Earth Day is a time when millions of people worldwide celebrate and renew their personal commitment to environmental stewardship.
And it has never been more important, or more urgent, for you and people everywhere to take personal action, to adopt a greener lifestyle, and to share your concerns about the environment.
How Can One Person Change the World?
Today, the environmental problems facing the world are enormous. Earth’s finite resources are being stretched to the limit by rapid population growth, air, water and soil pollution, and much more. Global warming, spurred by our use of fossil fuels for energy and transportation as well as mass-scale agriculture and other human activities, threatens to push our planet beyond its ability to support human life unless we can meet the growing need for food, energy and economic opportunity within a sustainable environment.
In the face of such huge global problems, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless, and to find ourselves asking, “What difference can one person make?” The answer is that one person can make all the difference in the world:
Rachel Carson was just one person who wrote Silent Spring, a book credited with launching the environmental movement in the United States.
John Muir was one person who saved the Yosemite Valley, founded the Sierra Club, and inspired generations of conservationists who continue to do life-giving work.
Wangari Maathai is one person who started planting trees and empowering women in her native Kenya, and eventually was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.
Al Gore is just one person who traveled for years to any conference room or auditorium where people would gather to hear his call to action and see his slide show, which became the Academy Award-winning film and best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth
The Power of Personal Commitment
Each of us has the power through our daily decisions and lifestyle choices to make our homes and communities more environmentally friendly, but our power doesn’t end there.
There is no question that solving many of the problems currently threatening our global environment will require the resources and enlightened action of government and industry. Yet, because government and industry exist to serve the needs of their citizens and customers, how you live your life, the demands you and your neighbors make for products and services that help to preserve rather than erode the environment, will influence those actions and, ultimately, help to determine the future of planet Earth and the fate of mankind.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
So make some changes in the way you live your life. Use less energy and fewer resources, create less waste, and join with others who share your beliefs to urge government representatives and business executives to follow your lead toward a more sustainable world.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Global Warming May Kill Billions This Century
In the 1970s, James Lovelock became one of the world’s most celebrated environmental scientists after he proposed the Gaia theory, the idea of Earth as a self-sustaining organism with a built-in control system that keeps the environment in balance and the planet fit for life. Writing in The Independent newspaper, Lovelock warns that the world has already passed the point of no return with global warming, and that climate change will kill billions of people in this century as the Earth reaches a “coma'' state from which it may not recover for 100,000 years.
If almost anyone other than James Lovelock issued such a warning about global warming, it would be labeled at best science fiction and at worst irresponsible and alarmist. But Lovelock has a formidable reputation as an environmental scientist and a stunning record of achievement, so when he says mankind has pushed the planet to the breaking point, it pays to listen.
Beyond the Point of No Return
Writing in The Independent and in his new book, “The Revenge of Gaia,” to be published next month, Lovelock says that current efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and mitigate the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming—including the Kyoto Protocol and the alternative Sydney Summit —won't be enough to solve the problem. He says the only hope is for all nations to use their resources wisely to sustain civilization for as long as possible.
“We have given Gaia a fever and soon her condition will worsen to a state like a coma,” Lovelock writes. “She has been there before and recovered, but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences.”
Lovelock predicts that by the end of the century the temperature will rise 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) in temperate regions such as Europe and the U.S., and 5 degrees Celsius in the tropics.
“Much of the tropical land mass will become scrub and desert, and will no longer serve for regulation; this adds to the 40 per cent of the Earth's surface we have depleted to feed ourselves,” Lovelock explains.
If Lovelock is correct, the outlook is grim for the human race, and for the planet.
"Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable," Lovelock writes.
Nuclear Energy May Be Key to Survival
According to Lovelock, there is still time to prevent such a disaster—although not much time—but he says the nations with the most power to halt the approaching devastation are also the ones doing the most to bring it about.
"Civilisation is energy-intensive and we cannot turn it off without crashing, so we need the security of a powered descent,” Lovelock writes. “Sadly I cannot see the United States or the emerging economies of China and India cutting back in time, and they are the main source of emissions. The worst will happen and survivors will have to adapt to a hell of a climate.”
Lovelock is a leading thinker in envirnomental science whose holistic view of the planet sometimes puts him out of step with others in the environmental community. For example, Lovelock supports further development of nuclear energy as the only clean source of energy that can be developed in time to slow the effects of global warming and head off the disaster he believes is coming. According to Lovelock, who views the Earth as a living organism, human civilization is not only a large part of the problem but also a "precious resource" for the planet.
“We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady,” he says. “Most of all, we should remember that we are a part of it, and it is indeed our home.”
If almost anyone other than James Lovelock issued such a warning about global warming, it would be labeled at best science fiction and at worst irresponsible and alarmist. But Lovelock has a formidable reputation as an environmental scientist and a stunning record of achievement, so when he says mankind has pushed the planet to the breaking point, it pays to listen.
Beyond the Point of No Return
Writing in The Independent and in his new book, “The Revenge of Gaia,” to be published next month, Lovelock says that current efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and mitigate the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming—including the Kyoto Protocol and the alternative Sydney Summit —won't be enough to solve the problem. He says the only hope is for all nations to use their resources wisely to sustain civilization for as long as possible.
“We have given Gaia a fever and soon her condition will worsen to a state like a coma,” Lovelock writes. “She has been there before and recovered, but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences.”
Lovelock predicts that by the end of the century the temperature will rise 8 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) in temperate regions such as Europe and the U.S., and 5 degrees Celsius in the tropics.
“Much of the tropical land mass will become scrub and desert, and will no longer serve for regulation; this adds to the 40 per cent of the Earth's surface we have depleted to feed ourselves,” Lovelock explains.
If Lovelock is correct, the outlook is grim for the human race, and for the planet.
"Before this century is over, billions of us will die, and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable," Lovelock writes.
Nuclear Energy May Be Key to Survival
According to Lovelock, there is still time to prevent such a disaster—although not much time—but he says the nations with the most power to halt the approaching devastation are also the ones doing the most to bring it about.
"Civilisation is energy-intensive and we cannot turn it off without crashing, so we need the security of a powered descent,” Lovelock writes. “Sadly I cannot see the United States or the emerging economies of China and India cutting back in time, and they are the main source of emissions. The worst will happen and survivors will have to adapt to a hell of a climate.”
Lovelock is a leading thinker in envirnomental science whose holistic view of the planet sometimes puts him out of step with others in the environmental community. For example, Lovelock supports further development of nuclear energy as the only clean source of energy that can be developed in time to slow the effects of global warming and head off the disaster he believes is coming. According to Lovelock, who views the Earth as a living organism, human civilization is not only a large part of the problem but also a "precious resource" for the planet.
“We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady,” he says. “Most of all, we should remember that we are a part of it, and it is indeed our home.”
Did Global Warming Cause Iceland Volcano to Erupt?
You can blame climate change for a lot, but not for spoiling your European vacation.
Global warming probably did not cause the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has disrupted global aviation and grounded travelers on multiple continents over the past few days--but many scientists believe global warming will trigger future volcanic eruptions in Iceland and throughout the polar regions.
Ice is heavy and exerts enormous pressure on whatever lies beneath it. Under glaciers and other thick ice formations, the pressure is often enough to limit geologic movement, or even to restrict the formation of magma by leaving too little room for superheated rock to expand and become molten. When glacial ice melts, the pressure underneath is reduced, allowing the surface of the Earth to push free of its constraints, a release of energy that sometimes causes earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
The Icelandic volcano that is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere is located under a small and lightweight ice cap, as ice caps go, so scientists are pretty certain than melting ice did not trigger the eruption.
Size also matters in the question of whether ash from the volcano in Iceland will be enough to slow global warming by creating a kind of reflector shield in the stratosphere to block some of the sun's rays and prevent them from reaching the Earth's surface. Again, the relatively small size of the volcano and the eruption leads scientists to believe that the world will go on warming with no cooling effect from Iceland's geology.
The poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire/some say in ice," and then went on to offer his own views on the subject. From what scientists are starting to learn about the relationship between climate change, glacial ice and volcanoes, we may get plenty of both before we're through.
Global warming probably did not cause the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has disrupted global aviation and grounded travelers on multiple continents over the past few days--but many scientists believe global warming will trigger future volcanic eruptions in Iceland and throughout the polar regions.
Ice is heavy and exerts enormous pressure on whatever lies beneath it. Under glaciers and other thick ice formations, the pressure is often enough to limit geologic movement, or even to restrict the formation of magma by leaving too little room for superheated rock to expand and become molten. When glacial ice melts, the pressure underneath is reduced, allowing the surface of the Earth to push free of its constraints, a release of energy that sometimes causes earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
The Icelandic volcano that is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere is located under a small and lightweight ice cap, as ice caps go, so scientists are pretty certain than melting ice did not trigger the eruption.
Size also matters in the question of whether ash from the volcano in Iceland will be enough to slow global warming by creating a kind of reflector shield in the stratosphere to block some of the sun's rays and prevent them from reaching the Earth's surface. Again, the relatively small size of the volcano and the eruption leads scientists to believe that the world will go on warming with no cooling effect from Iceland's geology.
The poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire/some say in ice," and then went on to offer his own views on the subject. From what scientists are starting to learn about the relationship between climate change, glacial ice and volcanoes, we may get plenty of both before we're through.
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