Australia Signs Kyoto

Australian has just signed to ratify the international global warming pact The Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol as it is now will expire at 2012 so its time for a change. This is a dramatic step in helping co2 emissions to go down and leaves United States the only nation to not to participate "Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the paperwork Monday to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, making good on an election promise that will leave the US isolated among industrialized countries in shunning the international Global Warming pact."(nationalgeographic.com)
Is this important? Definitely, it's pushing U.S. one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases to go along. This shows we are one step closer to helping Planet Earth and now United States has to do its part.
Australia itself doesn't emit a lot of c02 gases but that doesn't mean it doesn't contribute to climate change. "Australia's overall contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions are small, but it is one of the largest polluters per capital and its stance on Kyoto is powerfully symbolic"(DailyTelegraph.com)

Hopefually, as we continue to stop Global Warming from wiping us out, thier will be binding commitments and treaties that will cause more awareness and contribution beyond the Kyoto Protocol.

Resources:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071203-AP-aus-kyoto.html

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22861680-5001021,00.html

Al Gores Historic Speech at the UN Conference

"In a speech likely to go down in history as an oratorical milestone in the fight against global warming, Al Gore, former US vice-president and co-winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, electrified the December 3-14 UN conference on climate change on its penultimate evening on Thursday at Bali."(Al Gore's oratory electrifies Bali summit)
Al Gore a prominent environmental activist and Noble Prize winner for his documentary on global warming The Inconvenient Truth has just sparked a lot of enthusiasm for his very emotional stand about global warming to nearly 1100 delegates from 187 countries. He shows that it's isn't just going to affect future generations but it's already happening to us, now do we really want that to happen?
Al Gore used many previous quotes in history to give a lot of meaning to his oratory. Such example are when he states the Nazi era ." First they came for the Jews and I did not do anything; then they came for the gypsies and I did not do anything; then they came for the neighbors and I did not do anything; when they came for me there was nobody to do anything for me." Or It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Gore quoted from the opening lines of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. "Now it is a tale of two planets," he said. “Earth and Venus.”.
This is really important he was able to really touch to all these people of different countries so that they contribute. Instead of it seeming like the same old story "oh global warming is bad and all we have to help " he connects with everyone and really shows them that this is not going away its like a fever and if it worsens , we are all doomed.
We have to treat this "fever" now before its too late, our lives and life as we know it will seize to exist if we don't prevail now.

Resources:
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14575540
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=2826

The Power of Methane

Many environmentalists and people think the CO2 gas emissions are affecting global warming the most so humans have to stop emitting these greenhouse gases. However this is not the case,yes humans are mainly responsible for the rapid c02 emissions but their are other drastic greenhouse gases that are way more powerful. These gases are causing way more damage to the earth then c02 and the biggest out of all of them is Methane.

"Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. While atmospheric concentrations of CO2 have risen by about 31% since pre-industrial times, methane concentrations have more than doubled. Whereas human sources of CO2 amount to just 3% of natural emissions, human sources produce one and a half times as much methane as all natural sources."(earthsave.org).

Kangaroo's can fight global warming
We need to focus on Methane a lot more than C0z i mean its causing nearly half the planets human caused warming. Methane is produced in many ways but he number producer is in animal agriculture. Many cattle's release methane whenever they fart. The only animal that doesn't is the Kangaroo, now scientists are trying to get that special bacteria from kangaroos and injecting them to animals so that their methane free!!. ""By replicating this bacteria not only would they [sheep and cattle] not produce such methane, they would actually get something like 10 to 15 per cent more energy out of the feed they are eating," said Dr Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland Government."(Kangaroo Bacteria)

Resources:
http://earthsave.org/globalwarming.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/12/06/eakanga106.xml

Climate Change & Advertisement

Global Warming ads have been shown on television and known sites such as Youtube.com. The Environmental Defense has displayed these ads to send out a message that implies "if you continue like this we are all doomed". One advertisement called "Tick" shows children saying tick as if they were a time bomb. This shows that maybe our generation wont be affected a lot by global warming but future generations will.
Environmental Defense states "We've launched this campaign as a wake-up call. Global warming is the most serious environmental challenge of our time. It is more urgent and its dangers are more fundamental than most Americans realize. This campaign seeks to educate Americans about how quickly we must act, and give concrete steps that people can incorporate into their lives to fight global warming."(Environmental Defense ). I couldn't agree more we need to ACT NOW!!.
One ad that I really like is the "Train". A man is talking on the tracks while the train is coming fast behind him, symbolizing how fast the global warming is going to effect us. Then at the last few seconds before he gets ht he moves out the way and we see a child was behind him. The message shows its really going to come hard to our sons and daughters, and we need to control it.
The Ad Council and GreenPeace.org are using these advertisements and showing them on broadcasting stations that many viewers watch so they can broaden their audience. People really need to see visually how global warming is affecting us. Here is an ad from GreenPeace.org:

GreenPeace Human Life Commercial



Resources:
http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=137
http://www.adcouncil.org/default.aspx?id=68
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/

Everything's Cool

"The fossil fuel industry doesn’t care who wins or loses the debate about the reality of global warming, as long as the public continues to feel that it is debatable."(nytimes.com) , is something to think about when you watch the 2007 movie Everything's Cool. Everything's Cool is a documentary that traces the politics of global warming back to 1987!!.
It shows that as long as people still see global warming as a debatable issue we will never see progress, in order words doubt causes delay. "In the film, America "gets" global warming a time when scientific understanding and political action were hand in hand. The movie describes a group of global warming messengers that are on a quest to find a symbolic image that will cause people in the United States to go from relieing on fossil fuels to the new clean energy economy as fast as possible.
I personally loved the film because unlike An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore, which by the way is a GREAT FILM."Everything's Cool looks like a film made 10 years ago, when ice caps were solid, so it really shows the problem of making America aware even back then" everythingscool.org.htm. I would recommend everyone watch these group of activists as they go on a journey to show the climatic catastrophe of global warming.

Resources:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/movies/23cool.html
http://www.everythingscool.org/about.htm

George W.Bush and the "Bush Plan"

Now that my viewers have clear view about what global warming is and how its affecting our environment I think it's time to discuss what our "democratic" government is doing to help and assist with such problem.
Before I discuss what the "Bush Plan" is, first I want to mention Bush's history with global warming. In recent years Bush has consistently opposed any plan that involves specific targets(companies and businesses) as well as binding commitments(contracts). In other words he will not impose a law and enforce it for global warming.
The "Bush Plan" states the United States will host a series of talks with the 15 nations that emit the greatest amount of greenhouse gases, including nations like China and India. The aim for such series of talks is to make an agreement that will replace the Kyoto protocol which will expire on 2010. However of course knowing Bush the goal would be “aspirational” and, therefore, voluntary. "There would be no binding commitments, and each nation would be free to devise its own strategies for meeting the goal."(Bush Plan)
This "plan" just shows how much Bush cares about global warming I mean he wants to illustrate a series of "voluntary" talks , if he really cared about it instead of Iraq he wouldn't talk about what to do with the epidemic but instead take action, because its coming at us fast we have to react now before its too late.

This is just one environmentalists view about Bush's plan:

“We have a very clear sense about what the President won't do to fight global warming, but he refuses to say what action he is willing to take,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club(environmental activist group). “We know the Bush administration has opposed the Kyoto treaty and spurned past offers of other countries to work together to solve global warming. We also know he refuses to take the action and implement the solutions that will make the United States the leader on this issue, and he continues to encourage his agencies to ignore their own scientists' warnings. "Instead, we have seen delay after delay with calls for more talk and more research when the facts are already in.”


Resources:
http://environment.about.com/od/governmentscorporations/a/bush_plan.htm
http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/a/ipcc_reports.htm

Penguins in peril!!!

Penguins are in potential danger and can possibly face annihaltion. Further study shows these cold-blooded birds are decreasing rapidly. "We have done it every year consecutively for a decade, that we have historical records that go back to 1972. In that period of time, Adelie penguin populations in the area as a whole have decreased by about forty percent." states (http://pulse.igc.org/archive/Nov02/2793.html).
Many penguins in Antartica depend on the ice to rest while feeding thier young and to keep themselves save from leopard seals. Warmer weather is melting alot of ice in these ecosystems and though penguins can swim they cant survive in water. Penguins are land- animals beacause they need to get out now and then for oxgyen.
Also many penguins from the North and South poles are dieing during months when new borns hatch. According to "The first Adelie penguin chicks of the season -- black fluffballs small enough to hold in the hand -- started hatching this month, and the simple fact that there are more of them in the south and fewer of them further north is a sign of global warming, scientists say.(http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1216-04.htm).
As the north pole's ice vanishes and penguin populations decrease, penguins from the South are growing in number beacause it makes it easier for them to dive and fish.
We have to stop global warming right now before its too late, it only takes a few years for these animals to totally disappear.

Resources:
http://pulse.igc.org/archive/Nov02/2793.html
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1216-04.htm