SHE WON'T GO!
Indeed… (h/t Swishy Jake)
GENEVA (AFP) – A less than two degree Celsius rise in global temperatures might be sufficient to spark a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic sea ice, the WWF warned in a new study released Thursday.
“Scientists now suggest that even warming of less than 2 degree Celsius might be enough to trigger the loss of Arctic sea ice and the meltdown of the Greeland Ice Sheet,” the WWF said in a statement to accompany the findings.
“As a result, global sea levels would rise by several metres, threatening tens of millions of people worldwide.”
The melting of Arctic sea ice could affect ecosystems, while a meltdown of the Greenland Ice Sheet could lead to a sea level rise of up to seven metres, with a devastating impact for the rest of the world.
WASHINGTON – Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported yesterday.
“Obviously, the planet is interconnected, so what happens in the Arctic does matter” to the rest of the world, Jackie Richter-Menge of the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N.H., said in releasing the third annual Arctic Report Card.
The report, compiled by 46 scientists from 10 countries, looks at conditions in the Arctic.
The region has long been expected to be among the first areas to show impacts from global warming, which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said is largely a result of human activities adding carbon dioxide and other gases to the atmosphere.
What Al Gore says:
Once President Obama takes office, we need to put pressure on him to let him know that clean coal is a SHAM. A CON. A FARCE. And hopefully we can convince him to gather the rest of the county in opposition to the short-sided political forces that rule our state and West Virginia. (Obama is in the “Clean Cigarette” category, unfortunately).
Coal is NOT the future. And since the Democratic Party in Kentucky is not on the side of humanity, it is the duty of the rest of the country to rise up against Kentucky and say ENOUGH.
If KY was forward thinking, we’d start focusing on natural gas, which fuels buses up in the Northeast, but curiously not in Lexington and Louisville. We’d start using the rail system that exists between Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati for commuters. We’d start making wind farms in Appalachia, instead of chopping off the mountain, gutting it and dumping all of the waste in our streams. We’d wake up and realize that we should start taking steps to take advantage of the mutli-billion dollar industrial hemp industry (and not let Gatewood even NEAR it).
Kentucky has the option to make these decisions, but our Democratic Party has decided take a pass. If they continue to do so, the rest of the country is obligated, for the sake of humanity, to tell us that enough is enough.
The North Pole has become an island for the first time in human history as climate change has made it possible to circumnavigate the Arctic ice cap.The historic development was revealed by satellite images taken last week showing that both the north-west and north-east passages have been opened by melting ice.
Prof Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in the US said the images suggested the Arctic may have entered a “death spiral” caused by global warming.
Shipping companies are already planning to exploit the first simultaneous opening of the routes since the beginning of the last Ice Age 125,000 years ago. The Beluga Group in Germany says it will send the first ship through the north-east passage, around Russia, next year, cutting 4,000 miles off the voyage from Germany to Japan.
See?! It’s just more economic opportunity!
(h/t Jacob)
Are you sick to death of Kentucky politicians telling you how coal doesn’t hurt the environment and we can burn it for years and years and years without a care in the world?
Ok, then lets hear it from the horses mouth, the CEO of the company that buys them off, Gregory Boyce of Peabody
“It’s a good time to be Peabody,” says Boyce, an affable man who speaks in a confident baritone. “There’s not enough natural gas. There’s not enough renewables (such as wind and solar energy) to go around. So I’m not concerned that coal is going to disappear. For us not to use that resource, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot.” […]
“There’s a perception out there that coal is dirty, and we have to change that,” he adds, noting that coal plants already have cut emissions of some pollutants and boosted efficiency to slash CO2 discharges. “Black is the new green.“
Ignorance is the new Strength, as well…
.
Since I’m a lowly blogger and don’t get to access to Steve Beshear, I’d really love to ask him if he believes in global warming. I honestly don’t know what I’d hear back from him.
Governor Steve Behsear took his traveling road show to Shepherdsville last week, and was confronted with a few KFTC members who wanted to speak their minds about mountaintop removal mining.
Beshear told them what a big fan he is of it. Good times.
Beshear responded that yes, there were plans to enforce the law against coal companies, but defended MTR for providing flat lands to eastern Kentucky residents. KFTC member Margaret Stewart countered that eastern Kentucky has enough flattened mountains to build several cities and it was time for a change.
What say you Len Peters, secretary of Beshear’s new Energy AND Environmental cabinet?
The meeting was followed up with interesting conversation between KFTC members and Len Peters, secretary of the new Energy and Environment Cabinet. Cherise and Margaret pushed the discussion about renewables and MTR. Peters commented on what the cabinet is possibly thinking in terms of a new energy plan. Peter stated that the best-case scenario is that Kentucky could generate maximum 25% of electricity needs from combination of renewables, efficiency, conservation, etc. over the next 20 years; therefore they are focused on more and more coal.
He shared that there is a test carbon sequestration well drilled in Hancock County and that carbon capture and storage/use will add $20 – $50 per ton of coal. He also expressed support for nuclear power. KFTC members reinforced the importance of improving significant investment in research on renewable energy and reducing our dependence on coal.
What Mark Twain said….
But let’s all pat Steve Beshear on the back for going out into the community and looking our progressive citizens in the eye as he tells them to “fuck off and die you damned dirty hippies”.
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