Sustainable environment, free flying and occasional fun.
Joint US/China statement 13/04/2013:
The U.S.A. and the People's Republic of China recognize that the increasing dangers presented by climate change measured against the inadequacy of the global response requires a more… urgent initiative... Both sides consider that the overwhelming scientific consensus regarding climate change constitutes a compelling call to action crucial to having a global impact on climate change.
This blog has got lots of deadly serious stuff on it, like loads of other blogs but, as my title box shows, I have got a bit of a commitment to lighten things up every now and again by trying to inject some fun into the proceedings.
Once upon a time I was watching some trials bikes jumping over obstacles and flying over humps. Someone who knew I was a bit environmentally minded said that they supposed I would want to ban this sport. I said almost certainly not. My job is to work towards a civilisation where the “big things”, with the biggest potential impacts, are environmentally friendly.
Thus, it is is more important to persuade the majority to use alternative methods and fuels for such things as transport than to pick holes in a minority using a minuscule fraction of our planetary fossil fuel consumption. If the world only had a global population of 100,000 we could do whatever we liked to the environment and, apart from local temporary damage, we would have a completely sustainable impact. As we currently have 68,000 times that population (6.8 billion and counting) click for live current totals we have to be a lot more responsible than that.
Here’s a couple of videos from an initiative from Volkswagen (no commercial benefit to me for mentioning that!) that reckons that making going green more fun would be a good idea.
Firstly, a fab idea to encourage people to use stairs more, rather than lifts (elevators) or escalators. I was hoping that a couple of musical types would play “Chopsticks” - but give ‘em time.
Secondly, a system to help people to bin whatever non-recyclable stuff they feel they absolutely have to throw away.
"Come on let's crawl (gotta crawl gotta crawl) To the ugly bug ball (to the ball to the ball) And a happy time we'll have there, one and all - at the ugly bug ball”
Today the walls of my house are covered in ladybirds. Initially, I was pleased about this because a good population of ladybirds in the garden is free pest control for next year’s growing season (because they eat prodigious quantities of aphids etc) but then I looked closer. They all appear to be Harlequins - the highly invasive Asian species that is rapidly spreading North on the UK mainland and “out-competing” our 46 native species. We could try to kill them but, like Jason in Friday the 13th, and Michael Myers in Halloween, they will probably keep coming back undaunted.
No doubt Senators Ozouf, Le Sueur and Maclean will be pleased at this development because, to their viewpoint, increased competition is always good but their ideas, and those of their advisers, really are about as far away from “sustainable” as it is possible to imagine.
The Harlequin ladybird is putting over 1,000 species in the UK in peril, scientists have warned. In the following snippet from Radio 4, Dr Helen Roy, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, discusses the danger of the "dramatic and unprecedented spread of the top predator".
EDIT: Here was an extract from a radio programme but it played automatically, which was a nuisance for anyone looking at other posts so I have removed it today (15th November 2009). If you want to hear it, then follow this link to a bbc.co.uk article about Harlequins
As the image shows, they come in multiple colour forms (Harlequins, not politicians) which can be confusing but, if you know approximately how big common ladybirds are, these are quite a lot bigger and more “domed”.
The following three paragraphs are adapted from Wikipedia.
Although native species of ladybirds are pretty benign, in North America the multicolored Asian lady beetle (=Harlequin =Harmonia axyridis), was introduced in the twentieth century to control aphids on agricultural crops. It has now become a serious household pest in some regions owing to its habit of overwintering in structures (AKA houses). It is now acquiring a pest reputation in Europe.
The first H. axyridis to be found in Jersey was located in St Catherine’s Woods in February 2007 by Tim Ransome. It is presumed that it was blown over from the French coast.
The species was first spotted in Essex in 2004 and has since become the fastest spreading alien species on record. The species probably arrived in the UK via several routes: most likely, some flew across the English Channel from France; others have been imported from Europe on flowers and vegetables, and from Canada in packing cases. Large numbers discovered at Battersea, Clapham and Chelsea implicate the Channel Tunnel rail link (Eurostar) as a route of entry.
Click the following link to a recent story in the Telegraph headlined
The scare aspect of this Telegraph story (about noxious smells and biting) also applies to native ladybirds, but these invaders have higher concentrations of the “reflex bleeding” chemicals and tend to overwinter in large numbers inside houses – don’t disturb them!
This story is yet another example of how simplistic application of predatory species for pest control can often go wrong. Compare the similar stories of cane toads and prickly pear cactus in Australia and many other less well known examples of what “seemed like a good idea at the time”.
Forced competition, both ecologically and economically can have very serious and unforeseen (to many) consequences. Remember that, next time you hear Philip Ozouf or Chuck Webb waxing lyrical about the benefits to prices and consumer choice of gung-ho competition.
I have said that the end result of deliberate or forced competition, taken to the limit, is an unstable “rat and cockroach” economy. That’s a reference to what happens to native species on islands when invasive rats, goats etc are introduced. Some of the ecosystems and species that Durell protects are endangered precisely because of this problem. It’s not rocket science. In a similar way, the manufacturing industries of the world are suffering an overwhelming threat because of the invasive nature of cheaply produced Chinese goods that are “out-competing” more established manufacturing infrastructures in much of the world. Outsourcing of “back office work” to low wage areas also has the same effect. It’s no good if things get incredibly cheap if no-one has a wage paying job to buy “stuff” is it?
Successful ecosystems, bio-diversity and stable economic diversity all use the same fundamental mechanisms rooted in the basic physics and logic of the Universe. Fatally flawed ideologically driven creeds like neoclassical economics, yuppy’ism and Gecko’s “greed is good, greed works” will be the death of us, or at least the extreme uncomfortableness of us…
Sustainability is not just a meeting-speak buzz word – it is survival tactics for everybody’s future.
Well, that was all a bit depressing, so cheer up! Here’s a clip, from a simpler time, of one of the cutest songs ever! "The Ugly Bug Ball" was sung by the legendary Burl Ives, in Walt Disney's film "Summer Magic" (1963).
The following italicised text is taken from arstechnica.com At the end of this post there is a copy of the letter mentioned.
“Scientific societies warn Senate: climate change is real
A collection of scientific societies has sent an open letter to all US Senators, reiterating their individual statements on climate change, and offering to provide more information as legislation to limit carbon emissions moves forward.
Next week, the US Environment and Public Works committee is scheduled to begin debate on the Senate's version of a bill intended to begin limiting US greenhouse gas emissions, with a vote scheduled for early November. In advance of that hearing, a collection of 18 US scientific organizations has sent an open letter (click for link to letter) to members of the Senate, reminding them that climate change is a real phenomenon, and the best available evidence indicates it's being driven by human activities. The unusually blunt language is coupled with an offer: the US scientific community stands ready to provide assistance to anyone who is looking for further information in advance of taking legislative action.”
Anyone who follows climate change news will know that the always-active denialist movement have redoubled their efforts in recent months, as the scientific warnings have become more and more serious. Also they are doing this because we are approaching the Copenhagen Conference in December (dubbed “the most important meeting in human history” by Bill McKibben) – basically, it’s the denialists’ last chance to fool people - and they’re pulling out all the stops.
They have fooled up to 40% of the American public with their disinformation - curiously enough that is around the same number of the US public who believe that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old. Die-hard deniers like Senator Inhofe (probably the most vociferous US Senator on this subject) and others appear to believe that somehow God is going to ride over the hill, like the US cavalry in a John Wayne movie, to save us all from ourselves! That is both very scary and funny at the same time. A long time ago, when I was having a meeting with a senior local Jersey politician of the time I encountered this attitude. Here’s a link to a post I did on Planet Jersey (message #23) describing the bizarre occurence. This anecdote may amaze you, because what happens behind closed doors can be oh-so-unlike what some of the Jersey public expects our glorious leaders to behave like!
The denialists/inactivists have been very fond, in the past, of releasing misleadingly worded petitions, such as the Oregon petition, the Heidelberg Declaration and the Leipzig Declaration so it’s good to see such an unequivocal statement by the largest and most respected scientific organisations in the USA.
Here are images of the template letter, including the signatories.
Methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, although it stays active in the atmosphere for less time. Unlike carbon dioxide, which can remain in the atmosphere a century or more once released, methane persists in the air for about 10 years. It will be a serious problem if the permafrost in the tundra and Alaska melts and the underground methane comes up and the previously frozen vegetation generates more. It would be even worse if the undersea methane clathrates bubbled up (a form of methane+water ice which stays down there because of the cool temperature and pressure). Large scale release of methane would be a very strong positive feedback to global warming and if it starts to happen, then we are *%$#*’ed.
The story linked to below shows that it is not just “natural” releases that deserve attention because apparently there are large scale leaks from the global oil and gas processing infrastructure that have the same warming power of the emissions from over half of the coal plants in the United States. Because of methane’s lower residence time in the atmosphere, aggressively reining in emissions now would mean that far less of the gas would be warming the earth in a decade or so. Fixing the leaks would be a valuable “low hanging fruit” to get on with NOW!
This picture uses an Infra-red camera to show an “invisible” leak form a gas holder
In routine operations, great yet invisible plumes of gas enter the atmosphere when new wells are activated, old wells are invigorated to boost gas flows and wells are purged of fluids by letting out cough-like bursts of gas.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
This very short video (1 min 22 s) shows remarkably clearly why richer nations might be cutting off their noses to spite their faces. It just might be counter-productive to wait until the third world is rich enough to purchase new clean technology and energy.
It’s blog action day (Oct 15th) for climate change when all bloggers are supposed to do a post on global warming. As I talk about it a lot, all I’ll say is this. The science isn’t bulletproof yet, nor will be, because of the nature of scientific knowledge. However, 97.4% of practicing climatologists agree that people are warming the climate. The only significant debate is about how much and how dangerous it will be. Those who claim there’s nothing to worry about are speaking not only from a position of ignorance but are playing Russian Roulette with everybody else’s future.
