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Climate Change Index for week ending 8 Nov. 2009

By Greenbang on Monday, 9th November 2009

global-warmingGreenbang’s weekly Climate Change Index tracks research findings and events directly attributable to global warming. Our aim is to provide a numerical, week-to-week indicator of climate change developments.

Items that qualify for listing in each week’s index include new climate data published in peer-reviewed academic journals and extreme weather incidents or other natural events that are likely directly linked to the global warming trend.

The Climate Change Index for this week, ending 8 Nov. 2009 (details below): 4

2 November: The snows — and ice — of Kilimanjaro could melt away within two decades or less, according to the latest survey of ice fields remaining on the storied Tanzanian peak.

2 November: Most land-use changes occurring in the continental United States reduce vegetative cover and raise regional surface temperatures, says a new study by scientists at the University of Maryland, Purdue University, and the University of Colorado in Boulder.

2 November: Commenting on the flooding that recently hit parts of Scotland, Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham last week said, “Climate change is clearly happening on our doorsteps and flooding events such as these are likely to occur with increasing frequency. Everyone needs to be aware of the increased risks and, as we have seen in the last 24 hours, that doesn’t just apply to those living in areas where there is a history of flooding.”

3 November: The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species are threatened with extinction. Environmental changes, including climate change, are blamed for the threats to many of the species listed.

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READERS COMMENTS - Have your say...

  1. Brad Arnold says:

    It really doesn’t matter about climate change “skeptics” since there is a new clean energy technology that produces electricity for 1 cent per kilowatt hour, so the free market will naturally cause emissions to severely drop. As reported by both CNN and the New York Times:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1iqa0dSJO0

    Check out above link to a 2 and a half minute youtube video of a CNN report. What are the odds that the independent testimony below is fraudulent (not bloody likely unless you are a paranoid conspiracy theorist)? Here is a silver bullet technology: clean cheap and abundant energy.

    In a joint statement, Dr. K.V. Ramanujachary, Rowan University Meritorious Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Dr. Amos Mugweru, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, and Dr. Peter Jansson P.E., Associate Professor of Engineering said, “In independent tests conducted over the past three months involving 10 solid fuels made by us from commercially-available chemicals, our team of engineering and chemistry professors, staff, and students at Rowan University has independently and consistently generated energy in excesses ranging from 1.2 times to 6.5 times the maximum theoretical heat available through known chemical reactions.”

    Also, check out this article: http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2008/10/21/21venturebeat-blacklight-power-bolsters-its-impossible-cla-99377.html

    Brad Arnold
    St Louis Park, MN, USA
    dobermanmacleod@gmail.com
    http://www.myspace.com/dobermanmacleod

  2. hsr0601 says:

    Seeing the forest and big picture !!

    1. To date, out of the earmarked $787bn in stimulus package , roughly $155bn dollars, not sufficient to reverse the trend of jobless rate, have been doled out. But, away from job saving and creation etc, the added value on the stock market alone might stand at roughly $1trillion, which could help us see the forest in light of conclusion of the historic health care and sustainable energy act.

    As always, focusing exclusively on up-front cost and subtracting its added value from equation, we will more likely be trapped in a small cage.

    2. The world-wide stimulus package to prop up the crumbling economy is an interim measure. For that, a long-standing and fundamental energy framework is urgently needed.

    3. The poor countries can’t afford high fossil fuel costs, which will strain global economy.

    4. In recent years, the high oil price has taxed jobs word-wide, therefore job creation via developing sustainable resources is considered to be imperative, which might be a final focus of this great recession.

    5. If the sustainable energy policy works against employment, EU should be suffering from the highest jobless rate by now, but the reality is the other way round.

    6. Thankfully and interestingly enough, 100s of Companies (with $13 Trillion) Are Demanding Strong Climate Deal in Copenhagen just like environmental activists, and a coalition of more than 500 Global Businesses is also demanding ambitious new climate deal.

    7. In the face of drastic dent in fossil fuels and soaring price of them, the hands-off policy reflects economic crash world-wide.

    Probably it doesn’t matter whether someone is on the upper deck of Titanic ship or not as the global economy is interconnected just like Internet.




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