Biochar : Charcoal to Enhance Soil, Produce Fuel, Capture Carbon (Google / Global Warming is Real)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2008/12/21/using-charcoal-to-enhance-soil-produce-fuel-capture-carbon/

December 21, 2008

Using Charcoal to Enhance Soil, Produce Fuel, Capture Carbon

By Andrew Burger

The world’s soils hold more carbon than the atmosphere yet soil conservation and enhancement are often largely overlooked when it comes to climate change adaptation and mitigation plans and projects, according to the UN Convention on Climate Change and Desertification—this even as “extraordinary demands are being placed on agricultural systems to produce food, fiber and energy.” The UNCCD is out to change that. At the UN Convention on Climate Change meeting in Poznan it advocated more support for projects involving production and sequestration of biochar, essentially charcoal, as a means not only of sequestering carbon but producing renewable fuels, enhancing soil fertility and agricultural productivity, as well as a means of improving drought and flood resistance and preserving biodiversity.

U.S. and Climate Change (Google / Global Warming is Real)

Read at : Google Alert – drought

http://www.globalwarmingisreal.com/blog/2008/12/19/us-could-experience-impacts-of-climate-change-sooner-than-expected/

December 19, 2008

U.S. Could Experience Impacts of Climate Change Sooner Than Expected

By Thomas Schueneman

The American Geophysical Union, meeting this week in San Francisco for their annual conference, released a report discussing the potential for abrupt climate change and the likely impacts it would have on the United States. The study, based on the latest scientific data and observations, updates the research of recent reports from key agencies and institutions, including the 2007 assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Many earlier projections of the impacts of climate change have been conservative, the report concludes, such as retreating glaciers, decaying ice sheets, and loss of Arctic sea ice. On the other hand, some potential impacts may not pose as immediate a threat as previously thought, including the rapid release of methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2, or an imminent shift in the ocean current known as the Thermohaline that helps keep Europe warm (a reason why “climate change” is often a better term than “global warming” since the rise in average global temperature could potentially make some regions, like northern Europe, much colder).

Global Warming Animated (Google / World Changing)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009214.html

Global Warming Animated

Sarah Kuck
December 18, 2008
Climate change is an enormously complex issue. Some scientists have dedicated their entire lives to researching it. They’ve discovered its causes (ahem, that’d be us) and have come up with some hypotheses about what will happen if we don’t act soon (rising sea levels, violent storms, desertification, melting ice caps, etc).

But many people are still at varying levels of understanding when it comes to climate change: the science behind it, how it will affect our daily lives, the policies being proposed and what do to about it.

(continued)

Soil Erosion Threatens Chinese ‘Breadbasket’ (Google / 你好 / VOA)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://djchen33rpm.blogspot.com/2008/12/online-news-soil-erosion-threatens.html

2008年12月14日 星期日

Online NEWS – Soil Erosion Threatens Chinese ‘Breadbasket’

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A new study says almost forty percent of China is losing soil because of wind and water erosion. The Chinese government recently announced the results of a three-year study. The study was the largest of its kind since China became a communist nation in nineteen forty-nine. A worker harvests rice in Yunnan province, in southwestern ChinaResearchers found that China has three and one-half million square kilometers of eroded land. Water has eroded more than one and one-half million square kilometers of that territory. Wind has damaged almost two million square kilometers. The researchers blamed farming and the clearing of forests for much of the damage. Rural areas are not the only ones losing soil. Land is also being affected in cities and near mines and factories. The researchers say that every year, four and one-half billion tons of soil are washed or blown away. At that rate, they say, grain production in northeastern China could decrease forty percent within forty to fifty years. The country depends on that area for grain; the northeast is often called China’s breadbasket.

The Top 10 Worst Effects of Global Warming (Google / Sebuah Perjuangan !)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://savesos.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-10-worst-effects-of-global-warming.html

Sebuah Perjuangan !

Melestarikan Kawasan Babakan Siliwangi

Minggu, 2008 Desember 14

The Top 10 Worst Effects of Global Warming

by Maria Colenso

Global warming is the long-term, cumulative effect that greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide and methane, have on Earth’s temperature when they build up in the atmosphere and trap the sun’s heat. It’s also a hotly debated topic. Some wonder if it’s really happening and, if it’s real, is it the fault of human actions, natural causes or both?

When we talk about global warming, we’re not talking about how this summer’s temperatures were hotter than last year’s. Instead, we’re talking about climate change, changes that happen to our environment, atmosphere and weather over time. Think decades, not seasons. The term global warming itself is a bit deceptive because it implies we should expect things to get hotter — not necessarily stormier, drier and even, in some instances, colder. Climate change impacts the hydrology and biology of the planet — everything, including winds, rains and temperature, is linked. Scientists have ob­served that the Earth’s climate has a long history of variability, from the cold climes of the Ice Age to temperatures as hot as an Easy-Bake oven. These changes are sometimes noted over a few decades and sometimes stretch over thousands of years. What can we expect from a planet undergoing climate changes?

Scientists studying our climate have been able to observe and measure changes happening around us. For example, mountain glaciers are smaller now than they were 150 years ago, and in the last 100 years, the average global temperature has increased by roughly 1.4 degrees F (0.8 degrees C) [source: EPA]. Computer modeling allows scientists to predict what could happen if the climate pattern continues on its current course, projecting, for instance, that temperatures could rise an average of 2 to 11.5 degrees F (1.1 to 6.4 degrees C) by the end of the 21st century [source: EPA].

In this article, we’ll look at 10 of the worst effects of climate change, including some immediate effects observed and some hypothesized through climate modeling.

Global Warming Effect 10: Rising Sea Level

Opportunity lost at Poznan (Google / The Canberra Times)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/opportunity-lost-at-poznan/1386289.aspx

Opportunity lost at Poznan

JULIE-ANNE RICHARDS

15/12/2008

After two weeks spent in frantic negotiations over commas and semi-colons, the climate negotiations at Poznan have taken only the barest shuffle towards Copenhagen, and on some crucial issues like targets for developed countries have actually retreated from Bali. Our Pacific island neighbours made passionate pleas their very survival was threatened by climate change unless the world responded. Tiny Tuvalu’s Prime Minister was fighting for his nation’s life. ”It is our belief that Tuvalu as a nation has a right to exist forever. We are not contemplating migration. We are a proud nation with a culture that cannot be relocated somewhere else. We want to survive as a nation and as a people and we will survive. Because it is our fundamental right.” Whether small countries from the Pacific, or highly populated ones like Bangladesh and the teeming nations of sub-Saharan Africa, all pointed to the fact that they had not contributed to the problem of climate change, but were bearing the brunt through rising sea levels, desertification, worse storms and food and water shortages. They fear they will not be able to pass on their islands, their homes and their culture to their children and grandchildren. Their calls at Poznan for the world’s governments to take urgent action have been increasing. But were they heard by the rest of the world?

Time to pay attention to land degradation: UNCCD (Google / The Economic Times)

Read at : Google Alert – desertification

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Time_to_pay_attention_to_land_degradation_UNCCD_/articleshow/3131569.cms

Time to pay attention to land degradation: UNCCD

TOKYO: With the world finally focusing on the issue of climate change, the United Nations is also concerned over the lack of action on land degradation and desertification. The problem of land degradation is closely linked with the climate change and poses a serious global challenge. Deteriorated atmosphere destroys land potentials through drought, flooding and other impacts. The degraded land emits more greenhouse gases and in turn worsen climate change.