Air Pollution Kills

WARNING! Air Pollution Kills

If the next surgeon general won’t tell you that AIR POLLUTION KILLS, he ain’t worth nominating

As if some of us needed reminding:

Six in ten U.S. residents—about 186 million people—live in areas with dangerous levels of air pollution, the American Lung Association reported.

The following are excerpts from the American Lung Association’s recently published State of the Air 2009 report. 

• Six out of ten people (61.7%) in the United States population lives in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. Almost 186.1 million Americans live in the 525 counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or short-term or year-round levels of particles.

• Roughly six out of ten people in the United States—58 percent—live in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone. This reflects the much lower threshold for unhealthy ozone as well as warmer temperatures in much of the eastern U.S.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest weighted average for any county within that metropolitan statistical area.
(2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) CV disease estimates are based on National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) estimates of cardiovascular disease applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(9) Diabetes estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(10) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest design value for any county within that metropolitan statistical area.
(2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) CV disease estimates are based on National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) estimates of cardiovascular disease applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(9) Diabetes estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(10) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]

Notes:
(1) Cities are ranked using the highest weighted average for any county within that metropolitan statistical area. (2) Total Population represents the at-risk populations for all counties within the respective Combined Statistical Area or Metropolitan Statistical Area.
(3) Those 18 & under and 65 & over are vulnerable to PM2.5 and are, therefore, included. They should not be used as population denominators for disease estimates.
(4) Pediatric asthma estimates are for those under 18 years of age and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma in 2007 based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(5) Adult asthma estimates are for those 18 years and older and represent the estimated number of people who had asthma during 2007 based on state rates (BRFSS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(6) Chronic bronchitis estimates are for adults 18 and over who had been diagnosed in 2007, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(7) Emphysema estimates are for adults 18 and over who have been diagnosed within their lifetime, based on national rates (NHIS) applied to county population estimates (U.S. Census).
(8) Adding across rows does not produce valid estimates, e.g., summing pediatric and adult asthma and/or emphysema and chronic bronchitis. [Image and Notes from American Lung Association's  State of the Air 2009 report. Copyright American Lung Association.]

Stop Polluting Our Air!

Direct action protesters try to stop UK coal-fired power plant for a day

About a 1,000 climate protesters, who aimed to stop the output at Kingsnorth coal-fired power station for a day, demonstrated outside the plant in southeast England on Saturday.

Nearly 2,000 police and civilian security personnel surrounded the protesters. Police in riot gears brandishing batons charged at the protesters and arrested about 50 people.

“We just want to try and send a message to people that we don’t want any more new coal … it’s something that’s not going to help our future at all,” said Helen Atkinson, 26, a medical photographer from Cumbria, northwest England. (Source)

Kingsnorth power station is a 1,985-megawatt dual-fired coal or oil power station in Medway, Kent, England, on the Hoo Peninsula. Licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. Credit: Clem Rutter; via Wikimedia Commons.

E.ON the German owned company that operates Kingsnorth is planning to construct two new “cleaner coal” units on the Kingsnorth site, which it claims will be 20 percent less polluting than conventional power stations. They would be the first coal-fired power stations to be built in Britain for 24 years. AFP reported.

Police surround protesters during a sitdown protest at the gates of Kingsnorth Power Station near Rochester in Kent, southeast England August 9, 2008. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor. Image may be subject to copyright.

Police and private mercenary agents confront protesters in front of of Kingsnorth Power Station near Rochester in Kent, southeast England August 9, 2008. UK Indymedia. Image may be subject to copyright.

In police heavy-handedness we trust! UK Indymedia. Image may be subject to copyright.

I need clean air! Why are you arresting me? (Photo AFP). Image may be subject to copyright.

[I'll give you clean air, you basta*d!] Police restrain a protester in front of the gates of Kingsnorth Power Station near Rochester in Kent, southeast England August 9, 2008. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor. Image may be subject to copyright.

Fair Use Notice!

Images of the Day: The Ghost of Tiananmen Returns

Haze returns to Beijing with only 4 days to Olympics

Beijing Olympic Games banners hang from poles along along a main road as cars drive past on a hazy day in Beijing July 28, 2008. REUTERS/David Gray. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair use Notice!

Image of the Day: Flight Madness

The Urge to Pollute the Air: An Acute Mental Illness?

Customers wait in line after a computer glitch crippled the baggage handling system at the American Airlines’ Terminal 8 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport July 30, 2008. REUTERS/Joshua Lott. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair use Notice!

Flying-General (Emissions from a single passenger)

(Source) The average passenger miles per gallon for a domestic or international trip originating in the U.S. equals 33.4, according to “Transportation, Energy, and the Environment”, Section A – U.S. Energy Consumption and Transportation Sector Energy Consumption, Table 4-21. (Note that this is not much better than the average automobile, if driven with only one occupant.)

Burning a gallon of jet fuel releases 21.095 lbs of CO2. Combining these two factors:

(Source)

Based on the Climate Neutral Network’s analysis, an additional 8% has added to the total to account for the emissions associated with the upstream refining of jet fuel. The result is that 1.36 lbs. of CO2e are created for each passenger mile traveled (0.63 x 2 plus 8%). It is important to note that many carbon calculators on the Internet, do not account for these additional emissions and hence, significantly underestimate total Greenhouse Gas emissions. (Source)

[Note: The 'upstream' CO2 footprint could be as much as 31.35% which includes extraction of crude oil, transport to refinery, refining to jet fuel, transport to airports, storage, etc. making a grand total of about 1.66 lbs. (751g) of CO2e for each passenger mile traveled.]

Related Links:

• Photos Album
• How Your Pollution is Calculated

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Stop Unnecessary Air Travel!

Use Videoconferencing!

Following our organization’s strong condemnation of the United Nations and its Secretary General for their “addiction” to the “carbon habit,” getting endless fixes through flying tens of millions of miles each year, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has now taken the lead on condemning the business world’s unbridled flying habits. More…

Related Links:

• Stop Flying in the Face of the Poor!
• Eco-Terrorism

• Cyprus Collapse May Be Imminent!
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

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UPDATE #2 – California Fires

California Inferno Rages On

Wildfires are an indispensable tool in Nature’s cycle-of-life toolbox. But … the fires must not be allowed to burn naturally!! Click Here!

What People Said:

• California is reaching a “tipping point.” We need federal help, including military resources, said the mighty Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a state-wide drought in June amid two years of low rainfall.

• Humanoids’ ignorance of Nature’s defense mechanisms hasn’t improved in 12,000 years! Take the California’s wildfires, for example. Tackling the wildfires has become strictly a Freudian affair. ~ A Member of Creating A Sustainable Future (CASF).

A firefighter with the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District talks on his radio as a spot fire burns through trees and brush July 10, 2008 in Concow, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

• About 1,300 square miles (3,366 square kilometers), or 0.8 percent of the entire state, an area larger than Rhode Island, has been consumed in California since June 21, said Cal Fire. [The scorched land area is the largest in size in California's wildfire history.]

• For first time in 30 years, California National Guard lends hand against wildfires, said abc News.

• “I am ordering 2,000 additional California National Guard personnel to boost our firefighting forces,” said Schwarzenegger.

• Burning embers – pinecones and bark chunks as big as baseballs – were thrown a quarter of a mile ahead of the primary wall of flames, creating spot fires. “You can’t see out a quarter mile,” Brown said. “When you find the new fire, it’s already a big fire.” Said SFGate

• “In my district, about 40 more homes were confirmed destroyed and there has been at least one death where a person refused to evacuate,” said Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly.

• “[The California's fires] are unprecedented in size and number … [State authorities] have essentially exhausted all of their internal resources; eighty percent of all the federal resources are committed to California right now.” Said Glenn Cannon, assistant administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

A mountain bike is one of the few items recognizable at a home in the Camelot subdivision in Concow, Calif. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

• The fires have killed two firefighters, injured 262, consumed 752,944 acres and have costs $325.7 million to fight. The fires threaten about 15,500 homes and structures across California, according to the state and federal fire reports.

• Some 19,704 firefighters and support personnel from 41 states are quenching 322 fires across California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal Fire.

• Mexican and Canadian crews are also helping the US firefighters, said Mark Rey, undersecretary of natural resources and the environment for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• The Butte blaze threatens 3,800 homes and structures, said Justin Scribner, a spokesman for Cal Fire. “We were trying to conduct a planned burning operation, with crews in place to hold the lines, but the winds picked up, and we weren’t able to stop it.”

• The Butte fire has scorched about 49,000 acres (19,600 hectares), 60 structures, and caused $40.5 million in damages, according to Cal Fire and the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

This image of the combined fires was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on July 10, 2008.

Carbon Dioxide Is a Fire Retardant (!)

• Homeland Security (!) Sec. Michael Chertoff held a conference call with Gov. Schwarzenegger, Sen. Feinstein, a staffer for Sen. Boxer, Interior Sec. Kempthorne and Agriculture Sec. Schafer to discuss California’s needs, said DHS spokeswoman. [She did not specify whether the conference was held in French or in English!]

• It has been decided that to create more CO2, which might help put out the fires, firefighters from Australia, Greece and New Zealand should come to the U.S. </dark humor>

• State officials are trying to get all the fires declared as major disasters, to enable increased access to federal funds, said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi.

• Forest fires have broken out in nine states, including two in Washington yesterday, which destroyed [thirteen] homes [some were multimillion-dollar homes] in the Spokane Valley [Friday], said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Numerous major wildfires continued burning Friday in Eastern Washington, prompting Gov. Chris Gregoire to declare a state of emergency for the entire state. That freed equipment, firefighters and funding for efforts to quench the flames.

Fire crews from across Washington were battling blazes in Chelan, Douglas, Stevens, Adams, Ferry, and Spokane counties. With hot and dry conditions statewide, Gregoire said the proclamation ensured any affected area would have sufficient firefighting resources. (Source)

• “It would do us no good to send everything to California and then see fires ignite in three or four other states,” Smurthwaite said.

• So far, about 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares), [an area roughly the size of Connecticut,] have burned in the U.S. this year, exceeding the 10-year average of 2.5 million [by 20 percent,] Smurthwaite said.

• “Hand crews and bulldozers were (in Concow) all night, posted at individual homes” trying to retard the flames, said Joshpae White, an engineer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• High temperatures and low humidity have hampered efforts by crews trying to contain another fire advance near Carmel Valley, north of Big Sur. said Susan Zornek, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman on loan from Missouri.

• Because this fire season started so early, the firefighting conditions have been among the worst in memory, even among longtime crews, said Terence McHale, policy director for CDF Firefighters of Cal Fire, the union representing the firefighters.

• “We have firefighters who’ve been working nonstop since mid-May, who haven’t seen their families or homes, who are working 24-hour shifts, 21 days on, sometimes putting in 36 hours in the initial attack of a fire,” said McHale said. “It’s an incredible challenge.”

• “You almost feel like somebody is out to get you,” said Nancy Henphill, 61, a Concow resident.

California Must Decide: Life or “Lifestyle?”

Related News Links:

• Calif. National Guard Joins Firefighting Effort
• California Wildfires Force 10,000 to Evacuate Homes
• Calif. Wildfire Forces More Evacuations

Related Links:

• UPDATE #1: California Fires
• Early Halloween

• Images of the Day: California Fires
• Lightning Safety Awareness Week: June 22-28

• A Few Extreme Events Away

• 2008: Year of the Fire
• Raging Wildfires: Mother Nature ensuring the cycle of life?

• Our Forecast for 2009 California Fires [Aug 14, 2008]

EPA Plays Piggy In the Middle

Submitted by a Member

EPA Joins the Supreme Court and Congress to Play Piggy In the Middle

Note: Piggy in the Middle, also called Monkey in the Middle, Pickle in a Dish, Pickle in the Middle, or Keep Away is a children’s game played primarily in North American politics. Three or more players pass the responsibility for keeping the air clean and saving lives to one another, while the player in the middle (called it, the monkey, the piggy , the pickle, or simply we the people,) attempts to pinpoint the accountability.

Piggies on the run. REUTERS/Gary Hershorn (UNITED STATES). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice

US Supreme Court: Carbon dioxide is an air pollutant, and the existing Clean Air Act gives EPA the authority to regulate it.

EPA Administrator Stephen [disgrace] Johnson: “If the nation is serious about regulating greenhouse gases the Clean Air Act is the wrong tool for the job and it’s really at the feet of Congress to come up with good legislation that cuts through what will likely be decades of regulation and litigation.”

The US Congress: Didn’t the Supreme Court clarify the position on this in 2007 in MASSACHUSETTS ET AL. v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ET AL.? [Argued November 29, 2006—Decided April 2, 2007]

They said: “Based on respected scientific opinion that a well-documented rise in global temperatures and attendant climatological and environmental changes have resulted from a significant increase in the atmospheric concentration of “greenhouse gases,” a group of private organizations petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin regulating the emissions of four such gases, including carbon dioxide, under §202(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, which requires that the EPA“shall by regulation prescribe . . . standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class . . . of new motor vehicles . . . which in [the EPA Administrator’s] judgment cause[s], or contribute[s] to, air pollution . . . reasonably . . . anticipated to endanger public health or welfare,” 42 U. S. C. §7521(a)(1). The Act defines “air pollutant” to include “any air pollution agent . . . , including any physical, chemical . . . substance . . . emitted into . . . the ambient air.” §7602(g). EPA ultimately denied the petition, reasoning that (1) the Act does not authorize it to issue mandatory regulations to address global climate change, and (2) even if it had the authority to set greenhouse gas emission standards, it would have been unwise to do so at that time because a causal link between greenhouse gases and the increase in global surface air temperatures was not unequivocally established. The agency further characterized any EPA regulation of motor-vehicle emissions as a piecemeal approach to climate change that would conflict with the President’s comprehensive approach involving additional support for technological innovation,the creation of non regulatory programs to encourage voluntary private-sector reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and further re-search on climate change, and might hamper the President’s ability to persuade key developing nations to reduce emissions. Petitioners, now joined by intervenor Massachusetts and other state and local governments, sought review in the D. C. Circuit. Al-though each of the three judges on the panel wrote separately, two of them agreed that the EPA Administrator properly exercised his discretion in denying the rule making petition. One judge concluded that the Administrator’s exercise of “judgment” as to whether a pollutant could “reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare,” §7521(a)(1), could be based on scientific uncertainty as well as other factors, including the concern that unilateral U. S. regulation of motor-vehicle emissions could weaken efforts to reduce other countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The second judge opined that petitioners had failed to demonstrate the particularized injury to them that is necessary to establish standing under Article III, but accepted the contrary view as the law of the case and joined the judgment on the merits as the closest to that which he preferred. The court there-fore denied review. …”

Related Links:

• The White House of Horror!!
• Disgrace, Disgrace, You’re Such an Ugly Disgrace …
• EPA official resigns citing Dow Chemical

• 60 Percent of EPA Staff Have ‘Personally Experienced’ ‘Political Interference
  
• Washington waste site: Recent reports confirm that the EPA needs a major cleanup

The White House of Horror!!

Horrors of Dracula and the White House Vampires

Origin of the name “Dracula”

King Sigismund of Hungary, who became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410, founded a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Iraqis …

Vlad II Dracul, father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Iraqis and was dubbed Dracul (dragon) thus his son became Dracula (son of the dragon). From 1431 onward …

The Nation, Blood and CO2

Here’s the story in a nutshell about the WH, EPA,  Sen Barbara Boxer, Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of CDC, Jason Burnett [EPA’s former associate deputy administrator who resigned because, he says, White House wanted him to retract a statement about the dangers of CO2] and tons of CO2 as well as spinning yarn of politics:

Press Conference on White House Interference in Addressing the Dangers of Global Warming

Statement of Senator Barbara Boxer (Remarks as prepared for delivery)

You have heard me say many times that this Administration has downplayed the dangers posed by global warming. They have used every excuse to avoid taking action, even hiding behind China and India.

Now, thanks to a very brave former EPA official, Jason Burnett, who has responded to an inquiry from this committee, who is here today, we know that the Administration’s efforts have been about covering up the real dangers of global warming and hiding the facts from the public.

This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the Office of the Vice President. (Continued…)

WHITE HOUSE DELETION OF LARGE SECTIONS OF TESTIMONY ON PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC)

On Tuesday October 23, 2007 Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) testified before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works regarding the public health implications of global warming. Dr. Gerberding’s written testimony was heavily edited during the review process coordinated by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, to remove most of the specific information about the health impacts of global warming.

At a White House press briefing the following day, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino asserted that the reason for the edits was that the CDC testimony was inconsistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on the same topic. According to the White House briefing transcript, Ms. Perino answered a question on this issue as follows: (Continued…)

What Does All This Mean?

EPA: “greenhouse gases may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public welfare” [December 2007]

Supreme Court: Clean Air Act expressly authorizes the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. [April 2007]

White House spokesman Tony Fratto: “Jason Burnett is not the EPA administrator,” EPA chief Stephen Johnson should oversee environmental policy.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of CDC: “Climate Change is a Public Health Concern. In the United States, climate change is likely to have a significant impact on health, through links with the following outcomes:

• Direct effects of heat,
• Health effects related to extreme weather events,
• Air pollution-related health effects,
• Allergic diseases,
• Water- and food-borne infectious diseases,
• Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases,
• Food and water scarcity, at least for some populations,
• Mental health problems, and
• Long-term impacts of chronic diseases and other health effects”

Sen. Barbara Boxer: There is a “cover-up” aimed at stopping EPA from tackling greenhouse emissions. “This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president”.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, on the administration’s actions: “I don’t know if that is criminal. I doubt it. OK. But I know it is immoral.”

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino: Gerberding’s draft testimony to Congress “did not comport” with science contained in the IPCC report on Climate Change, and “a number of agencies had some concerns with the draft.”

Sen. Boxer: Gerberding’s planned testimony and the IPCC report “matched identically.”

What’s a Hydrokong?

A Shrinking World Series

Is it a mega-tropical storm system, or an extra-tropical cyclone (ETC), i.e., a non-tropical, large-scale low pressure storm system like a Nor’easter?

“Hydrokong” is a colossal atmospheric phenomenon. It’s an extreme precipitation event which is enhanced by circulation changes that increase and concentrate the distribution of water vapor.

Hydrokong! The Storm System as it appeared over the central United States June 12, 2008 04:15 UTC. The still image is an aviation color enhancement of a satellite image.

Globally, as total precipitation increases, the duration or frequency of precipitation events decreases. However, warmer temperatures and regional variation can significantly affect those offsetting behaviors. For example, reduced total precipitation in one region, the Western United States, can significantly increase the intensity of precipitation in another region, the Midwest. Hydrokongs essentially create two extreme events, droughts in one region and flooding caused by mega-intense precipitation in another. As the global temperatures rise, more hydrokongs should be expected.

Another Hydrokong in the making? A new System as it appeared over the central United States June 27, 2008 04:15 UTC. The still image is an aviation color enhancement of a satellite image.

An aviation color enhancement of a floater [updated periodically] satellite image GEOS Eastern U.S. Imagery, NOAA SSD. For full size image right-click on the image and select “View Image.”

In the words of Brian Pierce, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, describing the aftermath of flooding last week: “We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring.”

Are Extreme Precipitation Events Earth’s Natural Defense Mechanisms?

Related Links:

• Nature’s Defense Mechanisms
• www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php [Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service!]
  

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Is 350 ppm Safe? Hell, NO!

Folks, don’t be fooled by the hype: 350 ppmv NOT safe!

1. There is a 30-year time lag between the release of CO2e greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and the cumulative impact of heat-trapping mechanism taking effect.
2. The positive feedback system whose impacts we are now witnessing started when the atmospheric CO2 concentration rose above the 330 ppmv in the mid 1970s.
3. Any concentration level above the 330 ppm is clearly unsafe. To stabilize at levels below 330 ppm, we must aim for much lower levels of about 260-270 ppm.

Average air bubble CO₂ concentration versus age in three ice cores taken close to the summit of Law Dome at 67�S, 113�E, around 1390 m elevation. Law Dome is near the Australian Antarctic station Casey. (Source)

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. The red curve shows the average monthly concentrations; blue curve is a moving 12 month average. GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 only as published by the Free Software Foundation. [Credit User Superm401via Wikimedia]

Related Links:

• 350 or 450 ppm? Neither, Actually!

• Greenland Ice Melt Faster Than IPCC Estimates
• Only Zero Emissions Would Avert Dangerous Warming
• Stern Report: “a great toxic dump of doublespeak in truly Orwellian fashion”
• UN Hypocrisy: Kick the CO2 Habit!
• The myth of keeping CO2 under 450ppm

Image of the Day: Blood, Tears and CO2e

‘Economy’ Throttles Ecology!

Look Ma, No Hands!

A Chinese national flag flutters outside a coking plant in Changzhi, Shanxi province May 29, 2008. Origin unknown. Source: Reuters. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Air Quality in Beijing 2008

News of air quality in Beijing aren’t good

But hey, who cares? The athletes would probably be pumped with so much exotic performance enhancers they wouldn’t feel a thing.

As for the foreign visitors, they’ve got to be wealthy enough to travel to China and stay there for a week or two, right? And if you are wealthy, the discourse goes, you would know what’s good for you!

Air pollution can be seen down the main road of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square June 18, 2008 as paramilitary policemen march across it as part of the flag lowering ceremony at sunset. Australian Olympic officials have defended their decision to ban dozens of athletes from marching at the opening ceremony in Beijing because of concerns about pollution in the Chinese capital. Although it is not unusual for Australian athletes competing in the first few days to skip the ceremony to save their energy, Athletics Australia has ordered the entire team to stay away from Beijing for as long as possible because of concerns about air quality. REUTERS/David Gray (CHINA). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

What others say about the air quality, Beijing 2008:

Smoggy smoggy smoggy, oi oi oi

China has even changed the way it measures Beijing air quality so that the results appear better than they really are, report The New York Times and Beijing air-quality blogger pyongyangsquare.com. What could be more thoughtful than that when it comes to putting your guests at ease? …

“We have had athletes come back from a recent test event and one athlete has got 10 days off training because of a respiratory problem,” Athletics Australia’s high performance manager Max Binnington told ABC radio. “We don’t want our athletes to be undertaking that sort of risk.” …

They needn’t worry about making excuses. All Australian attempts to avoid upsetting the hosts will be forgotten once the Americans turn up looking like Darth Vader.

Randy Wilber, the lead exercise physiologist for the US Olympic Committee, has urged American athletes to wear specially designed carbon filtration masks over their nose and mouth from the minute they set foot in Beijing until they begin competing …

Pollution cloud over the Olympics

With 47 days to go to the Olympics China has admitted pollution fears remain high and endurance events may have to be re-scheduled.

China insists Beijing’s air quality will meet World Health Organisation standards in August [Olympics from Aug. 8-24 and the Paralympics from Sept. 6-17.] It is limiting car traffic during the event, suspending construction work and closing and moving factories away from the city.

But it is one of the most polluted cities in the world and, with 3.5 million vehicles on the road, it’s among the most congested.

Beijing Announces Traffic Plan for Olympics

Beijing has 27 air-quality monitoring stations, but some observers have questioned whether the stations, many of which are in rural and mountainous areas in the city’s suburbs, accurately reflect the quality of air in the crowded urban center of the city where most people live — and where most Olympic events will take place. In recent days, one reporter at the news conference remarked, the hazy air has seemed polluted, though the environmental agency’s daily figures say the pollution level has been low.

Blood over Beijing

The Beijing Olympics will not be the world’s least controversial. China is under fire by human rights activists, the Olympic Torch relay has become a focal point for protests, while athletes from some nations have signed gag orders to stop them commenting on anything but sport. So much for sport and politics says Jacqui Lund. …

People and pollution ? two commodities China has in abundance. Both are badly managed, both are currently in the international eye. “This will be the People’s Olympics,” China promised when they were awarded the Olympic Games. “We will make the preparations for the Olympic Games a process of substantially improving the people’s living standards, both materially and culturally,” they claimed.

China budgeted around $37bn on the Olympics in Beijing. Their state-of-the-art Olympic facilities, the ‘Bird?s Nest’ National Stadium and the ‘Water Cube’ Aquatics Centre are structural wonders to behold.

Lurking in the shadows are China’s 40 million people living below the poverty line with no national healthcare system. No-one has been able to say how the Water Cube will feed and medicate the millions.

According to the China Rights Forum, the number of people displaced by Olympics-related development in Beijing is over 1.4 million.

Related Links:

• To the Good People of China
• If you’re flying to Beijing for the Olympics …
• China Under Siege

• Will the 2008 Olympics trigger the last phase of Beijing Collapse?
• Collapsing Cities
• Drying Aquifers, Sinking Cities

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UNEP Issues Some CO2 Reduction Snakeoil!

submitted by a reader

Caution: For external use only! Avoid eye contact. Keep out of children’s reach. Apply sparingly!

UNEP: Twelve Steps to Help You Kick the CO2 Habit

The misleading title is meant to serve as an improvement on the waste recycling one-liners. Those eye-catching headlines invariably encourage consumers to recycle waste, without providing any information as to the full impact of the recycling process on the environment; mysteriously, they often fail to carry any good advice, for example, on how to cut down on the consumption in the first place.

The most glaring UNEP deception is probably the propagation of the myth of self-empowered individuals, the notion that we are in charge and free to do what we choose to do. In other words, it’s not the exponential growth economy that is deciding our lifestyles, social behavior and consumption habits; it is our fault to become addicted to CO2 in the first place!

In reality, however, our lives are ruled by a powerful discourse that prevents us from opting out of consumer lifestyles. The political economy ensures there are no alternatives to the prevailing malignant system. The media and advertising industry influence each and every decision we make. The system builds the roads, parking lots and airports, and it then demands we use them. We have no say on how things should be done. The only “choice” available to us is restricted to the type of vehicle we occupy the roads with to spend the daily installments of our mandatory solitary confinement, a choice we couldn’t make without the help of the advertising industry, of course.

Without a change in the system of economy, we don’t stand a surviving chance as a species!

Tell me again, how will you help kick my CO2 habit, when the economic system is producing the pollution for me?

UNEP Clumsy Scaremongering Diminishes the Seriousness of Environmental Threats

The most egregious misrepresentation made by UNEP in their report must be their recommendation to use a non-electric toothbrush as a major means of halving your carbon footprint. The per person CO2 emissions in the US is about 21.89 metric tons each year (Source: EIA 2005). The average electric toothbrush has a 6.5-Watt power rating—it uses 6.5 joules of electricity per second—that means, taking into account the losses from electricity generation, it produces a total of about 80 mg of CO2 per day, or 29 grams per year, if you brushed your teeth for about a minute every day! How or why the UNEP believes such small amounts of CO2 could make a dent in the overall pollution inventory is unfathomable [even with an inefficient charger they don't get close to the UNEP figures, or cutting your carbon footprint by half!]

[Note: One metric ton is equal to 1,000 kilograms (kg); 1,000,000 grams (g); 1,000,000,000 milligram (mg).]

As for the electric alarm clocks, those that operate in the range of 20-40 Watts, are responsible for producing about 250-500 mg (a quarter to one half of a gram) of CO2 per day.

Of course, most electronic alarm clocks run on batteries, using an AAA battery (1.5V, 1.2Ah) which is replaced about once a year. While manufacturing batteries creates chemical pollution and carelessly discarded ones constitute an environmental hazard, the batteries are not known as a major source of carbon dioxide pollution!

Just exactly which one of the above figures can you influence and by how much? (Source: EIA 2005)

Below is a list of the UNEP snakeoil remedies:

• Use a wind-up alarm clock rather than an electric one.
• Dry clothes on a washing line rather than in a tumble dryer.
• Pack lighter suitcases. It says that world savings would be 2 million tonnes a year if every airline passenger cut the weight of baggage to below 20 kg and bought duty free goods on arrival. [Emphasis were added!]
• Use a non-electric toothbrush.
• Heat bread rolls in a toaster rather than in the oven for 15 minutes.
• Take a train rather than a car for a daily commute of 8 km.
• The average British household could cut 2 tonnes of CO2 annually with more efficient insulation, heating and lighting.
• Reduce winter heating: cutting the temperature by a couple of degrees saves 6 percent in energy bills.
• Avoid “carbon binges”: a return flight across the Atlantic is equivalent to running a car for a year for each passenger.

How very revealing! It almost tells you which corporations wrote the “Kick the CO2 Habit.”

Conclusion:

FEWW Moderators have carefully considered UNEP recommendations and, taking into account all of the circumstances, believe the net results of all energy saving on the national scale in the target countries would only be significant if

• All airline flights were grounded
• All automobile journeys were halted
• All non-essential commercial activities were ended
• All unnecessary industrial production were stopped
• All wasteful consumer practices were eradicated
  

Heunep

Smog exposure causes premature death

Scientific report links smog exposure to premature death

(LiveNews.com.au)
Short-term exposure to smog, or ozone, is clearly linked to premature deaths that should be taken into account when measuring the health benefits of reducing air pollution, a US report shows.

The findings contradict arguments made by some White House officials that the connection between smog and premature death has not been shown sufficiently, and that the number of saved lives should not be calculated in determining clean air benefits.

The National Academy of Sciences report released today by a panel of the Academy’s National Research Council says government agencies “should give little or no weight” to such arguments.

“The committee has concluded from its review of health-based evidence that short-term exposure to ambient ozone is likely to contribute to premature deaths,” the 13-member panel said.

It added that “studies have yielded strong evidence that short-term exposure to ozone can exacerbate lung conditions, causing illness and hospitalization and can potentially lead to death.”

The panel examined short-term exposure – up to 24 hours – to high levels of ozone, but said more studies also were needed on long-term chronic exposure where the risk of premature death “may be larger than those observed in acute effects studies alone.”

The Academy’s report “could have important consequences” on such future disputes, said lawyer Vicky Patton of the advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund.

She said the OMB in a number of air pollution regulations has sought to minimize the relationship of pollution and premature deaths, resulting in a lower calculation of health benefits from pollution reductions.

“This has been used by industry to try to attack health standards by minimising the societal benefits,” said Patton. (Source)

Related Links:

• EPA Defies Supreme Court on Climate Change
• Analysis Shows Effective Action on Climate Change Will Have Little Impact on U.S. Economy
• Report confirms ozone pollution can kill

• Pittsburgh, Los Angeles have worst U.S. air pollution

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