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.

Go forth and multiply a lot less

“Lower fertility is changing the world for the better”
– The Economist

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The move to replacement-level fertility is one of the most dramatic social changes in history. It manifested itself in the violent demonstrations by students against their clerical rulers in Iran this year. It almost certainly contributed to the rising numbers of middle-class voters who backed the incumbent governments of Indonesia and India. It shows up in rural Malaysia in richer, emptier villages surrounded by mechanised farms. And everywhere, it is changing traditional family life by enabling women to work and children to be educated. At a time when Malthusian alarms are ringing because of environmental pressures, falling fertility may even provide a measure of reassurance about global population trends.

- The Economist

Full article here.

Questions:

Should Singapore continue to be concerned about her low fertility rate?

“Fertility is no longer an issue in today’s world”. To what extent is this true?

“The best solution to environmental problems is to reduce our population size”. How far do you agree?

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).

Heroes of the environment

In 2007, TIME shone the spotlight on the Earth’s four key groups of environmental heroes: leaders and visionaries, activists, scientists and innovators, and moguls and entrepreneurs.

This topic was revisited in 2008 and 2009, and appears set to be an annual feature in TIME.

Question:

Without scientists and innovators, our environment is doomed. Discuss.

Thank God it’s Thursday

In an effort to reduce costs, Utah has experimented with a four-day workweek – and it appears to be working:

The state found that its compressed workweek resulted in a 13% reduction in energy use and estimated that employees saved as much as $6 million in gasoline costs. Altogether, the initiative will cut the state’s greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 12,000 metric tons a year. And perhaps not surprisingly, 82% of state workers say they want to keep the new schedule. “It’s beneficial for the environment and beneficial for workers,” says Lori Wadsworth, a professor at Brigham Young University who helped survey state employees. “People loved it.”

-  TIME

Question:

How far do you agree that saving the environment will never be a firm’s top priority?

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.