For those who want to find out more about the developing movement to stop global warming, go to http://www.climatecrisis.us.

Ted Glick

Katrina's Real Name

By Ross Gelbspan | August 30, 2005, Boston Globe

The hurricane that struck Louisiana yesterday was nicknamed Katrina by the National Weather Service. Its real name is global warming.

When the year began with a two-foot snowfall in Los Angeles, the cause was global warming.

When 124-mile-an-hour winds shut down nuclear plants in Scandinavia and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the driver was global warming.

When a severe drought in the Midwest dropped water levels in the Missouri River to their lowest on record earlier this summer, the reason was global warming.

In July, when the worst drought on record triggered wildfires in Spain and Portugal and left water levels in France at their lowest in 30 years, the explanation was global warming.

When a lethal heat wave in Arizona kept temperatures above
110 degrees and killed more than 20 people in one week, the culprit was global warming.

And when the Indian city of Bombay (Mumbai) received 37 inches of rain in one day -- killing 1,000 people and disrupting the lives of 20 million others -- the villain was global warming.

As the atmosphere warms, it generates longer droughts, more-intense downpours, more-frequent heat waves, and more-severe storms.

Although Katrina began as a relatively small hurricane that glanced off south Florida, it was supercharged with extraordinary intensity by the relatively blistering sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

The consequences are as heartbreaking as they are terrifying.

Unfortunately, very few people in America know the real name of Hurricane Katrina because the coal and oil industries have spent millions of dollars to keep the public in doubt about the issue.

The reason is simple: To allow the climate to stabilize requires humanity to cut its use of coal and oil by 70 percent. That, of course, threatens the survival of one of the largest commercial enterprises in history.

In 1995, public utility hearings in Minnesota found that the coal industry had paid more than $1 million to four scientists who were public dissenters on global warming. And ExxonMobil has spent more than $13 million since 1998 on an anti-global warming public relations and lobbying campaign.

In 2000, big oil and big coal scored their biggest electoral victory yet when President George W. Bush was elected president -- and subsequently took suggestions from the industry for his climate and energy policies.

As the pace of climate change accelerates, many researchers fear we have already entered a period of irreversible runaway climate change.

Against this background, the ignorance of the American public about global warming stands out as an indictment of the US media.

When the US press has bothered to cover the subject of global warming, it has focused almost exclusively on its political and diplomatic aspects and not on what the warming is doing to our agriculture, water supplies, plant and animal life, public health, and weather.

For years, the fossil fuel industry has lobbied the media to accord the same weight to a handful of global warming skeptics that it accords the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- more than 2,000 scientists from 100 countries reporting to the United Nations.

Today, with the science having become even more robust -- and the impacts as visible as the megastorm that covered much of the Gulf of Mexico -- the press bears a share of the guilt for our self-induced destruction with the oil and coal industries.

As a Bostonian, I am afraid that the coming winter will -- like last winter -- be unusually short and devastatingly severe. At the beginning of 2005, a deadly ice storm knocked out power to thousands of people in New England and dropped a record-setting 42.2 inches of snow on Boston.

The conventional name of the month was January. Its real name is global warming.

Ross Gelbspan is author of ''The Heat Is On" and ''Boiling Point."

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

Ted Glick
973-338-5398 indpol@igc.org P.O. Box 1132 Bloomfield, N.J. 07003

"How to bring into being a world that is not only sustainable, functional and equitable but also deeply desirable is a question of leadership and ethics and vision and courage, properties not of computer models but of the human heart and soul." Donella and Dennis Meadows and Jorgen Randers, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update


UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545


From ufpj-news

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082905Q.shtml

Note: the complete article had dire predictions for New Orleans... turned out not as bad as feared, but could have.

Hurricane Could Turn City into Toxic Cesspool The Associated Press Monday 29 August 2005 Experts warn 'incredible environmental disaster' is possible....<snipped>


The Deepening Climate Crisis
By Elizabeth Nash
The New Zealand Herald

Monday 29 August 2005

The category four storm threatening to cause havoc around the Gulf of Mexico is another example of the way global warming is altering the world's weather systems, environmental campaigners say.

As Hurricane Katrina bore down for a second time on Florida - with New Orleans in Louisiana also in its sights - parts of central Europe were battling to overcome floods that have killed dozens.

Portugal, on the other hand, was in the grip of a new wave of fires caused by high temperatures.

Alarmed residents in Florida have barely had time to clear up damage inflicted by Hurricane Dennis last month, or Hurricane Ivan last September.

Ending a week of extreme weather worldwide, the storm was expected to swing northwards on a course heading somewhere between the southern Florida panhandle and the Louisiana coast.

Florida has been pummelled by six powerful hurricanes since last August, in what forecasters describe as an "unusually active season."

Environmental campaigners say the turbulence is a product of global warming disrupting world weather patterns.

Katrina is the 11th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1. That is seven more than are usually whipped up by this stage of the season in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the United States' National Hurricane Centre said. The season ends on November 30.

Katrina's advance is being watched closely in Europe, where many people have felt subjected to comparable celestial punishment this week. From deluged south-eastern Europe, where 43 died in tumultuous rainstorms, to tinder-dry Portugal, where 11 new fires flared in the weekend despite weeks of desperate firefighting, Europeans have been assaulted by weather extremes unknown for generations.

Hardest hit was Romania, where 31 died, many of whom drowned when water engulfed their homes. Austria, Germany, Bulgaria and Switzerland reported 12 dead, with vast areas under water.

Fears remain that floodwaters could cause the Danube to burst its banks. In the small Swiss town of Thun, the local soccer stadium was destroyed, a loss given international prominence by the club's qualification last week for Europe's Champions League tournament.

Experts seeking an explanation for the chaos point to the irregularity of the jet stream, the wriggling ribbon of fast-moving wind that drives Europe's weather from the Atlantic.

A convulsive kink last week whipped turbulence into Eastern Europe, and locked Iberia in its pocket of hot tranquillity.

"But the jet stream is a permanent feature, it always wanders around, that's nothing new," said Wayne Elliott, a weather forecaster from the Meteorological Office in Exeter.

"The jet stream moves north in summer, south in winter, and the important thing is that it didn't come as far south as was expected last autumn. That's why the rains failed in Iberia, and why northern Europe is unsettled.

"Such behaviour is consistent with predictions by scientists who argue the climate is changing. Global warming could be the key."

The World Wildlife Fund said last week: "Global warming has started to exacerbate the frequency and intensity of meteorological catastrophes."

--- ENDS ---

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/082905Q.shtml


-- Peace! *STRIDER*

Britische und russische Forscher sind sich sicher: die gesamte subarktische Region Westsibiriens taut. Wo früher Eis war, bilden sich neue Seen.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6795.php

Die Flutkatastrophe in Süddeutschland entspricht genau den Szenarien des Klimawandels, die Wissenschaftler voraussagen. Greenpeace sieht darin einen weiteren Beleg dafür, dass der Klimawandel schon begonnen hat. Hitzewellen in Südeuropa und sintflutartige, tagelange Regenfälle im Alpenraum sind die Wetterextreme, die bei steigendem Ausstoß von Kohlendioxid drohen.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6794.php

Der Flugverkehr als klimaschädlichster Massenverkehrsträger weist hohe Wachstumsraten auf und ist, was die internationalen Flüge angeht, von jeglicher Emissionsbeschränkung entbunden. Für wirksame Maßnahmen auf europäischer Ebene erhält die EU-Kommission nun Rückendeckung aus der Zivilgesellschaft.

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/6796.php

Environmental Defense take action for the environment...online

*Tell Automakers - Stop Fighting Progress on Global Warming*

You would think that hybrid cars, better engineering and rising gas prices would combine to make every year's new cars burn less gas than the year before. But it turns out that each year since
1988, new cars are spewing even more global warming pollution into the air.

The damage from global warming is more visible every day, and emissions from cars are a major contributor. But automakers are blocking progress on global warming, fighting state and national efforts to curb global warming pollution.

Find out which automakers are responsible for the most global warming pollution, and ask them to support, not block, policies that reduce it.

Take action:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/carbon_burden_cars2/step1.tcl

What's at Stake: In the last five years, gasoline prices have soared, and more fuel-saving hybrid-electric vehicles debuted to an enthusiastic audience. That should, in theory, lead to less global warming pollution from cars and trucks. After all, the less gas cars burn, the less carbon dioxide they release.

Yet carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from U.S. cars and light trucks jumped 25 percent from 1990 to 2003. Both total emissions and average emissions per vehicle continue to rise, even over the last five years.

Yet the major automakers still fight cutting carbon pollution in the U.S., the world's largest auto market. In February 2005, the big automakers sued the state of California, for example, to block the state's clean cars law.

Take action! Send an email to the CEOs of Ford, GM, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, DaimlerChrysler, Porsche, Mitsubishi, BMW and Nissan. Tell them to stop blocking progress on global warming.

Learn more or take action: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/carbon_burden_cars2/step1.tcl

Your letter will be addressed and sent to: Major Automakers

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am concerned about the growing damage global warming is doing today. The global warming pollution that your products add to the atmosphere each year is growing, in spite of high gas prices and new technology like hybrids.

I ask you to stop blocking state efforts to control global warming pollution, and to support a national cap on greenhouse gases.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

----END OF LETTER TO BE SENT----

Das ZDF-Auslandsjournal hat sich in seiner Sendung 30.06.2005 am Beispiel Alaskas mit dem Klimawandel beschäftigt. Die interessante Reportage hatte diesen Wortlaut: "Er scheint der letzte Vorposten der Zivilisation zu sein, der kleine Ort Shishmaref. 600 Menschen leben auf der kleinen Insel vor der Küste Alaskas. Eine Flugstunde von Russland entfernt, zeigt sich das wohl extremste Beispiel der globalen Erwärmung."

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-Surftipp/6776.php

By Richard Hollingham BBC News, Greenland
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4145034.stm

Greenland's ice is melting rapidly. In some places, glacial levels have been falling by 10 metres a year and ultimately contributing to rising sea levels. Travelling to Greenland, Richard Hollingham sees the impact of climate change for himself.

The gleaming white executive jet taxied to a stop on the cracked concrete apron beside a couple of derelict hangars.

Beyond the rusty barbed wire and crude prefabricated buildings surrounding the airport perimeter, cliffs of dark granite rose from the valley to blend with the equally ominous grey of the sky.

No trees, no colour, no signs of life.

The door of the private plane swung down.

Onlookers, had there been any, might have caught a glimpse of the deep leather seats and walnut panelling of the interior.

Perhaps a group of sharp suited executives would emerge looking dynamic and business-like. Or perhaps some sinister men-in-black types, here on covert government business.

The first person to climb down was wearing oversized shorts, stout walking boots and a hat that looked like it had seen rather more of the world than it was perhaps designed for.

Its enormous ice cap, a sea of white stretching seemingly forever, overflows into thousands of glaciers

The next man was dressed in a clashing array of outdoor clothing and sported large tortoise-shell glasses and an unkempt beard.

Each man muttered something about the landscape being bleak.

I would like to be able to tell you that when the BBC descended from the plane we stood apart with our sartorial elegance.

But if you have ever met any BBC types, particularly radio reporters, you would know that would be a lie.

Research

We had landed at Kangerlussuaq, a community whose existence depends solely on the airstrip.

This used to be a bustling US base, servicing America's early warning system.

These days it is somewhat self perpetuating. The airport brings in supplies for the people who live here who mostly work at the airport.

I was tagging along with a group of eminent scientists, funded through the foundation of a billionaire philanthropist, Gary Comer. He has devoted his retirement to the science of global warming.

The researchers all make regular visits to the Arctic to assess the impact of climate change, not, it should be said, always in such comfort.

Retreating glaciers

Greenland is a massive island locked in ice. And from the air there is little evidence that it is melting.

Its enormous ice cap, a sea of white stretching seemingly forever, overflows into thousands of glaciers.

These in turn carve their way through the mountains to the coast.

It is only when you get near to the base of the glaciers that you can see how the landscape is changing.

A few metres above the ice, the rock is totally bare. A scar running horizontally across the valleys.

It is as if the ice has been drained away, like water in a bath, to leave a tide mark. Which is, in effect, what has happened.

The ice has melted and the glaciers have retreated hundreds of metres over the past 150 years.

New vegetation

The weather cleared and with the edge of the glacier, a giant wall of ice behind us, glaciologist Richard Alley led me across the barren rock.

This land was being exposed for the first time in millions of years

As I tripped and stumbled behind him, he bounded through scree and leapt over crevasses.

I have never seen a scientist more in his element as he pointed out deep grooves in the rock where the ice had raked the stone, or the giant boulders lifted by the glacier to balance precariously on top of tiny pebbles.

This land was being exposed for the first time for millions of years. Even a century ago, where I stood would have been solid ice, and I was struck by just how much vegetation there was.

Phillip, the biologist on the trip, was every bit as excited as Richard, identifying the dark brown lichens on the rocks, the grasses and beautiful purple flowers somehow managing to cling to just a few millimetres of soil.

Agricultural return

The Earth's climate has warmed before, albeit naturally.

A ruined church on the banks of a fjord marks the remains of a Viking farming civilisation.

The sun casts shadows through the arched window to the site of the altar, last used in the 1400s before the area was abandoned when it became too cold to support habitation.

Today, the farmers are back.

Sheep once again graze the surrounding hillside and shiny new tractors work the fields near the southern coast.

Greenland is turning green, something the rest of us should be very worried about indeed.

also posted on: http://FromTheWilderness.com


Informant: Scott Munson