Global Warming 2020

Economic Issues in Global Climate Change: Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Overview

The prospect of global climate change raises questions about many serious problems, the most important of which may be economic in nature. This volume identifies the critical economic research issues related to global climate change and focuses on the economic and policy implications for forestry, agriculture and natural resources. Internationally known economists, scientists and policy analysts determine the biological sources of the emissions most responsible for climate change and the cost of controlling them, quantify the effects of climate change, and analyze the economic impact of climate change on agriculture and forestry.

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An Alternative Theory of Global Warming and Cooling (Volume 1) Overview

A theory is developed based on well established principles of physics and astronomy that correctly predicts the time and latitude of the retreat of the recent North American ice age and the warming observed BP. The role of green house gases in determining the temperature of Earth is also discussed in detail. Equations are derived and used to calculate the effects of changes in eccentricity of Earth’s orbit, the spin axis tilt angle, and the direction of the spin axis(the precession angle) on the energy received from the sun at any point on Earth. The equations predict a quasi-periodic variation in energy received by Earth as the precession angle advances counterclockwise. Many graphs showing energy received by Earth as a function of latitude, precession and spin axis tilt angles and the orbital position of Earth are contained in the book.

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Image : http://www.flickr.com

The purpose of off-shore drilling is to provide a source of energy for the American people so that we are not dependent on another country. It should also reduce our energy costs since the wells are off our coastlines. We risk the possibility of a disaster just like the Gulf Oil Spill on a daily basis just to obtain oil and gas reserves. What would you think if you knew that you helped waste more energy per year than the energy supplied by the gas and oil mined from off-shore deposits?

Most everyone wastes food, but it is a matter of the volume and frequency that food is wasted. There are discarded loaves of bread and out-of-date yogurt cups that fall into obsolescence at the back of the fridge. Maybe there are a dozen eggs absent-mindedly left in the trunk of a car or a few pounds of ground beef aged to brown and thrown into the garbage can. Half-eaten sandwiches or fries that have grown cold added into the trash that eventually makes its’ way to the landfill. Virtually every family and every individual in this land of plenty discards a percentage of their food, whether it has spoiled or is just too much to consume.

This food loss is not something the average person will even consider, but the bean counters that crunch the numbers see it as a huge, overwhelming problem. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Loss Project, Americans discard more than 25% (approximately 25.9 million tons) of all the food produced domestically and there are some estimates significantly higher. The tragedy of this substantial waste does not end once the food hits the garbage bin.

Once all of this decomposing food gets to the landfill (whether it is contained in plastic bags or not), it continues breaking down and creates large amounts of methane gas. Methane is well known for contributing to the greenhouse effect. For example in Asia, Latin America and Africa, 40 % of methane emissions or about 37 million metric tons come from landfills.

Now comes the news (in light of the recent gulf oil disaster) from the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, that more energy is wasted in the edible food discarded by people in the United States each year than is extracted annually from the oil and gas reserves off the nation’s coastlines. (Note: This figure does not take into account waste on farms and from fishing). This loss is more than, and effectively nullifies, any contemporary attempt or strategy to improve national energy efficiency by utilizing off-shore drilling.

This is the kind of news that makes one feel utterly hopeless. However, while we may never become a zero-waste society, recent in-roads in community composting, food recovery, and gleaning have been able to make an impact on that 25% of waste. If our food waste was cut in half we would likely extend the lifespan of landfills by decades, reduce soil depletion and the application of tons of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. In order to achieve this goal, we must learn how to clean our plate like mama taught us to and manage our waste better.

Those of you who are gardeners can compost your organic waste to help build up your own flower beds and gardens. This composted waste would then be useful fertilizer to grow some of your own food, reducing the amount of produce that has to be trucked into your area. You would save money on your grocery budget, energy costs, and reduce your carbon footprint helping to save this planet that we live on. Think about the choices you make. They are after all, your choices and your decisions. Choose to do what’s right and think before throwing away those leftovers.

Lynda M. Lacroix is an accomplished writer with over 40 years experience working in areas of homesteading, animal husbandry, and conservation. She is an avid homesteader and conservationist as well as a Wildlife Biologist. It is her belief that we live in a time that neighbor must look after neighbor. By going back to basics, she is living a simpler lifestyle that is both enjoyable and satisfying while producing naturally healthy food for the table. For more information: http://environmentalconservationguide.com/waste-management/.

Dyer’s analytical expertise and exhaustive research style is well-demonstrated in this well-planned and executed book detailing the possible future we the human race face as global warming escalates. He gives clear and well-reasoned scenarios based on interviews with climate scientists and political science advisers from around the globe.

The one thought I had on finishing the book. “It’s really happening. The end of the world we have heard about in all our religious stories since childhood, the Judgment Day, the Appocallypse, is coming. This is our final test as a species. Will we survive?”

The author does not bring in any spiritual or religious perspective. That was my add-on. I would have welcomed some, actually, since the future he paints basically hinges on global cooperation or possibly extinction of our species, and perhaps all other species, as apparently has been argued by paleontologists for prior extinction episodes in the Earth’s history. Apparently there have been five episodes in the past that resulted in carbonic acid oceans, burping hydrogen sulfide into the atmosphere and poisoning all life on the planet at the time. Dyer does not explain how the Earth recovered from these extinction episodes, but refers to a book by a paleontologist about a green sky (caused by hydrogen sulfide). Maybe I will look that up later, but I have no reason to doubt what is apparently accepted science for past mass extinctions (except for the dinosaur thing 65 million years ago–that was apparently the result of an asteroid hitting in the Yucatan area of Mexico–before it was Mexico of course.)

As you can see, I don’t retain most of what I read, so am not a good person to give book reports. I read, make up my mind as to the rationality of the presentation, then mostly just take away the general ideas.

Dyer’s general idea for the book to is to ’show, don’t tell’ what a warmer world will do to civilized society and international relationships. He stresses that these are not ‘predictions’, but possible outcomes, reasoned analysis based on his knowledge of military planning currently undertaken by many world powers at this time.

In the process of showing this, he gives detailed explanations of what exactly has happened in the last 200 years to cause this situation and some experts’ ideas of what humanity can do to address it.

His book is frightening because of the level of detail he provides. He doesn’t just say ’seas will rise and populations will have to migrate.’ He describes the millions and hundreds of millions of ‘climate refugees’ clogging borders, causing wars; the famine and hunger that will result as the mid-latitudes of the Earth turn into deserts. ‘Agricultural areas west of the Mississippi’, he says. I’m thinking, IOWA? I live in the Chicago area. California no longer producing ANY agriculture. The Southwest gone back to desert. New Orleans finally abandoned in 2050 or so. What about Phoenix? Tulsa? Salt Lake City? Kansas City? Dallas? The specificity is the stunning part about this book, and the final chapter had me going back to my prayers for the first time in a long time.

Dyer still puts his faith in science to save us–and it may if the global community can eventually ante up. But I am more of a cynic than he. Politics as usual is certainly not going to work. Other reviewers have detailed his explanation for the lack of political will based in the 40-year time lag before seeing any benefit to the huge sacrifices called for.

I see it more like this: This is our generation’s time to sacrifice ourselves for the survival of humanity. If science doesn’t ante up; if the politicians don’t ante up; if God doesn’t step in to save us–there is still that ultimate sacrifice that drives the whale to beach itself. The older generation may have to en masse offer ourselves up to reduce the population enough to give the children time to cope with it all.

Horrible thought. But we’re all gonna die anyway if we don’t, so why not? Instead of all of us trying to protect ourselves, maybe we could reach down deep and learn to be super-human, finally. That is the only way I see us passing this ultimate test.

Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats Feature

• ISBN13: 9781851687183
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Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats Overview

Dwindling resources. Massive population shifts. Natural disasters. Spreading epidemics. Drought. Rising sea levels. Plummeting agricultural yields. Crashing economies. Political extremism. These are some of the expected consequences of runaway climate change in the decades ahead, and any of them could tip the world towards conflict. Prescient, unflinching, and based on exhaustive research and interviews, Climate Wars promises to be one of the most important books of the coming years.

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Just read it! – Austenfan – UK
Whoa, this one is scary! I borrowed it from a friend last week, and after reading partway through the first scenario I e-mailed her and said ‘Think you’d better have your book back, don’t think I can cope with reading it!’ (I know, I’m a wimp) But then I opened the book at random and found myself reading chapter 4, the optimistic ‘Bob the Builder’ chapter, and I was hooked (sent another e-mail to my friend ‘it’s OK, I’m going to read the chapters, anyway!). Gwynne Dyer’s writing style is refreshingly direct, the content even occasionally has some dry humour in it, very unexpected considering the subject matter.

This is an important book – it’s ultimately politics that will determine how we react and how we cope. Only governments can make the decisions about what kind of transportation, energy generation and other key systems we use in future. And the scenarios are unfortunately all too plausible. (And yes, I steeled myself and eventually read all of the scenarios too, just before the final chapter – the first scenario is the worst).

Read this book for a slightly different perspective on climate change, read it for the succinct and highly-readable account of the Copenhagen climate summit in December 2009, read it for a realistic assessment of the geopolitical landscape – just read it.

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