The most terrifying video you’ll ever see [on climate change]

“When faced with uncertainty about our future, the only responsible choice, the only defensible choice, is [to take action on climate change] in order to eliminate [catastrophic consequences] as a possibility. Because the risk of not acting far outweighs the risk of acting.”

“Because the only way we truly get into [making governments take action on climate change] is changes in public policy and those only change when enough people demand it”

- Greg Craven

Watch his youtube video:

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As a result of two years of debate with the youtube community on the argument presented in his video, Greg Craven wrote a book, ”What’s the Worst That Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate”:

“…superbly crafted…. A must read.”

-Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC (Ret.)

“This book trumps most of our accounts of the global warming crisis.”

-author Bill McKibben

“Al Gore should share his Nobel peace prize.”

-The “New Scientist”

“This is a tremendous book and well worth anyone’s time to read…. You’re in for a treat—Craven is funny as well as exceptionally clear, and wise.”

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy and Science in the Capital

“This is a terrifically thoughtful book…. Cravens book shines an illuminating floodlight on how we think about global warming.”

-Ross Gelbspan, author, “The Heat Is On” and “Boiling Point”

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Questions:

Should the world act now to fight climate change?

“New media is a tool of paramount importance in today’s society”. Assess the validity of this statement.

“New media is empowerment”. Discuss.

Reducing carbon emissions: Pee before you fly

All Nippon Airways (ANA) reasons that empty bladders means lighter passengers, which in turn means lighter aircraft and lower fuel use.

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Flying is the fastest-growing source of carbon dioxide emissions, accounting for more than 600 million tons of the greenhouse gas per year.

A return flight between London Heathrow and New York’s John F Kennedy airport creates around 2700lb (1.35 tons) of CO2 per passenger – more than one-third the yearly emissions of an average person worldwide.

- Telegraph.co.uk

Full article here.

 

Question:

“It’s the little things that make a difference”. To what extent do you agree with this approach to conserving our environment?

 

Useful website: Climate Progress

Check out Climate Progress, a blog by Joe Romm, the Web’s “most influential climate-change blogger” (TIME, 2009), for an “insider’s view of climate science, politics and solutions” (Romm, 2009).

Greening the Internet: How much CO2 does this article produce?

(CNN) — Twenty milligrams; that’s the average amount of carbon emissions generated from the time it took you to read the first two words of this article.

Now, depending on how quickly you read, around 80, perhaps even 100 milligrams of C02 have been released. And in the several minutes it will take you to get to the end of this story, the number of milligrams of greenhouse gas emitted could be several thousand, if not more.

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A single search using Google releases 0.2 grams of C02 into the atmosphere, according to Google.

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Netherlands-based Cleanbits lobbies web sites to go green by either by purchasing carbon offsets or switching to green hosting providers, like AISO.net, a solar-powered data center based in California. And, like Google, Yahoo also incorporates renewable power and other efficiency measures in its data centers.

- CNN

To continue adding to your carbon footprint, read the full article here.

Climate change is shrinking sheep

“But it’s too early to say if, in 100 years, we will have chihuahuas herding pocket-sized sheep.”

- Professor Tim Coulson

I’ve now got that image in my head, and find it most amusing.

(skills tip: humour/use of amusing imagery in essays helps!)

On a more serious note, the full story (and the more relevant details) can be found here.

 

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Background information:

The study of Soay sheep in St Kilda is an excellent example of a highly detailed scientific study. Basically, the team of scientists have been able to study pretty much everything about the factors affecting the population dynamics of these sheep (and they’ve got fancy mathematical models and tonnes and tonnes of data to support their work). And they’ve been studying these sheep for a long time (since 1985, to be specific).

So how is this useful/relevant?

The study of  Soay sheep on St Kilda is a great example of a highly detailed, data-heavy, long-term scientific study (arguments against the conclusions of some scientific studies, particularly those that seek to study complex patterns that change over time,  include that they are often short-term and that there’s no follow-up).

So this (in my opinion) provides a solid example to support ideas associated with this study (including the continual addition to scientific knowledge, usefulness of long-term studies, the possibility of effectively studying difficult areas (e.g. climate change)).

Of course, it’s possible I’m biased – the key scientist involved in this study was my university lecturer, so I know a lot more about the study (and am more convinced about the greatness of it) than someone who has only a casual understanding and knowledge of this study.

But even then, I still maintain that it’s a great example – at least, in this case, one of the better climate change conclusions I’ve come across, in terms of providing tangible, hard evidence of the effects of climate change on organisms.