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Oceans in trouble as acid levels rise
(Michael Hopkin, nature.com, 30 June 2005)
Corals and plankton are at risk of being destroyed by the rising acidity of the world's oceans as the waters absorb carbon dioxide from the air, British scientists have warned. The only solution, they say, is drastic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, far beyond those called for by the Kyoto treaty. . . . Without such measures, dissolved carbon dioxide could increase the acidity of sea water by as much as 0.5 pH units by the end of this century, from 8.2 to around 7.7, they say. Such a change would upset the oceans' chemical balance and kill off some marine life. . . . "There is no way for us to remove this CO2 from the ocean. It will take many thousands of years for natural processes to remove it," said lead author John Raven of the University of Dundee, at the report's launch in London. As long as we keep putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, he added, it will keep finding its way into the ocean. As carbon dioxide dissolves in water it forms weak carbonic acid, which can dissolve materials such as shells and coral. . . . Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have pumped an estimated total of 450 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, around half of which has ended up in the oceans, Raven said. . . . And while corals face bleaching and death from higher-temperature waters, the report's authors note that acidic waters are a big problem too. They calculate that even under the lowest future scenarios for carbon emissions produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, corals such as those on Australia's Great Barrier Reef could be all but wiped out by 2050 by acidity. . . . The only answer is to stop burning so much fossil fuel, Watson says. "We are addicted to fossil-fuel burning like a smoker is addicted to nicotine," he says. "Like smoking, there are many adverse effects - we need to wake up and heed the doctor's orders."

posted by LoZo 6:37 PM

 

Pacific Ocean to Provide Drinking Water to Carlsbad, CA by 2008
(San Diego Union Tribune, 04/29/05)
The drive to build the county's first ocean-water desalination plant picked up speed yesterday when the County Water Authority approved an agreement with the city of Carlsbad that paves the way for construction. . . . After the board's unanimous vote, water authority officials said they would contact the developer, Poseidon Resources, and resume negotiations, which stalled last year. . . . "We'll sit down and talk with them about how we can put together a partnership structure," said Ken Weinberg, the authority's director of water resources. . . . Poseidon Resources proposes to build the $270 million plant on land in Carlsbad that it leases at the ocean-front Encina Power Plant, owned by Cabrillo Power. . . . The city sought the reimbursement because the water authority eventually wants to buy the desalination plant, and as a public agency it would not pay property taxes. If the authority buys the plant, it promises to pay the city $15.3 million, minus any property tax Poseidon already paid the city. . . . Carlsbad agreed to receive no more than 5,000 acre-feet a year from the plant. Under its agreement with Poseidon, it could have received four times that amount. In return, the authority gave assurances that Carlsbad can receive 90 percent of its water needs during drought years. . . . The water authority wants to develop desalinated ocean water as part of the region's long-term supply, to reduce dependence on imported water.

[ADDITIONAL information from the La Costa Breeze: By the end of 2008, La Costa residents and businesses will enjoy something unique in southern California -- water independence -- when almost all of their drinking water will come from the world's largest reservoir, the Pacific Ocean. . . . The plant is scheduled to be completed by 2008, and it will produce enough drinking water to serve 300,000 residents. When completed in 2008, it will be the largest such plant in the Western hemisphere. . . . The agreement makes financial sense for the city because Poseidon [the contractor] will provide water at a cost never to exceed the price of water it could purchase from the San Diego County Water Authority, its imported water wholesaler.]

[COMMENT by Lorenzo: If you are a student of water politics in California and Mexico, you know that for decades politicians have been talking, and talking, and talking, and talking about desalination, yet they never are able to agree on a next step. So our hat's are off to the insightful leaders of Carlsbad, California for taking this bold step. While our Beloved Dictator in Washington repeats his war-time mantra, "We've gotta reduce our dependence on foreign oil," the residents of the Western U.S. are saying, "We must find a new source of water." . . . Granted, our energy situation is in crisis, but if the massive influx of people to this area continues unabated, our water will run out long before the oil crisis reaches its climax. Water comes first on any list of things we humans need to survive. So BRAVO! to the forward-thinking politicians in Carlsbad. It's nice to know that there is at least one tiny pocket of environmental sanity in a U.S. city hall.]

posted by LoZo 5:26 AM

 

Caribbean call to resume whaling to offset financial losses brought on by the WTO
(Richard Black, BBC News, 22 June 2005)
Caribbean and African delegates to the International Whaling Commission meeting have told the BBC they would like to begin commercial whaling. . . . Commercial hunts have been banned for nearly 20 years and Caribbean and African nations often urge a lifting of the moratorium at annual gatherings. . . . They are frequently accused of siding with Japan, leader of the pro-whaling bloc, as a return for foreign aid. . . . "We would welcome the lifting of the moratorium," said Lloyd Pascal, whaling commissioner for the Dominican Republic. . . . "This is a creature like all others that people depend upon for food, and therefore because of its abundance we think that we can take a limited amount and make some money out of it." . . . [COMMENT by Lorenzo: So, is it the food angle or the MONEY that these predators are after? I think tourists should avoid visiting any Caribbean nation that even hints that it wants to eliminate whales from our oceans. What is wrong with these people? Is their consciousness so base that they are unable to understand what is happening to life on this planet? Rather than kill whales they might want to look into promoting birth control if lack of food is really the issue. Of course, Pope Bene the Rat wouldn't like that.] . . . Colin Murdoch, the Alternate (or Deputy) Commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda, told BBC News that a resumption of whaling would open up new opportunities for local fishermen. . . . "We're already encouraging them to move away from the traditional inshore fisheries and to go for pelagic (open-water) species," he said. . . . "Apart from local consumption, there is the issue of export, and we have Guadeloupe nearby which can be a gateway to France, for example." . . . Daven Joseph, from the St Kitts and Nevis delegation, had a slightly different slant on the issue. . . . "The key point is that if commercial whaling is resumed, then countries in the Caribbean would be given a quota," he told BBC News. . . . "Even though we might not catch whales ourselves, we could then sell the quota, like we do our tuna quota under ICCAT (the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna)." . . . At IWC meetings, Caribbean nations are traditionally joined in their support for pro-whaling motions by African developing countries. . . . One delegate from a west African country, speaking off the record, told me his government also wanted to be allowed to catch whales as a food source. . . . For the Caribbean delegates, there is a link between their enthusiasm for whaling and issues of global trade - particularly the mandate of the World Trade Organization, and removal of traditionally favourable export terms. . . . "We were a country that did what we could with our export of bananas; other countries in the Caribbean exported sugar," said Dominica's Lloyd Pascal. . . . "But what we found is that belonging to the World Trade Organization, certain objections were taken to our preferential treatment, and this has resulted in a net loss of earnings for our country. . . . This explanation for the Caribbean and African delegates' standpoints was rejected by Leah Garcés, campaigns director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals. . . . "There's no relationship between poverty, food problems and food security and whaling," she told BBC News. . . . "The Caribbean does not need whale meat in order to solve food security problems - no-one does. . . . "I think they're trying to find ways of explaining why they're supporting Japan." . . . The IWC remains a deeply polarised body, with little compromise possible between two entrenched positions; one that regards whales as a food resource like any other, and the other that sees them as special, sentient creatures which should never again be hunted.

posted by LoZo 4:45 AM

 

Bush Junta Caught Falsifying Climate Change Documents
(Mark Townsend, The Observer, June 19, 2005)
Extraordinary efforts by the White House to scupper Britain's attempts to tackle global warming have been revealed in leaked US government documents obtained by The Observer. . . . These papers - part of the Bush administration's submission to the G8 action plan for Gleneagles next month - show how the United States, over the past two months, has been secretly undermining Tony Blair's proposals to tackle climate change. . . . The documents obtained by The Observer represent an attempt by the Bush administration to undermine completely the science of climate change and show that the US position has hardened during the G8 negotiations. They also reveal that the White House has withdrawn from a crucial United Nations commitment to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions. . . . The documents show that Washington officials: Removed all reference to the fact that climate change is a 'serious threat to human health and to ecosystems'; . . . Deleted any suggestion that global warming has already started; . . . Expunged any suggestion that human activity was to blame for climate change. . . . Among the sentences removed was the following: 'Unless urgent action is taken, there will be a growing risk of adverse effects on economic development, human health and the natural environment, and of irreversible long-term changes to our climate and oceans.' . . . Another section erased by the White House adds: 'Our world is warming. Climate change is a serious threat that has the potential to affect every part of the globe. And we know that ... mankind's activities are contributing to this warming. This is an issue we must address urgently.' The government's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, has dismissed the leaking of draft communiques on the grounds that 'there is everything to play for at Gleneagles.' However, there is no doubt that many UK officials have become exasperated by the Bush administration's refusal to accept the basic principle that climate change is happening now and is due to man's activities. . . . Earlier this month, the senior science academies of the G8 nations, including the US National Academy of Science, issued a statement saying that evidence of climate change was clear enough to compel their leaders to take action. 'There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring,' they said. . . . It is now clear that this advice has been completely ignored by Bush and his advisers. 'Every year, it (local air pollution) causes millions of premature deaths, and suffering to millions more through respiratory disease,' reads another statement removed by Washington. . . . Washington also appears to be unsympathetic towards the plight of Africa, the other priority singled out by Blair for the G8 Summit in Gleneagles. . . . The documents reveal how the Bush administration has pulled out of financial pledges to fund a network of regional climate centres throughout Africa which were designed to monitor the unfolding impact of global warming. . . . 'Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Arctic are particularly vulnerable to climate variability and are starting to experience the impacts,' reads another excerpt rejected by the US. . . . Other crucial schemes ditched by the US include the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) set up to help developing states develop economically while controlling greenhouse gas emissions. . . . According to the documents, the American government has reneged on plans to 'ensure that the CDM executive board is adequately funded by the end of 2005.'

posted by LoZo 10:11 AM