associated with harmful pesticides.

“The pesticides regulator must recognise that while Australia may have unique wildlife and different farming conditions, the chemistry of these dangerous pesticides is the still the same. If smoking causes cancer in the US, it will also cause cancer in Australia – it’s the carcinogens that matter not the country,” Mr Heath said.

“The list demonstrates just how far we are lagging behind the rest of the world. It’s time for us to catch up and give Australian farmers safer and better choices.”

Read the report here.

More information

Charlie Stevens, WWF Media Office, 0424 649 689;

Juliette King, WWF-Australia Conservation Policy Officer, 0438 864 997;

Jo Immig, National Toxics Network, Coordinator, 02 6687 1900, 0413 683 782

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Ancient hunters who stalked the world’s last woolly mammoths likely helped warm the Earth’s far northern latitudes thousands of years before humans began burning fossil fuels, according to a study of prehistoric climate change.

via World Environment News – Woolly Mammoth Hunters Helped Change Climate – Planet Ark.

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The latest National Greenhouse Accounts show the greatest risk to Australia achieving vital cuts to carbon pollution is political hot air.

WWF-Australia points out that the Accounts reveal the amount of national carbon pollution is still growing compared to the baseline year of 1990.

“Any slow down in the rate of carbon pollution growth is more likely due to a slower economy rather than political progress,” said Paul Toni, WWF’s Development and Sustainability Manager.

“On one hand we have Senator Wong acknowledging that a price on carbon will be essential to reverse the growth in pollution, yet on the other hand the Government has chosen to delay any more progress towards an emissions trading scheme until at least 2013.

“Until we see all sides of politics making real efforts to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution, the only thing they are contributing is hot air.”

WWF-Australia continues to ask all politicians to support an emissions trading scheme which would cap the total amount of carbon pollution produced, then reduce it over time.

Without this system in place to put a price on carbon, Australia is in jeopardy of not only missing its target set out under the Kyoto Protocol, but more importantly of scuttling any chance of a meaningful global agreement to replace the Protocol when it runs out in 2012.

“As a de-facto election campaign begins in earnest, we want all of Australia’s politicians to remember this is unfinished business. Australia needs a price on carbon by 2011. Hot air won’t get us there,” said Mr Toni.

More information

Jonathon Larkin, Senior Media Officer, 0410 221 410, jlarkin@wwf.org.au

Nestlé, the world’s largest food and drink company, is making some of your favourite chocolate bars using palm oil from destroyed Indonesian rainforests. As a result, threatened species like orang-utans are being pushed into extinction and huge quantities of greenhouse gas are being released, accelerating climate change.

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Read more

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SAN DIEGO: The retreat of glaciers and the loss of moisture from soil due to climate change will likely increase the number of large-scale dust storms, such as those that blanketed Sydney in 2009, scientists predict.

“Every year, hundreds of millions of tonnes of African dust are carried westward across the Atlantic to South America, the Caribbean and to the North America,” as well as across the Mediterranean and the Middle East, said Joseph Prospero, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Miami.

via Retreating glaciers may boost dust storms | COSMOS magazine.

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Over the last several years we have seen a drastic reduction in sea ice in the arctic region of the world. Scientist project that the summer sea ice cover of the Arctic Ocean might be lost within a decade. Half of the heat produced on earth is created in the Arctic, resulting in accelerates climate change.

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A video, Climate Patriots, was recently (19 Feb. 2010) released from the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate. The video highlights the impacts environmental security, especially climate change, will have on the American military. In addition to the national security threat of America’s oil dependency, the video emphasizes the security threats from climate change, stating they are two-fold—humanitarian disasters and increased political instability. Former Captain James Morin likens the ramifications of these security threats to “… taking every hornets’ nest we already have around the world and shaking it up.”

Former Republican Senator John Warner (Virginia) calls climate change a threat multiplier because it will exacerbate already precarious situations. “Climate change affects the sons and the daughters who are currently stepping up to wear the uniform of our country; [and] who may be called upon in the future to perform missions, which missions are a consequence of erratic climate change, shortage of energy or a variety of both together.”

More Information on Climate Change & National Security:

• Quadrennial Defense Review Should Spark Interagency Climate Conversation. Climate Progress, 15 February 2010
• Climate Change Climbs the Ranks in the Pentagon and CIA (14 Dec. 2009, WWF blog post)
• U.S. military veterans travel to Copenhagen to discuss security threats of climate change (15 Dec. 2009, WWF blog post)
• Pentagon: “Climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.” Climate Progress, 1 Feb 2010.
• When poverty meets natural disaster & what that means with a changing climate (14 Feb. 2010)
• Climate Refugees: The Human Face of Climate Change (19 Feb. 2010, WWF blog)
• Review Aims to Rebalance Forces, Puts People First.  Press release (1 Feb 2010) from the Department of Defense.
• Greenhouse Gas Targets Announcement for DOD.  Press release (28 Jan 2010) from Department of Defense.watch?v=kjS9pU0y_JU&feature=player_embedded

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At 8.30pm on Saturday, March 27 nearly 100 iconic landmarks in 1,000 cities and towns around the world will switch off their lights for Earth Hour 2010, joining hundreds of millions of people showing their commitment to the environment.

Earth Hour will reach new heights this year, with the world’s three tallest buildings – the new Burj Khalifa in Dubai, CN Tower in Toronto and Taipei 101 in Taiwan – going dark for the global event.

Melbourne’s Luna Park, Rialto Tower, Arts Centre and Crown Casino; Brisbane’s Story Bridge; Adelaide’s Town Hall and Rundle Mall Lantern; The National Library and Australian War Memorial in Canberra and the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Tower, Harbour Bridge and Luna Park will join this growing list.

World-famous sites across the US, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore and even the lights of Las Vegas, will switch off in a decisive display of climate action from one of the most significant nations on the climate landscape.

Some of the world’s great metropolises will ‘flick the switch’ on their signature landmarks, marking their dedication to sustainable development and joining their citizens in adopting low-carbon practices.

Hiroshima will become the first Japanese city to show its commitment to global climate action when the lights go out on its iconic Peace Memorial. In London, lights will dim on the world-famous London Eye as the Coca-Cola sign in Piccadilly Circus switches off.

The actions shown by cities of the world and their inhabitants are crucial to leading a low-carbon resolution to climate change, says Earth Hour Co-Founder and Executive Director, Andy Ridley.

“The C40 suggests that cities are responsible for up to 75% of the world’s carbon emissions, so their role in addressing what is unequivocally the greatest threat to the planet today is absolutely vital,” Andy said.

“By turning the lights off for Earth Hour, cities are reflecting the aspirations of their citizens as a community that has resolved to take action on global warming,” he said.

As Earth Hour has grown from a one-city initiative in 2007 to a global phenomenon in 2009, renowned icons, including the Great Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, the Coliseum, Christ the Redeemer statue, Buckingham Palace, Beijing’s Olympic Stadium and many more world-famous landmarks have joined the global community in showing leadership on a resolution to climate change.

Earth Hour to show landmark action on climate change – Earth Hour Australia 2010.

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SAN FRANSISCO: The key to using trees to offset global warming is to expand tropical rainforests south of the equator, according to research announced in the U.S. on Monday.

Planting forests north of the equator appeared to either “zero-out” or be counterproductive in regard to global warming, according to the researchers.

via Forests can raise Earth’s temperature | COSMOS magazine.

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