Planetary Ruin

With the ongoing economic crisis, primarily causeddue to housing crisis in the United States, many insitutions, governments and companies are facing dire financial stress.

As we all know, new technology to improve the effects of population (such as coal burning plants) require a high degree of initial start up investment. With the current situation causing such an impact on the spending habits of consumers and budgets of governments, there is a strong likelihood that many of the green initiatives will be closed down and starved to death.

It is crucial that we send a strong message that we WANT the items and products that help our planet, not destroy it! IF we demand fuel efficient vehicles instead of gas guzzling monsters, if we insist on fuel saving initiatives, if we show support by favoring companies that still have a desire to help the envirnment, THEN perhaps we will continue to move forward to a better future.

There isn’t much time left. Perhaps to you and me it won’t matter, but what about our children? Or their children? The decisions we make now will count. It will be too late for them if we chose poorly.

Whether it’s expensive or not to make the right choices, we happily chose the easiest path before, and now we are starting to see the consequences…we MUST reverse the damage we have done.

Make your choice now.

Methane gas is 20 times more potent of a green house gas than carbon dioxide.

There are an estimated 400 gigatons of methane locked in the frozen arctic tundra.

This region is starting to become unfrozen.

What happens to the methane when the permafrost melts?

If you live on the coast, I hope your a strong swimmer!

Researchers have found alarming evidence that the frozen Arctic floor has started to thaw and release long-stored methane gas. The results could be a catastrophic warming of the earth, since methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that methane as a green house gas is about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

It’s always been a disturbing what-if scenario for climate researchers: Gas hydrates stored in the Arctic ocean floor — hard clumps of ice and methane, conserved by freezing temperatures and high pressure — could grow unstable and release massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Since methane is a potent greenhouse gas, more worrisome than carbon dioxide, the result would be a drastic acceleration of global warming. Until now this idea was mostly academic; scientists had warned that such a thing could happen. Now it seems more likely that it will.

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If we consider that the Greenland ice cap is melting at such a fast rate it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break up and then melts, allowing more sunlight to hit the open water (ice reflects a large portion of the light hitting it back into space, protecting us from the heating effects of that light) – we have reason to be concerned.

In fact, according to some, we may actually have an ice free north pole this summer. (my personal view is this is unlikely for a few more years – BUT it wasn’t supposed to be happening for decades…)

“The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice — ice that formed last autumn and winter,” Dr. Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., told The Independent newspaper in London. “I’d say it’s even odds whether the North Pole melts out.” – [Link]

Both the potential increase in released methane gas from the bottom of the ocean, combined with increased global temperatures due to increased energy absorption from the sun, is VERY likely to result in an over-all increase in the temperature of our planet.

Here’s the issue: Just HOW hot is it going to get?

Scientists are still arguing over how high the increase will be. Some say a few degrees, some say as high as 10 or 15…which would result in a mass extinction event, unless you happen to be bacteria. A few point to keep in mind is, just a few degrees would result in a big loss for food production… and currently global food stocks are the lowest they have been in 60 years.

Something to think about… perhaps even something to DO something about?

You tell me.

The European Union is currently debating waste management targets that could significantly increase recycling rates throughout Europe.

Legislators on the European Parliament’s Environment Committee overwhelmingly supported reforms earlier this year that would halt the steady rise in the region’s garbage. By 2012, waste production would have to stabilize at 2009 levels, the committee recommended.

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Adopting a climate-friendly lifestyle needn’t require drastic changes or major sacrifices.

People in the developed world, as well as some rapidly developing countries and cities – from Manchester and Manhattan to Moscow and Mumbai – can start right away to “Kick the C02 Habit”, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says.

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