Von: Andreas [AmericaWakeUp__at__AndreasK__dot__de] Gesendet: Sonntag, 8. April 2001 17:51 An: protest-comment@foeeurope.org Betreff: FLOOD BUSH ! climate eProtest needs you Hi! Please read this petition. It's unfortunately not likely that Bush's family will die in a tornado, so WE have to wake him up and explain to HIM (slowly and didactically :-) - see the photo) the effect world climate has on our lives. I've a added some more ressources further down. Sorry for the few German parts - perhaps use babelfish.altavista.com ciao, AndreasK.de/climate *********************************************** ****** cut here and sent it to everyone ******* *********************************************** SAVE THE CLIMATE TREATY ! FLOOD GEORGE BUSH WITH YOUR E-MAILS! >Stop President Bush from betraying the UN climate change treaty! Last year the US blocked progress at negotiations in The Netherlands, now Texas oil-man President George W. Bush wants to destroy the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Friends of the Earth asks people around the world to electronically flood the White House with protest E-mails. Let's give President Bush a taste of what climate change means and how much people are concerned about it. ========================= Please cut and paste the message below into a new E-mail and send it to: PRESIDENT BUSH: president@whitehouse.gov Please copy (CC) to: protest@foeeurope.org (IMPORTANT!) You can also send the letter via: http://www.foeeurope.org/climate ========================= Dear President Bush, I call on you as President of the USA not to betray the Kyoto Protocol. The United States must live up to its commitment to the UN negotiations to prevent global warming. Sabotaging the Kyoto Protocol puts the USA into a position of environmental isolationism and makes it responsible for climate catastrophe. The US has one of the highest per capita CO2 emissions in the world. People around the world already faced with the first signs of climate change, suffering from floods and hurricanes, expect your country to be in the forefront of tackling climate change. An enormous potential of creativity, innovation and efficiency is there to be harvested once we have decided to really reduce CO2 emissions. If you fail to reverse your decision to kill the Kyoto Protocol, future generations will not forgive you. President Bush, the science is clear and the international political will is there to tackle climate change. The US must join the world in fighting global warming! Sincerely, X ===================== Background: - A White House spokesman said: "The president has been unequivocal. He does not support the Kyoto treaty." The Swedish Environment Minister described the move as "appalling and provocative". - Bush's campaign for presidency was backed and financed by major US oil giants, which campaigned against the international treaty to prevent global warming. - The US promised to cut their climate changing gases by 7% over 1990 levels before 2012 at the latest, but US emissions in fact rose by more than 10% between 1990 and 2000. The Climate Team @ Friends of the Earth questions/comments to: protest-comment@foeeurope.org ****************************************************** ****** cut here and sent the above to everyone ******* ****************************************************** ------------------------------------------------ more background added by www.AndreasK.de/climate ------------------------------------------------ some sentences from below (do 'search' to find the context): - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - * Mr Jospin: "Faced with this situation, Europe must express itself, say what it thinks and send a message." * The american president is a threat to the world * ~ 98% of scientists are sure about the connection of greenhouse gases and climate change * The four most vulnerable countries by this measure are Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania * population growth in Britain, allied to consumption of fossil fuels, causes two and a half times more global warming than population growth in Bangladesh. * Gasoline in the United States now costs less than bottled water * split among scientists "It's not even 80-20 or 90-10 [in percentage terms]. I personally believe it's something like 98-2 or 99-1." (Robert Watson, IPCC) * The USA produces more CO2 than Japan, Germany, India, UK, Canada, Italy and France put together * the rest of the world is getting increasingly frustrated with you ( USA ) * avoid using aeroplanes * Motor vehicles are responsible for almost a quarter of annual US emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) * Eine Vermeidung von zukünftigen Katastrophen ist nach Ansicht der Studie nur dann möglich, wenn die führenden Industrienationen eine Wende in der Verkehrspolitik einleiten und Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung des Autoverkehrs und damit zur Inanspruchnahme natürlicher Ressourcen beginnen. Solange diese Wende nicht erfolgt, wird sich am Wunsch der Bewohner der meisten anderen Länder der Erde nach Erreichung des von uns vorgelebten Standards nichts ändern. Auch internationale Konferenzen und Vereinbarungen über das Klimaproblem werden daran nichts ändern. ********************************************* While the rich stay rich, the poor get hotter http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns22643 Hulme's study divided national wealth by the predicted temperature rise to assess the likely impact of warming on each country's population. The four most vulnerable countries by this measure are Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Each has only $100 of its GDP per inhabitant to cope with every degree of warming. The least vulnerable country is Luxembourg, with $8800 per capita for each degree of warming. Almost without exception, the nations that are most threatened by global warming produce the smallest amounts of greenhouse gases, says Hulme. ********************************************* Michael Byers: Bush is a threat to the world http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=65537 [...] The most striking manifestation of the new approach is Bush's decision to renounce the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Scientists within the US government's Environmental Protection Agency are agreed that global warming is happening, and faster than previously thought, yet Bush expresses doubts about the science. He also points to the costs ­ to the US economy ­ of taking steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, knowing full well that Europe and the developing world will bear the brunt of climate change, and be less able to deal with the results. [...] Perhaps most importantly, many Americans have little sense of the past or the future. The wars of the 20th century happened elsewhere; divorce is rife and families scattered or dysfunctional. It is difficult to fear for the future of grandchildren you have only rarely, if ever, met. ********************************************* President George W Bush, polluter of the free world http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=63697 [...] the Toxic Texan [...] Mr Bush is calling for an all-out bonanza of oil and gas exploration including drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Arctic Refuge [...] in a few short weeks, America has managed to antagonise Russia, China and North Korea all at the same time, while raising alarm bells within Nato over plans for a "Star Wars"-style national missile defence. [...] ********************************************* EU will support Kyoto agreement, Prodi tells Bush http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=64960 Romano Prodi, the president of the European Commission, has warned George Bush that the European Union intends to go ahead with the Kyoto agreement on global warming "with or without the United States" because it is the only option available to save the planet. [...] Mr Jospin, a Socialist, said in an interview with French regional newspapers. "Faced with this situation, Europe must express itself, say what it thinks and send a message." ********************************************* Europe struggles to contain fury at Bush's betrayal http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=63698 The decision by the world's biggest polluter to ditch the Kyoto Treaty was yesterday met with fury across the globe. [...] Margot Wallström, the European Commissioner for the Environment, said Washington had to be made aware that "this is not ... some kind of marginal environmental issue that can be ignored or played down; it is to do with international relations, trade and economics." [...] The pressure group Friends of the Earth began an immediate "e-mail avalanche" to lobby the White House. [...] As Ms Wallström said yesterday, the US position goes to the heart of the principle of nations trading freely on a level playing field. The Commissioner argued: "Why should we put European business and European companies under such pressure and let American companies off the hook? Why should they play by other rules than European companies?" [...] The Australian Environment Minister, Robert Hill, [...] Mr Hill said the US, responsible for about 30 per cent of global greenhouse gases, had a responsibility not to walk away from the treaty. He said: "If the United States withdrew from it that would be the end of that process. Time is against us; we are already starting to experience the consequences of climate change." [...] ********************************************* Climate timebomb ready to explode under Bush http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=65169 [...] 06 April 2001 Next week a 150 page, lavishly illustrated report entitled Climate Change Impact on the United States, which was commissioned by the Clinton Administration, will be published by Cambridge University Press. [AK: you find it at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521000750/andreaskde-20/ ] [...] But overall it is not a message that Mr Bush would want to hear. Dr Anthony Janetos, who has spent the past three years co-chairing the group of experts who produced the report, is sure the hard work of the scientists is being largely disregarded. "I'm sure that they [Congress and the White House] haven't read the report," he said. "The problem is that the release of the final documents which became this report happened when the election was in full spring. It didn't climb to the top of the political reading list." [...] Yesterday, Robert Watson, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ­ the body of about 700 scientists who examine climate change ­ dismissed any suggestion that there was a significant split among scientists over whether climate change is occurring, and whether humans are causing it. He said: "It's not even 80-20 or 90-10 [in percentage terms]. I personally believe it's something like 98-2 or 99-1. [...] President Bush said that he would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it would impose too great a cost on the US economy, and so on American citizens. But Dr Janetos thinks that Mr Bush's calculation leaves out one essential fact ­ the cost of having a working ecosystem. Dr Janetos said: "Because the markets don't have an efficient way to value what the seas, the rivers, the mountains and the forests actually contribute, they effectively ignore them. But you do that at your peril." ********************************************* Climate Change and public health http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/publications/outreach/strategy/ccandpublichealth.pdf Heat Waves Air Pollution Infectious Diseases (Malaria,...) Terrestrial Changes Altered Marine Ecology Storms Droughts Population Displacement Saltwater Encroachment in Coastal Aquifers ********************************************* Individuals: What difference can I make? http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/actions/individual/index.html Climate Smart Tips to Protect the Earth http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/actions/individual/difference/index.html inside your home in your yard at the store on the road considering major investments anywhere and everywhere ********************************************* Congratulations!!! http://cool.policy.net/ In the biggest victory since the Home Depot Campaign, student activists successfully forced the defection of Ford Motor Company, Daimler Chrysler, Texaco, Southern Company, AND General Motors from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC), the leading corporate lobbying group fighting solutions to global warming. The demise of the GCC is a huge testament to the power of student organizers and proves that corporate America has finally recognized the reality of the threat of global warming. ********************************************* THE SENATE TARGET PROJECT Target the Stone Age Senators Who are Blocking Solutions to Global Warming! http://cool.policy.net/political/ Why Target the Senate? We need serious solutions to end global warming and the The Kyoto Protocol is a necessary first step on the path to such solutions. The Senate must ratify the Kyoto Treaty with a 2/3 majority. However, there is little support for it right now and without US ratification, no action will take place in other countries. The only thing to force the Senate to act is the grassroots mandate. That is where you come in to place! We are in need of Senate leadership on the Kyoto Protocol. It is time for our politicians to stop their inactivity around global warming. This may sound overwhelming; after all this is the US Senate we are talking about. But there is one thing (other than $) that these dinosaurs will listen to: a true grassroots uprising. Senators already know the power students have. They have seen us take down the WTO, Home Depot, and the Global Climate Coalition. They know the power students have and they don't want it used against them. They will listen if we pressure them. ********************************************* The Earth 'Has Not Gotten Any Warmer Since 1940' http://www.rense.com/general5/erth.htm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?pg=/et/00/11/23/wclim23.html Prof Fred Singer, a meteorologist at the University of Virginia, used temperature data assembled by James Hanson of Nasa, who first highlighted the problem of climate change, to challenge the findings of the Inter-governmental Panel on the subject which underpin the Kyoto climate treaty. He said: "The climate has warmed in the last century but this took place before 1940. The hottest years in America were around 1940. We don't know the cause of the warming but we don't think it was human activity." ********************************************* Are we to blame for this? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?pg=/et/00/11/5/nwet605.html Researchers from the universities of Newcastle and Exeter unveiled a record of British rainfall dating back to the Norman Conquest. It showed that the bizarre weather of the past few years is entirely consistent with the natural variations in the climate that have taken place over the past 1,000 years. [...] Even so, the scientific consensus - as expressed recently by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - is that the world's weather has not become significantly more extreme during the past 100 years. [...] What most scientists do accept is that the Earth is warming up: temperature records from around the world point to the 1990s as being by far the hottest decade of the century. Many scientists also insist that the chief cause of this warming is the rising level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal and petrol. The solution to global warming would thus seem clear: dramatic cuts in fossil-fuel emissions. Finalising the nature of those cuts will be the purpose of of an international meeting in The Hague later this month. [...] While the arguments continue over who is to blame and who should pay, some scientists question the very notion that humans are even responsible for global warming. Instead, they point the finger of blame at the most obvious potential culprit: the Sun. Attempts to implicate the Sun have repeatedly been howled down by climate experts, but refuse to go away. Earlier this year, a meeting of space scientists sponsored by the EU was told of a striking correlation between the temperature of the Earth and the strength of the Sun's magnetic field. The correlation stretches back more than a century, and suggests that about half of the measured global warming might have been caused by the Sun. [...] The European Acacia study suggests that, while some parts of southern Europe could become intolerably arid, Britain and other northern European countries could see their climates improve, with better summers, milder winters and longer growing seasons. Because predictions of even world-scale effects of climate change are still far from certain, any regional forecasts must be treated with caution. Nevertheless, this latest study highlights the dangers of presuming that one global climate change policy will fit all. In the end, it hardly matters whether last week's floods were the result of man-made pollution, an overheating Sun or just the vagaries of the British climate. The real challenge facing scientists and politicians lies in doing what humans have always done: using their ingenuity to find ways of enjoying the advantages of a changing climate, while ducking its disadvantages. ********************************************* Rethink by global warming expert http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?pg=/et/00/8/15/warm15.html [...] Dr James Hansen is also more optimistic that global warming can be prevented "without any economically wrenching actions" because of the growing realisation that too much emphasis has been placed on the effects of burning fossil fuels. [...] Today, he argues that warming over the past century was not mostly driven by carbon dioxide, from burning fossil fuels, but by other gases, such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons, so it should be "more practical to slow global warming than is sometimes assumed". [...] He says in a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "We suggest that a strategy to slow global warming focus on reducing air pollution, especially tropospheric [ground level] ozone, methane and black carbon particles. "Human health and ecological costs of these pollutants are counted in billions of dollars in the United States, and impacts are reaching devastating levels in the developing world. A strategy focused on reducing these pollutants, which are not essential to energy production, should unite interests of developed and developing nations." The report adds: "In the long run, fossil fuels will be the issue," so greater energy efficiency and more reliance on renewables will be needed. ********************************************* Greenhouse on Fire? (Melbourne, Australia) http://www.suburbia.com.au/~mickgg/bushfir2.htm Before we smugly walk away from Kyoto claiming victory, the government must be reasonably sure that it's advocacy on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is not leading this nation to a devastating holocaust. The Kyoto "victory" could turn out to be not only Pyrrhic but pyrotechnic. ********************************************** Der "Treibhauseffekt"? - Eine physikalische Unmöglichkeit! (Wolfgang Thüne) http://krahmer.freepage.de/klima/thuene/thuene1.html Kommentar von MM-Physik In diesem Artikel stellt der Autor ähnlich wie in seinem Buch den Treibhauseffekt vollständig in Frage. Die Argumente klingen für den Laien sehr vernünftig dem Fachmann genügen die "Beweise" wohl weniger. Doch kommt Dr. Thüne das Verdienst zu, die Öffentlichkeit wachzurütteln und aufzuzeigen, daß am Global Warming Modell nicht Alles in Ordnung sein kann. Dafür bekam er ja auch einen Preis für Wissenschaftskritik in Nordrhein- Westfalen (Cui bono? Das Bundesland, das auf fossile Energieträger setzt, Kernenergie im derzeitigen Rot-grün Bündnis verteufelt und einer CO2 Problematik durch Zertifikatenhandel scheinbar entgehen will. Für viele Kumpels im Steinkohlebergbau eine politisch opportune Sache.) Dem aufmerksamen Leser sei folgende "Nach"- Denk Aufgabe gestellt: Wohin geht die Schwinungsenergie der CO2 Molekülen letztlich?. (P.Krahmer) ********************************************** The basic genres are: http://gurpsnet.sjgames.com/Archive/Conversions/poststatue Nuclear Holocaust, Chemical War, Ecological Collapse, Global Epidemic, Alien Invasion, Global Conventional War, Global Crop Failure, New Ice Age, Social Collapse, and Giant Comet Strike ********************************************** Ist der Katalysator ein Klimakiller? Warum werden in den Vereinigten Staaten Fahrzeug-Katalysatoren für die Hälfte aller Lachgas-Emissionen verantwortlich gemacht? http://www.weltwoche.ch/3098/30.98.klima.html ********************************************** Klima Aktuell (Multimedia Physik) http://didaktik.physik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~pkrahmer/home/klimakt.html ********************************************** Gore or Bush? Who cares? Not environmentalists After eight dispiriting years of Clinton-Gore, frustrated green groups are targeting corporations instead. http://www.salon.com/health/feature/2000/10/23/globalwarming/ Oct. 23, 2000 | It's the new millennium, the earth is burning up, you're a green-minded citizen and you're worried, because nobody -- not even Al Gore -- seems willing or able to do anything about it. [...] John Passacantando, the new director of Greenpeace. Passacantando doesn't care who becomes president because when it comes to the environment he doesn't think it will make much difference. His new strategy for Greenpeace is to bypass the political process altogether and target corporations instead. He wants to hit them where it hurts the most: brand identity [...] "On climate change," she says, "there's just not a lot of opportunity to work with the government right now." The Republican-controlled Senate has blocked initiatives the administration has pushed, she says -- most notably the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for the United States to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2010. This political deadlock has disgusted and frustrated many environmentalists who took Al Gore at his word when he campaigned in 1992 on a platform of radical environmentalism. At a time when the scientific consensus in support of global warming was far weaker than it is today, Gore took the Bush administration to task for failing to slow the greenhouse effect and boldly called for new taxes and government programs to stop it. His book, "Earth in the Balance," posed such a deep philosophical challenge to the American way of life that even neo-Luddite Jeremy Rifkin, the diehard opponent of genetic engineering and other new technologies, termed it "revolutionary." [...] UNFEIGNED ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT Environmental Crimes http://www.neravt.com/left/estrin2.htm [...] In spite of Clinton and Gore’s ecological rhetoric, the US will spew an amazing 15% more CO2 into the atmosphere in the year 2000 than it did in 1990. At the Global Climate Change Conference in Kyoto, the Clinton Administration grudgingly agreed to reductions that are half of what the European Union proposed and only a third of those preferred by an alliance of island nations threatened by rising sea levels and increasingly severe storms. And even their levels are still an order of magnitude lower than the 60-80% reduction needed to stabilize the atmosphere. The Administration’s performance at the Kyoto and Buenos Aires conferences on Global Climate Change was as disgraceful as it was with respect to the International Criminal Court. Since experts had identified some easy reduction possibilities for the more minor greenhouse gases, our cynical tactics insisted on a "comprehensive" approach to a "basket" of six greenhouse gases rather than focusing on each individually, as we looked for a way to offset sharp CO2 reductions that would threaten industry profits. But the most toxic effect came from the Administration’s insistence on Emission Allowance Trading: it wanted nations to have the option of buying greenhouse gas emission allowances from other countries that had more than met their own requirements. European and developing nations worried that this concept would dilute commitment and encourage some governments to avoid politically difficult, but ecologically crucial, tasks. With much pressure, a US sponsored article on emissions allowance trading was reluctantly accepted in order to get the worst offender on board. ********************************************** What We Must Do To Counter The BIOTIC HOLOCAUST http://www.nationalwildlife.org/intlwild/1998/holocaus.html A veteran conservation strategist looks at the world's cataclysmic loss of species and offers ways to minimize the disaster [...] Reduce wasteful consumption. To understand how the consumption of a few people can have a disproportionate impact on species, consider Bangladesh and my country, Britain. Britain's population is increasing by 0.2 percent a year, or 120,000 new "Brits." This sounds so small as to be not worth bothering about, especially not in comparison with Bangladesh and its population growth rate of 1.9 percent a year, or almost 2.4 million new people--20 times more than in Britain. But because of our profligate use of fossil fuels, especially gasoline, each Brit kicks 50 times more carbon dioxide into the skies each year--the gas most responsible for changing climate. Thus, population growth in Britain, allied to consumption of fossil fuels, causes two and a half times more global warming than population growth in Bangladesh. Now compare Britain, where we pay about $5 a gallon for gasoline, to the United States. Americans, with their fixation on cheap gasoline, are the world's most potent emitters of fossil-fuel-derived carbon dioxide. Gasoline in the United States now costs less than bottled water, and in real terms it is cheaper than at any time since Americans started to suck oil out of the ground. So how do you persuade Americans to shift away from fossil fuels? The most persuasive instrument is probably the pocketbook, particularly since concealed costs of gasoline actually make it highly expensive. According to several separate assessments by economists, the full cost of burning gasoline includes the expenses of widespread pollution, road congestion, traffic accidents and the long-standing military task force in the Persian Gulf, let alone the impending costs of global warming. If all these costs were reflected in the pump price, Americans would be paying as much as $7 to $8 per gallon. Right now, most of the additional costs are passed on to taxpayers and other citizens, rather than picked up by motorists. How about slowly ratcheting up the price of U.S. gasoline until it matches what most Europeans pay, $5-6 per gallon? If we don't, Americans may ultimately find that as the primary burners of fossil fuels, they are causing as much extinction mayhem as the burners of tropical forests. ********************************************** Kid's Channel: Messing up our planet's climate http://www.oneworld.org/penguin/global_warming/climate_home.html [...] Don't travel long distances unless you really have to. Particularly try and avoid using aeroplanes and big, gas-guzzling cars like SUVs. See if your friends and parents could holiday locally [...] If your family has a car, get them to use it less. Walk to the shops. Use a bus to travel [...] See if you can get your parents and friends interested in free solar energy [...] ********************************************** Discussion about 'The UN and Climate Change' http://bbs.artbell.com/printthread.php?threadid=273 Becky: The top ten CO2 producers are as follows: USA Russia China Japan Germany India UK Canada Italy France The USA produces more CO2 than Japan, Germany, India, UK, Canada, Italy and France put together. I’ll leave you to find the information for yourself, I’m a self confessed Environmentalist and I don’t want to be accused of being biased. The above is fact and any search will lead you to the same results. [...] Tony: The USA produces 24% of the world's greenhouse gases ( with 4% of the population ) and continues to pay a pittence for petrol ( by UK standards - petrol is over $5 a gallon here and a full tank - 60 litres - costs me near $70 ). That, it must be said, is mostly made up in taxes, to pay for our national-health service ( needs more ), national old-age pension and social services, but also an environmental "green tax" - don't you think you could afford a little more to travel? - looks bad with many. I'm afraid the rest of the world is getting increasingly frustrated with you ( USA ) for that, and the latest attempts to play off your pollution against your forests merely makes things worse - why should you benefit from having the good fortune of having plentiful forest - as the worlds leading/richest nation you should be taking a lead in this - there are many things that are painless ( and relatively inexpensive ) to do - such as efficient housing insulation, switching of power-station fuels ( we now mostly use low(er) carbon/sulphur North-Sea gas ), and above all efficient internal-combustion engines - ( just compare Japanese/European cars to a gas-guzzling American one ). I'm afraid it does look very much that you are in the sway of the Petro-chemical industrial complex. ********************************************* The Tyndall Centre - a summary http://www.tyndall.uea.ac.uk/main.htm The aim of the Tyndall Centre is the integration of a wide range of innovative scientific and technological research, including economic and social research, to explore and develop sustainable solutions to the climate change challenge. [...] Research Programmes http://www.tyndall.uea.ac.uk/research.htm Integrated Assessment Carbon Management and Reduction Renewable and New Energy Technologies Extreme Events and Rapid Climate Change Managing Coastal Zones Enhancing the Options for Mitigation and Adaptation ********************************************* Total material requirement of the European Union http://reports.eea.eu.int/Technical_report_No_55/en/tech55.pdf ********************************************* The Start of the Century of the Environment http://www.wuppertal-institut.de/Sites/press-release/06_2001-e.html The Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy celebrates its 10th anniversary Aufbruch in das Jahrhundert der Umwelt http://www.wuppertal-institut.de/Publikationen/Presse/2001/06_2001.html Eco|Efficiency http://www.eco-efficiency.de/ Oeko|Effizienz http://www.oekoeffizienz.de/ World Business Council for Sustainable Development http://www.wbcsd.ch/ International Conference "From Eco-Efficiency to Overall Sustainability in Enterprises" 15. and 16. May 2001, Düsseldorf, Germany http://www.eco-efficiency.de/english/themen.html http://www.eco-efficiency.de/english/ ********************************************** Climate Change Communication Post-conference site http://geognt.uwaterloo.ca/c3confer/ On June 22-24, 2000, over 250 delegates actively involved in raising awareness of global climate change gathered in Kitchener-Waterloo to participate in Climate Change Communication- An International Conference. Hosted by the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group (Environment Canada) and the University of Waterloo, with financial support of the Climate Change Action Fund, this conference provided a forum Inital Analysis diagrams of the survey: http://geognt.uwaterloo.ca/c3confer/communication_survey_q1_to_2.htm Q1a. How long have you known about the climate change issue? > 20 years ~12% 11-20 years ~19% 6-10 years ~38% 3-5 years ~25% 1-2 years ~7% Q1b. How certain are you that climate change will occur? ... is certain to occur: ~81% Q5 ...there is enough scientific information about global climate change to take steps to reduce ghg emissions 99.1% Q8. What new information would strengthen your communication of climate change? atmospheric processes 10,2% errors and problems in computer modelling 8.4% detecting climate change 8.4% consequences of climate change 36.8% social, industrial,and economic impacts 63.6% strategies for human response (adapting) 56.1% strategies for slowing climate change (mitigating) 50.5% Q12. How important do you feel the following factors are with respect to creating difficulties for effective climate change communication? highest importance: overshadowing by competing issues lack of urgency in the climate change debate feelings that individuals cannot make a difference scale of climate change is too overwhelming credibility of messenger polarization of messages ********************************************** Cars and Trucks and Global Warming http://www.ucsusa.org/vehicles/cars.gw.html Motor vehicles are responsible for almost a quarter of annual US emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) ********************************************** Folgen einer globalen Massenmotorisierung http://www.upi-institut.de/upi35.htm Eine Vermeidung von zukünftigen Katastrophen ist nach Ansicht der Studie nur dann möglich, wenn die führenden Industrienationen eine Wende in der Verkehrspolitik einleiten und Maßnahmen zur Reduzierung des Autoverkehrs und damit zur Inanspruchnahme natürlicher Ressourcen beginnen. Solange diese Wende nicht erfolgt, wird sich am Wunsch der Bewohner der meisten anderen Länder der Erde nach Erreichung des von uns vorgelebten Standards nichts ändern. Auch internationale Konferenzen und Vereinbarungen über das Klimaproblem werden daran nichts ändern. ********************************************** RESOURCE NOTES ON JET CONTRAILS AND ASSOCIATED ITEMS http://astro.ku.dk/~holger/IDA/notes.html Dr. Cheryl E. Merritt, Yale University: "The jet airplane has revolutionized travel since about 1960. It has brought people and cultures closer together. It has created environmental problems. Harmful chemicals sift down from the smoky trails of low-flying jets. The scream of jet engines is constantly heard by people who live near big-city airports. Jet aircraft, particularly the supersonic transport (SST) could engender stratospheric air pollution with consequent changes in climate. Jet exhaust contains water, CO2, oxides of nitrogen, and particulate matter. It is speculative just how harmful these pollutants can be": Dr. Richard Witt, The International Association 'Cosmos & Philosophy': '... environmentally, the modern aeroplane is a bloody nuisance. [...] Briefly, emissions from aircraft make a more than trivial contribution to the chemical degeneration of the atmosphere, and perhaps assist actively in the process of climate modification. // We can start with an unfamiliar technical term, but one to keep in mind: contrails' ********************************************** Aeroplanes Threaten World's Climate Say Top Govt Scientists http://www.rag.org.au/barb/airpollution1.htm [...] published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is the first by the Panel on a specific industrial sector. It confirms that the world's 16,000 airliners are a major source of the gases that are causing global warming. [...] The IPCC Special Report says: Planes are responsible for 3.5 per cent of man- made global warming today; They could account for up to 15 per cent of global warming by 2050 [...] ********************************************** Konsens der Wissenschaft weltweit: Der Luftverkehr ist ein ernstzunehmender Belastungsfaktor für das Klima http://www.comlink.apc.org/germanwatch/pubpress/p990416a.htm [...] der Luftverkehr trägt heute zu 3,5 Prozent zur globalen Erwärmung bei; dies wird sich bis zum Jahr 2050 auf bis zu 15 Prozent erhöhen [...] Denn nicht nur die CO2-Emissionen sind beim Flugverkehr ein Problem, sondern zusätzlich noch der Stickoxidausstoß und die Kondensstreifenbildung. Insgesamt bewirken diese anderen Stoffe, daß der Treibhauseffekt durch die Flugzeugabgase um das Zwei- bis Vierfache höher ist als der reine CO2 -Effekt. ********************************************** Jet contrails to be significant climate factor by 2050 http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/prrl/prrl9919.html Minnis and his colleagues report that global air traffic rose by over seven percent per year from 1994 to 1997, in terms of passenger miles flown. Growth is likely to continue, meaning contrails will play a larger role in future climates than they do today. Taking into account such factors as number of flights per day, fuel consumption, and altitudes flown, they conclude that by 2050, average contrail coverage over Europe will be four times higher than at present, or about 4.6 percent. In the United States, the increase will be 2.6 times current levels, or 3.7 percent coverage; and in Asia, the increase will be ten times current levels, or 1.2 percent. The researchers emphasize that these are conservative estimates, which take into account only the thicker contrails that can be readily observed. Thinner contrails and contrails that have developed into natural-looking cirrus clouds also affect climate, but their impact cannot yet be predicted. Other factors that would play a role include natural cloud cover, overlapping of contrails, and size of the ice particles that form in them. They call for further research into the full extent of current contrail coverage and the specific effect of contrails in forcing climate change. ********************************************** superb photo of contrails http://www.chemtrailcentral.com/imgdb/img/60-img.jpg ********************************************** DLR animation of contrail recognition over Europe http://www.astro.ku.dk/~holger/IDA/S/page001.html http://www.astro.ku.dk/~holger/IDA/S/page018.html http://www.astro.ku.dk/~holger/IDA/S/page020.html AWACS loops over the North Sea: The largest man-made structures visible on the day-side of the Earth http://www.astro.ku.dk/~holger/IDA/S/page005.html ********************************************** Boom bei Flugreisen heizt das Klima auf http://home.t-online.de/home/VCD.Darmstadt-Dieburg/pr980316.htm Zum Start der Internationalen Tourismusbörse (ITB) in Berlin hat der Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) vor den Umweltrisiken durch den zunehmenden Flugverkehr gewarnt. Flugzeuge stoßen ihre Schadstoffe in der umweltsensiblen Höhe von 10.000 bis 12.000 Metern aus und tragen dadurch erheblich zum Treibhauseffekt bei. Allein 13 Millionen touristischer Fernflugreisen pro Jahr gehen auf das Konto von deutschen Urlaubern. [...] Erst die Dumpingpreise des letzten Jahrzehnts, so der VCD, haben das Flugzeug zum Massentransportmittel gemacht. Deshalb kann im Zentrum der Zähmung des Luftverkehrs nur der Preis stehen. "Ohne einen Abbau der Subventionen für den Flugverkehr werden immer mehr Menschen immer weiter weg fliegen". Die vom VCD geforderte Einführung einer Kerosin-Besteuerung würde einen Linienflug Frankfurt-New York um knapp ein Drittel verteuern. Der Verband betonte im Rahmen der ITB, daß es ihm nicht darum ginge, den Urlaubern das Fliegen insgesamt madig zu machen. Als Umweltverband wünsche er sich allerdings einen bewußteren Umgang mit dem Flugzeug unter dem Motto ‘Flieg die Hälfte!’ ********************************************** WWF und DB stellen Mobilitäts-Bilanz vor - Freude am Reisen mit gutem Umweltgewissen erhoehen http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/angebote/agenda21/Mediothek/Presse/pr99/wwf99a28.htm Der Verkehr ist einer der Hauptverursacher fuer den Treibhauseffekt. In der Bundesrepublik entfallen inzwischen fast 25 Prozent des Kohlendioxidausstosses auf diesen Sektor. [...] Freude am Reisen und ein gutes Gewissen haben: Die Mobilitaets-Bilanz von WWF und DB ist eine aktuelle Verbraucherhilfe. Eine CD-ROM ist kostenlos bei der DB, Bahn-Umwelt-Zentrum, Schicklerstrasse 5-7, 10179 Berlin, erhaeltlich. Auch im Internet kann sie ueber www.bahn.de abgerufen werden. ********************************************** GORE PRESSES GLOBAL WARMING IDEAS (12/08/1997) http://library.northernlight.com/AG19981023140386236.html Al Gore was arriving Sunday in Kyoto, Japan, to press before delegates from 150 nations the U.S. position that greenhouse gases must be cut but not so rapidly as many demand ********************************************** Klimakonferenz Kyoto: Der Planet gerät ins Schwitzen http://www.greenpeace.de/GP_DOK_30/BRENNPUN/F9749A.HTM [...] Die ersten Minuten überraschen: Eloquent schwadroniert Gore über mögliche Auswirkungen durch einen Treibhauseffekt, malt ein katastrophales Szenario aus - hat er sich etwa unseres Factsheets bedient? Doch dann die alte Leier: Amerika wird etwas tun. Oh ja. Der Treibhausgasausstoß soll bis 2012 stabilisiert werden... und wer sagt, daß sei nicht viel, der lügt! Denn nach Gores neuen mathematischen Erkenntnissen reduziert die USA ihre Emissionen durch die Stabilisierung um 30 Prozent! [...] Ich werde das Gefühl nicht los, daß viele Leute hier gar nicht mehr so genau wissen, worum es eigentlich geht. Alles dreht sich um Kommas, Punkte, Klammern und Worte, zum Beispiel das Wörtchen "kann". Ein Unwort für Umweltorganisationen, ein Zauberwort für die Kohle- und Ölindustrie, denn der Unterschied zwischen "kann" und "muß" bedeutet, daß alle so weiter emittieren dürfen wie bisher - oder daß damit ein für alle Mal Schluß ist. ********************************************** Congressional Research Service Report for Congress 98-738: Global Climate Change: Three Policy Perspectives http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-1.html ********************************************** Congressional Research Service Issue Brief IB89005: Global Climate Change (February 28, 2001) http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-2.html [...] At the November 2000 conference of parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-6), held in the Hague, Netherlands, international climate change negotiations on implementing the Kyoto Protocol collapsed due to major differences among the developed country parties, especially the European Union and the United States [...] Scientists have found that the four most important variable greenhouse gases, whose atmospheric concentrations can be influenced by human activities, are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Historically, CO2 has been the most important, but over the past several decades other gases have assumed increasing significance and, collectively, are projected to contribute about as much to potential global warming over the next 60 years as CO2. [...] atmospheric concentrations of CO2 are now about 32% higher than they were some 150 years ago [...] State-of-the-art computer models of the Earth's climate (GCMs) have projected a globally averaged warming of 3 to 8 degrees F over the next 100 years [...] On October 19, 1993, President Clinton released his Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), which proposed voluntary domestic measures to attain greenhouse gas emissions stabilization as outlined under the terms of the U.N. FCCC (see International Action). The CCAP reflected the President's own goals to stabilize U.S. emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000, and called for a comprehensive suite of voluntary measures by industry, utilities and other large-scale energy users. [...] some economists have suggested implementation of some form of carbon (or other energy use) tax to deter fossil fuel consumption. However, national energy taxes have historically proven to be controversial with U.S. energy producers and consumers alike. In deliberations over U.S. policy in international negotiations on global climate change, some trade groups and labor unions representing America's heavy industry, utility, and agricultural sectors have been some of the strongest vocal opponents of regulation of CO2 emissions, claiming their members would bear the greatest economic burden of regulating fossil fuel emissions. [...] Not all business/industry-related organizations, the Pew Center for example, are of the same opinion, however. Some industries see an opportunity to develop and market environmental "friendly" technologies to be marketed internationally, or to switch to less CO2-intensive fossil fuels, expand renewable and alternative energy resources for power generation, and expand use of nuclear power. Also, In efforts to garner support for or against Kyoto Protocol ratification, petitions have been circulated to thousands of scientists by major interest groups with differing views on the treaty. [...] On February 14, 2000, the Clinton Administration detailed plans to spend some $4.1 billion in FY2001 for climate change-related domestic programs, and investments and tax incentives. This funding included $1.7 billion for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), which will focus on 1) Improved Climate Observations, 2) the Global Water Cycle, 3) Ecosystem Changes (climate change impacts), and 4) Understanding the Carbon Cycle. USGCRP funding is divided among nine federal agencies, details of which are to be included in "Our Changing Planet: FY2001," budget document. The President recently announced a 50% increase in funding for all climate change programs from FY1998 to FY2001. ********************************************** Congressional Research Service RL30692: Global Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol Updated March 9, 2001 http://www.cnie.org/nle/clim-25.html Footnotes: 4. Greenhouse gases, especially CO2, are absorbed by a number of processes in forests, soils, and other ecosystems. These are called "sinks." ********************************************** Good words for Search Engines (google.com, northernlight.com) are: +"global warming" +"climate change" +action +"climate change" +holocaust +"global warming" +car +"global warming" +aeroplane +"global warming" +plane +"climate change" +gore +bush +"climate change" +bush +election +blame +americans +"climate change" +blame +america +"climate change" OR "global warming" "climate change" OR "global warming" AND bush AND IPCC AND kyoto German: +treibhauseffekt +gore +treibhauseffekt +bush +treibhauseffekt +amerika +profit +schuld +treibhauseffekt +auto +treibhauseffekt +flugzeug