International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

The 16th of September is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, this year the theme is: ‘HCFC phase-out a unique opportunity’. To commemorate the day, UNEP has announced the release of a new report entitled: Risk Assessment on Illegal Trade in HCFCs. This report provides a summary of recent cases of illegal trade in HCFCs and the policy measures in place to combat smuggling of ozone depleting chemicals.

Video: The Reality of Climate Change

In this video the Socio Capitalist interviews Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Andrew Dessler, and climate scientist at Texas A&M University. Dessler addresses the well-established science behind climate change. Other areas discussed include:

The reality of climate change from the perspective of the scientific community

The distorted view that policymakers and the general public have on climate change

Media’s role in conveying information inaccurately

The science behind climate change

Water Vapor’s role in climate change

Click here to see the video interview with Climate Scientist Dr. Andrew Dessler from The Socio Capitalist on Vimeo.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Population Growth and Climate Change will Add to the World Water Crisis

Water shortages will be one of the world's most pressing problems in the next decade, and this will be compounded by a growing global population and climate change.

Without some means of equitable water distribution, water may even be the cause of the next world war. Rivers lakes and aquifers are cross border issues. Already the allocation of water resources is causing disputes between Israel and Palestine, India and Pakistan, as well as the US and Mexico. Many believe that the crisis in Darfur was at least in part due to issues surrounding access to water.

Population growth will place additional demands on dwindling water supplies. The world's population is expected to grow to almost 9 billion by 2050. In addition to the population explosion, growing wealth and urbanization is fueling demand for water. The United Nations climate panel says between 90 and 220 million people in Africa will face water shortages by 2020 due to climate change. This will have a direct impact on farms, which exacerbate the problem by further depleting groundwater.

According to Britain's chief scientist John Beddington, "The availability of fresh water...[is] the first problem that has got to be addressed. Agriculture is intimately linked with that, but I would say water is probably going to be more concerning over the next 10 years."

"Population growth, an increase in wealth, urbanization, and ... climate change, all of those are going to present really big problems to humanity," Beddington told the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit.

Climate change will add additional burdens to the worsening water crisis. Climate change is forecast to disrupt rainfall patterns, leading to more severe droughts and floods, posing problems for the supply of fresh water.

"Water security fears, rising demand for food and a drive to curb greenhouse gas emissions all posed commercial opportunities," Beddington said.

To help combat growing water problems, countries need to focus on water efficiency. Countries can also reduce the burden of climate change by focusing on low-carbon technologies, including energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Ferrum College's Climate Research Opportunities

Ferrum College offers an excellent undergraduate program and great opportunities for environmental research. Ferrum College professors Bob Pohlad and Carolyn Thomas are part of a team that will receive $494,980 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for environmental research related to climate change.

The money will be used to establish a national ecological and education network that will begin with 12 primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) and expand to colleges and universities throughout the United States. The work has been shown to be significant both in terms of tracking environmental issues, and increased student learning and understanding.

Collaborative projects engage students in scientific research while teaching them basic ecology, “It’s unusual for undergraduate students to be able to do this kind of research,” said Thomas.

“It’s important to point out that students at Ferrum College and the 11 other PUIs, will be out in the woods and wading streams — taking measurements, studying wildlife, and learning how to use the data.” Thomas explained that the data is combined with research from other institutions, so scientists can measure changes over time.

"What is most important," Thomas expained, is that “students will be learning, while the world gains a clearer picture of what’s happening around us.”
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Debunking CO2 Myths and The Science of Climate Change

There are a number of myths about CO2 that continue to circulate despite scientific evidence to the contrary. These myths are often perpetuated by the uninformed or those with an agenda to protect non-sustainable corporate interests. With the aim of exposing some of the major fallacies here is quick summary of the science debunking eight CO2 myths.

Myth # 1 : CO2 Levels are Not Rising

Objective measurement of atmospheric increases in carbon dioxide was confirmed beginning in the 1930s, and these observations were corroborated in the late 1950s with the development of highly accurate measurement techniques.

In 1959 Charles Keeling began collecting flasks of air from an observatory at the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1959. His research, known as the Keeling Curve, confirmed suspicions that carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial activities are accumulating in the atmosphere.

Keeling's data set was confirmed by the Vostok ice core. The ice core findings reveal annual layers of air bubbles trapped in the ice, they can be dated and CO2 levels can be measured representing the atmosphere when the ice formed. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations calculated from trapped air bubbles indicate that "present carbon dioxide concentrations far exceed all values for the past 400,000 years."

Another source of scientific evidence comes from Houghton and Hackler. Their research indicates that land-use changes from 1850-2000 and the combustion of fossil fuels have caused the atmospheric CO2 concentrations to rise from 288 ppmv in 1850 to 369.5 ppmv in 2000. The Mauna Lao Observatory reports that as of May 2009, CO2 levels are at 390 ppmv.

Myth # 2 : CO2 is Not Related to Global Warming

The Vostok ice core reveals ratios of oxygen isotopes and deuterium they in turn indicate air temperature at the station at the time ice was formed. The study shows that carbon dioxide and temperature are linked through feedback loops; when the concentration of CO2 is high so is the temperature.

Myth # 3: CO2 is Not the Most Important GHG

Although water vapor is the most significant GHG, CO2 levels are steadily increasing while others like Methane have stabalized. Human activity is producing levels of CO2 that are upsetting the natural greenhouse balance and imperiling our planet. This is largely because CO2 remains in the atmosphere for more than a century while water vapor lasts only a few days. CO2 is the greatest concern because it is responsible for two-thirds of the additional warming caused by all the anthropogenic GHG.

Myth # 4: Anthropogenic CO2 is Harmlessly Absorbed

The Keeling Curve indicates that carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial activities are accumulating in the atmosphere rather than being fully absorbed by the oceans and vegetated areas on land.

Houghton and Hackler's research has revealed that approximately 40% of the additional carbon has remained in the atmosphere, while the remaining 60% has been transferred to the oceans and terrestrial biosphere. This research reveals that 64% can be attributed to fossil-fuel combustion, representing about 14% of the carbon in the atmosphere in the form of CO2.

According to research from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, "around 30 per cent of the CO2 put into the atmosphere by human activities is absorbed by the oceans where it dissolves, altering the chemistry of the surface sea levels making it more acidic." Increasing levels of ocean acidity could destroy fisheries and damage coral reefs that provide habitat and coastal protection from storms. In a statement from the science academies of 70 countries rising levels of CO2 may cause an "underwater catastrophy.

Myth # 5: CO2 is Too Heavy to Reach the Troposphere

According to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), the chemical formula of CO2 is Carbon (12) + Oxygen (16) + Oxygen (16), giving it a molecular weight of 44. Although this gas is heavier than air (50% heavier or 1 and 1/2 time as heavy). CO2 will mix with the air as all gasses do because of Brownian Motion (molecules bumping into each other). And like all gases, when wind is blowing, CO2 is carried up into the atmosphere, where more winds are able to carry it up to the troposphere.

"Free radicals, which are atomic or molecular species with unpaired electrons, and are highly reactive and this makes them able to form a chemical bond. The free radicals attach and form a new bond with CO2 creating a new gas depending on the species of the free radical. These gases work their way a bit further into the upper atmosphere and this is where they become GHGs."

Myth # 6: Respiration is to Blame for CO2

All living things including plants and animals exhale CO2. According to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), "the average person exhales approximately 1 kg of CO2 per day. However the exhaled CO2 includes carbon that was originally taken out of the carbon dioxide in the air by plants through photosynthesis - whether you eat the plants directly or animals that eat the plants. Thus, there is a closed loop, with no net addition to the atmosphere. Of course, the agriculture, food processing, and marketing industries use energy (in many cases based on the combustion of fossil fuels), but their emissions of carbon dioxide are captured in our estimates as emissions from solid, liquid, or gaseous fuels."

Myth # 7: Technologies Using CO2 are to Blame

According to the CDIAC, technologies that use CO2 are not responsible for increased GHG emissions. Technologies like dry ice blasting, supercritical cleaning and painting etc., do not increase GHG emissions because "most of the CO2 used in these kinds of applications is recovered from processes like fermentation and it is either CO2 that it is being extracted from the atmosphere by plants or CO2 that would have been released from fossil fuel burning anyhow. In essence it passes through this kind of use rather than being emitted immediately and there is no extra CO2 produced".

Myth # 8: Managing CO2 is Too Expensive

There are viable ways we can facilitate the shift towards a low carbon economy. As we will review in the next post, cap-and-trade legislation is a viable way of creating incentives for lowing carbon and generating revenues that can help to finance the transition. Immediate action is required as we simply cannot afford to continue to ignore the cost of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Next: Action on Climate Change

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