Global Warming - Nothing To Sneeze At

If you suffer from pollen related allergies - then global warming is not your friend.

A recent study finds the annual ragweed season is being made worse by global warming. Warmer temperatures and more carbon monoxide are causing allergenic weeds to be more abundant and produce more pollen, according to the study.

I can see the Sci-Fi Movie title now: "Killer Weeds - The Next Sneeze Maybe Your Last!"

But, of course, running noses and/or stuffy noses, sinus headaches and the other woes that are caused by allergies are no laughing matter. And thinking that the allergy season is going to be longer and more traumatic for decades ahead, makes me want to fight global warming even more! Here is a news story that details the latest allergy and global warming news.

Guess Who The UN Blames for Global Warming?

Dolphins? NO!
Killer Bees? NO!
Red Algae? NO!
The Flash? NO!
Fire Ants? NO!
The Ashtar Galactic Command? NO!

The UN Blames ...PEOPLE!

The United Nations climate panel issued its strongest warning yet that human activities are heating the planet. Here is a news report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change which says use of fossil fuels and fertilisers are very likely to be the main cause of global warming...



The ability of the United Nations to see the obvious is stunning! It almost makes me want to give them the power to tax every human on the planet (and dolphins, too), NOT!

Bald Eagles Flying High While Other Species Falter

The Bald Eagle is no longer a endangered species. Due to active cooperation between local, state and federal government, as well as individual citizens, over the last 36 years, over 10,000 nesting pairs now exist in the continental United States.

Unfortunately, while we can celebrate this symbolic victory for the Bald Eagle, hundreds of other species are disappearing at an alarming rate. Read the following news story for more details

We Can Afford To Prevent Global Warming

There is no doubt about the economic impact that global warming is having on the world economy. Witness the loss of life and damage done by floods in the Mid West United States or the loss of tens of thousands of lives in Myanmar. The severity of storms and the weather in general continues to increase. Can we afford to do anything about this?

Yes, according the the latest report from the United Nations. With just a small investment in the world's GDP, much can be done to mitigate the effects of climate change in the next few years.

A wise country will actually profit from this investment. New technologies will be created to upgrade infrastructure and to recreate the way energy is used. What an opportunity to reinvent how societies do business.

The United States could be in the forefront of improving the quality of life the world over. But unfortunately, the current President Bush has no vision, no talent for marshaling political and social efforts towards new solutions. Basically, he just doesn't care about people.

Thankfully the coming elections could change this. Watch out if the US gets its energy act together! Americans are smart enough to recreate their society into a sustainable economy that supports life on the planet and mitigates the effects of global warming. But will they act?

For more on the United Nations report on the cost of preventing disastrous climate change, check out this video...

Global Warming - The Death Toll is Up! The Death Toll is Down!

A recent study in Britain suggests that thousands of people could die during a very hot summer due to global warming in the next few years. On the other hand, thousands could be saved each year due to warm weather during the winter.

In the United States, it is believed that 40,000 lives a years might be spared due to warmer winter weather.

With such choices between heat stroke and frostbite, the statistics tend to show that warmer annual temperatures, on balance, favors fewer lives lost due to weather related conditions.

Further cries of joy may be heard from the business world, as it is suggested that heating fuel costs will go down, perhaps $12 billion a year, with increased temperatures.

So is global warming actually a good thing or is the information in the following news article slanted, biased and dare I say lies... Read it, think and observe for yourself before you decide whether we should continue to cut back on greenhouse gases or not.

Can We Prevent Mass Extinction #6 from Happening?

Say goodbye to the world you know... Say goodbye to over 40% of the world's plant and animal life. All we will have to remember them by are books and documentaries... That is what the world maybe facing if global warming continues unchecked.

Scientist believe we maybe facing the Earth's sixth period of mass extinction. The last one occurred about 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs and 70% of the life of that period disappeared.

We are not locked into this bleak future, if we change our ways today. We need to earnestly switch to renewable sources of energy and get off the oil merry-go-round. And we must do everything we can to cut back on the pollutions that re-enforces global warming.

Do you want to live in a world where the oceans are acidic and the corals are gone, fish stocks are depleted, wildfires occur year round, food shortages are constant and it is just plain hot...

Government and corporations as well as individual can mitigate these possibilities, but we must act now!

For more details on the possibility of mass extinction number 6, read the following news article...

The Use and Harm of Biofuels.

Biofuels are created from biological matter or bio-mass. Ethanol, for example, is made from corn. And biodeisal is made from used (recycled) vegetable oils. Biofuels burn cleaner than oil does in our cars and furnaces. And since they are basically derived from plants, can be a sustainable fuel, where crops, waste materials and weeds are converted into liquid energy.

But we do need to plan carefully how we develop biofuels. The danger is that for a quick buck, greedy people will cut down forests, use crops that hungry people need and otherwise misuse the habitat.

Over the next few years, countries around the world should be:

• Using marginal lands for biofuel crops (leaving the rich farm lands for food crops).
  
• Developing specific plants for specific fuels. Perhaps hemp is better than corn or sugar for ethanol production. Or there maybe some other plants, not yet considered, that are better.
  
• Pass regulations that make it easy to gather and reuse all vegetable oils from restaurants that can be used to make biodeisal.
  
• Ensure that profits are shared by many and are reasonable.
  
• Zoning areas to make sure that all human needs are met.
  
• Keep researching and keep thinking.

The European Union is doing some thinking about biofuels. Here is a news article with details...

Hang on Polar Bears, You Are Going Extinct

While some people may think that the worse problem that Polar Bears face is drinking soft drinks (see Coco Cola commercials), global warming and the melting ice floes at the top of the world may be dooming the Polar Bear.

Polar Bears maybe the first species to be officially declared to be in danger of going extinct due to global warming if the Bush Administration puts the bear on the Endangered Species list.

Conservationists are hopeful that "Save the Polar Bear," will be the rallying cry that galvanizes the world to do its utmost to curb the effects of global warming. Two-thirds of the polar bear population are likely to disappear by 2050, if the rise in global temperatures is not reversed.

For more details about this issue of global warming and polar bears, please read the following news story...

Africa, Asia: Adapt or Go Hungry!

Sobering forecasts predict that due to climate change, Africa and Asia face serious food shortages by the year 2030. Southern Africa may face crop losses up to 30% of today's yield of the main crop maize (corn). While South Asia's crops of maize, millet and rice may suffer a 10% loss.

Scientists are using climate change models to suggest what the future weather will be like in these and other regions in the world. By predicting where the seasons will be dryer or wetter, they are hoping to give farmers a chance to adapt to such changes in advance of their actuality.

By having an idea of how much rain will fall and when, farmers on these two continents can prepare to plant different crops and otherwise change how they farm.

Different parts of the world will actually benefit from these climate changes. China's wheat harvest should expand in the coming years due to more beneficial conditions in Central China.

For more details on how the climates are expected to change, see the following news story...

Finally, A Use For the Sahara Desert!

World leaders are beginning to think seriously about the role of solar power in providing the world's energy needs. They are meeting in Dubai to discuss solar energy utilization.

As you may have learned in a High School science class, the sun delivers more energy in a hour to the planet Earth, than humans use in an entire year. So if we can figure out how to tap the sun's energy gift efficiently, we can run the World and all of us can live like KINGS...

One possibility is to place Concentrated Solar Power units over one percent of the Sahara Desert's surface area. Such a step would produce all of the planet's electricity needs. This course of action could be the economic salvation of the African Continent. It should be implemented immediately!

For more details about what the leaders are discussing, regards using solar power to solve the World's energy crisis, please read the following news story...

Don't Drink The Water, Even At The North Pole

The quality of the drinking water from our taps is getting worse and worse. New chemicals that are harder to detect are contaminating the world's water, even in such nearly pristine areas as the Arctic Circle.

Perflourinated chemicals found in carpeting, clothing, electronic equipment and industrial use are now joining such long term water contaminants as DDT and PCB's. These flourinated pollutants cause cancer and damage the immune system.

My advice, don't drink the water that comes in through the kitchen tap. Get a water distiller or other water filtering device. Likewise don't shower in this water unless you use a shower filter to take out the toxins in the water. Your body absorbs toxins from the shower water through the skin.

For more chemicals that can be found in your drinking water and what you can do about it, go to my sister blog, Diet Cures.

To find out more about the water quality in the Arctic, read the following news story...

Farms as a Cause of Global Warming

We think of farms as being part of nature, and thus exempt from damaging the environment. But this is not so, Farming is Big Business and produces many greenhouse gases. Studies show that agriculture in Europe, for example, is responsible for 10% of the greenhouse emissions that are produced in Europe. Methane is created by cows' flatulence and CO2 comes from the use of chemical fertilizers. These gases are culprits in the cause of global warming.

There is a need to scrutinize our farms and crop raising procedures to find new ways - more bio-friendly ways to feed our people. Just as we expect our cars to be more environmentally efficient, farming practices, too, need to be reformulated to lower the damage from global warming.

Here is a recent news story highlighting the farmers concerns versus the concerns about Global Warming in Germany...

Environmental Work In Syria - Local and International

The fight to save the natural world, to stop global warming and to improve the environment is ultimately personal. This can be seen in Syria where a few people are working to restore a local forest by planting trees and improving a small portion of their ecosystem. They are getting help from the Ford Foundation with a grant for much needed funds.

This is an example of Local Groups backed by International Forces. These kind of events are taking place all over the world, but you rarely hear about them. This is the kind of effort to help a local environment that will indeed change the world and should give us all hope. The news story about planting trees in Syria follows. You are welcome to share the news story on your web page or blog by clicking the embed button for the code.

No More Cliffs of Dover? British Ilse Eroding Away

Choppier ocean and sea waters are reaching further ashore, eroding the coastline of Great Britain. Global warming and climate changes are being noticed in the seas around England, Scotland and Wales.

I am reminded of this excerpt from John Donne's For Whom The Bell Tolls: "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were...

Today, while the cliffs of Dover are still intact, global warming is causing the seas to be more violent and the tides are higher. This is causing greater erosion along the coastal areas of many countries including Great Britain. If this trend continues, it may not just be a "clod" that gets washed away. Donne's "Bells" may be tolling for entire continents...

Good News, We'll Still Have Ice For Our Drinks

One of the most dramatic effects of global warming is the shrinking of glaciers around the world. Everywhere from Mt. Kilimanjaro to the Andes to Alaska, the size of glaciers have been shrinking. One wonders if even the polar ice caps, the Arctic and Antarctic will survive the rise in temperatures in the coming years.

Good news for those who worry about a complete disappearing of the polar ice caps. Geological records show that even in the hottest of climates in the past 91 million years, there has been ice sheets at the top and bottom of the world.

Whew, that is a relief. In the future, when my waterfront property disappears under the waves, the penguins and polar bears have gone extinct and malaria becomes a routine disease caught in Buffalo, New York, it is nice to know I will be able to import ice cubes from the far North and South.

The following news story shows that the Earth has been through some hot times in the past, but the effects were not as extreme as suspected. But I hope that Mankind does its best to prevent any great rise in global warming for the sake of my air conditioning bill, if for no other reason...

Greener Cars, Not Paint, But Energy-Wise

Green Cars on Display at Brussels Car Show.
With consumers showing concern about global warming and energy costs - the car industry is being forced to create cleaner running vehicles. See what they came up with at the 2008 Brussels Car Exhibit:

Watch Out Europe, Fatal Diseases Coming

The impact of global warming: As summers get hotter and longer, mosquitoes and their diseases are creeping further and further northward on the continent of Europe. This will bring new diseases that Europeans have not had to face before, but there maybe some good news...