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Weak links could cause climatic catastrophe
Eleanor Hall, The World Today ABC (Australia)
ELEANOR HALL: Now to an alarming prediction about the future of the planet.
Climate change is generally thought of as incremental, a gradual warming of the earth that, while potentially devastating, is predicted to occur over decades or longer.
But some scientists are now warning that it could come in a far more dramatic and unpredictable manner, because there are at least a dozen weak links in the earth’s climate system that could suddenly spark catastrophe.
One of these scientists is Professor John Schellnhuber from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. …
Professor Schellnhuber, what do you mean when you talk about these tipping points, or weak links, in the earth’s climate system?
JOHN SCHELLNHUBER: The thing is that people have thought about global warming and climate change as something gradual which we can adapt to in due course.
Well, we are studying the overall planetary system to find whether there are sorts of regions or processes that can be changed abruptly by global warming, and that is beyond manageability then.
ELEANOR HALL: And is Australia particularly vulnerable to any of these tipping points?
JOHN SCHELLNHUBER: Yeah, it is. I mean, the western Arctic ice sheet which may collapse under global warming, that would raise the global sea level by five metres or so.
There is of course the El Nino phenomenon, the characteristics will change with global warming. There is the Asian monsoon system which may affect, if it is modified, which will affect all of the wind patterns of Australia.
(21 February 2006)
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells
Mark Gould and Jon Ungoed-Thomas, The Times (UK)
RADIATION detectors in Britain recorded a fourfold increase in uranium levels in the atmosphere after the “shock and awe” bombing campaign against Iraq, according to a report.
Environmental scientists who uncovered the figures through freedom of information laws say it is evidence that depleted uranium from the shells was carried by wind currents to Britain. Government officials, however, say the sharp rise in uranium detected by radiation monitors in Berkshire was a coincidence and probably came from local sources. The results from testing stations at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston and four other stations within a 10-mile radius were obtained by Chris Busby, of Liverpool University’s department of human anatomy and cell biology.
Each detector recorded a significant rise in uranium levels during the Gulf war bombing campaign in March 2003. The reading from a park in Reading was high enough for the Environment Agency to be alerted. Busby, who has advised the government on radiation and is a founder of Green Audit, the environmental consultancy, believes “uranium aerosols” from Iraq were widely dispersed in the atmosphere and blown across Europe.
“This research shows that rather than remaining near the target as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds
(21 February 2006)
Glaciers are our business
David Lazarus, SF Chronicle
As you read these words, a little more — maybe a lot more — of Greenland’s glaciers are melting away, and sea levels are that much higher as a result.
With that change comes a greater threat to California and other coastal areas worldwide, and a greater threat of severe weather across the planet (with accompanying loss of life and economic well being).
These are the inescapable conclusions of data released the other day at a gathering of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in St. Louis. The organization publishes the influential journal Science.
(18 February 2006)
Combating global warming makes economic sense
Hal Harvey, SF Chronicle
When it comes to tackling global warming, the Bush administration is right about one thing: There are economic consequences. The problem is they’ve been too quick to assume that such consequences will be bad for the economy. It turns out that reducing greenhouse gases doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, it can be a serious moneymaker.
(21 February 2006)
Saving the Earth can also bring profit to startups
David R. Baker, SF Chronicle
Russ George wants to turn a profit from global warming. And he thinks algae is the way to do it.
Don’t laugh. Now that Europe has opened a market based on carbon dioxide emissions, it could work, he insists.
George and his Foster City startup, Planktos, plan to create huge algae blooms at sea that will suck some of the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere, then sell credits to European companies unable to meet their emissions targets.
Those companies would, in essence, pay Planktos to take out of the air carbon dioxide they are putting in.
(19 February 2006)
Related: Paying to pollute: System would limit emission, allow trading of credits (SF Chronicle).
