Impact of Climate Change:
|
Over 800 colleges and universities, K-12 schools, civic organizations and religious groups are participating in Focus the Nation, potentially the largest simultaneous teach-in in history. (READ MORE) |
|
 |
 |
|
We think green means green. This is a time period where environmental
improvement is going to lead to profitability.
|
[Jeffrey
R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric] |
|
| Lake Chad (Sudan) |
| http://earthshots.usgs.gov/LakeChad/LakeChad |
| Right on the edge of the
world's largest, driest desert-- the Sahara-- there lies a large
freshwater lake. Lake Chad borders four countries in West Africa:
Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Lake Chad was once the sixth-largest
lake in the world, but persistent drought since the 1960s shrank
it to about a tenth its former size. (U.S. Geological Survey
website) |
|
| Global Resources: Abuse, Scarcity, and Insecurity |
| http://www.ehponline.org/members/2004/112-3/focus.html |
| Central America has always
been prone to earthquakes and hurricanes, but when Hurricane
Mitch struck in October 1998, the countries of the region were
paralyzed by a scale of destruction that seemed, to many, unbelievable.
The storm caused more than 10,000 deaths; according to Conserving
the Peace: Resources, Livelihoods and Security, a 2003 collection
of case studies published by the International Institute for
Sustainable Development, the subsequent flooding and landslides
wiped out more than 2,000 potable water systems in Honduras and
Nicaragua alone, left millions without dependable drinking water,
and forced 2 million people from their homes. Crowded shelters
created unsanitary conditions and fueled the spread of diseases
such as dengue. The disaster stretched national governments to
the brink of failure. |
|
| Article: “Kyoto Protocol Said to Harm
Effort to Stop Global Warming--But There Is Something Better” |
| http://www.isop.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=1900 |
| Marco Verweij, senior research
fellow at the Max Planck Project Group on Common Goods, Bonn,
urges abandonment of the Kyoto project and its replacement with
a crash program to develop cheap renewable energy technologies. |
|
| Book: This Moment on Earth. John
Kerry & Theresa Heinz Kerry. Public Affairs (2007) |
| http://www.johnkerry.com/momentonearth/ |
| The environment, and the
movement that grew up to protect it, is under attack—concerted
and purposeful. Yet the need for solutions to pressing environmental
problems grows more urgent each day. Teresa Heinz Kerry and John
Kerry describe how these issues unite people across ideological,
geographic, and cultural lines. From the San Juan Basin to the
Gulf of Mexico to the South Bronx, from mothers on Cape Cod to
Colorado ranchers, Teresa and John found a vibrant coalition
of people and communities deploying ingenuity, technology, and
sheer willpower to save the world they live in. (book description) |
|
| Environmental Health |
| http://www.healthpolitics.org/channels.asp?view=environmental |
"Health Politics
with Dr. Mike Magee" is a weekly Internet-based electronic
media program that explores complex topics at the intersection
of health care and policy. Supported by veteran health leader
and media expert Mike Magee, M.D., the program examines the hidden
stories and emerging trends that are rapidly reshaping our health
care system. As a passionate advocate for patients and their
families, Dr. Magee strives to help his viewers understand the
big picture of how our health care system works and how it affects
their lives – offering, along the way, practical advice
on what we need to do to make the system work more effectively
for all of us.
Use www.lexisnexis.com/academic,
to access the proceeding articles. It is free
for those connected to the University of Maryland
server. Log in the subscribers menu in the banner
under “LN Academic”. Search for the
article by placing the title in quotation marks. |
|
|
| World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Website on Climate Change |
| http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/climate_change/index.cfm |
| WWF is one of the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation
organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active
in more than 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's
natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony
with nature, by: conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring
that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting
the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption (website description) |
|
|
Multimedia |
| Humor: "Clean
Energy" (The Daily Show with John Stewart ) |
|
| The Daily Show makes easy
game of the new luddite "save our sound" and their
ultra rich backers. |
|
| Movie: "The 11th Hour" (2007) |
| http://www.11thhouraction.com/ |
| Leonardo DiCaprio's "The
11th Hour" is a feature length documentary concerning the
environmental crises caused by human actions and their impact
on the planet. The 11th Hour documents the cumulative impact
of these actions upon the planet's life systems and calls for
restorative action through a reshaping of human activity. (Screening:
Washington DC/Baltimore, MD, August 24th) |
|
| What A Way To Go: Life At The End Of Empire |
| http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com |
| A middle class white guy
comes to grips with Peak Oil, Climate Change, Mass Extinction,
Population Overshoot and the demise of the American Lifestyle.
(Screening: - Washington DC/Baltimore, MD, August 29th) |
|
| Online Video: “Violence and Vulnerability” (22’) |
| http://www.tiempocyberclimate.org/newswatch/AV/f070405vh.ram |
| The documentary Violence and Vulnerability discusses
the link between conflict and climate stress in the Kitui District
of Kenya. The documentary was produced by the Centre for International Climate
and Environmental Research -
Oslo, the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the
University of
Oslo and the Kenyan Forestry Research Institute, with support from the Research
Council of Norway. (RealPlayer format) |
|
| Online video: “Eyewitness to Change” (5:32 minutes) |
| http://forces.si.edu/arctic/video/eyewitness.html |
| The
Arctic’s climate has been changing. Spring thaws are earlier. Fall freeze-ups
are later. Sea ice is shrinking. Unfamiliar species of plants and animals
are appearing. Intense storms are more frequent. Melting ice is an enemy
for Arctic communities —especially those that hug the coast. Decreased sea ice and thawing permafrost
can increase the risks of coastal erosion. How? Less sea ice means
that ocean waves travel over more open water and gain strength before breaking
on shore. The shore, already weakened by thawing permafrost, is more likely
to erode. (website description) |
|
| “Fooling with Nature” |
| http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nature/ |
| Something's happening to
alligators in Florida's Lake Apopka. Male alligators born in
this lake contaminated by manmade chemicals are showing dramatic
changes in their reproductive systems. Today, there is growing
evidence these chemicals are disrupting development in other
wildlife too--but are humans also at risk? |
|
|
Solutions |
| Humor: The Grinning Planet |
| http://www.grinningplanet.com/ |
| Saving the planet one joke
at a time... Each issue provides clean jokes and a link to environmental
issues and health articles. Enjoy the good funny clean jokes
and/or the articles – your choice! (website
description) |
|
| Environmental Defense |
| http://www.environmentaldefense.org |
| Environmental Defense
is dedicated to protecting the environmental rights of all people,
including the right to clean air, clean water, healthy food and
flourishing ecosystems. Guided by science, we work to create
practical solutions that win lasting economic and social support
because they are nonpartisan, cost-effective and fair. |
|
| Article: “Paying Developing Countries
Not to Burn Forests” |
| http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11382961 |
by Christopher Joyce June
26, 2007
Many industrialized nations are trying to use less coal, oil
and natural gas to lower carbon dioxide levels, which is warming
the atmosphere and changing the Earth's climate. But one-fifth
of all greenhouse gases comes from forests that are cut down
and burned to make way for crops or pasture. Now there is a movement
to get countries with big forests to slow the rate of cutting
by paying them. |
|
| Carbon Trading |
| http://www.carbontrading.com/ |
| Carbon Trading is a market
based mechanism for helping mitigate the increase of CO2 in the
atmosphere. Carbon trading markets are developing that
bring buyers and sellers of carbon credits together with standardized
rules of trade. |
|
| NewsTarget Insider Alert: “Compact fluorescent
light bulbs contaminate the environment with 30,000 pounds of
mercury each year” |
| http://www.newstarget.com/021907.html |
by Mike Adams (June 20,
2007)
A compact fluorescent light is a type of energy-saving bulb that
fits into a standard light bulb socket or plugs into a small
lighting fixture, and right now, compact fluorescents seem to
be gaining in popularity. But did you know they can also be toxic
to your home and the environment?
Fluorescent lights are filled with a gas containing low-pressure
mercury vapor and argon, or sometimes even krypton. The inner
surface of the bulb is coated with a fluorescent coating made
of varying blends of metallic and rare earth phosphor salts.
Fluorescent light bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescent
light bulbs of an equivalent brightness, and the efficiency of
fluorescent lighting owes much to low-pressure mercury photon
discharges. But fluorescents don't produce a steady light, and
they burn out more quickly when cycled frequently; they also
contain items such as fluorine, neon, and lead powder as well
as mercury.
|
|
| EcoLeds |
| http://www.ecoleds.com/ |
EcoLEDs are white light
bulbs that replaces regular bulbs. Lasts 50,000 hours and saves
you nearly $350 in electricity over its life while reducing CO2
emissions by nearly 7,000 pounds compared to regular light bulbs.
Contains NO mercury like compact fluorescent lights. Remarkably
bright. Operates in standard light sockets worldwide (from 85
- 240 volts AC, covering most countries). Runs cool and produces
very little heat. Precision machined and unconditionally guaranteed.
Includes a Certificate of CO2 Emissions
Reduction.
|
|
|
|
