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Nature Conservation – Why is it necessary?
Jenny O’Grady Giddy
Disclaimer: • Who am I to be discussing issues of nature
conservation here?
Spreading the word
Why conserve land?
• To preserve sensitive natural areas
• To save forests, the lungs of the planet
• To preserve habitat for our fellow creatures
• To preserve the watersheds
• To preserve areas of natural beauty
- But it’s not just about conserving land… - First we have to save the
planet
Our home, seen from afar
And nearby
Our Friends and Neighbors, who share our home in the Hudson Valley
And the next generation
- from whom we have borrowed
this earth
• Climate Change - Glaciers melting – floods, sea level rise -Wildfires -Tornadoes & Hurricanes • Oceans – pollution & overfishing • Habitat destruction & Deforestation • Extinction of species • Drought • Population growth • Invasive species
The litany of problems we face
Climate Change
Anyone sick of hearing about climate change?
Headlines like this are now a daily occurrence:
• As its Glaciers Melt, Greenland on Track to Emit 10 Million Tons of CO2 a Year
• Summer thunderstorms could be punching new holes in the ozone layer
• 56% of US Now in Drought - Worst Since 1950s
• A Glimpse of What We've Lost: 10 Extinct Animals in Photos
Climate change…is it real?
Recent events, and scientific studies are forcing us to connect the dots between: our actions, and • the droughts, • fires, • floods, • tornadoes, • wars, • refugees, and • species extinction we see going on in our world.
The Science of 350
• Scientists say that 350 parts per million CO2 in the atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity.
Why 350?
• According to Bill McKibben, well-known environmentalist, author, and founder of 350.org, there are three numbers we need to understand global warming: 275, 392, and 350.
• Since the beginning of human civilization up until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained about 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide.
Beginning in the 18th century, humans began to
burn coal and gas and oil to produce energy
• The amount of carbon in the atmosphere began to rise, at first slowly and now more quickly.
Oops – we are now at 392ppm
• By now— the planet has about 392 parts per million CO2 – and this number is rising by about 2 parts per million every year.
Greenhouse Effect (very simplified)
Climate Change
Disastrous impacts are already being seen – Bill McKibben writes:
• Drought
• food scarcity
• More disease - mosquitoes spreading malaria and dengue fever
• Glaciers melting • Drinking water
disappearing
El Niño years – conflict doubles
• Solomon Hsiang and colleagues at Columbia University used data from the past half-century to show that in tropical regions, the risk of a new civil conflict doubles during El Niño years (when temperatures are hotter than usual and there is less rainfall).
• If that finding is correct, then a warming world could mean the end of the relatively peaceful era in which we are now living.
El Niño is here
• “Supported by the model forecasts and the continued warmth across the Pacific Ocean, the official forecast calls for the development of most likely a weak El Niño during September 2012, persisting through December-February 2012-13 (see CPC/IRI consensus forecast).”
• From: Climate Prediction Center National Centers for Environmental Prediction NOAA/National Weather Service
Environmental effects worsening human conflicts
• Rising sea levels – flooding
• Increased intensity of extreme weather
• These impacts are combining to exacerbate conflicts and security issues around the world
Enormous Methane Releases from the Arctic Shelf. The cause: climate change thawing of
subsea permafrost
Is the earth really getting warmer?
Yes, and there is complete agreement among several different temperature records that in the last 30 years it has warmed dramatically.
Temperature & CO2 emissions rising in tandem
Population Growth Matching CO2 Emissions
The image shows the relationship between population and CO2 emissions.
It can be reasoned that an increase in population results in an increase in CO2 emissions.
How big is the problem of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere?
• 80% of the world's energy comes from fossil
fuels.
• The current burning of fossil fuels -- oil, coal and natural gas -- releases 7 billion tons of carbon per year in the form of carbon dioxide, plus lots of other greenhouse gases.
• It's at least 10 times too much
International Energy Agency Report of June 2012
Described by the New York Times editorial as “Required reading for regulators and the industry — and for anyone who cares about energy, the environment and climate change”.
• CO2 emissions rose by 3.2% last year
• China was the biggest contributor to the global rise made, its emissions increasing by 9.3 percent, driven mainly by higher coal use.
According to the IEA: Business as usual = Devastating consequences
• "the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius (by 2050), which would have devastating consequences for the planet,"
• Scientists say ensuring global average temperatures this century do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is needed to limit devastating climate effects like crop failure and melting glaciers.
What kept the CO2 numbers down recently?
In the USA, a switch to natural gas from coal in power plants, a slower economy and a mild winter helped cut emissions by 1.7percent.
Recommendations for lowering our CO2 emissions
The International Energy Agency made these recommendations for world governments to help meet emission targets:
• cut fossil fuel subsidies
• boost energy efficiency
• move away from coal
What happens if we give up on Nuclear Power? – caught between a rock and a hard place
The IEA report warned about the impact of phasing out nuclear power output after the Fukushima accident in Japan, which helped push Japanese carbon emissions 2.4 percent higher in 2011.
Coal or Natural Gas? – NIMBY! Who can blame us for not wanting “Fracking”
in our backyard? • We’ve seen the documentary “Gasland” • We’ve seen the faucets on fire • We don’t want our wells contaminated with the big
companies’ secret chemical concoctions
Switching to natural gas…
That won’t solve climate change.
• But a gas-fired power plant emits only half as much carbon dioxide as a coal-fired plant.
Regulating fracking
• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is preparing a proposal that would allow hydraulic fracturing for gas only in Marcellus Shale areas where deposits are at least 2,000 feet deep.
• The plan would require the approval of municipalities for the gas-drilling process to begin in their areas.
Colorado Springs, June 2012
Climate Change Results – More Wildfires
Headline, June 12th: Southwest drought, climate warming and fuel: an explosive combination for record wildfires
During the last two summers, wildfires have run rampant in the Southwest, setting record after record for size and destructiveness
Largest fires in states’ history
• Texas: Suffered its worst wildfire season on record in 2011 • New Mexico: Has had its two largest fires in state history the last two years. • Arizona: The Wallow Fire in 2011 consumed more than 500,000 acres, the
largest on record in that state. • Colorado: …the second largest wildfire in that state’s history. This fire has
burned more than 41,000 acres and “there’s no end in sight.” (June 2012)
What’s happening with the Climate in the
Western USA ...
The U.S. Drought Monitor shows much of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona under drought conditions ranging from moderate to exceptional. • In this region,
temperatures have warmed substantially since 1970.
• These states have been warming at a rate of about 0.5-0.6 degrees F per decade.
A lesson from abroad
- the Aral Sea
1989 and 2008
Closer to Home - Increased temperatures in the Northeast
• Whew! What a scorcher – (as I write this, it’s 99 degrees in mid-July in Rhinecliff)
• Record breaking temperatures this past year
• They follow record
breaking temperatures
the previous year…
Why does climate change cause more
heavy rainfall events? Rising ocean temperatures allow tropical storms to keep more
of their strength as they travel northward over the ocean
Tropical Storms in the Hudson Valley
• The devastating floods of 2011 were caused by Tropical Storm Irene, which brought 6 inches of rain from August 27th to 28th.
• A week later, Tropical Storm Lee followed.
In 1999 Hurricane Floyd had less impact – why?
• At that time, we were five inches below normal for precipitation.
• Drier ground was able to absorb the rainfall, as were wetlands, lakes, and ponds.
• In comparison, before Tropical Storm Irene dumped her rain on us, we had already exceeded average rainfall by 8.25 inches.
Sea level rise
The last house on Holland Island, Chesapeake Bay.
Global warming melts ice sheets in
Greenland and Antarctica
• Also, warmer water expands.
• The USGS study suggests the Northeast would get hit harder because of ocean currents.
Kilimanjaro Summit – 2000 (note the glacier’s ice wall in the background behind the faces
of my friends and family)
Kilimanjaro Summit – 2005 (random photo from the Net – note tiny patch of ice )
Sea level rise around the world
• With a one meter sea level rise some island nations, such as the Maldives, would be submerged.
Sea level rise - it’s not only people who are being affected
Sea level rise in the USA
Accelerated sea level rise already happening in the Northeast – USGS report
• Since 1990, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches.
• But in Norfolk, Va., sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches
• For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches
• In New York City, it was 2.8 inches.
• The accelerated rate along the East Coast could add about 8 inches to 11 inches more.
Sea level rise in the Northeast prompts action now
• Over one million people live on land less than five feet above the high tide line in the Northeast corridor.
• New York’s subway system is quite vulnerable. If a storm pushes water a few inches above a threshold into the New York City subway system - the whole system could flood within 40 minutes.
• New York is responding to the threat by raising lips around the gratings above subways.
And, if we don’t act now -Post
sea level rise in NY!
One way to deal with sea level rise -
Legislate! In June, North Carolina lawmakers reached new
heights of denial, proposing a new law that would require estimates of sea level rise to be based only on historical data
(June 1st, 2012, Guardian newspaper, UK)
The analogy
• This is like saying, do not predict tomorrow's weather based on radar images of a hurricane swirling offshore…
• No – instead, predict the weather based on the last two weeks of fair weather
Deforestation – over 80% of the world’s forests have been logged
The negative effects of Deforestation
• Loss of habitat
• Fewer trees mean less CO2 is absorbed
• Soil erosion
• Watershed destruction
Are We in the Midst Of a Sixth
Mass Extinction?
Nearly 20,000 species of animals and plants around the globe are considered at high risk for extinction in the wild.
Gone forever
• Recent official announcement: the Caribbean monk seal is now extinct
• The last sighting was in 1952.
Farewell to the tiger
Here’s a choice: save the last remaining tigers on the planet, or kill them, chop them into pieces, and eat them in the mistaken belief that tiger parts can be used as medicine.
From this…
To this….
Chinese “Medicine” responsible for cruel killing, and decrease in numbers of tigers, rhinos, bears
• In terms of poaching, elephants had an awful year in 2011, and now we learn that the same thing can be said for rhinos.
• Reuters reports that rhino poaching in South Africa increased 33% in 2011, with 443 rhinos killed and half of that poaching occurring in Kruger National Park.
At current rates, the rhinoceros will be extinct in South Africa by 2015.
Endangered species – Monarch butterflies
Intense deforestation in Mexico could ruin one of North America’s most celebrated natural wonders — the mysterious 3,000-mile migration of the monarch butterfly.
Why do we need the leatherback and all the rest of
the earth’s biodiversity?
• They are symbolic of the great biodiversity that inhabits the oceans.
• That biodiversity is threatened by human activities ranging from overfishing to global warming.
• “Leatherback turtles are the Pandas of the Pacific.”
Preservation of biodiversity
Is it possible that there is a cure for colon cancer in the genetic information of a beetle, a plant or a fungus in the forests of Costa Rica?
First, it’s in our Own Best Interests. We need the leatherback, the panda and the worm because they might be useful to us.
Esthetics & Charm win…unless money is involved
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Leatherback Turtle Nesting Site Destroyed To Save Hotel In Trinidad
Right to exist
• Third, even if we don’t need biodiversity, the species that make up that biodiversity have their own right to exist.
• All species have an inherent right to exist in the world.
Urban Sprawl
(1) About 1/3rd of the open space developed during our country’s entire history was lost in the last 3 decades;
(2) We continue to lose about 1.6 million acres of farms, forests, and other open lands each year
(3) The US Census Bureau estimates that by the end of the century the US population will have grown more than 30 percent from the present 309 million to about 400 million.
(The world population is anticipated to be 10billion by 2050)
Invasive Species
• By now, we are all aware of insects and plants in our own gardens that have become problem pests eg the oriental vine bittersweet strangling our shrubs, the beautiful purple loosestrife taking over the wetlands, kudzu “the plant that ate The South”, but who knew that Queen Anne’s Lace was not native to the northeast, but a European invader?!
Zebra Mussels
• These mussels arrived in a ship’s ballast in 1988, and have spread throughout all the Great Lakes, and many rivers, including our Hudson.
• Environmental and economic damage caused
• Native mussel species have been severely reduced and even eliminated.
Lady Beetles vs Lady Bugs
On the left is the Asian invader, a scourge because of its vast numbers, (and its biting habits). On the right is our native ladybug.
About 60 percent of plants now considered invasive were introduced deliberately through the plant trade
• The other 40 percent are human-related accidental introductions such as seeds stuck in cargo or shipping containers. Only a tiny fraction of non-native introductions are from natural causes such as blowing in with a hurricane
Not all imported plants become invasive, but those that do can become a significant threat to native plants
Wildcliff aliens – Wattle on the left, Pine tree on the right
Aliens at Wildcliff Nature Reserve
• Australian black wattle (acacia mearnsii) were imported to South Africa in the 1920’s for fence posts and firewood
• They will grow anywhere, they suck up all the moisture, and they secrete a toxin that prevents any other plant from growing beneath their canopy
• They are the biggest challenge facing Wildcliff, in terms of time, money and manpower.
• If left unchecked, they will create an ecological disaster for South Africa
View of Wildcliff showing the stands of killed wattles – but, they’ll be back…
Worst Invaders Some of the WORST INVADERS • Rabbits and cane toads in Australia • Eastern gray squirrels • Mammals in New Zealand • Rats on islands • Snakehead fish • Burmese pythons (more than 30,000 in the Everglades!) • Starlings (released by the Shakespeare fan!)
The Oceans…
• Imagine an underwater world without whales, sharks, and dolphins, where jellyfish and algae rule. It's already happening, says marine biologist Callum Roberts in his new books, The Ocean of Life.
Causes:
• Chemical and industrial pollutants flowing into our rivers and oceans
• All that CO2 released by burning fossil fuel is gradually infiltrating the deep sea, changing ocean chemistry, impacting temperatures and oxygen levels,
Shrinking fish
The Rise of the Jellyfish
• The jellyfish joyride begins when high nutrients combine with a fall in abundance of their predators.
• Jellyfish suppress their predators further by eating more of their young and so pave the way for a full-blown population explosion.
Why are jellyfish populations booming? "Global warming, pollution, and human activity in marine habitats are not generally regarded as good things," says Gerry Bellet at the Vancouver Sun — "unless you're a jellyfish."
Fish less, Catch more
• A World Bank report aptly titled “The Sunken Billions: The Economic Justification for Fisheries Reform” calculated that major fish stocks of the world would produce 40 percent more if we fished them less.
• It sounds paradoxical—fish less to catch more—but that is the simple message.
“What can I do to help?”
• Avoid eating fish that are overexploited in the wild
• Try to avoid prawns or scallops and other bottom feeders fished up by dredgers and trawlers, such as plaice, cod, and hake.
• Eat low in the food web, so favor smaller fish like anchovies, herring, and sardines over big predators like Chilean sea bass, swordfish, and large tunas.
Download an app for your Iphone from seawatch.org for guidance on what seafood is sustainable to eat
Political Inaction
• Failure of governments around the world to sign the Convention on Global Climate Change
• Failure of leadership amongst politicians
• Failure of citizens to support the few politicians willing to stand up for the earth
Climate Change Skeptics & Deniers – not an endangered species
• For skepticism online, see Climatedepot.com, run by Marc Morano, former aide to Rush Limbaugh
• Senator James Inhofe: “the threat of catastrophic global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”
• Inhofe has received $1,352,523 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry
• IPCC scientists tell Senate committee drought, wildfires and hurricanes are becoming normal because of climate change
• "The US experienced 14 billion-dollar disasters in 2011, a record that surpasses the previous maximum of 9,"
Climate change the cause of summer's extreme weather, Congress told, Aug 2012
Reaction of some Congress folk
Oklahoma senator Jim Inhofe, a prominent climate sceptic, told the committee: 'The global warming movement has collapsed.’
What needs to happen for politicians to take climate change seriously?
• Government officials need to be convinced of the reality of Climate Change
• Government policies need to change
• Religious leaders need to support these changes
• We need to be convinced that it’s time to change our behavior and policies
• Is there any hope for such changes?
DOOMSDAY CLOCK MOVES 1 MINUTE
CLOSER TO MIDNIGHT WASHINGTON, D.C. -- January 10, 2012 –
Faced with inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation, and continuing inaction on climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced today that it has moved the hands of its famous "Doomsday Clock" to five minutes to midnight.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s
need, but not every man’s greed.” - Gandhi
But, there is Hope for the Future –
• New research
• Energy
• Politics
• Religion
• Government & community & individual endeavors
• Technology
Study Shows Planet Keeping Pace
With CO2 Emissions • According to a new study, published in Nature, August 1st, 2012,
about half of the carbon dioxide we’ve pumped into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels has been absorbed by plants and oceans
• Scientists are convinced this can’t go on forever — but at least we haven’t come to the danger point yet.
Whew!
Renewable Energy – the Danes lead the way
Denmark Passes 100% Renewable Energy by 2050 Legislation
• It will generate 35% of its energy from renewable energy by 2020 and 100% by 2050.
Energy from the Oceans
• Tidal plants in France and Nova Scotia have operated for years
• Similar plants are planned in other suitable locations.
Marine power could supply up to 20 per cent of the UK's electricity needs by 2050.
Turbines in the East River, New York
• The 30 turbines will generate 1,050 kilowatts of electricity -- enough to power 9,500 New York homes.
• Water resources could deliver 15 percent of the US’s electricity supply by 2030
Bangladesh Tries Working With Nature
to Stave Off Sea Level Rise
Bangladeshis are using the increasing silt runoff to shore up the land around them
Dutch defense against climate disaster:
Adapt to the change
As sea levels swell and storms intensify, the Dutch are spending billions of euros on "floating communities" that can rise with surging flood waters.
Seawater Greenhouses in the desert
• Powered by the sun, these greenhouses can grow crops through the evaporation and condensation of salt water
Wind farms are expanding rapidly
• Technological advances are increasing their efficiency, making wind power more competitive with traditional power sources — particularly in the Northeast, where electricity costs can run as much as 60 percent above the national average.
• Turbine prices have dropped about 30 percent over the past few years
Novel power supply
• ABC News: Powering your Home from your Car July 8, 2012
• An all electric Leaf (or Chevy Volt) that will integrate into their home’s energy supply. Simply put, the car powers the home and the home powers the car.
The vehicle-to-grid system -all part of a vision for a smarter energy system for Japan following last year’s tsunami- and earthquake-triggered
nuclear disaster.
Green roofs – such as this one on ConEd’s building in Manhattan
If New York City’s 1 billion square feet of roofs were transformed into green roofs, it would be possible to keep more than 10 billion gallons of water a year out of the city sewer system, absorb CO2 from the air. (It’s also cost effective – roofs last longer!)
White roofs • When I lived in Manhattan, and sometimes looked down
on all those black roofs, absorbing heat from the sun, I thought, why not cover them with white tarps in the summer, and revert to black in the winter.
• Another environmentalist (Steven Chu, Energy Secretary) has championed this (admittedly unoriginal) idea.
Capturing methane from dairy cows – having our cake, and eating it too
• Perhaps rather than displacing farms with natural gas extraction wells, the gas industry could tap into the biogenic methane sources already plentiful in cattle farms throughout the Marcellus region.
Cow manure provides electricity
• The Huishan Dairy Farm in China uses an anerobic digestor to break down the organic matter in their cow’s waste.
• The farm is able to capture methane “from 60,000 of Huishan’s 250,000 cows to produce 5.66 megawatts of power.
• the plant could also generate 620,000 tons of fertilizer and reduce carbon emissions by 180,000 tons per year.
Exciting techy developments
Bladeless Wind Turbine
A new type of wind turbine is poised to leap onto the wind power scene, this time without blades, twice as efficient and half the price of conventional wind turbines.
Pond Biofuels Takes CO2 From Cement Kiln, Grows Algae And Turns It Into Biofuel
An “Electric leaf” is based on photosynthetic bacteria whose biochemistry has been changed through radical genetic engineering to make a liquid hydrocarbon very similar to petrol. The energy input will be electricity generated from renewable sources such as wind or sun.
Greener stoves cook up health benefits, study shows
• Replacing smoky indoor
cooking fires in India with environmentally friendly cookstoves would have the same effect on health as almost halving the country's cancer burden, a study says.
Health & Climate Change
• Maria Neira, director of public health and environment at the WHO:
• "The public is not aware there is a linkage between health and climate change," she said. "For a grandmother, climate change is about the environment and polar bears but not about the asthma case her grandson has. The day we make that connection, everything will move on an incredible scale."
Satellite research reveals smaller volcanoes could cool climate
But how to get the right little volcano to explode on command?
The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic
By RICHARD A. MULLER, Professor of Physics, UCLA, Berkeley
• CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I
identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming.
• Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct.
• I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.
• New York Times, July 28, 2012
A carbon tax might be a cool,
and cooling, idea. FAIRFAX, Va., July 10,2012—
• George Mason University announced today the formation of the Energy and Enterprise Initiative
• Led by former Congressman Bob Inglis, it will explore and promote conservative solutions to America’s energy and climate challenges.
Some companies take climate change seriously
Apple:
• “By By the end of 2012, we’ll meet the energy needs of our Maiden, North Carolina, data center using entirely renewable sources.
• Warren
Buffett • GE • Goldman
Sachs -
Insurance companies are paying attention … Economic interests may
bring about a change in policies
“Swiss RE has economists who are tasked with assessing the effect on business of global climate change, particularly the availability of food.” – James O’Grady
• International insurance firms and big reinsurers like Swiss Re and Munich Re are incorporating projections for more unpredictable and extreme weather.
ClimateWise is the global insurance industry’s leadership group to drive action on climate change risk.
• ClimateWise is facilitated by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership.
• The group leverages the insurance industry’s expertise to better understand, communicate and act on climate risks.
Green Religion
• In A Greener Faith , Roger S. Gottlieb describes ways of connecting care for the earth with justice for human beings.
• He also shows how the rise of religious environmentalism breaks the customary boundaries of "religious issues" in political life.
Funding land protection in the USA
America’s Great Outdoors Report recommends full funding of the
federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for only the third time in its
history.
It will be paid for by existing oil and gas revenues.
No Child Left Indoors – Let’s cure “nature deficit” and connect children with the outdoors, once again
Hope from the next generation: many teens and young
adults are among the strongest environmental advocates and activists.
James Hansen of NASA, the first scientist to warn about global warming more than two
decades ago: • By decreasing use of
other fossil fuels, and improving agricultural and forestry practices around the world, scientists believe we could get back below 350 by mid-century
Interview with Lester Brown
Q: What's the most important thing for humanity to start
doing?
Get the market to tell the ecological truth.
Calculate the cost of burning a gallon of gasoline, for example,
and incorporate the indirect cost in the form of a tax.
We're all economic decision-makers and we
respond to market signals. But the market's giving us bad information. I mean
grossly distorted information.
Q: What should I do? Talk to congressfolk? Write a letter to the editor? Buy a hybrid?
Lester Brown: Most of the people in audiences I'm talking with have been asking themselves that question. Recycle
paper, buy a Prius, whatever -- lifestyle changes.
But we've reached the point where we have to go beyond that. We now have to go for systemic change; otherwise we're not going to make it. That's why tax restructuring is so important. That means
becoming politically active.
Maybe it's lobbying city council or representatives in Washington, letting them know what we think, what we
want them to do. If enough of us do that, change will begin.
What can we do on a personal level?
• Keep informed – read widely, newspapers, magazines, Internet, books
• Online sources such as: 350.org and http://www.realclimate.org/ • Join local environmental organizations (think
globally, act locally) • Consider working with a conservancy to protect
your land in perpetuity • More to discuss in future lectures about what we
can do at home
Thanks to dedicated scientists & environmentally concerned citizens
around the world
We will survive. As Churchill said:
Further reading
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond,2004. • Polynesian cultures on Easter Island
• the Anasazi and the Maya
• the doomed Viking colony on Greenland
• Australia
• Montana
Jared Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted
Further reading…
An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, by Al Gore, 2006.
He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness--and with humor, too--that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked.
Further reading…
Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability, by David Owen. 2010.
In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, David Owen argues that the greenest community in the United States is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York, New York.
Further reading…
• Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism, by Ozzie Zehner. 2012.
• We don’t have an energy crisis. We have a consumption crisis Though we generally
believe we can solve environmental problems with alternative energy = these technologies come with their own side effects and limitations.
Further reading…
Included in this edition:
• 100 actions you can take to create change in your community, school, and family.
• 35 discussion points to inspire people of all ages to talk about the importance of nature in their lives.
• New research confirming that direct exposure to nature is essential for the physical and emotional health of children and adults.
Interesting websites: http://geology.com/climate-change/
http://www.climatecentral.org
