i don't envy winnipeg (or regina) weather. Once winter sets in, it ain't over til spring. In the summer, it can be mucky and surrounded by small lakes, mosquito galore
Nah... much of the more southern boreal is (somewhat) mosquito free... and I don't find it to be as big of a problem as people make it out to be. But if you go properly north, then you get swarms of black flies. Even worse!
Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL Published: February 8, 2008 Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded. The benefits of biofuels have come under increasing attack in recent months, as scientists took a closer look at the global environmental cost of their production. These latest studies, published in the prestigious journal Science, are likely to add to the controversy. These studies for the first time take a detailed, comprehensive look at the emissions effects of the huge amount of natural land that is being converted to cropland globally to support biofuels development. The destruction of natural ecosystems — whether rain forest in the tropics or grasslands in South America — not only releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned and plowed, but also deprives the planet of natural sponges to absorb carbon emissions. Cropland also absorbs far less carbon than the rain forests or even scrubland that it replaces. Together the two studies offer sweeping conclusions: It does not matter if it is rain forest or scrubland that is cleared, the greenhouse gas contribution is significant. More important, they discovered that, taken globally, the production of almost all biofuels resulted, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not, in new lands being cleared, either for food or fuel. and so on.... ------ so school kids, don't let some science teachers tell u biofuel is good for the earth.
where is that global warming when it is needed. Record cold for northern Minn.: 40 below By JEFF BAENEN, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 11, 10:43 PM ET It lived up to its name: The temperature in International Falls fell to 40 below zero Monday, just a few days after the northern Minnesota town won a federal trademark making it officially the "Icebox of the Nation."
it is cool every winter actually I was just highlighting that so far this year, U.S. is experiencing some really cold temp. I never thot U.S. temp. would go down to -40 F (= -40C). In my area, we only got down to -35C (before wind chill factor).
GLOBAL WARMING? IT’S THE COLDEST WINTER IN DECADES Monday February 18,2008 By Tony Bonnici Have your say NEW evidence has cast doubt on claims that the world’s ice-caps are melting, it emerged last night. Satellite data shows that concerns over the levels of sea ice may have been premature. It was feared that the polar caps were vanishing because of the effects of global warming. But figures from the respected US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show that almost all the “lost” ice has come back. Ice levels which had shrunk from 13million sq km in January 2007 to just four million in October, are almost back to their original levels. Figures show that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than is usual for the time of year. The data flies in the face of many current thinkers and will be seized on by climate change sceptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming. A photograph of polar bears clinging on to a melting iceberg has become one of the most enduring images in the campaign against climate change. It was used by former US Vice President Al Gore during his Inconvenient Truth lectures about mankind’s impact on the world. But scientists say the northern hemisphere has endured its coldest winter in decades. They add that snow cover across the area is at its greatest since 1966. The one exception is Western Europe, which has – until the weekend when temperatures plunged to as low as -10C in some places – been basking in unseasonably warm weather. The UK has reported one of its warmest winters on record.
I just want to add some comments on the "Global Warming". Have any of you hear about "Global Dimming"? It was reported by NOVA of PBS about a month ago. In late 70s and in 80s, air polutions released into the air actually help block the sun light and slow down the "Global Warming" by a very significant amount (I do not recall the exact number). Since beginning 90s, western countries cut down on release of pollutens, the obsorbtion of sun energy increase and accelerated the "Global Warming". Here is the million dollars question (not worth as much as 5 years ago). Is the cure worse than the disease? Also, to my dear Canadian friends. Thank you for exporting the famous Canadian cold air to US so we can share the same "wonderful" experience as you guys... It is FRACKing freezing here.:crying::crying::crying:
got to read this. which one saves earth? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080220/ap_on_hi_te/green_dispute;_ylt=Avu0Kuq8idgnMk3Hwf8n7JOs0NUE neither. to file this law suit, more paper is being used and it goes to landfill. to file this law suit, more energy is used to use computer in court to process the paperwork in a supposly paperless enviorment.
hahaha, cut some tress to go green. If i'm the judge, if the tree shadow = or < 10% on neighbor's yard and existed before solar panels installation, the trees stay. If it's over 10%, trim enough branches to get it < 10%.
Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling Michael Asher (Blog) - February 26, 2008 12:55 PM Feb 27 at 12:03 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------- World Temperatures according to the Hadley Center for Climate Prediction. Note the steep drop over the last year.Twelve-month long drop in world temperatures wipes out a century of warming Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile -- the list goes on and on. No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously. A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year's time. For all four sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down. Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it. Let's hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans -- and most of the crops and animals we depend on -- prefer a temperature closer to 70. Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news. ------------------ good things government act slow. There were some scientists proposing to pump various light blocker like SO2, titanium flakes, water vapors, etc into the upper atmosphere to block sunlights.
Indonesia's palm oil boom takes environmental toll by Nabiha Shahab Tue Apr 1, 1:37 PM ET Marto Wijoyo and his family left the overcrowded Indonesian island of Java 27 years ago in search of a better life on neighbouring Sumatra. The government had given Wijoyo, now 60, a tract of fertile land to plant with rice and a home to call his own as part of a plan to ease Java's population pressures. Soon, he was producing twice-yearly harvests of more than ten tonnes of rice. Life was easy then, he said. All that changed four years ago when his neighbours in this lush village in Sumatra's Riau province decided to join the palm oil craze that has turned Indonesia into the world's biggest producer. Farmers across the region have switched from food crops to oil palm, lured by rising prices as the demand for the clean-burning biofuels it is largely used to make has risen. Last year, around 2.1 million hectares of land in Riau was taken up by oil palm plantations, compared with only around 400,000 hectares a decade ago. But despite its green credentials, the crop is taking a major toll on the environment, driving forest clearing, polluting rivers and introducing more pests. Wijoyo, who resisted joining the rush, said his crop has halved since oil palm plantations began springing up in nearby fields, providing a dry haven for pests to nest away from the damp rise paddies. "Ever since they planted oil palm the number of birds, rats, snails has increased, and they are destroying our rice crops," he said. Large swathes of Sumatra's forest have been destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations, with companies clearing the trees and burning the stumps that remain. Greenpeace activist Zulfahmi said the fires can smoulder underneath the dry peat for months, producing clouds of acrid smoke that spread far and wide. "The demand for palm oil has driven the clearing of more and more peatland forests. What we see here is one of the last remaining forests in Riau," he said, waving at forested peatlands in the process of being cleared. "Peat thickness in Riau in some areas can reach more than ten metres. To prepare a peatland forest for plantation, a company will clear all the timber out, then stack the remaining stumps and burn them." The large amount of fertilizer required for oil palm cultivation is also threatening local rivers -- and the livelihoods of the fishermen that depend on them. Bujang Sok, 65, showed AFP his meagre catch of less than two kilogrammes (five pounds) of fish from the Cenaku river. A decade ago, he said, he was catching 10 times as much. "How can we catch any fish? The water is polluted by the palm oil companies' fertilizers and the peat water," he said as he pointed at the murky river. Kuala Cenaku chief Mursyid Ali fondly remembers the days when his village was known all over the country as one of Indonesia's biggest rice producers. He accused people of blindly following the palm oil craze and worried that the irrigation system in place for growing rice would be left to rot. "In five years I am sure there will be fewer and fewer people planting rice," he said. "Unfortunately, the agriculture office cannot force people to plant rice. People can plant whatever they want." ------------------------ fyi, wholesale price of rice had gone up 30% in one day, last thursday (march 27/08). Load up on rice
New coal plants bury 'Kyoto' New greenhouse-gas emissions from China, India, and the US will swamp cuts from the Kyoto treaty. By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor So much for Kyoto. The official treaty to curb greenhouse-gas emissions hasn't gone into effect yet and already three countries are planning to build nearly 850 new coal-fired plants, which would pump up to five times as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce. The magnitude of that imbalance is staggering. Environmentalists have long called the treaty a symbolic rather than practical victory in the fight against global warming. But even many of them do not appear aware of the coming tidal wave of greenhouse-gas emissions by nations not under Kyoto restrictions. By 2012, the plants in three key countries - China, India, and the United States - are expected to emit as much as an extra 2.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to a Monitor analysis of power-plant construction data. In contrast, Kyoto countries by that year are supposed to have cut their CO2 emissions by some 483 million tons. The findings suggest that critics of the treaty, including the Bush administration, may be correct when they claim the treaty is hopelessly flawed because it doesn't limit emissions from the developing world. But they also suggest that the world is on the cusp of creating a huge new infrastructure that will pump out enormous amounts of CO2 for the next six decades. China is the dominant player. The country is on track to add 562 coal-fired plants - nearly half the world total of plants expected to come online in the next eight years. India could add 213such plants; the US, 72. ( See chart below.)
^^So..^^ ..basically China is following in the footsteps of the U.S.?!..Makes some sense, i mean all of those coal plants need to be built to satisfy some 1.2 billion people, right??....I wonder, in 4-12 more yrs, if the rest of the world will still see the U.S. as the biggest CO2 contributor in the world??..hmmm..
on total volume basis, china already surpassed US CO2 emission in 2006. It is on per capita basis that taneepak was trying to use to make the china emission look smaller. ------- BEIJING (AP) - China has overtaken the United States as the world's top producer of carbon dioxide emissions - the biggest man-made contributor to global warming - based on the latest widely accepted energy consumption data, a Dutch research group says. According to a report released Tuesday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China overtook the U.S. in emissions of CO2 by about 7.5 percent in 2006. While China was 2 percent below the United States in 2005, voracious coal consumption and increased cement production caused the numbers to rise rapidly, the group said. ------- from another source, china CO2 rate of increase was 9% in 2006, US ~1%
