Hi Dan,
UK Government has raised the emissions cut target to 80%, inclusive of aviation
and marine activities despite banking mayhem. So all is not bad, and matter is
not forgotten here in UK.
Rgs, albert> Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 08:50:04 -0700> Subject: [geo] Re: Fight
Climate Change with Depression> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To:
[email protected]> > > you can see the slowdown in the 80s in the
mauna loa record> > On Oct 8, 5:29 am, "Alvia Gaskill" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:> > I don't think so. Economic activity isn't going to stop. This
isn't the 1930's. Yet. People will still be driving, heating their homes and
factories will still be operating. If anything, the collapse of the Monopoly
Game Ponzi scheme formerly known as Wall Street will hamper efforts to reign in
emissions. And that's something else we can't afford.> >> >
http://news.stv.tv/environment/32969-economic-woes-may-give-planet-a-...> >> >
Economic woes may give planet a breather> > NICOSIA (Reuters) - A slowdown in
the world economy may give the planet a breather from the excessively high
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions responsible for climate change, a Nobel Prize
winning scientist said on Tuesday. Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who
has in the past floated the possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with
sulfur particles to cool the earth, said clouds gathering over the world
economy could ease the Earth's environmental burden.> >> > 07 October 2008
16:28 PM> >> > a.. Read 6 times> > b.. Jump to video> >> > By Michele
Kambas> >> > NICOSIA (Reuters) - A slowdown in the world economy may give the
planet a breather from the excessively high carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
responsible for climate change, a Nobel Prize winning scientist said on
Tuesday.> >> > Atmospheric scientist Paul J Crutzen, who has in the past
floated the possibility of blitzing the stratosphere with sulfur particles to
cool the earth, said clouds gathering over the world economy could ease the
earth's environmental burden.> >> > Slower economic growth worldwide could help
slow growth of carbon dioxide emissions and trigger more careful use of energy
resources, though the global economic turmoil may also divert focus from
efforts to counter climate change, said Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for his work on the depletion of the ozone layer.> >> > "It's a
cruel thing to say ... but if we are looking at a slowdown in the economy,
there will be less fossil fuels burning, so for the climate it could be an
advantage," Crutzen told Reuters in an interview.> >> > "We could have a much
slower increase of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere ... people will start saving
(on energy use) ... but things may get worse if there is less money available
for research and that would be serious."> >> > CO2 emissions, released by the
burning of fossil fuels in power stations, factories, homes and vehicles, are
growing at almost 3.0 percent a year.> >> > The U.N. Panel on Climate Change
estimates that world temperatures may rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees
Celsius (3.2-7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) this century. The Group of Eight
industrial nations agreed in July to a goal of halving world emissions by
2050.> >> > Crutzen was in Cyprus for a lecture organized by the Cyprus
Institute, a research foundation.> >> > He caused a stir with the publication
of a paper in 2006 suggesting that injecting the common pollutant sulfur into
the stratosphere some 10 miles above the earth could snuff out the greenhouse
effect.> >> > He believes that dispersing 1 million tons of sulfur into the
stratosphere each year, either on balloons or in rockets, would deflect
sunlight and cool the planet.> >> > Scientists observed that world temperatures
dropped by 0.5 degrees centigrade on average when Mount Pinatubo in the
Philippines erupted in 1991, spewing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, and
Crutzen said the idea originated with a Russian scientist about 30 years ago.>
>> > "I am not saying we should do it, but it is one of the options if we
continue under present conditions. We should study it," he said. "If you look
beyond a decade, two decades, and nothing has been done (to counter warming)
then we will have a very serious problem on our hands."> >> > Sulfur is a
component of acid rain, which has harmful effects on plants and fish.> >> >
"Acid rain is caused by sulfur dioxide emissions from the ground, from the
chimneys, and it's 50 million tons per year. The experiment in the stratosphere
would be one million tons of sulfur per year. It's negligible," he said.> >> >
It would be an extreme endeavor, but for extreme circumstances, he said.> >> >
In a 2007 report, the U.N. climate change panel said such geo-engineering
options were largely speculative and unproven, with the risk of unknown side
effects. Reliable cost estimates had not been published, it said.> >> > "The
price is not a major factor... it's peanuts," said Crutzen. "The cost has been
estimated by some at 10, 20 million U.S. dollars a year."> >> > (Editing by
Kevin Liffey)> >> > 32969-economic-woes-may-give-planet-a-breather-200.jpg> >
17KViewDownload>
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