B Earths Voice
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ocean acidification- its time to act or suffer the consequences
In a statement signed by 70 of the world’s leading science academies stated “Ocean acidification is expected to cause massive corrosion of our coral reefs and dramatic changes in the makeup of the biodiversity of our oceans and will have significant implications for food production and the livelihoods of millions of people”.
The world’s top scientific academies on Monday called on the UN (which started a 12-day round of negotiations in Bonn under the banner of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) to include ‘ocean acidification’, which is a dangerous by-product of carbon pollution in their discussions.
The UNFCCC is tasked with steering 192 parties towards a deal in Copenhagen in December of this year which is aimed at setting down targets for curbing greenhouse-gas emissions by the middle of this century.
Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society said: “Everybody knows that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to climate change. But it has another environmental effect, ocean acidification which hasn’t received much political attention. Unless global CO2 emissions can be cut by at least 50% by 2050 and more thereafter, we could confront an underwater catastrophe, with irreversible changes in the makeup of our marine biodiversity. The effects will be seen worldwide, threatening food security, reducing coastal protection and damaging the local economies that may be least able to tolerate it. Copenhagen must address this very real and serious threat.”
For more details please go to http://royalsociety.org/news.asp?id=8572 or http://royalsociety.org/document.asp?tip=0&id=8569
work towards conserving forests and help slow climate change
According to Conservation International and other environmental experts climate change — caused by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions — threatens species, biodiversity and life on Earth as we know it. The destruction of tropical forests across the globe contribute as much as 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions ( more than all the world’s cars, trucks, and airplanes combined) and advances climate change. Human activity is the main cause of deforestation, usually tied to economic development, increasing consumption rates – in both developed and developing countries – and extractive industries such as logging.
One of the most important things we can do to improve the climate is to work towards conserving forests — the lungs of the Earth. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman in his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, explains how protecting forests is among the quickest and most cost effective solutions available to us to assist in the slow down of climate change. It can be put into effect immediately. Unfortunately, every day beautiful pristine jungles (home to wildlife, ecosystems, and over half of all the species on Earth) are burned and cleared for farming and ranching, or for plantations to produce biofuel crops. It has been reported that loggers extract more trees than the forest can reproduce, destroying ecosystems and leaving roads that invite other exploitative forces.
Forests are important ecosystems in the balance of nature, providing a multitude of resources and services essential to all people the relentless and ongoing destruction of habitat and resources not only lead to increases in climate change but also can lead to the displacement of people who depend and live within these beautiful eco systems. Where do people like this go to? Where do they end up? This impact results in poverty and social displacement and in turn instability.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, halting deforestation and restoring already degraded areas while adopting more forest-friendly agriculture and management practices would prevent the emission of more than 300 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 40 years (that is more than total U.S. emissions over that same period, based on current levels).
Its frightening to realize that every 4 hours a forest the size of Manhattan is lost to the world.
For further information I recommend you go to http://www.conservation.org where you can donate or protect an acre for $15.00 US Dollars.
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