Global Warming -- Update: ancaman percutian global

me_ai

1. tlalu byk research, bservation yg dibuat.....
2. takde pun 1 cara yg paling berkesan utk atasi masalah ni
3. punca2 global warming amat susah utk diatasi....degilnya negara2 lain utk join program2 prevention

so takde apa2 kesan yg boleh bantu tak berlakunya climate change ni....
1 keseimbangan alam di ganggu, yg lain juga akn bertindak balas, tindakan rantai la ni....

amazed

4 Mac, 2009

Climate pact needs flexible deadline - agency chief

The sun sets next to a smokestack from a coal-burning power station in Beijing January 9, 2008, file photo. REUTERS/David Gray

By Megan Rowling


LONDON (Reuters) - The deadline for a new global accord on climate change should be extended if Washington is not ready to make commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions by December, the head of a major environmental funding agency said on Monday.

More than 190 governments agreed in 2007 to forge a climate treaty by the end of 2009 at U.N. talks in Copenhagen, after scientists warned that rising emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, would bring more droughts, floods and rising seas.

Monique Barbut, chief executive officer of the Global Environment Facility, told Reuters the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama wanted to tackle global warming but might not have time to pass legislation on carbon trading in time to sign an international pact by December.

"I really think what is very important is not so much that we do it in Copenhagen, what is very important is that we get real good commitments," she said in an interview on the sidelines of an event on financing climate change.

"So if it needs six more months for the U.S. to be totally ready, I think it is much more important that we wait for those few months than that we take commitments that are going to anger many people."

President Bill Clinton agreed in 1997 to the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, aimed at cutting greenhouse gases in the period to 2012, but did not try to get a hostile Senate to ratify it.

In December, U.S. Senator John Kerry predicted the Senate would let Obama sign up to a U.N. pact to fight global warming in late 2009 even if U.S. climate laws were not yet in place.

Barbut noted other obstacles to reaching a deal in Copenhagen, including the European Union's reluctance to pledge billions of dollars in funding for poorer countries until it can see what other nations are prepared to put on the table.

"I do not honestly see European countries agreeing today to massively scale up their level of international solidarity to tackle climate change unless they get something in return," she told the event organised by the Overseas Development Institute.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said on Friday the bloc could move no further until other rich countries spelled out their targets for cutting emissions.

Success at Copenhagen will likely depend on whether agreement is reached on a fund worth tens of billions of dollars annually to help poor countries limit their emissions and cope with the impacts of global warming.

But Barbut, whose Washington-based agency is the financial arm for international conventions on environmental issues including climate change, said this would not happen unless a global deal on targets for reducing emissions was also reached.

"For me, and for plenty of reasons, this story is not a likely scenario, which means that in spite of the impressive and authoritative figures of funding needs that are floated around, the financial architecture will probably only change gradually, and its means will certainly not increase 10-fold overnight," she said.

amazed

Wednesday March 25, 2009
U.N. plans guide to fighting climate-change disasters
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) - A proposed U.N. study of climate extremes will be a practical guide for tackling natural disasters and fill a gap in past reports focused on the gradual effects of global warming, experts said.

A mountain is reflected in a bay that used to be covered by the Sheldon glacier on the Antarctic peninsula, January 14, 2009, file photo. The glacier has shrunk by about 2 km since 1989, probably because of global warming. (REUTERS/Alister Doyle)

Floods, mudslides, droughts, heatwaves or storms are often the main causes of destruction and human suffering tied to climate change, rather than the creeping rise in average temperatures blamed on a build-up of greenhouse gases.

"We are saying a lot about changes in mean temperatures but the impacts on real people, real companies, are taking place at the extremes," said Chris Field, a co-chair of a group in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Better knowledge of extreme climate events could help governments, companies or humanitarian organisations to cope with natural disasters, he told Reuters on Tuesday during a March 23-26 IPCC meeting in Oslo.

"Most importantly (a special study) will be a guide for how we can get going with practical measures in countries vulnerable to climate change," said Ellen Hambro, head of the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority which is hosting the talks.

About 100 scientists are meeting in Oslo to map out a possible special U.N. report about climate extremes by Field's group, under a proposal by Norway and the U.N.'s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.

Rising sea levels, for instance, are a threat to coasts, especially low-lying tropical islands. But most erosion happens during extreme storms, said Field, who is director of the U.S. Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology.

And plant ranges are gradually shifting because of climate change. But crop failures that can lead to hunger often happen because of a single extremely hot day when flowers are maturing.

A special report would take about two years to write, if approved by an wider IPCC meeting in Turkey next month. Field said there was enthusiasm among experts for the idea. "It's something ripe for progress now," he said.

Among benefits, Field said that better knowledge of extremes could help develop better coastal defences to withstand storms and rising seas. It might also help relief agencies plan ways to manage heatwaves, droughts or floods.

dexa

Rising sea levels, for instance, are a threat to coasts, especially low-lying tropical islands. But most erosion happens during extreme storms, said Field, who is director of the U.S. Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology.

absolutely -
at happisbrough (pronunciation : haisbro) in UK
this is one of its major problem

people who live near the coastal have to move
although quite a few vouch not to -

the erosion is faster -
and to built the sea wall is very costly -

day in and day out - the erosion threatening
the land -

*in the meantime - they are still trying to improve
their land structure.. - and watch out for any dangerous
sign near the coast -

dexa

memang best cerita ni -
saya baca all crichton book -
this book is not bad at all -

mungkin some boleh dapat slight ideas
about global warming bila baca state of fear ni -

most of his books memang just fantastico -

dexa

GLOBAL WARMING: Earth Hour is a total farce
By : MOHD PETER DAVIS, Bandar Baru Bangi



Are our youth being misled about global warming with events like Earth Hour?

AS the lights went out for Earth Hour on March 28, organised by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to protest against man-made global warming, our scientist family did exactly the opposite.

We switched on every single light in our energy-efficient bungalow in Bandar Baru Bangi. We held this mini festival of lights to say that mankind's increasing use of electricity has nothing to do with global warming.

My wife, a retired scientist, had been complaining all week about the unrelenting Earth Hour campaign on TV, radio and the newspapers.

She pointed out that it was mainly youth who are getting sucked into this campaign.

"This is immoral and an insult to everything we have achieved. I studied under oil lamps until I was 16. Electricity got us out of poverty and built Malaysia . It transformed society. If anyone messes up our electricity supply, it's back to oil lamps and padi farming.
"That's what our youth don't realise. But now the WWF is trying to convince youth to feel guilty about consuming electricity.

"Earth needs more and more electricity. That is how we measure our improving standard of living."

My objection to the Earth Hour campaign is also fundamental. Man-made global warming is simply not true; it is a man-made fraud.

Thirty-one thousand scientists so far, including me, have felt it necessary to protest against this fraud by publishing our names and qualifications in a properly conducted Internet poll.

There is nothing new or to fear about global warming. It is not caused by man's industrialisation, by over-development or "over-population".

Global warming is a perfectly natural phenomenon. Ten-thousand-year global warming periods followed by 100,000-year ice ages have occurred with some regularity for the last two million years and probably throughout much of the 4.5 billion years of life on Earth.

What causes climate change is the Earth's varying tilt and elliptical orbit around the sun and our solar system's long journey through the Milky Way, together with cosmic radiation from exploding stars. Most of this basic science has been known for 100 years.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is not an environmental poison but has been named by 10 generations of scientists as "the gas of life" which, by photosynthesis in green plants, gets converted to organic matter. The small additional carbon dioxide produced by industrial man is a bonus, not a threat to life.

Our rainforest climate is Earth's best example of the tremendous benefits of global warming and higher levels of CO2. Malaysia's constantly warm climate, high rainfall, abundant sunshine and high natural CO2 levels, caused by plentiful rotting vegetation, combine to produce the highest rate of biomass production in the world.

The kenaf tree in Malaysia can grow to five metres in four months. A new Malaysian grass plantation is producing sustainable one-metre cut grass for climate-housed cows every 30 days.

This Malaysian invention, deep tropical agriculture, can transform food production and, with cheap desalinated water and electricity from new "inherently safe" fourth-generation nuclear power stations, can spread throughout the dry tropical regions of the world, even deserts.

Scientist now know in principle how to feed the population during the next ice age, which climatologists say will begin with a mini-ice age by 2050, within the lifespan of half of the world's population.

We must get back to the big science of my youth, like Atoms for Peace, the Green Revolution and the Man on the Moon mission. The very best investment from Malaysia's economic stimulus packages is a great increase in science and engineering scholarships at all levels for the best generation of youth in our history.

amazed

Global warming: Is it really man's fault?
Chai Mei Ling

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Last month's Earth Hour brought more than just green knowledge and awareness - it reopened the debate on climate change, with both global warmers and its band of sceptics riding on it to renew their arguments. CHAN MEI LING hears

Dr Wan Adli Wan Hassan

ALTHOUGH global warming does occur naturally, that is between two ice ages as is the case now, today's rate of warming has been unprecedentedly fast.

"We've had warmer periods before, but the warming rate had been quite slow," said climate change expert Chow Kok Kee.

"But in the last 200 years, it's very fast, making it very hard for the ecosystem to adjust itself within such a short period."

There are supporting reports on the loss of biodiversity due to global warming, such as the bleaching of corals in seawater made more acidic by enhanced absorption of carbon dioxide.

Meteorologist Dr Wan Azli Wan Hassan says ice core studies show that in the last 25,000 years, the Earth's temperature increased by only nine degree Celcius.

"But in the last century alone, the temperature shot up by 0.74 degrees."

This shows that the warming rate in the past 100 years was more than 20 times faster. One possible answer is human contribution.

Wan Azli, who is also director of the Technical Development Division of the Malaysian Meteorological Department, says observations of warming over the past 30 years cannot be replicated in the climate model if only natural factors such as the sun's heat and volcanic aerosol are included. However, the model can be replicated once man-made factors are added in.

"We cannot absolutely exclude natural viability as the cause of warming over the past few decades, as it may have played some role.

"But it is very unlikely that this has been the sole reason. Our best estimate is that most recent warming is due to man's activities."

Although the sun has always been the planet's greatest warming tool, changes in the sun could not explain the warming since the 1970s.

United Nations Development Programme's Asfaazam Kasbani says the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is convincing in presenting the man-made global warming case.

He says evidence shows that the concentration of greenhouse gases has increased since 1750 due to industrial activities.

"Scientists on the panel recognise the natural global warming trend, but the cycle has been disrupted by anthropogenic causes. Human activities override the natural cycle."

Although global warming detractors may argue that carbon dioxide brings more good than harm, it's not the case, says Asfaazam, assistant resident representative for UNDP's energy and environment section.

"It is true that more carbon dioxide leads to increased productivity for some crops and will be better in greening the earth.

"Unfortunately, this will be offset by drought, water stress and other extreme weather events that come with climate change."

Wan Azli adds: "Because man-made emissions of carbon dioxide are much greater than any other gas its warming effect will be greater, despite its low global warming potential."

Chow, who headed one of the expert groups under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, says although computer models can give only a projection, there is always an element of uncertainty.

"Each model is different and has its limitations, but almost all of them predict that in the future, temperature will continue to rise.

"Although the science is not perfect, we have to take precautions to reduce the impact. The cost for early action will be relatively low."

dexa

Penduduk gemuk sumbang pemanasan global



BILANGAN penduduk gemuk
di dunia semakin ramai. - Gambar hiasan.

LONDON - Bilangan penduduk gemuk yang semakin meningkat menjadi penyumbang kepada pemanasan global, lapor sebuah akhbar semalam.

Beberapa saintis menyatakan peningkatan bilangan penduduk gemuk akan menyebabkan pengeluaran makanan perlu ditingkatkan sekali gus mengakibatkan pelepasan gas karbon dioksida ke udara.

Penduduk yang gemuk lebih suka memandu kereta sekali gus menjejaskan alam sekitar.

Seorang saintis dari Sekolah Kebersihan dan Tropika London Dr. Phil Edward berkata: "Pergerakan individu yang gemuk adalah seperti memandu dengan menggunakan minyak yang banyak."

Setiap individu yang gemuk bertanggungjawab melepaskan satu tan atau lebih gas karbon dioksida setiap tahun berbanding penduduk yang kurus.

Perangkaan itu menunjukkan tambahan satu bilion tan gas karbon dioksida setahun dilepaskan, menurut anggaran Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) terhadap penduduk yang gemuk. - Agensi


************************************************************************

kalau kita tak nak jadi antara yang menyumbangkan pemanasan global
kena kurus2kan sikit badan tu (jika kita overweight) -

amazed

Melihatnya sebelum lenyap


Situasi sekarang menyaksikan ribuan pelancong dari seluruh dunia mengadakan lawatan ke destinasi yang dianggap mereka akan pupus dan musnah akibat pemanasan global dalam tempoh beberapa tahun akan datang.







SETIAP tahun, hampir beribu-ribu pelawat dari seluruh dunia menjadikan gunung Kilimanjaro di sempadan utara Tanzania, air terjun Victoria dan Safari di Zimbabwe sebagai destinasi percutian paling unggul untuk dilawati.

Kehadiran pencinta alam dan pendaki yang mahu menyaksikan keajaiban glasier dan hidupan liar, sambil menikmati pemandangan alam yang penuh dramatik itu tidak pernah putus sepanjang tahun.

Bagi mereka, melihat sendiri panorama kehidupan alam semesta, umpama memberi suatu petunjuk dan kebenaran telus bahawa dunia mampu memiliki segala-galanya.

Namun, pada hari ini, peluang melihat keunikan alam itu hanyalah sementara. Akibat kekangan politik, hidupan liar menjadi kian terancam.



KEHIDUPAN liar di Safari Afrika juga akan terancam
akibat pengecilan saiz hutan hujan tropika.



Zimbabwe kini bukan lagi sebuah destinasi percutian terunggul. Negara itu kini berdepan dengan pelbagai kritikan dari seluruh dunia ekoran sektor pelancongannya yang dikatakan lebih banyak membawa kemusnahan.

Kritikan itu dikeluarkan oleh pakar-pakar alam sekitar yang bimbang melihat jumlah pelancong asing yang semakin meningkat untuk melihat sendiri keajaiban yang ditawarkan oleh Zimbabwe. Limpahan pelancong yang tidak terkawal itu dipercayai akan memusnahkan alam semula jadi di negara tersebut.

Pengarang majalah TravelAge West, Ken Shapiro berkata, kerosakan beberapa destinasi pelancongan di Zimbabwe boleh mengecilkan saiz hutan hujan tropika.

Disebabkan fenomena itu, para pelancong mempercayai bahawa tarikan itu akan musnah dalam beberapa tahun akan datang sekali gus membuatkan generasi masa hadapan tidak dapat melihatnya lagi.

"Ia berlaku akibat perubahan iklim yang mengancam hidupan dan alam semula jadi dunia," ujarnya.

Beliau mengakui destinasi tertentu di beberapa bahagian di dunia kini menjadi tumpuan pelancong yang yakin bahawa satu perubahan besar akan berlaku di destinasi-destinasi tersebut dalam tempoh beberapa tahun akan datang.

"Sebelum terlambat dan sebelum perubahan itu berlaku, lebih baik mereka berkunjung ke sana untuk melihat sendiri keajaiban alam semula jadi yang mempesona.

"Setakat hari ini, mereka berpeluang melihat banyak perkara menarik termasuk yang ekstrem," tambahnya.

Shapiro dalam laporan agensi pelancongannya menjelaskan bahawa, permintaan perjalanan ke destinasi tersebut semakin bertambah dan kajian mendapati peningkatan itu berlaku kerana pelancong mahu melihat sendiri proses yang menyebabkan glasier di Antartika mencair, ancaman karang di Australia Great Barrier Reef atau saiz glasier yang semakin mengecil di Gunung Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

"Mereka mahu melihatnya sekarang sementara ia masih ada. Jika telah tiada nanti akibat pemanasan global, destinasi-destinasi itu akan menjadi lipatan sejarah,'' ujarnya.


KEHIDUPAN beruang polar di bandar Churchill, Kanada
kian terancam disebabkan pencairan glasier.



Presiden Pelancongan Afrika Albida, Ross Kennedy memberitahu, beliau telah menyertai pesta pelancongan selama lima hari di Madrid, Sepanyol. Katanya, trend pelancongan kini mempunyai kaitan dengan kesedaran persekitaran dalam sektor pelancongan.

" Perubahan persekitaran memperlihatkan bahawa dunia kini sedang berhadapan dengan suatu kenyataan dan membuatkan sesetengah orang berfikir, kita perlu mendapatkannya," katanya.

Kesahihannya terbukti apabila berlakunya peningkatan jumlah pelancong asing ke rumah persinggahan safari di Zimbabwe. Firma pelancongan itu beroperasi berhampiran air terjun terbesar di Afrika, Victoria Falls.

Tapak tersebut sesuai sebagai satu titik permulaan untuk melakukan perjalanan safari di sepanjang sungai Zambezi di sempadan utara Zimbabwe. Dalam perjalanan itu, pelancong boleh melihat hidupan liar yang semakin terancam.

Walaupun bimbang dengan isu pergolakan politik, masalah inflasi, penyebaran wabak taun di Zimbabwe, Kennedy berkata, perolehan syarikat itu akan terus meningkat sebanyak 1/4 peratus sepanjang tahun 2008.

Manakala di pasaran Amerika Syarikat, tumpuan pelancong ke Afrika menyaksikan sebanyak 4,035 bilik telah ditempah pada tahun lalu. Ia memperlihatkan peningkatan sebanyak tiga kali ganda berbanding tahun 2004.



KEINDAHAN gunung Kilimanjaro begitu memukau mata pengunjungnya.



Shapiro menambah, populariti lawatan bagi melihat sendiri glasier yang cair di Antartika turut melonjak naik secara mendadak.

Menurut salah seorang kakitangan Persatuan Pelancongan Antarabangsa Antartika, lebih daripada 46,000 pelancong telah melawat benua itu sepanjang tahun 2007 hingga 2008.

" Pengasingan dan hidupan penguin liar yang unik, anjing-anjing laut, burung-burung dan ikan paus begitu menarik perhatian," katanya.


PARA pengunjung berpeluang melihat banyak perkara
yang berlaku di gunung Kilimanjaro termasuk sesuatu yang ekstrem.



Seorang pelancong memberitahu, kehadirannya ke situ bukanlah semata-mata untuk mencari ketenangan, malah mahu melihat sendiri apa yang sedang berlaku.

"Kedatangan kami ke sini adalah untuk menyaksikan sendiri fenomena pencairan glasier, walaupun dari jauh.

" Pengalaman terbaik kami adalah peluang melihat sendiri proses glasier mencair dan mengecil. Melihatnya seakan-akan memberi keinsafan kepada kita tentang apa yang akan berlaku dalam kehidupan manusia pada masa hadapan. Dan kami adalah insan paling bertuah kerana dapat melihatnya sebelum ia lenyap," jelasnya panjang lebar.

Selain Zimbabwe, industri pelancongan yang dikesan membawa kemusnahan turut direkodkan di bandar Churchill, utara Kanada.


RAMAI pengunjung mengambil kesempatan melihat
sendiri keajaiban air terjun Victoria Fall di sempadan
Zambia dan Zimbabwe sebelum terlambat.

Pelawat mengambil kesempatan melihat beruang kutub yang datang dari pedalaman kampung dan kini dianggap kian terancam disebabkan pencairan ais laut.

"Salah satu sebab mengapa Churchill akan diteruskan dalam peta pelancong adalah disebabkan oleh beruang kutub," ujar Shapiro lagi.

Populasi spesies beruang polar menjadikan negara itu dikenali sebagai Polar Bear Capital of the World.

leotazz818

Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand

SYDNEY (AFP)