Black Carbon

Black carbon! It sounds like bad news...and it is and, as far as the Arctic is concerned..it is very bad news - probably responsible for half if not more of the increase in the warming in that region over the past 120 years.

Are we considering black carbon seriously enough? Well, what is it? It's a form of soot, a product of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels or the burning of coal..wood..dung.. That sort of thing. The Arctic is particularly sensitive to it. It darkens the ice and the snow and this in turn affects the Arctic's ability to reflect light. Therefore the ice absorbs heat and this all has been contributing to the reduction in summer ice we are now seeing. As well as that black carbon in the atmosphere absorbs solar radiation and converts that to more heat. So it contributes to our changing climate in at least two ways. And it is no surprise that black carbon is the second leading cause of global warming after CO2.

Now ...unlike carbon dioxide .. black carbon remains in the atmosphere for days or weeks at the very most but with the melting of the Arctic ice much quicker than previously expected - and this melting of the ice being one of the climate "tipping points" ...and with black carbon known to be responsible for much of this damage some scientists are now suggesting that this problem should be addressed.

So… immediate reductions in black carbon could indeed be the white knight of climate change - even a rescue plan. Because...at least this would bring about a more immediate result in the Arctic . And quick responses are just what we need right now!

Antarctica Appeal

We produce around 32 billion tons of CO2 each year .Out of that about 15 actually stays in the atmosphere contributing to climate change. The oceans, forests, vegetation and soil store the rest of that CO2. So obviously if this current storage facility starts declining we are in more trouble than before. Out of these carbon sinks about a quarter of the carbon dioxide is absorbed by the oceans... and the biggest ocean for this is the Southern Ocean which surrounds Antarctica.

Recently scientists have reported that this large volume of water now only able to absorb a fraction of the CO2 it use to. CO2 needs to be stored at below 300 metres to stay there permanently. It is reckoned that the stormy seas being whipped up by higher wind speeds which are themselves a by-product of the changing climate is causing the mixing of deep water with the shallower water which absorbs less of this greenhouse gas. I

t is like some vicious circle - which we are looking desperately to address. While doing so we must galvanize ourselves and our Governments to work harder on reducing emissions.

To Russia With Love From Denmark

Russia has begun to work on modernising its inefficient power plants and that's thanks to The Danes. The good news about this is that Russia is one of the world's highest emitters of green house gases. Much of this however is due to antiquated inefficient industrial centres. Supplying heat and hot water for the public sector, accounts for a staggering 45 per cent of Russia’s domestic energy usage. So any clean up operation like the Danish venture in Kirov which will reduce emissions form 100 of these leaky power stations is a step along the right path.

So what's in it for Denmark? Well, they're in fact buying emissions reductions units from Russia which is providing the investment for this venture and this will allow them...Denmark...expansions within their Kyoto agreements.

Now.. not only will this operation reduce CO2 emissions from Russia obviously it will also conserve to some degree some natural gas. Russia is in fact the largest exporter of natural gas in the world. ..but with only about fifty years of supply left ..in the pipeline.. so to speak it is not only in the interests of the Russian people to rejuvenate their plants and so waste less of this precious resource but aso it will keep the cost of gas to Europe at a lower price.

Well... no incentives maybe then for Europeans to cut usage with cheaper gas you, may well say... But surely over all this is a positive move and a sign of Russia's endorsement of initiatives to halt climate change.

High Rivers Run Low

Not only are the rivers at the lowest point on earth that's the Dead Sea - under threat because of global warming but also those that run from higher up ... particularly the Tibetan Plateau. That's the largest, highest area in the world today and the source of many major rivers in Asia .rivers which flow from China to Pakistan.

Over the past 40 years the glaciers on this plateau have been melting. In fact they have receded nearly 200 square kilometres due to rising temperatures. The knock -on effect is that rivers are starting to run lower.

One example is the River Yangtze.... China's longest river. Scientists have calculated a loss of nearly 1 billion cubic metres of water. This is not a short term problem because the melting glaciers actually replenish these rivers. However, long term the effects will become more obvious leading to a change in the ecosystem of the area which is of grave concern to us all.

With Tibet the only true source of fresh water to Asia China’s is responding by building a range of reservoirs to catch the glacial melt..the precious, needed water that would otherwise run off into the desert and be wasted…. but long term it seems that global cooperation on solutions to halt climate change by reducing emissions now....is imperative for all of us.

More Fusion Research Jobs

Firstly the fact that America is committed to leading the way on green issues is commendable and exciting because how America behaves has always influenced others. Some form of fusion has the true potential to solve the world’s energy crisis. So far decades of research have generated little more than fascination with its possibilities and yet there are those who believe that we could be a lot closer to a breakthrough on this advanced technology than we think....with all the clever brains in America it would be great to see more investment and focus on this essential research Also with the public now quite rightly a bit sceptical about the feasibility of providing energy for everyone using wind and solar, biofuels because of our rapidly expanding world population and with the concern about the future conflicts that may erupt over land use it would be good to put together a strategic team who could draw up a fifty to one hundred year power plan to work to.. .how their recycling and weatherboarding is generally going to help come up with some long-term solution. Mr Obama and your good self campaigned brilliantly with the phrase 'we can' and many of us believe that yes, you can! You can come up with answers to the world's energy crisis. So good luck!

Canada softened by US

Canada is ready to talk with the US on tackling global warming which is fantastic news because it seems that President Obama's commitment to go all out to 'green' America may encourage this other great nation to do the same.

The history behind this is that Canada had agreed years ago to reduce CO2 to 6.0 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012 But instead and recently in particular emissions have increased quite enormously. In 2007 Canada revised their previous target saying that their levels were unattainable and the expectations of a former adminstration were not realistic. In fact this reversal of attitude stemmed more from the US position at the time than anything because Canada and the US are the world's largest trading partners and with America's refusing to comply with Kyoto Canada..not wanting to be disadvantaged .. pulled back a bit.

However with the change in US administration has come a softening of position from Canada and a fresh and more optimistic approach to tackling this problem of their emissions which is good news because Canada is in fact one of the greatest consumers of energy per capita. Much of their energy goes to driving cars...heating homes...operating factories but there are also huge emissions from Alberta's energy intensive tar sands...and the effects of global warming on Canada are many as there are ...right across the world. With Canada it is possibly wildland fires... Their fires have been trending up over the past forty years as temperatures have been rising. Now not only do these wildfires reap human devastation We saw this past week in Melbourne the terrible, terrible loss of life when fires broke out in temperatures of 46.4 degrees and heard of 100 kmh hot winds spreading the fire Canada has similar problems to face..it certainly has had these problems in the past.

Deforestation..however it happens... whether it be by logging... or by these wildfires which are caused by increasing temperatures...the global environmental implications are huge. As we are all in this together, the spirit of the cooperation emerging from North America..to the global problem we face is very encouraging indeed.

Don't Snow Down on Kyoto

“How can we be experiencing global warming,” people ask , ‘When we have conditions like this and we are searching around for warm scarves and boots?”

Right now in the UK we have had the coldest snowiest spell for twenty years. But there are those who believe that despite these cold spells climate change is real and is our responsibility and we should be taking extreme action now and they say that the pattern of warming is long term and that there is obviously short term natural variation and in fact the tendency to look for signs of climate change in the form of temperature rise from year to year can play into the hands of climate sceptics who have used the recent cooler world temperatures as their evidence that global warming stopped in 1998 and that our heating globe is no more than a fantastic myth perpetrated for a dozen or so different reasons. ..but the fact is that we do know we are experiencing extremes in weather right across the world and possibly this is because of the distribution of the energy that has built up as a result of our heating up our globe.