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POPSEarth Needs Users' Guide To Protect It From People Nature said in an editorial the proposed indicators were a "creditable attempt" to quantify limits on human use of the planet. However, it noted, for instance, that fertilizers caused pollution yet helped feed millions of people. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a co-author of the study, said there were growing risks of abrupt and possibly irreversible changes. "Since the Industrial Revolution, a new era has arisen, the Anthropocene, in which human actions have become the main driver of global environmental change," they wrote.
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POPSContraception Cheapest Way to Combat Climate Change This is sure to stir some controversy, but it's important to remember, that this isn't about de population, (killing people already born) but simply about reducing population growth (slowing down the rate at which people are born). I am all for it.
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POPSEarth Experiment Could Buy Precious Time Initial results suggest that the biggest cooling would occur in the polar regions, which is consistent with theory, and is exactly the place where cooling is most needed. The big advantages of this scheme are that it uses sea water spray, a naturally occurring substance, and that it can be turned off immediately if there are any undesirable consequences.
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POPSClimate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security “We will pay for this one way or another,” Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, a retired Marine and the former head of the Central Command, wrote recently in a report he prepared as a member of a military advisory board on energy and climate at CNA, a private group that does research for the Navy. “We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we’ll have to take an economic hit of some kind. “Or we will pay the price later in military terms,” he warned. “And that will involve human lives.”
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POPSSun Not Responsible For Climate Change Professors Peter Adams and Jeff Pierce did a bunch of things that those throwing around the solar excuse didn't: a) They did detailed work analyzing the actual effects of such activity b) They actually understood what such effects would really even be c) They rigorously applied scientific procedures to this research, constructed computer models, and would have reported the results either away d) They spent many, many years earning PhDs in scientific research and the title of "Professor." We have to say, d) is our favorite. "This paper is the final nail in the coffin for people who would like to make the sun responsible for present global warming," Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, told the journal Nature. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3300177/Sun-not-responsible-for-climate-change.html
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POPSClimate Change: It's Already Too Late “There is no tipping point, just a slope that gets ever steeper,” writes Lovelock. “Because of the rapidity of the Earth’s change, we will need to respond more like the inhabitants of a city threatened by a flood. When they see the unstoppable rise of water, their only option is to escape to higher ground. We have to make our lifeboats seaworthy now stop pretending there is any way back to that lush, comfortable, and beautiful Earth we left behind sometime in the 20th century.” Dr. James Lovelock Warns the World: Enjoy it While You Can
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POPSReport Shows Greater Peril for World's Threatened Animals and Plants The newest report also includes assessments of 845 species of corals. Already more than a quarter are considered threatened, with climate change added to the list of threats they face. Still, IUCN cautions that the health of marine life could be worse than expected, as relatively little is known about biodiversity in the oceans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIJHaQ8EGn0
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POPSHere is the Weather ... for July 2080 The research will be published by the UK Climate Impacts Programme set up by the government to help plan for long-term climate change. The Met Office’s Hadley Centre used its supercomputers to model how Britain’s climate might change from now until 2099.
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POPSThe Status of "Spaceship Earth" What’s worse is that Lovelock believes that the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are underestimating the severity of climate change. He has labeled a report issued by the IPCC earlier this year as "properly cautious", adding that he believes the report leaves a tone of “we can fix this”, when there is none. He continues and adds that a possibly six to eight billion people will suffer food and water shortages, intolerable climates, and the extinction of entire ecosystems. Global Dimming - 47min:44sec
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POPSWorld Must Tackle Space Threat Okay! Just as soon as we've fixed the global economy, climate change, mass extinction, food shortages, pollution and overpopulation... we should get right to it!
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POPSThe 10 Worst Corporations of 2008 I would pick Monsanto. No contest. On March 11 a new documentary was aired on French television - a documentary that Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic bio-tech corporation Monsanto is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844 The list: AIG: Money for Nothing Cargill: Food Profiteers Chevron: "We can't let little countries screw around with big companies" Constellation Energy: Nuclear Operators CNPC: Fueling Violence in Darfur Dole: The Sour Taste of Pineapple GE: Creative Accounting Imperial Sugar: 13 Dead Philip Morris International: Unshackled Roche: "Saving Lives is Not Our Business"
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POPSWhere Have All the Sunspots Gone? If the world does face another mini Ice Age, it could come without warning. Evidence for abrupt climate change is readily found in ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica. Could something like this happen again? There’s no way to tell, and because the changes can happen all within one decade—we might not even see it coming. Sorokhtin believes that a lack of sunspots does indicate a coming cooling period based on certain past trends and early records. In fact, he calls manmade climate change "a drop in the bucket" compared to the fierce and abrupt cold that can potentially be brought on by inactive solar phases. Sorokhtin’s advice: "Stock up on fur coats"…just in case.
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POPSMake Your Computer Carbon Neutral Click the "donate for free" button once a day to offset 1 lb of carbon daily. This estimate assumes you were on your computer for about 3-4 hours today. You can decrease your emissions by switching on “sleep” mode or turning your computer off if you plan to be away for any length of time. Okay, my computer is on way more than that, but a click a day is better than no click at all, I reckon. (PS) For those who give a sh**, errr... I mean click, below are a few of the other free "click-to-donate" sites. (Got appr. 30 more, so just ask.) I use a little app called DailyRotation (94 kb, no install) to do my daily rounds, so I don't forget anyone. The world need every bit of help it can get I reckon, so get to clickin' folks! .:) www.therainforestsite.com (6 buttons) www.ecologyfund.com (5 buttons) www.redjellyfish.com (2 buttons) www.tree4life.com/ingles/ingles.htm
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POPSBan The Plastic Bag Bangladesh slapped an outright ban on all polythene bags in 2002 after they were found to have been the main culprit during the 1988 and 1998 floods that submerged two-thirds of the country. Discarded bags had choked the country's drainage systems. Nylon fishing nets, fishing line, bags, 6-pack rings etc, kill hundreds of thousands of animals every year and will continue to do so for hundreds, if not thousands of years to come. Horrible, panicked and painful deaths by drowning, suffocation or internal damage. If Bangladesh can ban the plastic bag and get by, surely so could we!
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POPSClimate Change Plan Affordable If the extreme weather phenomena the world has been experiencing the last years is any indicator of what to expect in the future, then I think we're in for a rough road ahead, even if we do act now. Things aren't going to go back to "normal" anytime soon. Regardless of CO2 emissions, we no doubt still need to prepare ourselves for a very different future, than we had hoped.
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POPSThinking Like Rats: Why Humans Fail To Act Tough words! I do think though, that Man's incredible ability to adapt to his surroundings is "enabling" him to be able to put up with an unfathomable amount of shit, before it really hits the fan...so to speak. (pollution, climate change, global hunger, overpopulation, war etc) Comfort zones are incredibly difficult to give up. I hope that changes...and soon!
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POPSPartners in Crime I wonder if Afghanistan and Iraq consider themselves lucky countries too? As for climate change? It seems to me that Oz has been suffering quite a bit due to climate change with endless droughts and snow in Summer. Perhaps Oz should rethink it's butt-kissing attitude towards the US and think for itself for a change?
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POPSClick for Greenland Another free click-to-donate site. Click and help raise money for climate change research in Greenland.