Let the Kenyan government know destroying ecosystems for toxic sugar monocultures is unethical, and ask them to please follow their own environmental laws, and permanently cancel the project

TAKE ACTION! Kenya has recently approved plans to destroy some 20,000 acres of the globally important and ecologically sensitive Tana Delta for sugar and biofuel production [search]. Covering 130,000 hectares, these wetlands' diverse riverine vegetation -- forests, swamps, dunes, beaches and ocean -- will be forever altered by widespread vast fields of toxic, monoculture sugar cane and biofuel mill. The project threatens 350 species including birds, lions, hippos, nesting turtles, elephants, sharks, reptiles and the Tana red colobus, one of 25 primates facing extinction globally. Biofuel production worldwide continues to destroy crucial natural ecosystems [search] required for local and global sustainability. While hailed as a climate change remedy, this destruction of natural habitats for biofuel production almost always releases more carbon than saved. Using food such as sugar for fuel has raised food prices, leading to riots globally, including in Kenya. Please respectfully request the project be permanently cancelled. TAKE ACTION!

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 1:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

A new report entitled A New Green Deal, issued by the New Economics Foundation, calls for sufficient and long-overdue policies [ark] to truly address related climate change, food and energy prices, and economic and financial crises. They recommend every home generate its own power, taxing oil and gas firms' windfall profits to pay for massive renewable energy investments and other green transformations, and pricing of carbon including through taxes. We have already noted Al Gore's proposal (albeit somewhat belated) to transition to 100% renewable energy in ten years [search]. At last think tanks and public intellectuals are starting to think in terms of bold, ambitious policies adequate to sufficiently address the looming civilization breakers.

After these various proposals are harmonized by a global group of elders, we need to carry out truthful persuasive communication campaigns to get the public and governments onboard. Such doable and clearly widely beneficial proposals (except perhaps to certain sectors of the elite) are welcome and must be pursued with all haste. However, the New Economics Foundation does themselves a disservice with their carefully hedged dire warning that "new analysis suggests that from the end of July 2008 there is only 100 months, or less, to stabilise concentrations of greenhouse gases [ark] in the atmosphere before we hit a potential point of no return." In fact this is a prediction, and no one knows for sure. We are just as likely to have already passed that point -- and this looming climate tipping point is an actual point, with nothing potential about it.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 6:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Coal use is booming [ark], driven by growing populations demanding ever more consumption, which requires ever more energy. How pathetic that post-modern society, which fashions itself so trendy and enlightened, is forced to rely upon this primitive and dirty fuel. Indeed, "growing coal use threatens nothing less than the end of civilization as we know it." Clean coal [search] is an untested myth, with even limited trials continually being put off [ark]. In fact, from its production, where whole mountains and their habitat and waters are shredded, to its burning which releases carbon and toxics, coal is a dangerous mess. Apparently humanity views keeping the lights on, as cheaply as possible, as being more important than maintaining a livable planet. And it is killing us.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 8:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The EPA finds climate change will have a "substantial" impact on human health [ark | search] in the coming decades; worsening wildfires, hurricanes, smog and summer heat waves. Perhaps then we should do more than talk about the problem. Thankfully Mr. Gore is doing just that, and has unexpectedly called for the U.S. to produce all its electricity from carbon free and renewable energy [ark | more\ark | more2\ark2] in ten years (sadly seemingly still including untested "clean coal" [search]). Yet this is an ambitious, creditable and worthy goal that would seriously mitigate climate change, and thus should be supported. And frankly, given his prestige and repeated deep expressions of concern, a grand substantive gesture like this was overdue.

Our recent alert, suggesting Mr. Gore was not being ambitous enough in pursuing sufficient climate action, grew from a perception that given all the accolades and positive awareness building, there was more Mr. Gore could do in terms of calling for and organizing tranformative change. Apparently he felt this as well. The timing of the alert and the positive lifting of campaign goals by Mr. Gore are coincidental, yet given this positive development, we have decided to retire the alert. Yet, let's be clear, climate solutions depend on both personal AND social change. Thank you to all that participated in emphasizing the importance of sufficient climate solutions to the climate elite. Ecological Internet took a risk with this alert, like we do when we identify something as being important and under-reported, and perhaps in some small way together we reinforced the need for climate sufficiency [search].

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 7:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Over-population's key role in causing climate change [ark] is again emerging as a central component of the debate on global warming solutions [search]. Too many people, many of which consume to dreadful excess while others live on $1 a day, are the root cause of virtually every global ecological crisis [search] including food and energy. I agree with Paul Ehrlich and James Lovelock that "we have grown in number to the point where our presence is perceptibly disabling the planet like a disease."

Seven billion people now, when a bit over a century ago there was one billion -- and each needing to be fed, housed, and clothed -- and virtually the whole world embracing democratic conspicuous consumption as the way of life. How could this not possibly be the root cause of ecosystem loss [search], ocean dead zones [search], scarce water [search] and an increasingly inoperable atmosphere? And of course, one American is equal to the environmental destruction of many in the not-yet-over-developed world, as it is not just raw numbers, but aggregate consumption (population x per capita consumption) that matters in terms of resource over-use and resultant ecosystem loss.

Continue reading "Addressing Over-Population as Climate Change's Root Cause" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

Encourage Mr. Gore to tell the full truth regarding the magnitude of actions required for climate change solutions, including advocating for an end to coal and ancient forest logging, and personal sacrifice including reduced consumption

TAKE ACTION! Al Gore is a global hero for the work he has done [search] since leaving government to promote awareness regarding climate change. Yet I am sure he would agree that this and other long-standing awareness building efforts have failed woefully to turn such awareness into sufficient climate policy actions. Mr. Gore's efforts continue to do a disservice to prospects for achieving global ecological sustainability by downplaying the immense social and personal transformations necessary; including personal sacrifice, and adressing over-population and consumption (by some), to build a low-carbon economic system that does not further undermine our shared biosphere. And frankly, it is sad to see someone of Mr. Gore's skills, resources and contacts not choose to lead by example and seek to dramatically reduce his own carbon emissions. Tell Mr. Gore if he really believes climate change is truly a global emergency threatening civilization, he should be leading by example and organizing mass protests in support of a rigorous and sufficient biocentric climate plan. TAKE ACTION!

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 8:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (24) | TrackBacks (0)

President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency will not be regulating carbon dioxide [ark | more\ark | more2\ark2] under the Clean Air Act [search] as the Supreme Court has ordered. In typical style, the Bush administration has unveiled a plan for the EPA to do so, meeting court requirements, while disavowing any plans for implemention.This is but the final act in an abysmal string of failures to lead on an issue that threatens massive social dislocation and ecological collapse.

The Toxic Texan promised in his first campaign to regulate carbon dioxide as an air pollutant [search], and quickly reneged when in office. Bush withdrew from Kyoto [search] and then worked for years to obstruct international consensus in his absence. For years his administration has obstructed and censored climate science [search] and policy responses domestically. Bush has recently said he believes climate change is happening while skillfully ensuring all policy of which he is part is the most vague and least possible.

Continue reading "Bush's Final Climate Disgrace" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 1:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

A first of its kind global assessment has found one third of reef-building corals face extinction because of climate change [ark | more\ark]. Climate change brings rising water temperatures and more intense solar radiation, which leads to coral bleaching and disease, often exacerbated by nutrient rich water run-off from denuded lands. Together the result is often mass coral mortality. Add this to acidic oceans [search], ocean dead zones [search] and widespread over-fishing [search] and it is clear we are witnessing the climate-mediated collapse of ocean ecosystems [search].

Death of coral reefs from climate change is not theory or conjecture of what might happen if we continue relentlessly emitting greenhouse gases. This is but the most recent evidence that climate change continues to unravel the biological foundation of existence, acting in conjunction with and magnifying forces such as habitat destruction, water diminishment and ocean decline. This biological homogenization [search] is happening now, in front of our eyes, and the processes and ramifications are known and understood by ecological science. Let us be clear: ecosystems which provide our sustenance are dying because of what we do. What level of destruction will it take to awaken the global consciousness?

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Bush administration has been successfully obstructing climate change [search] science and policy for so long, it probably comes as somewhat of a surprise when they are caught and held to account. The latest, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office removed statements on health risks posed by global warming [ark | more/ark | search] from a draft of a health official’s Senate testimony last year. What sort of man in what sort of government thinks themselves above the law, censoring science at the expense of public health and the biosphere? It is critical these instances are investigated, particularly the cover-up, and if appropriate, criminal charges filed.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

The Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial polluters [search] — the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy — have "endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases [ark | more\ark] by 2050." Great news, right? Wrong! This is over 40 years away. What will these G8 nations do tomorrow, next week, next year and by 2010 and 2015? I concur the pledge is worse than worthless [ark].

Continued focusing upon these long-term climate goals [search] wastes time and provides little guidance on how climate sustainability will be achieved. They divert attention from immediate major changes in coal use, rainforest logging, energy efficiency and conservation, and ramping up renewable energy that deperately need to start now. The longer we wait, the more costly and difficult it will be to transition to low-carbon, equitable economies.

Continue reading "G8's Climate Failure: Long-Term Emission Goals Virtually Worthless" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Climate change is an urgent emergency. Leading climate scientist James Hansen [search] now warns of humanity's "last chance" [ark] to take the necessary dramatic actions to solve the climate crisis. The scientist who first brought global warming to the public's awareness 20 years ago this week has now concluded we are well past dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions [search] (with no end in sight), and this is going to cause ecosystem collapse and mass extinction. EI is in agreement that this can only be avoided with urgent actions such as ending coal emissions, and that fossil fuel executives are guilty of crimes against humanity and nature [ark].

Alone, and most assuredly in combination with related global environmental crises, global heating and the breakdown in climate patterns threatens civilization, the global ecosystem and the continuation of complex life. This is not conjecture. It is logical consequences of known science and observable trends. Some in the United States government have concluded similarly, that climate change threatens national security [search] and "could destabilize 'struggling and poor' countries around the world, prompting mass migrations and creating breeding grounds for terrorists [ark]." Meanwhile the White House refuses to open emails [ark] from its own EPA regarding the need to regulate carbon dioxide.

Continue reading "Climate Change Is an Urgent Emergency" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Just back from a short blogging break, to find the climate crisis never rests. Scientists and policy-makers have finally caught up with ecology as the link between climate change and extreme weather [ark | more\ark | search] -- such as the recent flooding and tornadoes in the U.S. -- has been reaffirmed. The only surprise is the new report was released and endorsed by the Bush administration, whose climate obstruction over the past decade has bordered upon criminality. To issue such a serious report after a decade of inaction is unconscionable, and can only be forgiven if the administration swings into real climate change policy action now.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is dissolving into the the world's oceans [ark], making them more acidic at great expense to marine wildlife, and happening earlier than expected [ark]. Anyone following climate science, policy and advocacy closely knows ocean acidification [search] is just the most recent news in a litany of evident climate change impacts [search] arriving strong and early. Meanwhile the best G8 leading polluters can do is a paltry 0.6% decline in emissions [ark]. To speak of reducing emissions by 80% by 2050 without more short-term climate goals [ark] is stupid and dangerous. A habitable Earth [search] depends upon urgent climate policy now [search].

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

A huge new global study illustrates the extent to which climate change is demonstrably impacting wildlife, plants and the environment [ark | more\ark]. 30,000 sets of global data about biological and physical changes were matched with a detailed database of global temperature change. Changes in plants, animals and the physical world -- from plants blooming early to polar bears becoming cannibals -- were found to be closely correlated to changes in temperature. It is preposterous to be debating the existence of something so evident, and criminal to further delay action to avoid the worst impacts of a human-caused chaotic climate system.

Two other studies illustrate the degree to which humanity has overwhelmed the biosphere [search], altering fundamental biogeochemical processess performed by global ecosystems, required for all life including humans. Human use of nitrogen is overwhelming natural cycling [ark] of the nutrient, dramatically altering oceans, soils and the atmosphere. This is a direct result of agricultural intensification [search] by excessive use of fertilizers to feed unsustainable human populations.

Continue reading "Climate Change Now" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

Bill McKibben [search] writes in "Civilization's last chance" [ark] the best summing up of the known threats facing humanity now from climate change if major emission cuts are not pursued immediately. His latest campaign efforts highlight the number 350, which he calls "the most important number on Earth" because of scientific understanding that if carbon emissions are not stablized at 350 ppm, it will not be possible "to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed."

It has been noted here that at 383 ppm we are already well past this threshold, and thus achieving 350 ppm will require gargantuan efforts if we are to survive much less prosper. The piece is a clarion call that long predicted limits to growth have arrived and the fate of civilization depends upon urgent massive emission cuts now, tomorrow, next year and certainly for the years and decades well before 2050 as is being proposed [ark | search].

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Much ado has been made [ark | more\ark] regarding a study last week in Nature which found that global warming may slow or even temporarily cool over the coming decade. This was seized upon by all sorts of climate skeptics [search] and charlatans to suggest climate change is not so important after all. I have three brief responses.

Firstly, the rise in average global temperature is only one way to characterize change in atmospheric patterns and processes. It is becoming apparent that broader extremes around temperature averages -- as demonstrated by unusual weather events, including quite possibly the cyclone in Myanmar [ark] -- may be the greater harm. This is why "climate change" has long been recognized as a better term than "global warming" to communicate these dynamics.

Continue reading "Global Warming and Cooling, Climate Change Versus Weather" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Over 110 global environmental groups have came out against chimerical coal industry plans to bury carbon emissions [ark]. This coincides with Greenpeace's release of a new report entitled "False Hope" which correctly concludes that false promises of carbon capture and storage (CCS) [search] prolong the agony of coal dependence. CCS is revealed to be an untested myth that threatens to lock us into antiquated coal energy [search] and an obliterated atmosphere. CCS will not be ready in time (or maybe ever), wastes climate resources, is risky and undermines more rigorous approaches focused upon renewable energy.

It is pleasing to see Greenpeace join other biocentric groups in understanding ending the use of coal is essential to save the climate. Yet as with ancient forests, the question of "clean coal" splits the environmental movement. What is so mystifying is why generally rigorous environmental groups like Greenpeace -- along with so many other groups including Rainforest Action Network -- are so visionary on coal while continuing to insist that logging of ancient forests, equally antiquated and damaging to not only the climate but also biodiversity, can be certified as being environmentally acceptable. The economic dislocation caused by ending ancient forest logging [search] would be much less than ending use of coal. Centuries of both over-burning and over-cutting are the fundamental underpinnings of contemporary ecological decline.

Continue reading "Environmentalists Reject "Clean" Coal Greenwash (but not "Certified" Ancient Forest Logging)" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Russia has indicated it opposes further international efforts to negotiate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions [ark]. It joins the United States, China, and India as the top polluting nations [search] obstructing international cooperative measures to cut carbon emissions by at least 80% [ark], necessary to address climate change. What is it about these filthy, addicted to economic growth and rapidly over-developing countries that make them unable to act to avert a very serious crisis of their own making?

In the face of unprecedented global ecological crises, the nation state system of government setup under the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 has proven unwieldy and ineffective. It may well be that the necessary social change to protect against global heating, water shortages, ecosystem loss and related crises of militarism and hunger cannot be addressed under the current system. Given leading nations' failure to lead when it is needed most, saving ourselves and the Earth may require changing both our lifestyles and our governments.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

A new study indicates the degree to which humanity has overwhelmed the atmosphere's ancient carbon cycle [ark]. Human activities are putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere 14,000 times as fast as historic natural processes. Global change [search] at this rate and scale is utterly unprecedented and devastating. Feedbacks such as mountain weathering [search] that historically removed carbon dioxide are being inundated and are unable to continue maintaining relatively constant atmospheric balances and thus climatic patterns.

As humans have become a force of nature, the Earth system's atmosphere is now entirely out of equilibrium. All this energy must go somewhere. In addition to global warming -- increases in average global temperature -- more troublingly we are set to experience spiraling chaotic climate changes. The Earth is already, and will continue, experiencing a complete break down in seasonality, extreme weather events and generally unreliable climatic patterns and oscillations. This is why "climate change" is the more accurate, powerful term to describe the forces that have been released and will impact the Earth for the rest of human history.

Continue reading "Humans Overwhelm Climate Equilibrium" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

Last year atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increased [ ark | more\ark] by 0.6 percent or 19 billion tonnes. Methane which is twenty-five times as damaging [ark] rose by 0.5 percent or 27 million tonnes after a decade of virtually no increase. Rising carbon dioxide concentrations [search], the primary driver of anthropogenic climate change, have now gone from 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1850 to 385 ppm. As we have pointed out, this is problematic given recent indications are 350 ppm is a critical threshold beyond which impacts are permanent and not fully known. Valuable time is being lost and the lack of serious attention to the global climate change planetary emergency is most troubling.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

Ecological Internet and this blog are dedicated to highlighting the severity of global ecological crises [search], including threatened abrupt climate change [search], while promoting rigorous and sufficient biocentric responses. Now more main-stream think tanks and environmentalists are catching up with us.

New Scientist recently published two articles on "The Collapse of Civilization", exploring why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable. They note "recent insights from fields such as complexity theory suggest... once a society develops beyond a certain level of complexity it becomes increasingly fragile... it reaches a point at which even a relatively minor disturbance can bring everything crashing down." The article highlights several keys to staving off collapse including promoting decentralized production of food and energy, and allowing for partial collapse and renewal. Several important books on the subject are noted.

Continue reading "Apocalyptic Climate and Global Ecological Warnings Justified" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (0)

Climate scientists have long warned methane hydrates [search] stored in the Arctic ocean floor -- hard clumps of frozen ice and methane at high pressure -- could become unstable due to global heating. This would free massive amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. Researchers have found preliminary alarming evidence that methane hydrate thawing has started [ark] in the Russian Artic and methane gas stores are being released.

If confirmed, this positive feedback could increase the atmosphere's methane [search] concentration by twenty times and has the potential to dramatically accelerate climate change. Again ecological science shows it is way past time for governments and individuals to commit to personal and social change sufficient to solve climate change and related global ecological crises.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (16) | TrackBacks (0)

U.S. Presidential candidate John McCain is given accolades for accepting rock solid climate change science [search] (apparently this is progress within the flat Earth, born again, "value voter" crowd). Yet apparently his concern is secondary to populist pandering on federal gas taxes [ark] -- as he suggested yesterday they be waived over the summer.

McCain's attitude, thinly veiled under a bitter temper and sense of entitlement to the Presidency, is damn the climate, it can wait until I am elected. How will necessary climate policies be maintained when even the issue's supposed champions so easily bend? McCain shares much with his predecessor -- formerly hard partying, war criminals, who are willing to say or do anything to get elected. A McBush presidency means continued war for oil whose burning is destroying the atmosphere.

Continue reading "McBush Panders on Gas Tax, Sacrificing Climate for Ambition" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Australia's new "climate friendly" government preaches global forest protection for climate benefits internationally, while continuing to industrially clear its own native primary forests in Tasmania and elsewhere, and this unseemly hypocrisy must end

TAKE ACTION: Australia continues to industrially clear their last native ancient forests [search], even as their government promotes forest protection internationally to combat climate change. Australia's new government led by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ratified Kyoto [search], appears genuinely committed to global climate change policy, and speaks often of how Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the world must protect primary forests to solve global climate change.

Yet in an act of unseemly doublespeak, the country that is perhaps most impacted by climate change continues to log its last centuries old trees found in ancient forest ecosystems vital for holding both carbon and water. Why is forest protection a good idea internationally but not for Australia's much reduced and climate impacted natural habitats? Australia's new government must be called upon to stop their hypocrisy and end logging of their own old growth forests as a keystone response to climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem sustainability.TAKE ACTION!

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

As climate change caused deaths surge [ark | more\ark | search], the world's leading climate scientist is urging the European Union to urgently reconsider their atmospheric carbon dioxide target [ark] of 550 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide. Dr. James Hansen warns this target -- which informs global policy efforts -- must be slashed to 350 ppm [ark] if "humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilisation developed". Unfortunately the world is already at 385ppm. Meanwhile the recently completed UN meeting of world governments in Bangkok has agreed upon an agenda for talking about more talks [ark], following upon the victory of the Bali roadmap which, you guessed it, agreed that more talks were desirable.

The growing awareness that carbon levels have already overshot limits that will lead to certain severe impact does not mean we should give up. Whether concentrations are stabilized at 350, 450, 550 or higher is yet to be determined and will have grave impacts upon the habitability of the Earth. What is clear is that humanity must strife for virtually zero carbon emissions -- which means no coal or primary forest logging -- while pursuing activities that remove carbon from the atmosphere. To do otherwise means avoidable climate change caused deaths already estimated at 150,000 per year, half in Asia [ark], will only intensify exponentially. What we do now and in the short to mid term has never been more important in determining the course of human history and the Earth's ecological and evolutionary trajectory.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

The World Bank's climate change record [search] is very bad, its economic and environment work are rife with conflicts of interest, and thus it must not be entrusted with managing financial resources raised to address global climate change. It makes much better sense for the UNFCCC to be entrusted with the role of climate change international financier [search]. I am not alone in this assessment, as developing countries and environmental groups have accused the World Bank of making a power play [ark] to seize control of the billions of dollars of aid that will be used to tackle climate change in the next four decades.

Despite having an international infrastructure in place, the Bank is ill-suited to play an honest, good-faith role in environmental conservation. Fundamentally the World Bank is (not surprisingly) a bank concerned with economic growth and implementing capitalist economic dogma. The World Bank has and continues to subsidize fossil fuels, mega-dams, monoculture agriculture, rainforest logging and a host of other environmental ills. When trusted with international environmental funding in the past, as with the World Bank portion of the Global Environmental Facility [search], they have proven unable to reconcile environmental conservation with their economic role.

Continue reading "World Bank's Conflict of Interest -- Keep Your Hands Off the Carbon Monies" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The United States climate delegation negotiating a Kyoto successor in Bangkok has suggested the U.S. will be unable to provide funds to poor nations [ark | more\ark] fighting global warming because of worsening economic conditions, but may be able to provide loans. So after decades of booming economies and growth in emissions in the rich countries, developing countries are now left in the lurch, even as the rich super predatory consumers seek to maintain their high levels of consumption for a wee bit longer. This has been described as "the moral equivalent of having someone drive a car into your house and offering you a loan to pay for the damages."

The Earth is in real danger from a global heating meltdown as action is delayed over concerns about price and as a skeptic led public backlash continues to grow. Recently I wrote a personal essay entitled Economic Collapse and Global Ecology where I noted "sufficient climate policies enjoy political support only in times of rapid economic growth. Yet this growth is the primary factor driving greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental ills." Therein I academically investigated the possibility that in terms of prospects for the Earth and humanity it may be better for the economy to collapse now rather than later.

Continue reading "Climate Investment Crucial, Independent of Economic Downturn" »

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Large-scale solutions to climate change [search] such as biofuel plantations, hydropower and even forest protection are threatening indigenous peoples [ark]. Sadly, a new UN report finds that frequently these large-scale climate policies threaten indigenous peoples [search] least responsible for, and most at risk from, global heating. Even as traditional societies flee rising seas, their lands are being dispossessed and other conflicts arising from ill-conceived climate mitigation projects. Too often efforts to protect rainforests try to eliminate rather than incorporate continued traditional indigenous rainforest uses [search]. Climate policies that stress industrial responses, seek to maintain unsustainable developed world lifestyles, and cause further harm to the world's most vulnerable are unjust, inequitable and unsustainable and must not be tolerated.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)