Climate Change Blog

Climate change and the bad economy are both symptoms of the same growth-based "ecological bubble". Tell governments to urgently address climate change despite the economic downturn, as both Wall Street and Main Street must realize that without ecosystems there can be no economy

TAKE ACTION! Wall Street's sickness of growth at any cost, and its damage to both the world economy and global ecosystems, is bad news for already faltering efforts to craft a new international climate change treaty [search]. Tighter budgets and worries about jobs will surely be used at upcoming UN talks as excuses by governments hesitant to make the sacrifices necessary to avoid looming abrupt and run-away climate change. Current global economic difficulties must not stop urgent ecological measures -- like dramatic emissions reduction and natural habitat protection and restoration -- necessary to maintain a habitable Earth. The global growth machine [search] is seizing up because it is hitting ecological and economic limits, and because of its own greed.

We must demand world leaders not ignore looming apocalyptic global ecosystem collapse [search], in a vain effort to return to unsustainable and inequitable economic growth which caused the problems in the first place. This is a last warning, after which all men and women of good conscience and clear minds must commit to escalating "people power" resistance to bring about the necessary changes to ensure a continuation to being and a livable Earth. Tell world government below that climate change is a deadly fact, action cannot be delayed and its solution will help, not harm the economy. TAKE ACTION!

Amongst scientists, James Hansen [search] has long been one of the clearest voices for strong action against climate change including ending the use of coal [ark | search]. Yet now he advocates replacing coal with wood from vast tree plantations [ark | more\ark], burning the wood and capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide. It is saddening that such an ecologically short-sighted proposal comes from the man who rightly warns that we are already 'beyond safe levels' of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. It is understandable that he and other scientists are looking at ways of reducing the fast increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Unfortunately, most of the proposals put forward for 'cooling the planet' involve either using vast amounts of energy for still unproven technologies (air capture of CO2) or, even more worryingly, sacrificing biodiversity and ecosystems.

Scientists who have developed the idea of using biomass power plants with carbon capture and storage in order to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels have made it clear that at least 500 million hectares of plantations would be required, which is over one and a half times the size of India. Replacing all coal burnt today with wood would require far more land and would almost certainly be impossible, although that may go beyond Hansen's proposal.

Wake up to the World's greatest crisis! No, it is not financial; rather, the global water crisis [search] is both the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century. An important new documentary entitled "Flow - For the Love of Water" was released earlier in the year and sounds an urgent alarm, water resources are severely stressed globally and without massive societal and personal change, water necessary to sustain life will simply run out. You can live without a loan, but not water. The water crisis perfectly integrates and amplifies related climate change, terrestrial ecosystem loss, and over-population and consumption.

Ecological Internet has long predicted that global water shortages [search] may be the first wide-spread ecological calamity that occurs. Try living a few days without water and you will be swiftly brought back into touch with the fundamentally ecological nature of being. This provides the basis for our Water Conserve Portal and Water for All Always campaign. Solutions? Protect and restore old forests and their watersheds, dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, and strictly limits births and excessive conspicuous consumption. Anything less means a thirsty death for most if not all of humanity and our sister species as global ecosystems collapse [search].

Al Gore this week called for young people to engage in civil disobedience to stop new coal plants [ark | more\ark]. As is typical with the Goracle, you never really get the full truth and ecologically sufficient solutions, even when he tries to be radical. To achieve shared survival we ALL need to physically protest coal, ancient forest logging AND elite rule -- the young and old, poor and middle class, educated and not -- to end both, and ensure a livable world.

We agree that increasingly the economic and ecological crises are converging [ark]. It is the elite that have liquidated habitats for their leveraged financial thievery, leaving barren ecosystems and feeble markets in their wake. Given the failure of the ruling elites to play fair, share and maintain an operable biosphere and economy; it just may be time for a global citizens' revolution to pull the whole stinking system down. Just an idea to equitably and justly solve both the ecological and economic crises plaguing us all and threatening our shared survival.

There is no chance of achieving global ancient forest protection, climate stabilization and ecological sustainability until RAN and other ancient forest logging apologists follow Friends of the Earth in withdrawing from the Forest Stewardship Council and uniting to work to end ancient forest logging

TAKE ACTION! Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is one of a shrinking group of international environmental NGOs that supports industrial logging of ancient primary and old-growth forests by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) [search]. Sadly, as RAN prepares to gather for their annual lavish, celebrity studded "Revel" fund-raiser, there is little to celebrate regarding their disjointed and harmful Old Growth Campaign -- legitimate questions regarding their FSC support have been stonewalled, Ontario's continued ancient forest destruction legitimized, and the forest protection movement needlessly divided. Last week Friends of the Earth (FoE) became the first major international NGO to confirm they no longer support FSC certification; which falsely suggests primary and old-growth forest logging is desirable, benefits the climate, and is even sustainable; and that plantations are forests. RAN must stop supporting outdated, destructive logging. The following alert lets Revel's many sponsors know they are funding greenwashing of ancient forest devastation -- and asks that RAN immediately review and cease their support for destruction of centuries old ancient trees and their ecosystems. Please note, there are two different protest emails to send. TAKE ACTION!

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE

Major victory for Ecological Internet's campaign to end ancient forest logging as key response to climate and biodiversity crises

By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet
Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 664-1965, glenbarry@ecologicalinternet.org

(Earth) -- Friends of the Earth (FoE) is the first major international NGO to confirm they no longer support Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification [search], which falsely suggests primary and old-growth forest logging is desirable and even sustainable, and that plantations are forests. This is a major victory for those including Ecological Internet (EI) and FSC-Watch[1] who have courageously taken on large environmental interests using FSC to greenwash ancient forest destruction.

FoE pioneered timber certification during the 1980s and was one of FSC's founders, but FoE International in Amsterdam has confirmed that it is now "reviewing" its membership of the organization. FoE UK announced on their website[2] they are "deeply concerned by the number of FSC certifications that are now sparking controversy and threatening the credibility of the scheme. We cannot support a scheme that fails to guarantee high environmental and social standards. As a result we can no longer recommend the FSC standard."

You know there is something deeply wrong with global ecology [search] when populations of previously common and widespread birds catastrophically crash, and in some cases move towards extinction. A new study from BirdLife finds birds are threatened [ark | more\ark] by agriculture, fishing, logging and climate change; concluding these findings are no less than a "sign of a deteriorating global environment and a biodiversity crisis." This is a dangerous under-statement.

All the world's key ecosystems including forests, oceans, water and the atmosphere are being liquidated by excessive populations and their consumption, and they are collapsing. Together they comprise the biosphere which is required for all life. If widely mobile, advanced bird species are imperiled; humans are clearly next. I suppose someone living in Haiti, Darfur or the world's swelling slums know this already.

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE

Ecological Internet warns converging economic, climate, food and fuel crises are symptoms of a massive global ecological bubble, and that without ecosystems there can be no economy

By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet

(Earth) -- Current economic difficulties are largely caused by failing global ecosystems and resource scarcity, and are not an excuse to reduce environmental commitments, warns Ecological Internet. The bursting of the mortgage and financial bubbles, and food and energy price increases, are the logical and inevitable economic consequences of over-population, inequitable and unreasonable consumption, and unsustainable economic growth. Environmentalism is the solution to economic hardship, not the cause.

"The global growth machine is seizing up because it is hitting ecological limits and because of its own greed. Current global economic difficulties must not stop urgent ecological measures -- like dramatic emission reductions and natural habitat protection and restoration -- necessary to maintain a habitable Earth. Without ecosystems there can be no economic recovery," warns Dr. Glen Barry.

A new study in the journal Bioscience finds permafrost holds twice as much greenhouse gas [ark | more\ark] as previously thought, and that "release of even a fraction would accelerate climate change dramatically". Covering some one fifth of the Earth's land surface, permafrost [search] is permanently frozen land, defined as soil that has remained below zero degrees C for at least two years. Permafrost was found to hold some 1,500 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide and methane, double what is currently held in the atmosphere.

Of all potential climate change positive feedback loops [search], skyrocketing atmospheric greenhouse gas levels leading to warming and melting of permafrost shows the most immediate potential to quicken global warming. The phenomenon of melting permafrost is so self evident, the mechanism so clear, that little doubt remains -- continued warming trends, leads to widespread permafrost melting, and we start dying. These are very dangerous times and failure to implement emergency measures including ending cutting of natural vegetation and burning of coal will assuredly destroy being.

FEATURE ARTICLE
New ecological science increases calls for forest protection movement to unite in campaign to protect all ancient forests

By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet (EI)

A new study in the journal Nature [ark] finds old-growth forests are "carbon sinks" [search] and continually absorb carbon dioxide [1]. Australian researchers recently found logging primary forests releases 40 percent of their carbon [2]. These findings discredit decades of thought that primary forests are carbon neutral, they can or should be "sustainably" logged, and only young forests continue to remove carbon.

The Earth's remaining ancient forests need to be fully protected not just because destroying them will release huge stores of greenhouse gases while destroying biodiversity -- but because science now knows what many of us intuited -- they continue in perpetuity to absorb massive amounts of new carbon dioxide. The environmental movement must respond accordingly.

This causes discomfort for groups like Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) that actively support ancient forest logging. They campaign for certified industrial first-time harvest of primary forests, and to establish some protected areas, while acquiescing to ancient forest logging elsewhere. They work to end coal use, but not ancient forest logging. New ecological science indicates their discredited forest campaigns cause climate change and block ecologically sufficient policies.

PRESS/SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE

- Media releases and feature articles on the Earth's behalf, reporting upon the magnitude of global ecological crises and sufficient responses to achieve global ecological sustainability

September 8, 2008 (embargoed)
By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet (EI)
CONTACT: Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776-1075

(Earth) -- A new type of environmental news service launches this week, as "Earth's Newsdesk" will report upon ecological science, policy and advocacy from the Earth's perspective. Ecological Internet will begin regularly providing biocentric media releases and feature articles for publication elsewhere. This continues a long list of firsts from EI and its predecessors, including the web's first blog and environmental search engine.

The free service will build upon Ecological Internet's constant tracking of environmental science, policy and advocacy -- and years of deep green analysis and action -- and will report upon major threats and opportunities facing forests, climate, water and oceans. It will focus upon environmental sustainability and the needs of the biosphere, and her ability to continue maintaining a habitable Earth for all life.

Leading climate science Dr. James Hansen [search], who heads NASA's noted Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has called for an immediate halt in the construction of coal-fired power stations [ark | more\ark]. This is something Ecological Internet has strongly supported for years, and this political ecology represents climate science that matters. When being is threatened, it is time for expert academics to come down from their ivory towers and engage in sufficient ecological policy responses.

Dr Hansen is in England as a defense witness in the trial of six Greenpeace activists charged with damaging the Kingsnorth coal power plant in October last year. Energy giant E.on wants to build UK's first coal-fired plant for more than 30 years, and there have been major protest and direct action against Kingsnorth this summer. The trial's defense strategy seeks to establish the important and worthy precedent that direct action climate protests are justified [ark] to prevent 'much larger crimes' being committed against the Earth. Shall we all sit by peacefully as creation is destroyed, or will we do what we know is necessary to maintain being?

Gunns of Australia's controversial plans to build a huge pulp mill to make disposable consumer items largely from clearfelling ancients forests is close to failing, let us together make a final decisive push to warn off potential investors and environmental approvals and achieve its permanent withdrawal

TAKE ACTION! Plans by Australian woodchip giant Gunns Ltd., to continue clearcutting of Tasmania's ancient forests to feed a massive new paper pulp mill [search], appear to be near final collapse [ark]. Gunns is scrambling to raise the cash needed to build the AU$2 billion pulp mill and to meet a looming federal government environmental approval deadline. Chief executive of Leighton Holdings, the proposed builder of the mill, has even stated the project is dead. Join us in supporting massive local protests, and calling upon Australia's Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett to not extend the environmental approval process, and for the several European pulp interests to steer clear of funding the project or risk years of protest and conflict. Let's join together with local protests and ensure the Gunns pulp mill proposal is permanently withdrawn from consideration. TAKE ACTION!

Press/Social Media Release

Rainforest Action Network greenwashes destruction of half of Ontario, Canada's boreal forests; despite lack of any detail regarding vague promised protections, and without scientific findings that doing so is ecologically sufficient

By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet
Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776-1075

(Earth) -- Rainforest Action Network (RAN) of San Francisco has long been one of America's leading rainforest campaign organizations. Yet in July their campaign to protect Ontario, Canada's boreal forests [search] doomed half this vital global ecological system to industrial destruction. In return, RAN and other proponents received vague promises of protections over a decade from now, but no protected area boundaries or protection plans.

Canada's boreal forests are home to hundreds of sensitive species of animals including polar bears, caribou and wolverines. Boreal forests are some of the world's largest carbon storehouses, with holdings equal to decades of global emissions from fossil fuels, while continually absorbing new emissions. The boreal region is also the world's largest reservoir of clean fresh water.

The interesting and potentially life-defining question of "what if global warming is non-linear" [ark] is worthy of consideration. That is, if we continue to increase carbon emissions, global warming may increase exponentially -- ever resulting in more change per unit of pollution -- and causing crises much more rapidly. Such abrupt climate change is a rapid change in climate -- perhaps in a decade or less -- over a widespread area to which human and natural systems have difficulty adapting. In other words, death and destruction result.

The question of how quickly climate will change is of great interest to the Climate Change Blog as we are committed to emphasizing the potential for worst case climate change and other ecosystem collapse scenarios. There are many ways that this can happen, which we feel are as or more likely than other scenarios. Abrupt climate change can result from numerous positive feedbacks such as permafrost melt, Arctic albedo change and rainforest dieback; and/or in conjunction with land degradation, water scarcity, ocean decline and persistent toxics. These positive feedbacks and synergies with other elements of global change continue to be given short thrift, and this is worrying.

The Arctic's alarmingly rapid loss of summer sea ice [search] continues. The fact the ice has not totally melted this year is no consolation, as last year summer sea ice shrank to a record low, and total loss of sea ice -- which was predicted to occur in over sixty years only a few years ago -- now seems assured by 2030 and may even be imminent. Nine polar bears were spotted swimming in open ocean [ark] off Alaska's northwest coast, up to 65 miles offshore, indicating their difficulty in finding pack ice and food. In Northern Greenland, until now thought immune from global warming, the massive Petermann glacier [search] shows a growing giant crack [ark] -- 7 miles long and half a mile wide -- and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice is breaking off.

I am not sure how many more global ecological emergencies, indicative of abrupt and deadly climate change [search], I can stomach being disregarded with assurances that "scientists don't like to attribute single events to global warming, but... events fit a pattern." The patterns being repeated over and over again in front of our eyes include collapse of major global ecosystems [search] and societal myopic denial that the end of being is nigh. The hell emerging in the Arctic is the same force ravaging Australia with drought, California with wildfires and China with toxic pollution. We are witnessing the inevitable consequences of nearly seven billion humans consuming like there is no tomorrow ensuring there soon will not be one. Only profound revolutionary personal and social transformation can save us now.

Press/Social Media Release

Harnessing ancient primary forests for continued carbon storage requires ending industrial logging, and in Australia too

By Earth's Newsdesk, a project of Ecological Internet
Dr. Glen Barry, +1 (920) 776-1075

(Earth) -- Ecological Internet welcomes Australia’s expression of concern about forests and climate change, demonstrated by yesterday's release of an initial US$2 million in aid [ark] for Asia-Pacific nations to help protect forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But it is unfortunate these efforts to maintain forest carbon [search] are only being applied overseas, are based upon flawed science, and thus will be unlikely to make much difference.

An important new study from Australian National University researchers recently found that first-time logging of ancient primary forests results in more than a 40 percent reduction in long-term carbon compared with unlogged forests[1]. Further, untouched natural forests were found to store three times more carbon dioxide than previously estimated and 60 percent more than plantation forests. These findings directly contradict industry propaganda that logging old-growth is climate friendly.

It is time for the international community led by Europe to step up and finance large-scale Amazon rainforest preservation to protect the Earth's atmosphere, biodiversity, and life-giving ecosystems; while helping meet needs for national advancement

TAKE ACTION! The Western Amazon -- home to some of the most biodiverse and intact rainforest left on Earth, which are critical for driving regional and global ecosystems and climatic patterns necessary for life -- may soon be decimated by oil rigs and pipelines. According to a new study in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, over 180 oil and gas "blocks" – areas zoned for exploration and development – now cover the Western Amazon, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Brazil. These oil and gas blocks stretch over 688,000 km2 (170 million acres), a vast area nearly the size of Texas.

Yet there is hope, as Ecuador's new forward-thinking government led by President Rafael Correa announced in June 2007 the innovative Yasuní-ITT Initiative which offers to keep Ecuador's largest untapped oilfields unexploited in exchange for financial compensation from the international community. Regional governments, international donors and global citizens must decide whether every last bit of the Earth's wilderness; and intact, large ecosystems, will be sacrificed to delay having to transition now to renewable energy sources, ensuring abrupt run-away climate change in the process. Given their historical strong rhetoric on the need to protect global climate and biodiversity, please ask European aid agencies to lead the effort. TAKE ACTION!

It is time for the international community led by Europe to step up and finance large-scale Amazon rainforest preservation to protect the Earth's atmosphere, biodiversity, and life-giving ecosystems; while helping meet needs for national advancement

TAKE ACTION! The Western Amazon -- home to some of the most biodiverse and intact rainforest left on Earth, which are critical for driving regional and global ecosystems and climatic patterns necessary for life -- may soon be decimated by oil rigs and pipelines. According to a new study in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, over 180 oil and gas "blocks" – areas zoned for exploration and development – now cover the Western Amazon, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and western Brazil. These oil and gas blocks stretch over 688,000 km2 (170 million acres), a vast area nearly the size of Texas.

Yet there is hope, as Ecuador's new forward-thinking government led by President Rafael Correa announced in June 2007 the innovative Yasuní-ITT Initiative which offers to keep Ecuador's largest untapped oilfields unexploited in exchange for financial compensation from the international community. Regional governments, international donors and global citizens must decide whether every last bit of the Earth's wilderness; and intact, large ecosystems, will be sacrificed to delay having to transition now to renewable energy sources, ensuring abrupt run-away climate change in the process. Given their historical strong rhetoric on the need to protect global climate and biodiversity, please ask European aid agencies to lead the effort. TAKE ACTION!

We learned today that birds in France are unable to migrate [ark] fast enough to keep up with their habitat. And the Arctic tundra is being invaded by trees [ark]. Humans too are animals with specific heat, moisture and food requirements. Where will we run as we lose our habitat?

Climate change -- and the host of attendant ecological crises associated with too many humans consuming too many resources at the expense of life giving ecosystems -- will together not be some minor irritant. Climate-mediated global ecological collapse [search] will be gut-wrenching biological murder as conditions where you live become unable to sustain life.