Washington, Sep 27 (Prensa Latina) Ignoring global warming -- and so any preparations to safeguard the world for our children and grandchildren -- is but another form of global terrorism, comments Tom Engelhardt, editor of Tomdispatch.com on Monday.

The fellow at The Nation Institute says it"s a way of loading and locking another kind of weapon of mass destruction.

Bizarre and strange have been used to describe Florida"s weather disasters, but the media has blamed Mother Nature for it, not once linking recent meteorological phenomena to global warming.

According to Engelhardt, for the first time in history, four hurricanes – Charley, Frances, Ivan (the Terrible), and now Jeanne -- have smacked into Florida"s long coastline one after another in a single hurricane season (not yet over).

Forget that in March Brazil experienced the South Atlantic"s first hurricane ever -- Brazilian meteorologists didn"t even know what to name it; or that the Atlantic coast of Canada got whacked by Hurricane Juan, "the storm of the century," late last year (and the Canadian government suspects a link to global warming); or that the United States has already experienced a record number of tornados in 2004; or that Japan has had the worst season of typhoons in memory; or that extreme weather events have increased in recent years across the planet, including massive flooding in Europe, Bangladesh, and China, and a deathly summer heat wave that struck Europe in 2003.

Forget the rising sea levels and the increased melt-off toward the poles. Forget that the Bush administration"s closest ally, Tony Blair of Britain, made a major speech, widely ignored in the American press, labeling global warming a danger beyond compare.

In contrast, Engelhardt highlights that the head of at least one country in the path of Hurricane Ivan -- Fidel Castro -- was ready to warn his people about global warming and hurricanes.

It"s often said that, in tossing the Kyoto Agreement out the Ozone hole, relaxing fuel-emission standards, burying or altering governmental global-warming research and the like, the Bush administration, with an Ivan-the-Terrible-style environmental record, has stuck its head in the proverbial sand (probably Tar sands at that).

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Informant: Walter Lippmann

The collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf two years ago has accelerated the flow of glaciers into the nearby Weddell Sea

The Larsen B ice shelf probably blocked the glaciers' progress before its collapse in 2002, but now they are able to deposit their loads more freely.

US researchers say the findings, which come from satellite data, provide evidence that climate change is bringing major changes to Antarctica.

Details appear in two reports published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The researchers say this is evidence that climate change is bringing major changes to Antarctica.

US researchers used a variety of data from satellites to track the speed of the glaciers before and after the collapse of Larsen B.

In one study, Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, US, analysed five images taken by the Landsat 7 satellite between January 2000 and February 2003.

The analysis reveals that four glaciers flowing into the now collapsed section of Larsen B increased in speed by between two and six times over the study period.

"If anyone was waiting to find out whether Antarctica would respond quickly to climate warming, I think the answer is yes," said Dr Scambos.

The second report, by Eric Rignot of the US space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, US, showed an eightfold increase in the speed of three glaciers, called Hektoria, Green and Evans, between 2000 and 2003.

Two others, Jorum and Crane, moved twice as quickly at the beginning of 2003 than they did in 2000 and nearly three times as fast by the end of the year.

"These two papers clearly illustrate, for the first time, the relationship between ice shelf collapses caused by climate warming, and accelerated glacier flow," said Dr Rignot.

The extra ice presumably translates into higher sea level. But how much this is raising the level of the oceans isn't known.

The authors of the published papers point out that in other places around the continent, much larger glaciers are also held in check by ice shelves.

So further warming could lead to much larger quantities of ice falling into the sea.

The Antarctic peninsula is one of the three fastest-warming regions on Earth - temperatures have risen 2.5 degrees in 50 years.

But the picture generally in Antarctica is complicated, with temperatures in the interior actually falling over the same period.

There is also some evidence that the retreat of the West Antarctic ice sheet, on the other side of the peninsula to the Larsen B shelf, has halted.

Accelerating glaciers contirbute to raised sea levels

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/3680004.stm

Published: 2004/09/22 13:04:29 GMT

SEE ALSO:
Earth warned on 'tipping points'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3597584.stm
26 Aug 04 | Science/Nature

Climate fears for rising waters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3893389.stm
14 Jul 04 | UK

Ice mission delights scientists
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3314453.stm
14 Dec 03 | Science/Nature

Ice-tracking satellite in trouble
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3042146.stm
04 Jul 03 | Science/Nature

Antarctic ice shelf breaks apart
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1880566.stm
19 Mar 02 | Science/Nature

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Geophysical Research Letters http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/

© BBC MMIV


Informant: Teresa Binstock

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=87cec7622422f911


Informant: NHNE

http://www.topix.net/redir/loc=story/http=3A=2F=2Fwww.nynewsday.com=2Fnews=2Fhealth=2Fny-hsclim163973202sep16=2C0=2C6475370.story=3Fcoll=3Dny-health-headlines


Informant: Laurel

It's the Climate Changing, Stupid

Earth Meanders
By Dr. Glen Barry
http://www.environmentalsustainability.info/

There has never been a more critical political issue than climate change, yet both candidates for U.S. President are virtually silent on the matter. I am appalled at the lack of attention paid to the issue of climate change in the American campaign for President.

The conventional wisdom sold to us by corporate greens is that Kerry is an environmental crusader. What a lie. Yes, President Bush has turned his back on the Kyoto protocols. But Kerry did so first, voting against Kyoto when Clinton was president.

The world needs a visionary and statesman like leader. On issues of war and peace, there is virtually no difference between the candidates. Neither candidate is green, just as neither is for peace. We are witnessing an unprecedented failure to lead.

There exists a complete and utter failure to grasp what is at stake with rapidly progressing climate change - the survival of civilization, continued maintenance of the Earth, and danger of authoritarian responses.

Health care, Iraq, gay marriage and abortion are dreadfully important issues. Yet they pale in significance to the threat posed by climate change and ecological collapse which may make much of the World uninhabitable and incapable of supporting advanced, affluent human societies.

Because of failed American leadership on climate change, there exists a great deal of ignorance and apathy on the subject amongst the public.

Firstly, the term "climate change" is more accurate than global warming. Though on average global temperatures are rising, the most serious impacts will be lack of consistent climatic patterns and increased weather extremes.

One recent major finding is that much of the increased heat has been absorbed by the oceans, making it likely if not probable that hurricanes - which are strengthened by warm ocean water - are becoming more powerful.

The best science based estimate is that fossil fuel emissions must be reduced by 70% in order to avert global ecological and social Armageddon. Yet both candidates shamelessly pander over modest and overdue gasoline price increases. Cheap gas is killing the Earth.

The technology already exists to stabilize the climate. Recently scientists identified 15 technologies that are ripe for large-scale use. They recommended a portfolio of energy efficiency, solar energy, wind power and limited nuclear energy; and the preservation or enhancement of "natural" sinks for carbon dioxide such as rain forests, as well as the conservation tillage techniques on farms.

First climate skeptics doubted the science. Now they say we must adapt, it is too late to mitigate the effects. The oil and coal industries daily perpetuate a crime against humanity - seeking to emit every last bit of carbon dioxide before embracing a clean energy economy.

Russia is the wild card on which the modest, yet important and historical, Kyoto process depends. But it is preocccupied and quite likely to kill off the international treaty - which took more than 10 years to negotiate - by delaying its decision to the point where it is too late for countries to adopt in time to cut emissions.

Tony Blair has recently claimed the mantle of climate change leadership, such as it is, warning that climate change has the potential to unleash a global human and economic catastrophe if left unchecked. Mr. Blair spoke of the need recently for a "green industrial revolution" - it remains to be seen whether outputs will equal rhetoric.

Things are playing out as I and other ecologists intuited they would some decades ago. The great civilizations are in their death throes - striking out at terror which is really just their own reflection, and denying their dependence upon the natural world. Humanity is pressing up against real biophysical restraints in terms of climate as well as water, forest and ocean ecosystems.

Climate change is the most immediate manifestation of disregard for ecological systems upon which all life depends. It is a matter of prudence as a society to respond with utmost urgency to implement a clean energy economy.

The result of failure to adjust to climate change will be societal ruin. Shall we proceed, evolve or die? Around the World we must vote, as if our life depends upon it, for who you think will best address climate change and related social justice and equity issues.

Der Hurrikan "terrorisiert" die USA:

Jetzt erinnern sich auch manche US-Amerikaner an ein Studie, welche das Pentagon im März dieses Jahres anfertigen ließ. Das Ergebnis: Im 21. Jahrhundert werde der Treibhauseffekt eine größere Gefahr als der Terrorismus...

http://www.sonnenseite.com/fp/archiv/Akt-News/5347.php

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,64952,00.html


Informant: radtimes

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-emissions12sep12,1,5328353.story

The Union of Concerned Scientists plans to release a study Monday explaining the ways global warming is changing California. The report predicts a rise in average summer temperatures of up to 5.5 degrees by mid-century, far higher than previous studies have projected. Even the scientists' most optimistic scenario, a temperature rise of only 2 degrees, could cause a host of economically damaging effects, such as the premature ripening of wine grapes.

Already, global warming is drying up water sources (such as the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is melting earlier than usual). It may also be helping some tropical diseases, such as West Nile virus, migrate north.

California may soon become the first state to curb vehicle tailpipe emissions, which after power plant emissions are the key fossil-fuel pollutants responsible for the rapid acceleration of global warming. On Sept. 23, the state's Air Resources Board is scheduled to order that new vehicles sold in the state cut their greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2016. California, however, will get nowhere without Washington's help, and that doesn't seem forthcoming. Congress, apparently buying into the ridiculous junk-science argument that global warming is a natural phenomenon that people can do little to thwart, is poised to pass spending bills for fiscal 2005 that will only worsen the problem.

Legislators should reconsider in light of a study presented to them Aug. 25 by President Bush's own science advisor and the secretaries of Energy and Commerce. It concluded that man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, not Mother Nature, had caused most of the increase in temperatures around the globe over the last three decades. Last month, various science officials abroad, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair's top science advisor, former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and Canada's environment minister, went even further, characterizing global warming as a far greater threat in the coming decades than terrorism.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) should use his new pull with Bush to pressure Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) to schedule a vote on the Climate Stewardship Act. This modest and pragmatic bill, which McCain co-authored with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), would require U.S. industrial plants to cut pollution from burning fossil fuels to 2000 levels by 2010.

More immediately, Congress should stop the phaseout of the tax deduction given to people who buy hybrid cars. The deduction started at $2,000 in 2002, but dropped to $1,500 this year and will fall to nothing in 2007 without new funding. Meanwhile, current tax rules heap obscene rewards on those who drive the least fuel-efficient cars on the road. One tax break, for example, gives business owners a deduction of up to $100,000 if they buy SUVs weighing 6,000 pounds or more. The $2 billion over 10 years that it would take to fully restore funding for the "clean"-hybrid tax deduction could be found by nixing some of the $9 billion in tax incentives that pending appropriations bills give to the "dirty" oil and gas industries.

Those opposed to decisive measures to reduce fossil fuel emissions argue that even if all of them were enacted tomorrow, they would still only slow, not stop, global warming. Even if that's true, it's no excuse for inaction. As any successful insurance executive will attest, risk may be unavoidable but dangers can be foreseen and thwarted. Or to put it more colloquially, it's cheaper to be safe than sorry.


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

The Earth is Melting, Arctic Native Leader Warns
http://tinyurl.com/62ayy

http://www.spiritofmaat.com/announce/ann_dryice.htm


Informant: lindaangelquest