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Posted by feww on April 3, 2008
Eight protesters were arrested Tuesday morning after critics of Duke Energy chained themselves to construction equipment at the Cliffside [coal-fired] Steam Station.
Duke is adding an 800-megawatt boiler to the Rutherford County plant, which has drawn intense opposition from environmental advocates.
Main Entry:
Posted in CO2, coal, energy, environment, health, lifestyle, pollution, power plant | Tagged: coal boiler, Duke energy, FOSSIL FOOLS | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on February 5, 2008
Humans are mining groundwater resources, especially the aquifers. Water withdrawal rates from aquifers are drastically higher than their natural recharge rates. In short, we are running out of water!
Total global water footprint is 7,450 km³ per year (7,450Gm³ per year).
Food production in the U.S. is responsible for 25% of the country’s toxic water pollution and 40% of the common water pollution.
Average national water footprint per capita (m³/capita/yr). Green indicates a national average water footprint of equal to or smaller than global average. Countries marked in red have a larger water footprint than the global average. Source: A. Y. Hoekstra et al. 2005. Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern.
World’s groundwater reserves are running out! Start conserving water before the earth’s water reserves run completely dry! The following links are portals for water saving measures:
Water sense
H2ouse water saver home
Energy used for production and marketing of a 0.5L, or 500cc (17oz) bottle: 34.58MJ, equivalent to 1.017L of gasoline or 2.35kg of CO2 emissions.
Notes
1. Above calculation is based on 1000L of water that is pumped, bottled, delivered, sold and consumed locally, i.e., traveling a total distance of about 130 miles (209km) from source to mouth. The total energy required for production was calculated at 69,162,640kJ, equivalent to 2,034L of gasoline, or 4,699kg of CO2 emissions (Michael Bigelow et al , 2005, THE PIPE OR THE BOTTLE? A Case Study on Energy Consumption, Harvey Mudd College, University of Bradford, UK).
2. According to the above study, the energy requirement for delivering 1000L of tap water (Yorkshire, England) was about 269,345kJ (about 7.92L of petrol or approximately 18kg of CO2 emissions), making bottled water 257 times more energy intensive than the tap water.
3. Packaging and shrink-wrapping the bottled water (assumes locally produced water) is responsible for 97.8% of its energy costs.
4. For Bottled water imported by air add 4.5grams of CO2e equivalent greenhouse gases (per0.5-liter-bottle) for each mile of the journey.
5. One liter (L) is about 1.057 quarts, 33.827 fluid ounces, or 1/3.785 gallons.
[Use an inexpensive charcoal filter for added safety!]
Main Entry: Drying Wells, Sinking Cities
Related Links: Death by Lethal Pollution
External links:
Posted in Bottled Water, CO2e, consumer, energy, lifestyle | Leave a Comment »
Posted by edro on November 5, 2007
From: Medical News
As there is a raised risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination of 414,000 cases of pizza products with pepperoni toppings, the makers, General Mills, has announced a voluntary recall of said pizzas. As these are freezable products, the company is asking consumers to check in their freezers as well. The pizzas were produced in General Mills’ Ohio factory and distributed throughout the USA. Read more… – General Mills
Here’s some non-contaminated food for your thought: The less processed food you eat the more control you would have over your food hygiene. The more control exercised over the food hygiene the less animal feces (hopefully none at all) would get into your nosh. And as you improve the food hygiene by preparing own fresh food, the E. coli O157:H7 (and a host of other nasty bacteria) would find it much more difficult to invade your digestive system. Oh… and if your lifestyle doesn’t allow you the joy of producing and preparing own food, there is a better option:
Posted in cooking, E. coli, food hygiene, health, lifestyle | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on October 15, 2007
MSRB concurs with the overall conclusion of the University of Victoria report that the only way to stabilize the temperature is by total elimination of industrial emissions.
However, according to our model, even with the total elimination of industrial emissions effected immediately the temperature would stabilize above 3.2oC probably by 2025.
Further, their timeline appears to be too optimistic. According to our model the global warming “tipping point” occurred in mid 2006, beyond which all changes are irreversible [in the short run.] We expect to experience catastrophic climatic events starting by 2009-2010. By as early as 2015, we believe dramatic ecosystems collapses including ozone holes, global heating, extreme climatic events, toxic pollution, depletion of food and natural resources, unethical conduct, war and disease pandemics would result in the depopulation of most of our population clusters.
The world entered a double exponential* phase in 1980, when Earth’s “torching energy,” exceeded 9.51 terawatts {q[torch] > 9.51TW.} According to MSRB model the countdown toward the Earth’s “Terminal Energy” had started. The q[torch] for the first half 2007 averaged at 16.8TW. See http://msrb.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/the-point-of-no-return/ and http://msrb.wordpress.com/stop-burning-earth/
*[Note: Double exponential functions grow even faster than exponential functions.]
Apart from the obvious political reasons, most climate models are fundamentally flawed because they (i) use tired old formula to “predict” the future changes based on empirical analysis, (ii) base their calculations on the “official” data, (iii) are “one-dimensional” and therefore unable to model accurately or forecast the behavior of sophisticated, highly interdependent systems such as Earth’s ecosystems.
The best [and the only intelligent] course of action on global and national levels would be an immediate “powerdown” to the “safe” energy consumption levels of about 60EJ, while allocating most of the resources to creating low-energy communities that provide food, shelter, education and safety for as many people as possible.
The Management School of
Restorative Business (MSRB)
Related Links:
http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12775&print=true
Zero emissions needed to avert dangerous warming
16:56 11 October 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic
Only the total elimination of industrial emissions will succeed in imiting climate change to a 20C rise in temperatures, according to omputer analysis of climate change. Anything above this target has been identified as “dangerous” by some scientists, and the limit has been adopted by many policymakers.
The researchers say their study highlights the shortcomings of governmental plans to limit climate change.
A warming of 20C above pre-industrial temperatures is frequently cited as the limit beyond which the world will face “dangerous” climate change. Beyond this level, analysis suggests the continents will cease to absorb more carbon dioxide than they produce. As the tundra and other regions of permafrost thaw, they will spew more gas into the atmosphere, adding to the warming effect of human emissions.
The end result will be dramatic ecological changes, including widespread coastal flooding, reduced food production, and widespread species extinction.
Established model
In January 2007, the European Commission issued a communication stating that “the European Union’s objective is to limit global average temperature increase to less than 20C compared to pre-industrial levels”.
Andrew Weaver and colleagues at the University of Victoria in Canada say this means going well beyond the reduction of industrial emissions discussed in international negotiations.
Weaver’s team used a computer model to determine how much emissions must be limited in order to avoid exceeding a 20C increase. The model is an established tool for analysing future climate change and was used in studies cited in the IPCC’s reports on climate change.
They modelled the reduction of industrial emissions below 2006 levels by between 20% and 100% by 2050. Only when emissions were entirely eliminated did the temperature increase remain below 20C.
A 100% reduction of emissions saw temperature change stabilise at 1.50C above the pre-industrial figure. With a 90% reduction by 2050, Weaver’s model predicted that temperature change will eventually exceed 20C compared to pre-industrial temperatures but then plateau.
Stark contrast
The researchers conclude that governments should consider reducing emissions to 90% below current levels and remove what is left in the atmosphere by capturing and storing carbon (see Chemical ‘sponge’ could filter CO2 from air).
There is a stark contrast between this proposal and the measures currently being considered. Under the UN’s Kyoto protocol, most developed nations have agreed to limit their emissions to a minimum of 5% below 1990 levels by 2012. What happens beyond this date is the subject of ongoing debate and negotiation.
The European Union nations have agreed to limit their emissions to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and support dropping global emissions to 50% below 1990 levels by 2050.
“There is a disconnect between the European Union arguing for a 20C threshold and calling for 50% cuts at 2050 – you can’t have it both ways,” says Weaver, who adds: “If you’re going to talk about 20C you have got to be talking 90% emissions cuts.”
Vanishing point
Tim Lenton, a climatologist at the University of East Anglia in the UK, agrees that even the most ambitious climate change policies so far proposed by governments may not go far enough. “It is overly simplistic assume we can take emissions down to 50% at 2050 and just hold them there. We already know that that’s not going to work,” he says.
Even with emissions halved, Lenton says carbon dioxide will continue building up in the atmosphere and temperatures will continue to rise. For temperature change to stabilise, he says industrial carbon emissions must not exceed what can be absorbed by Earth’s vegetation, soil and oceans.
At the moment, about half of industrial emissions are absorbed by ocean and land carbon “sinks”. But simply cutting emissions by half will not solve the problem, Lenton says, because these sinks also grow and shrink as CO2 emissions change.
“People are easily misled into thinking that 50% by 2050 is all we have to do when in fact have to continue reducing emissions afterwards, all the way down to zero,” Lenton says.
Journal reference: Geophysical Research Letters ( DOI: 0.1029/2007GL031018 )
Fair Use Notice: See Article 107, CHAPTER 1, TITLE 17 of U.S. Copyright Code
Posted in collapse, double exponential phase, ecosystems, environment, fossil fuels, Global Warming, lifestyle, Zero emissions | Tagged: Arctic ice, Climate Change, CO2, greenhouse gases, Greenland ice sheet, Ice, melting glaciers, snow, snowmelt, Warming | 3 Comments »
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