Scientists Want Edits To Warming Skeptic’s Film

I read a pretty disturbing article about how easy people can be mislead by the facts of global warming. Here, a production company has produced a film that criticizes the theory that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases, called “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” on Wag TV in Britain which first aired on its channel 4 in March, and plans to soon send the documentary out on dvd. The film

Argues that man-made emissions have only a marginal impact on the world’s climate, and that instead, climate change can better be explained by changing patterns of solar activity.

The film goes on to make other such seemingly crazy remarks such as that the world was warmer during the Middle Ages and that volcanoes produce more carbon dioxide than humans.

Thankfully, a group of 38 British climate scientists, including the former heads of Britain’s academy of sciences and Britain’s weather office, have demanded that the maker of the film remove its “major misrepresentations” and have sent him a letter. They said free speech doesn’t apply when misleading the public with false information.

Bob Ward, former spokesman for Britain’s academy of science, who is just one “standing up for public interest” as well, and has gone further to complain to the media’s regulator. On the film he said

The fact is that it’s a very convincing program, and if you’re not very aware of the science you wouldn’t necessarily see what the errors are. But the errors are huge. … Without those errors in, he doesn’t have a story.

However, the makers called the letter loathsome and still stand behind their film and claim only minor errors, and claim they are bashing scientific criticism. The film was supposed to be a response to Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Thanks goodness, Gore has been hired as an advisor to the British government, which plans to send copies of his film to schools all over and around England.

I think the the fact that someone would fool around with the public and make such a film is sick. It would be a huge step backward if it went through and went out on dvd, for it would put us back to how we were years ago still recognizing global warming as a controversy and still debating over it. I think a harsh punishment should be placed on the creators of this film, for they are impeding the progress of our entire globe! It is people like this that have been slowing the push to act against global warming for years, and it is people like this that need to be shot down and punished, and hopefully this will open the public’s eye on what media can do or at least leave them skeptical if anything such as this were to happen again. I think Ward and his followers are taking all the right actions thus far and I hope that they continue to do so.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18307782/

Gore Climate Concert Finds Home In New Jersey

I chose this post because it follows directly off one of my previous posts, excepts this one is more bright-sided.  After the National Mall in Washington had already been reserved and Republicans blocked Gore from having his concert on capital grounds ( with weak reasons as shown in my previous post), Gore has gotten permission and decided to hold the concert in New Jersey at Giants Stadium. 

After being rejected from D.C., many states made offers to hold the concert, with New York and New Jersey being the most accomodating.  The concert is one of seven, with the one in New Jersey being the only one in North America as a concert is to be held on each of the seven continents, with the other locations being Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and Antartica. 

At least one million people are predicted to attend each show with millions more watching or listening through the tv, radio, internet, etc.  Although New Jersey doesn’t seem to be the prime location for such a concert, I think no matter where it takes place, this huge event will be a success.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18040230/

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Oil Giant Backs Caps On Greenhouse Gases

This article clearly indicates that we are heading in the right direction.  Here, ConocoPhillips has joined the U.S. Climate Action Partnership to push Congress to set limits on greenhouse gases contributing to global warming, becoming the first major U.S. oil company to take such a stance.

The U.S. Climate Action Partnership is an alliance of big businesses and environmental groups that urges Congress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to try to offset global warming.  On joining the group, chairman and cheif executive said:

We recognize that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, is contributing to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that can lead to adverse changes in global climate.

Although this recognition seems like a small step, it is in fact a big step considering what its come from-oil companies convincing people that and themselves that global warming is merely a “controversy.”  Now, U.S.’s third largest oil company, has committed to spending $150 million this year alone new energy sources research, which is a whole fifty percent increase since 2006.  And it doesn’t end here, as the company also plans to give Iowa State University $22.5 million over the next eight years to develop technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. 

I just think that this stance taken by the company is absolutely amazing, for, a member of the group of main opposers to taking action against global warming by reducing carbon dioxide emissions is now joining the other side.  If this keeps up, there will be no one left on the opposing side, and the “controversy” will finally be over.  I think this is greater than we all expected, as most of us had merely hoped that we would beat out the oil companies, but now with them joining our side the possibilities in helping wipe out global warming seem much more promising and even endless.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18054970/

EPA issues controversial air particulate rules

I chose this post from the Chicago Tribune becuase we have gone over particulate matter in class and just saw the video on China’s air pollution. Clean air activists and utilities had different reactions to new rules directing 20 U.S. states to slash levels of PM emitted by power plants, cars and other sources by 2010. Unfortunately, there are about 88 million people in 200 counties that live in areas where the particulate matter level exceeds the limit set by the EPA.

As we have learned, exposure to the particles can lead to heart disease, lung disease, bronchitis, asthma, and even death. To combat this, Governors of affected states must give EPA their cleanup plans by February 2008, and designated areas must lower particulate pollution to what the agency considers to be a safe level by 2010. However, clean air advocates called the rules “a dirty power industry protection plan,” and said they may actually hamper states’ ability to clean up air pollution.

The clean air advocates’ assumption comes from the fact that plants could comply with requirements by purchasing “emission credits” established by a nationwide “cap-and-trade” program proposed by the White House.

The EPA said that most states that violate federal clean air rules are clustered around the Midwest, which has the most coal-fired generation, and in Northeast states between Washington, D.C., and New York. Counties with the most severe problems get even a greater amount of time to lower the PM.  This is obviously not good for the people or the environment, and could be considered a big step backward. Hopefully action will be taken to overturn this plan and a new plan with more immediate action to this crisis will be drawn up.

More College Students Studying Clean Energy

I read a very encouraging article that shows that all the efforts to help make people aware of global warming is really paying off. For the greater concern for global warming by college students and their new want to take new courses in alternative energy stemmed from the greater awareness has led universities to add new courses on the environment and the technologies of clean energy.

The very prestigious University of California at Berkelely has had their introductory courses on energy almost triple, as well as a new graduate class formed. A professor there, Dan Kammen, claims that

Students see an opportunity for challenging jobs and a way to do some good for the planet.

At the prestigious school of Stanford as well, the Petroleum Engineering Department has renamed itself the Energy Resources Engineering Department, and their Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering now offers courses in green architecture and sustainable development. It is very smart of these students to enter these careers as it does not only help the environment, but also is obviously a big concern of large corporations lately, and a very profitable career can be obtained through this path.

Some more colleges on the path to help the environment include Dartmouth, Harvard, Illinois State, and Middlebury. The future of our environment now seems very promising as thousands of some of the brightest and ambitious students are on board to do what they can to help save the environment, and a dynasty has been built as more and more students will be trained to do so as well for years and years to come. This sort of action from our up-to-date future leaders is exactly what we need to help get the job done, and can only lead to a brighter future.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17835176/

Image Credit: AP Photo/Harry Cabluck

Climate Concert at Capital is up in the air

I chose this article because it follows up with one of my earlier posts and also has to to with environmental controversies. Unfortunately, plans by Al Gore for the Live Earth rock concert at the U.S. capitol are running into some opposition from the Republican party, and he wanted to hold one of the seven concerts on the National Mall in the U.S. capitol but two other groups secured that space for events. The alternative, to use west lawn of the capitol, is on hold in the U.S. Senate, even as the mayor of the mostly Democratic city of Washington D.C. if for having concert take place there.

Republicans continue to make movements to block the show from performing at the capital, such as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who rejected approving it because he claimed “the Senate had not yet reviewed it,” a very poor reason. Republican Senator James Inhofe’s response is most disturbing however, as spokesman Marc Morano reported:

Senator Inhofe objects to having any events on the Capitol grounds that are either highly partisan or politically controversial — and the proposed Gore concert is both.

But that is not all, Inhofe has even referred to global warming as a “hoax.” It is ignorant people like this in the Senate and high up in corporations that are slowing down are action to help stop global warming and who have been doing it for years as well as confuse and change the minds of the public. If it weren’t for people like this, much greater action would have been taken by now. Hopefully, this Live Earth concert will open millions of minds and change even those who are stricken with this misbelief so a strong stance is finally taken against global warming.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17843505/

Image Credit: Wikipedia

London Vows To Slash Carbon Emissions

I figured I would choose this blog because it relates to our recent class studies on emissions of gases. It is also another new incident of where companies themselves are urging help from the government to help the environment, and the article suggests it is beneficial to them as well as most companies want to be seen having “good green credentials.” But no matter what the motive behind the strong and sudden urge from companies, it is still helping save the atmoshphere.

The new plan the British capital has called for calls for great change as it aims to cut carbon emissions by sixty percent within twenty years to help combat global warming. It plans to achieve this by reducing demand and waste for everyone, from individuals to large businesses. It will urge for the 7.5 million population of London to turn off their tv’s and lights and switch to low energy lightbulbs. It also plans to encourage better energy use by rewards. Some of these rewards include big subsidies to householders to insulate their homes, which account for a great deal of carbon emissions, and businesses and local governments, emitting about a third of the carbon, will be awarded green merit badges for changing their ways.

However, all these changes can be executed without a vast change in the production and distribution of the city’s electricity. The plan addresses this as it calls for one quarter of the city’s power supply to switch from the old and inefficient national grid power supply, where 70% of the energy output is wasted, to locally generated electricity using more efficient heat and power plants.

To achieve its goal, the city is going to need strong support from the government, helping them by maintaining stable and long-term carbon prices and applying tough building regulations to new and existing buildings.  Hopefully, London will acquire the help it needs to help make it an example for all by becoming the first city in the world to really have a strong and comprehensive plan to cut its carbon emissions.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17366203/

Corporate Push for Action Against Warming

It was good to see that for once COMPANIES are urging for action against warming instead of the government urging companies to lower emissions to slow down global warming.  This is exactly what we need for big change, especially because it’s coming from high greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions leaders, such as Volvo and General Electric.

 Image: Jeffery Sterba, with PNM Resources, right, speaks at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Monday, Jan. 22, 2007. The chief executives of 10 major corporations, on the eve of the State of the Union address, urged President Bush to support mandatory reductions in climate-changing pollution and establish reductions targets. From right are, Sterba, Peter Darbee of PG&E Corp, Eileen Claussen with Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Jim Owens of Caterpillar, Inc., and Richard Fuld, Jr. of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf) 

 The leaders of about one-hundred worldwide corporations such as the ones above called just last Tuesday for immediate and strong action taken to help prevent global warming through this lowering of greenhouse gas emissions.  The meeting was held at Columbia University where these companies, all members of the Global Roundtable on Climate Change which was formed in 2004, endorsed a formal statement to fight against climate change caused by everyone and to fight for clean energy.  According to Jeffrey Sachs who created the Global Roundtable,

The statement by the international business community seeks to lay out a framework for global action to mitigate the impact of human-made climate change without adversely affecting energy and economic growth.

The permanent plan is hoped to be put in place by 2012, and it helps businesses predict for the future as well as help the environment.  It basically

calls on governments to set scientifically informed targets for reduced global emissions and concentrations of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases and to take immediate action in pursuit of those targets.

 It is good that these fields that produce large emissions are finally realizing the potential of what they can do to help save the environment, as many of the companies said they were feeling that they were recognizing that they were part of this problem and recognized that they needed to be part of the solution.  Many of the leaders even feel that this is a moral issue, which is great to hear from people other than environmentalists or the EPA, who are oftentimes against these great emissions of greenhouse gases leaders.  Executives of companies have been doing much within the past few months as well, urging Congress to set limits even this year.  Hopefully, this meeting will make its mark and strong effort from the corporations will continue, so ultimately  some drastic will take place to reverse the Earth’s downward spiral. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17257868/

Image url:  http://accuweatherbak.ap.org/apdbs/Intl_Photos/views/mini/31933/31933761.jpg

Fetal Exposure To Common Chemicals Can Activate Obesity

I decided to report this article because we have just been studying exposure to chemicals and pollution and their chronic and immediate effects. However, this time the harmful thing doesn’t come from some sort of pollution or reaction, but instead is a chemical found in everyday plastics and pesticides. Also, even more scary, the exposure takes its toll while in the womb.

Frederick vom Saal, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has made it known to us that no longer can we associate obesity to just calorie-intake and how much someone eats and exercizes. For, vom Saal has uncovered that fetuses exposed to these certain chemicals can have their genes altered to make them more susceptible to obesity and disease later. Because the metabolism was affected, a person exposed can do the same activities as someone with a normal metabolic system but still become obese while the other remains thin.

Unfortunately, obesity doesn’t just cuase overweightness, either. Obesity puts people at risk for other problems as well, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

The chemicals that are doing this damage are called endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and one major one is bisphenol-A, which has been used in toys for years. California has recently put a ban on using this chemical, however the situation isn’t getting any better because the companies have sued, saying it has been used safely for years.

Vom Saal has obtained the majority of his information from testing lab mice, and after much study, has seen that the mice’s malfunction and pattern fits right in place with humans. He sums up the process in an annual meeting by saying:

The babies are born with a low body weight and a metabolic system that’s been programmed for starvation. This is called a thrifty phenotype, a system designed to maximize the use of all food taken into the body. The problem comes when the baby isn’t born into a world of starvation, but into a world of fast food restaurants and fatty foods.

We thought the fast food business and the food environment in America was the only problem leading to obesity, and what a big problem we thought it was. But with defected metabolisms on the rise and the same food environment, the problem now seems catastrophic, as it is now somewhat out of our hands. Obesity continues to climb and climb, and the nation’s health objectives for 2010 already look unreachable. Hopefully, more money gets put into this study and the government does what it needs to do to stop production of these chemicals and slow the issue of obesity before it becomes any worse, for right now with little knowledge on all this it seems inevitable, and may have been causing great numbers of obesities each year.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2007/2007-02-16-02.asp

Gore Plans To Rock Against Warming

I saw this article and it immediately interested me because I love music and we have seen Al Gore’s documentary on global warming in class obviously, and this also sort of follows my last post. After crossing the globe with presentations to inform people about the dangers of global warming, and then making the successful documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s next step is to plan a 24-hour concert series, ON ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS, yes, even Antartica, to again make people aware of global warming.

These aren’t just low-profile bands and singers that will be performing either. Produced by Kevin Wall, the same person who did LIVE 8 to raise money for Africa, this new program will include such superstars as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, Bon Jovi, Pharell Williams, Melissa Etheridge, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, Akon, Black Eyed Peas, Korn, Kelly Clarkson, Keane, Faith Hill, and many many more. This new event will be called “Live Earth” instead, and will include hundreds of top celebrities to over 2 billion viewers, and is planned to kick off 7-7-07.

I think that this is an amazing idea, and probaly has the biggest chance of making a difference. For, unlike Gore’s previous audiences, who were many times high-up, highly informed, opposed to the idea of global warming, or well-informed environmentalists, Gore will be reaching out to a much larger variety of people, from poor to middle class to wealthy all over the globe, for almost everyone has a high interest in music. I think its the most productive way of getting people’s attention, for not many people would just want to sit down and listen to a lecture on global warming. Now, people around the world, democrat or republican, will listen to thier favorite singer advocate making a stop to global warming. With a worldwide audience, the excuse no one has ever heard of global warming or people don’t understand global warming will no longer be an excuse, and this is obviously way too big of statement for large oil company’s to just buy off to prevent the public from knowing as before. I strongly commend Al Gore and Mark Wall on this, for I believe now changing the path of global warming finally has a chance, and this is exactly what we need to do it. For as Gore said in a statement,

In order to solve the climate crisis, we have to reach billions of people.

Gore is indeed right, for global warming is such a mass problem that this is the only way to make a significant step forward.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17168544/

Image Credits: Wikimedia