Smog may speed up global warming

Ozone in smog will accentuate global warming this century as it will damage plants and trees that help soak up carbon emissions, a study says.

Its authors fear a major factor in the climate-change equation has been badly overlooked.

They say ozone at ground level is damaging the ability of plants to absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and so limiting their ability to act as carbon sinks.

As a result, more CO2 will build in the atmosphere instead of being taken up by the land, which in turn will stoke global warming and thus worsen climate change, the researchers report today online in the journal Nature.

In the stratosphere, a thin, naturally-occurring level of ozone is a vital shield for life on earth, providing a shield against DNA-damaging ultraviolet.

But at ground level, it is a pollutant, brewed in a reaction between fossil-fuel gases and sunlight.

Ozone has long been known to be a risk to health by damaging the airways, but recent research has also highlighted its damaging effect on vegetation.

The gas enters plants through respiratory pores, called stomata, in the leaves. It then produces by-products that crimp efficiency in photosynthesis, leaving a plant that is weak and undersized.

Efforts to figure out how fast-rising levels of ozone will affect forests have been hampered by a nasty confounding factor.

The stomata factor

High levels of CO2 and ozone cause stomata to close, which means the plant takes in less of the CO2 that it needs to grow, but also less of the ozone that damages it.

The new study seeks to unravel these intertwining factors.

UK researchers built a computer model to simulate the response of carbon sinks around the world in response to ozone levels, from 1901 to 2100.

They used two scenarios, depending on whether plants were deemed to have high or low sensitivity to ozone.

This leaf has been damaged by ground-level ozone and so cannot act as efficiently as a carbon sink to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Image: David Karnosky)

These scenarios were vetted for reliability by comparison with an experiment in which trees and shrubs in a Swiss field were exposed to artificially high levels of CO2 and ozone for seven years.

Under the 'high' plant-sensitivity scenario, ozone diminished land carbon capture by 23% over the two centuries. Under the 'low' scenario, the fall was 14%.

Lead researcher Dr Stephen Sitch of the Hadley Centre, part of the UK's Met Office, says the study does not estimate the effect of ozone for the 21st century specifically.

But he says it is clear that there would be a major contributory effect to global warming by 2100 as less airborne CO2 will be captured by the land.

"Existing calculations of the carbon cycle haven't factored in the negative effect of ozone," he says.

A rough calculation is that ozone could indirectly add "somewhere in the range of 0.5-1.25°C in warming, according to Sitch.

Earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave its predictions of the impact of climate change on global temperature.

But this prediction is based on concentrations of greenhouse-gases and does not factor in the indirect effect of ozone.

Unlike CO2, which spreads around the planet's atmosphere, ground-level ozone pools nearer to its source, with North America, Europe, China and India high on the list of polluted regions.

In pre-industrial times, ozone was 17 parts per billion. Today, it is 35 parts per billion and is on course for 54 parts per billion by the end of the century, says Sitch.

Source:abc.net.au

Everest at risk as new road conquers roof of the world

The harsh strip lighting of Lhasa's cavernous railway station illuminates a tiny Tibetan girl as her mother tucks her in on an oil-stained patch of ground. Dozens more rag-wrapped pilgrims on their way to Jokhang Temple settle in cheek by jowl in the darkness. Child porters scurry back and forward carrying the brightly coloured luggage of Chinese tourists and wicker baskets of yak dung, used to fuel stoves.
Crackling loudly over the PA system, a folk singer croons longingly of the Himalayas and the beauty of Qomolongma, known in the West as Mount Everest. 'It calls Everest mother earth,' says Kelsang, a Tibetan guide, grimacing at the static. 'They play this over and over again. It is a Chinese song written about Tibet. 'Propaganda,' he says, pointing at a huge TV screen showing images of demure, dancing Tibetans. 'It's part of the myth they want the Chinese tourists to buy into. They are turning Tibet into Everestland, that way it's easier to forget the past and make us into a theme park.'

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The man making the world's worst polluter clean up its act

He is not as well known as Al Gore or David Attenborough but among green campaigners, no one has a bigger role in tackling climate change than Ma Jun. As China's economic growth races on at breakneck speed and with more dirty, coal-burning power plants coming on line each year, the world's most populous nation will soon overtake the US as the biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
Ma, 39, has emerged as the powerful voice of a budding green movement that is forcing industry and China's tightly run state to be more accountable for the long-term consequences of their rush to get rich.


He founded the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, which is among those leading the charge to clean up the air and rivers of China, a monumental task. Pollution is leaking beyond its borders. Sand storms caused by desertification blast across Korea and Japan all the way over the Pacific to America. And as the dump for 50 billion tonnes of effluent annually, the rivers' toxic discharges threaten marine life hundreds of miles beyond China's seas.
The country's environmental importance was apparent last month when George Bush said he would not sign up to ambitious new goals to prevent global warming unless China was involved. President Hu Jintao rejected binding targets, but said China would reduce emissions voluntarily and has unveiled its first plan to deal with climate change. There is even talk that after years of red politics and black capitalism China may yet turn green.


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Temperature rises 'not caused by sun'

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Claims in a controversial Channel 4 programme that recent rises in global temperatures have been caused by the sun have been disproved by scientists.
The programme, the Great Global Warming Swindle, claimed that instead of greenhouse gases from human activity being to blame for a recent surge in temperatures, a change in solar activity was responsible because it influenced the number of cosmic rays that strike the Earth.

The film presented such changes in the sun as a viable alternative explanation for rising temperatures, and was widely cited in discussions of a recent poll that showed 56% of the UK public doubted the scientific cause of climate change.


But the new analysis, to be published in a Royal Society journal on Tuesday, shows that global warming since 1985 cannot have been caused by an increase in solar radiation or by a decrease in cosmic rays.
Mike Lockwood, a physicist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, said: "It is absolutely clear that the sun is nothing to do with the recent warming.


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Why rock won't save the planet

This Saturday, Live Earth, a series of huge concerts around the world, will use music and modern media, in the words of the organisers, to "trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis".
I sincerely hope that it works, but I fear that our refusal to acknowledge climate change has very deep roots - too deep to be addressed by feel-good concerts. After all, we have known about climate change for a surprisingly long time. The first serious warnings came in 1965 and climate change has been at the top of the political agenda for 15 years.

For years, the assumption has been that if people only knew more about the seriousness of the issue, they would act. We have had a decade of terrifying research, voluminous reports, portentous political statements, interactive websites, Sunday supplement pull-outs, and screaming banner headlines.


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The Hague Announces Project To Warm 4,000 Houses Using Geothermal Heating

The Dutch city of The Hague on Wednesday announced plans to use geothermal heating -- water from a hot well deep underground -- to warm 4,000 households and several industrial buildings, as part of a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Although the idea of using underground warmth to heat homes is not new, the plan would be the largest attempted in the Netherlands and is unusual in its design.

Water of 75 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Fahrenheit) was discovered at a depth of 2,200 meters (7,200 feet) in the southwest of the city, The Hague's housing department said in a statement.

"This geothermal energy will be transported to the district heating network through heat exchangers," the statement said. "Via this network of pipes the energy eventually will be distributed to the houses," which would be equipped with underfloor heating instead of a radiator.


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Analysis: Behind China's smokescreen on climate change

The Chinese government's irresponsible stance toward mitigating climate change, based on its developing country status, is increasingly untenable. China is the world's fourth largest economy and, according to a new report, is now the top emitter of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas heating up the planet.

Global warming is an unintended consequence of the global trading system. Now is not the time for finger pointing between the developed and developing worlds: CO2 and other gases are nearing cumulative crisis levels. Culpability for shifting polluting industries from rich to poor countries goes to both sides, and demonstrates that a favorable investment environment does not promise investment favorable to the environment.

China continues to be both a beneficiary of globalization, with capital and technology inflows creating jobs for its massive population, and its benefactor, providing markets with low-cost products. This process began nearly 30 years ago when China abandoned Maoist principles in pursuit of profit as the guiding ideology for its political economy.

The policy of economic reform and opening to the outside world permitted foreign investors and hardworking individual Chinese new opportunities to generate wealth, raising the collective level of prosperity and taking hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty at the expense of the world's ecosystem.

President Hu Jintao heads a communist coterie reared in the ethos of an authoritarian one- party state, lacking accountability and with a deeply entrenched sense of entitlement to dispensation regarding global obligations. Neither view helps Hu and crew meet new challenges such as acknowledging China's role in the greenhouse gas problem and taking the lead in searching for a solution.
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Surge of Dead Seabirds Alarms Scientists

Hundreds of dead seabirds that washed up along the Southeast coast in recent weeks apparently starved to death, but experts don't know why.

The deaths of the birds -- similar to gulls and called greater shearwaters -- have wildlife officials worried about possible changes in the ocean that could have affected the fish that the birds usually eat.

"It's got a lot of folks talking and wondering," said Jennifer Koches, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Is this a canary in the coal mine issue? Is there something that serious going on out in the ocean that it should be causing us serious alarm?"

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Why global warming has brought the G8 to boiling point

2004, climate change did not even rate a mention in the summary of the Group of Eight (G8) summit at Sea Island, Georgia.

Today, it is the issue that may make or break the rich nations' get-together in Heiligendamm, Germany.

Summit host German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces an unenviable choice. She can insist that the summit endorse an ambitious plan for tackling greenhouse gases, although to do so would dangerously isolate President George W. Bush.

Or she can climb down and submit to a fudge that will badly damage her standing at home and across Europe.

This potential crisis has been brewing for months, driven by science and public opinion, say seasoned watchers of the climate debate.

"The public knows climate change is here, now, and is demanding political leaders to lead by example," Hans Verolme of environmental group WWF told AFP. "Expectations are high."


Here's why climate change is now such a big deal:

-- AN ESCALATING THREAT: This year, the UN's top scientific panel declared climate change was already on the march and the effects would be harsh and, for poor, vulnerable countries, potentially catastrophic.

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Solar could go mainstream as China enters market

Solar power could go mainstream within three to four years as Chinese companies boost production of solar panels and the key ingredient for their function, according a report released yesterday.

Solar accounts for less than 1 percent of the world's electrical capacity, mostly due to the high cost of manufacturing the panels and the scarce availability of their key component, purified polysilicon.

But according to a study by the Worldwatch Institute, the development of advanced technologies and the emergence of China as a low-cost producer could push solar into the mainstream.

Last year, China passed the United States to become the world's third largest producer of solar panels, trailing only Germany and Japan.

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Salvage Logging, Replanting Worse

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, scientists have found that logging big dead trees after a wildfire and planting young ones makes future fires worse, at least for the first 10 or 20 years while the young trees create a volatile new source of fuel.

The findings by scientists from the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University raise questions about the long-standing practice of salvage logging on national forests at a time when global warming is expected to increase the size and numbers of wildfires and the annual cost of fighting them is running around $1 billion.

In the first study of its kind, scientists examined satellite images, aerial photographs, and records of logging and replanting to look at areas that burned in the 1987 Silver fire in southwestern Oregon and again in the 2002 Biscuit fire.

"It was the conventional wisdom that salvage logging and planting could reduce the risk of high-severity fires," said Jonathan R. Thompson, a doctoral candidate in forest science at Oregon State, who was lead author of the study appearing this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Our data suggest otherwise."
They suggested that the large stands of closely packed young trees created by replanting are a much more volatile source of fuel for decades to come than the large dead trees that are cut down and hauled away in salvage logging operations.

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China unveils climate change plan

Country vows to 'blaze new path to industrialisation' and invest in green energy, without committing to emissions targets.

A pond filled with dead fish on the outskirts of Wuhan, in Hubei province. About 125,000kg of fish have reportedly died in China in the last three days due to water pollution. Photograph: Reuters

But in a blow to efforts to tackle global warming, the world's second biggest producer of greenhouse gases refused to accept binding targets for emissions, saying wealthy developed nations must take the bulk of the responsibility for the problem.

The announcement of the 62-page action plan appeared aimed at deflecting criticism ahead of the G8 plus six summit in Germany this week and a series of key international meetings on the environment.
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U.S. Pressures G8 Nations to Weaken Stance on Global Warming

The United States has been working behind the scenes to stop the next Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany next month from setting clear goals to fight global warming and from calling for urgent talks to negotiate a new climate strategy to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012, according to documents obtained by Reuters.
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NASA Administrator Not Sure Global Warming A Problem

Michael Griffin NASA Administrator has told America's National Public Radio that while he has no doubt a trend of global warming exists "I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with." In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep that will air in Thursday's edition of NPR News' Morning Edition, Administrator Griffin explains: "I guess I would ask which human beings - where and when - are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

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Source:terradaily.com