Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A Must Read for all Policy Makers



Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Ploitical Crises will Redraw the World by Cleo Paskal.

Combining climate research and interviews with geopolitical strategists and military planners, Paskal identifies the environmental problems that are most likely to start wars, destroy economies and create failed states. Global Warring is a fascinating tour through our uncertain future and is essential to understanding tomorrow's world.

Contents
Introduction
PART I: THE USS SIEVE
The Coming Storm
PART II: THE NEW GEOPOLITICAL ICEBERGS
Life On The No Longer Permanent Permafrost
The Global Economy: Waiting for the Ship to Come in
A Short History of Modern Geopolitics, As Seen From the Deck Of A Ship
The Great Cold Rush of '08
PART III: PRECIPITATING CHANGE IN ASIA AND BEYOND
Today's Weather
The Story So Far
Interesting Times, Narrowing Options
PART IV: WATER
Building a Geopolitical Ark
Drawing Lines in the Water
Fighting Over Atlantis
PART V: YOUR POINT IS?
Conclusion

'Cleo Paskal is original and compelling; a pioneering scholar of the new terrain where climate change confronts national security, she charts the dramatic implications not just for the game of nations but for their geographic borders, their resources and their fundamental interests.'- Martin Walker, senior director of the Global Business Policy Council and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of United Press International. More >>>

Thursday, March 18, 2010

World Water Day 2010


The World Water Day 2010 and its campaign is envisaged to:
  • Raise awareness about sustaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being through addressing the increasing water quality challenges in water management and

  • Raise the profile of water quality by encouraging governments, organizations, communities, and individuals around the world to actively engage in proactively addressing water quality e.g. in pollution prevention, clean up and restoration. More >>>
Bad Water More Deadly Than War
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18, 2010 (IPS) - Bad water kills more people than wars or earthquakes, declares Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

The devastating earthquake in Haiti last January claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people, making it one of the biggest single natural disasters this year.

But in contrast, some 3.6 million people - including 1.5 million children - are estimated to die each year from water-related diseases, including diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and dysentery.
More >>>

Monday, March 8, 2010

Cut Carbon Output, Save Money, Help Save Planet, Simple Concept!


Obama's Homestar Plan Would Pay for Home Energy Efficiency Retrofits

SAVANNAH, Georgia, March 2, 2010 (ENS) - President Barack Obama today outlined the details of a new "Homestar" program that would help create jobs by encouraging American families to invest in energy saving home improvements. The President spoke of the new program while touring a training facility at Savannah Technical College.

The Obama administration expects the Homestar program to create tens of thousands of jobs while saving the equivalent of the entire output of three coal-fired power plants each year.

Consumers in the program are estimated to save between $200 - $500 per year in energy costs, while improving the comfort and value of their homes. More >>>

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Fears of Undersea Methane Leaks Already Coming True


Though immense amounts of carbon are known to be trapped in the peatlands of Siberia, a larger, often unrecognized carbon reservoir lies hidden just north of that frigid region, says Natalia Shakhova, a biogeochemist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

The East Siberian Arctic Shelf — a 2.1-million-square-kilometer patch of Arctic seafloor that was exposed during the most recent ice age, when sea levels were lower — is three times larger than all of today’s land-based Siberian wetlands. When the region was above sea level, tundra vegetation pulled carbon dioxide from the air as plants grew. That organic material, much of which didn’t decompose in the frigid Arctic, accumulated in the soil and is the source of modern methane.
Now, field studies by Shakhova and her colleagues, reported in the March 4 Science, suggest that the submarine reservoir of carbon has begun to leak. More >>>