The Green is Fading, or: The Planet We Leave for our Kids. by risa
Generally, satellite observations of plant growth across the high latitudes of North America — in Canada and Alaska — indicate that tundra vegetation experienced an increase in both peak photosynthesis and growing season length, whereas forests experienced a decline in photosynthetic activity between 1981 and 2003. Climatic warming occurred across the entire region, but the change in the forest response indicates that long-term changes may not be predictable from initial, short-term observations. Fire disturbance has also increased with the warming but does not explain the decline in forest photosynthetic activity.
According to Scott Goetz, a senior scientist with the Center, “We believe this is some of the first evidence that high latitude forests may be in decline following an initial growth spurt associated with warming. The reasons for this decline are not certain, but related work points to increased drying as a likely cause. The observed warming and drying are consistent with climate model predictions for the region.” “Using satellite observations to investigate ‘greening’ trends across Canada and Alaska”
From Martin Amis in “Nuclear City”: “The nuclear debate (and the climate change debate) is a debate conducted withour fathers – but it is about our children. (…) We must fix our kids so they will have nothing to do with anyone who has anything to do with anyone who has anything to do with nuclear weapons, with instruments of blood and rubble. The process will begin at that moment of mortal shame when we acquaint them with the status quo, with the facts of life, the facts of death. So come on. In an inversion of filial confession, we will have to take deep breaths, wipe our eyes and stare into theirs, and tell them what we’ve done.
September 6th, 2005 at 11:23 am
“About 50 million more people, most of them in Africa, could be at risk of hunger by 2050 due to climate change and reduced crop yields, scientists predicted on Monday.
Roughly 500 million people worldwide already face hunger but rising levels of greenhouse gases could make the problem worse.
“We expect climate change to aggravate current problems of the number of millions of people at risk of hunger, probably to the tune of 50 million,” said Professor Martin Parry of the Hadley Center of the UK Meteorological Office.
“The greatest proportion, about three-quarters of that number, will be in Africa.”
Parry told the British Association science conference that it would take huge reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases — about 20 times those required by the Kyoto Protocol — to avoid the additional risk of hunger.
The 1997 protocol demands cuts in greenhouse emissions by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
The United States, the world’s biggest polluter, has refused to back the protocol, saying it would hurt its economy. It also believes the pact is flawed because it omits rapidly industrializing emerging economies such as India and China. ”
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=9564135&src=rss/scienceNews