World's Most Important Crops Already Being Affected By Climate Change

The Independent, UK

Published: 19 March 2007

Global warming over the past quarter century has led to a fall in the yield of some of the most important food crops in the world, according to one of the first scientific studies of how climate change has affected cereal crops.

Rising temperatures between 1981 and 2002 caused aloss in production of wheat, corn and barley that amounted in effect to some 40 million tons a year - equivalent to annual losses of some £2.6bn.

Although these numbers are not large compared to the world-wide production of cereal crops, scientists warned that the findings demonstrated how climate change was already having an impact on the global production of staple foods. "Most people tend to think of climate change as something that will impact the future, but this study shows that warming over the past two decades has already had real effects on global food supply," said Christopher Field of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, California.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, analysed yields of cereals from around the world during a period when average temperatures rose by about 0.7C between 1980 and 2002 - although the rise was even higher in certain crop-growing regions of the world.

There was a clear trend, showing the cereal crops were suffering from lower yields during a time when agricultural technology, including the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, became more intensive. The study's co-author, David Lobell of America's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said that the observed fall in cereal yields could be clearly linked with increased temperatures during the period covered by the study.

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Maine Climate Summit says Thank You!

We just received this lovely little note from the organizers of the Maine Climate Summit.

Watch these folks for great things in the coming years as they graduate and go on to save the world.

A great blog for keeping tabs on the youth climate movement is www.itsgettinghotinhere.org

also check out www.sustainUS.org for some great youth sustainability movement info.

Can China Go Green?

16.03.2007

Pollution is invariably one of the first impressions visitors form of China. From bicycles to cars in 25 years, urban China rarely sees much in the way of blue sky anymore. Rapid and large-scale industrialization only compounds the problem. The Chinese government knows full well it must take prompt and forceful actions to avoid an environmental crisis. There are encouraging signs it is now rising to the occasion. Can China pull it off while, at the same time, staying the course of its remarkable economic development strategy?

What is the scale of China's pollution problem?

On a per capita basis, China’s pollution problem hardly jumps off the page. Its ratio of carbon emissions per person is less than half the global average and less than one-tenth that of the world’s biggest polluter – the United States. China’s enormous population, of course, distorts those comparisons. On an absolute basis, it’s a different story altogether. China’s total carbon emissions are more than double those of Japan and Russia, fractionally behind the European Union, and a little more than half those of the US. The essence of the Chinese environmental degradation problem is both its scale and growth. Over the 1992–2002 period, CO2 emissions in China have expanded at a 3.7% average annual rate – more than two and a half times the global average of 1.4%. At that rate, according to a recent report issued by the International Energy Agency, China will surpass the United States as the global leader in carbon emissions by 2009.

Read more about China's pollution problems here.

Clean Energy Market Expected To Reach $230 Billion In 10 Years

Revenues from clean energy will grow to $226.5 billion in the next decade, up from $55.4 billion last year, according to Clean Edge. In its annual report on clean energy, the US-based cleantech consultancy said that the market for biofuels, wind power, solar photovoltaics (PV), fuel cells and hydrogen grew 39% in the last year, and is expected to quadruple by 2016.

Much of this growth will come from the biofuels sector, which it expects to expand from a $20.5 billion business in 2006 to an $80.9 billion a year business in 2016.

Solar power revenues are also set to grow to $69.3 billion from $15.6 billion over the same period, with wind expanding more slowly from $17.9 billion to $60.8 billion. Revenues from fuel cells will also rise from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $15.6 billion in 2016, the report projects.

Ron Pernick, a principle at Clean Edge, said that one of the factors behind last year's growth was the growing acceptance of the science of climate change. "The most ardent nay-sayers began to change their tune," he said.

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LogicaCMG, Asia Carbon sign agreement for first Asian carbon credit exchange

KUALA LUMPUR (XFN-ASIA) - LogicaCMG said it has signed an agreement with Asia Carbon (ACX-Change) to set up Asia's first carbon credit exchange and establish national registries for key Asian countries.

Under the terms of the agreement, LogicaCMG will provide the technical expertise to establish a web-based trading platform to facilitate buying and selling in carbon assets.

At the same time, it will also study the possibility of facilitating the setting up of other exchanges in several Asian cities under the Asia Carbon banner, it said in a statement.

EU Sets Green Energy Targets

Dan Bilefsky
Published March 9, 2007

The European Union on Friday drafted a compromise agreement that would make Europe the world leader in the fight against climate change, but that would also allow some of Europe's most polluting countries to limit their environmental goals.

The draft agreement, reached after two days of heated negotiations, commits the bloc to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020. It also will require the EU to derive a fifth of its energy from renewable sources like wind and solar energy, while fueling 10 percent of its cars and trucks on biofuels made from plants.

But under pressure from several countries of the former Soviet bloc, which rely heavily on cheap coal and oil for their energy and are reluctant to switch to more costly environmentally friendly alternatives, the EU agreed that individual targets would be allowed for each of the 27 EU members to meet the renewable energy goal.

That means that Europe's worst polluters in the fast-growing economies of the East will probably face less stringent targets than their Western counterparts.

Many of the eight former Communist nations that joined the EU in May 2004 are far behind the rest of the union in developing renewable energy. Poland, for example, derives more than 90 percent of its energy for heating from coal.

During the negotiations, landlocked countries like Slovakia and Hungary argued that developing solar and wind- based energy would burden them unfairly.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said that the agreement would help the EU become a model for the rest of the world. "This text really gives European Union policies a new quality and will establish us as a world pioneer," she said. She said she planned to press the issue in June at a meeting in Germany of the Group of 8 nations, including the United States, Japan and Russia.

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House Approves Global Warming Committee

Associated Press
Published March 9, 2007

WASHINGTON - Democrats in the House of Representatives, intent on making climate change a marquee issue, created a special panel Thursday to study and offer recommendations on how to deal with global warming.

The Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, advanced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat, was approved on a vote of 269-150. A majority of Republicans voted against it, arguing that the committee was unnecessary or that its budget could be used better by the ethics committee.

"Global warming may be the greatest challenge of our time, setting at risk our economy, environment and national security," Pelosi said in a statement. With the new committee, "the House is giving these issues the high visibility they deserve."

The committee, comprising nine Democrats and six Republicans, will be chaired by Democratic Rep. Edward Markey. It will hold hearings and recommend legislation but in a concession to existing committees will not write legislation and will exist for only two years.

Click here to read more about the committee, or here to read Speaker Pelosi's press statement.

Scientists Uncover Link Between Ocean's Chemical Processes and Microscopic Floating Plants

March 7, 2007

Scientists have discovered that increased levels of ocean acidity and carbon dioxide concentrations have resulted in unexpected changes in oceanic chemical processes. Their research results are published in the March 7, 2007, issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

This study links the effect of increasing ocean acidity to changes in phytoplankton, which themselves produce "greenhouse gases."

"Pronounced changes in some phytoplankton have been observed during previous experiments," said Wingenter. "The consequences for marine organisms, their ecosystems and climate-relevant gases are unknown."

During the study, concentrations of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and chloroiodomethane, produced by phytoplankton in ocean water, were measured.

"In the atmosphere, DMS is rapidly oxidized to sulfur dioxide, which can form sulfate aerosols in the atmosphere," said Wingenter. These aerosols can act as nuclei for cloud formation. Increased cloudiness could block sunlight, thereby cooling Earth. "Therefore, additional DMS production in a higher carbon dioxide environment may help contribute to self-regulation of Earth's climate."

"The bottom line is that carbon dioxide-loading of the atmosphere could lead to environmental changes we have not even begun to think about, effects beyond acidification of surface seawater and greenhouse warming," said Donald Rice, director of NSF's Chemical Oceanography Program.

-NSF-
Media ContactsCheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

UN Chooses San Francisco For Climate Initiative Partnership

San Francisco
Published March 1, 2007

The United Nations Global Compact, the City of San Francisco, the Bay Area Council and a wide array of Bay Area businesses today launched a unique partnership designed to provide meaningful actions that businesses and cities around the world can take to combat global warming.

The initiative - the Principles on Climate Leadership - will give Bay Area businesses a strategic framework to address climate change as well as a forum to share best practices to reduce greenhouse gasses in both large and small companies. In addition, the initiative will create a model for climate action in the commercial and public sectors that the UN Global Compact will seek to place in companies and cities around the world.

More the 20 companies from a variety of sectors, including Gap Inc., Gensler, Google, PG&E and Shaklee, officially endorsed the Principles and, in relation, announced the Business Council on Climate Change (BC3) at a special event in San Francisco - the city that gave birth to the United Nations with the signing of the UN Charter in 1945. More than 100 leaders from business, government and civil society attended the event, which was presided over by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

"Voluntary initiatives such as the BC3 and the Principles on Climate Leadership will be crucial in bringing about progressive and robust action on the global climate crisis", said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. "At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that voluntary action cannot be a substitute for effective regulation - rather, it informs and complements regulation".

"Local actions can have a positive effect on the entire planet," observed San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "The Bay Area is fortunate to have a visionary business community that is willing to get out in front of a daunting issue like global warming, and we are honored that the United Nations Global Compact will be working to bring this message to other communities and companies around the world."

BC3 member companies pledge to address greenhouse emissions throughout their operations and corporate cultures, and agree to follow the five Principles on Climate Leadership: Internal Implementation, Community Leadership, Advocacy and Dialogue, Collective Action, Transparency and Disclosure.

Find out more about the initiative and the Global Compact at the UN Global Compact Website

China Will Soon Pass U.S. As Top GHG Emitter

Robert Collier
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Published March 5, 2007

Far more than previously acknowledged, the battle against global warming will be won or lost in China, even more so than in the West, new data show.

A report released last week by Beijing authorities indicated that as its economy continues to expand at a red-hot pace, China is highly likely to overtake the United States this year or in 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

This information, along with data from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based alliance of oil importing nations, also revealed that China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently been growing by a total amount much greater than that of all industrialized nations put together.

"The magnitude of what's happening in China threatens to wipe out what's happening internationally," said David Fridley, leader of the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

"Today's global warming problem has been caused mainly by us in the West, with the cumulative (carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, but China is contributing to the global warming problem of tomorrow."

New statistics released in Beijing on Wednesday by China's National Bureau of Statistics show that China's consumption of fossil fuels rose in 2006 by 9.3 percent, about the same rate as in previous years -- and about eight times higher than the U.S. increase of 1.2 percent.

While China's total greenhouse gas emissions were only 42 percent of the U.S. level in 2001, they had soared to an estimated 97 percent of the American level by 2006.

"The new data are not encouraging," said Yang Fuqiang, China director for the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco organization that works extensively with Lawrence Berkeley scientists and the Chinese government on energy-saving programs. "China will overtake the United States much faster than expected as the No. 1 emitter."

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Polar Regions To Be Studied During "International Polar Year"

Angela Charlton
Associated Press
Published March 1, 2007

Are we really heading for an ice-free Arctic?

More than 50,000 researchers hope to find an answer during a massive study of how global warming and other phenomena are changing the coldest parts of the Earth – and what that means for the rest of it.

Scientists formally kicked off the International Polar Year on Thursday, the biggest such project in 50 years. It is unifying researchers from 63 countries in 228 studies to monitor the health of the polar regions, using icebreakers, satellites and submarines. The project ends in March 2009.

Global warming "is the most important challenge we face in this century," Prince Albert of Monaco said in launching the project in Paris. "The hour is no longer for skepticism. It is time to act, and act urgently."

He noted an authoritative report released last month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that said global warming is unequivocal, very likely human-caused – and will last for centuries.

A scientist on that panel warned that the world could be heading for an ice-free Arctic, a proposition backed up Thursday by Ian Allison, a co-chair of the International Polar Year committee.

"The projections are that ice in the Arctic will disappear in the summer months. There will no longer be perennial ice ... sometime within the next century," he said.

"This will have enormous consequences" on the four million people living in polar regions – and well beyond, he said, as the melting ice disrupts ecosystems all the way to the equator.

Many people rely on multiyear snow packs for their water, for example, the scientists said.

In stressing the global impact of the polar study, Michel Jarraud of the UN World Meteorological Organization said a major breakthrough of the last International Polar Year, in 1957-1958, was in scientists' understanding of the tropics and their weather systems.

This time, the scientists are armed with much better technology, especially satellites to study polar regions, known as the cryosphere. They will study everything from the effect of solar radiation on the polar atmosphere to the exotic marine life swimming beneath the Antarctic ice.

The polar year is being sponsored by the UN's World Meteorological Organization and the International Council for Science. About $1.5 billion has been earmarked for the year's projects by various national exploration agencies, but most of the money comes from existing polar research budgets.

In classrooms around the world Thursday, teachers conducted ice-related activities and experiments to call attention to the project, organizers said.

Two leading researchers formally launched the project at Paris' Palace of Discovery museum by slicing into an enormous cake made to look like a glacier, topped with meringue and caramelized ``icicles."

Besides yielding a more complete picture of the impact of global warming, the co-operation will help try to quantify the amount of fresh water leaking out from underneath ice sheets in Antarctica. The melting, which is distinct from the break up of glaciers, has alarmed climate scientists because it takes place beneath the ice and is difficult to measure.

Other projects include the installation of an Arctic Ocean monitoring system, described as an early warning system for climate change, and a census of the deep-sea creatures that populate the bottom of Antarctica's Southern Ocean.

The Antarctic's lakes and mountains – some trapped under about five kilometres of ice for more than 35 million years – will be sounded. Using telescopes, balloons and spacecraft, scientists at the poles will investigate plasma and magnetic fields kicked up by the sun since the dry, clear polar air is ideal for astronomy.

Anthropologists also are planning to study the culture and politics of some of the Arctic's inhabitants.

Nearly all the projects touch in some way on the fear that the environment being studied might someday melt away.

If you would like to know more about the International Polar Year, visit the IPY website at http://www.ipy.org/