Surprising Sources of CO2 Worldwide

Over the past several years we have all become painfully aware that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels likely play a significant role in worldwide climate change. CO2 is the most prevalent greenhouse gas. It is a product of burning fossil fuels including coal, oil, and natural gas. But what most people aren't aware of is the breakdown of sources of CO2.

Greenhouse Gases
CO2 plays in important role in retaining energy in the earth's atmosphere by forming a blanket around the earth. This is important because without it, we would be very cold. But with too much, we could be too hot. As the sun beats down on us daily, energy is absorbed in the atmosphere. At night, that energy is dissipated back out to space. This happens across day/night cycles and also across the year as we get closer and farther from the sun. Over the course of a year, we would like the energy retained to be equal to the energy dissipated. Any difference will begin to accumulate such that the temperature on earth will increase if we retain more energy or decrease if we dissipate more annually.

Equilibrium
During the course of modern human history CO2 levels have been holding steady around 270 parts per million. Prior to recent history, CO2 fluctuated as low as 200PPM during severe ice ages and as high as 300PPM during very warm times. But again, these occurred long before people settled into cities as we know them. But we can cull this data from ice core samples as a peak into long forgotten climate history.
Equilibrium set off balance

Our historical human-time temperatures have been relatively stable because until about 100 years ago, there was little change in CO2 levels for a few thousand years. But then, as we started burning coal, then oil and then natural gas, we began to add more CO2 to the atmosphere. While there is a complex set of give and takes between carbon sinks (ocean, trees) and carbon sources (people, animals, fires, fossil fuels), we began to release more than we had in human history and set an increase in motion. For the past 100 years that increase has been evident and accelerating at an ever faster rate as we burn more fossil fuels.

Higher than ever
Today atmospheric CO2 stands at 385PPM, over 100PPM higher than human history norms. Remember, the range over the last million years ranged from 200PPM (ice age) to 300PPM (ocean 75 feet higher than today). And today we are at 385PPM. So why haven't temperatures risen dramatically? Because there is a delay in temperature systems. We see this annually as the longest day (with the most sun) in the northern hemisphere is June 21st. But the hottest days occur about 45 days later. This lag in response is due partly to the earth's mass absorption response. And we are seeing the same effect in global warming. That is, a lag in earth response, but that lag is now coming of age. So expect more temperature increases in much of the world (and some decreases as winds, rains, and currents shift).

Energy Related CO2
While modern society considers the passenger car as the big emitter of CO2, it turns out that is actually not the full story. In fact, it isn't the story at all, as we will see. Also, we think of electric plants as a problem. True, but they generate electricity for use by industry and buildings. So lets look at the uses of the energy to get a real picture of how humans generate this clear gas.

Our Buildings Are the Source
If we break down worldwide CO2 uses into common categories we get:
Industry
Buildings
Transportation
But we can further breakdown transportation into passenger cars and others (planes, boats, trains etc.). And we can also break out building materials from industry, as it is one of the largest industry CO2 categories including cements, drywall, glass, metals and others, and we can tie that to the built environment. And now here is what we get for worldwide emissions as a percent of total (ready to be surprised?):

Built Environment = 52% (40% for operations and 12% for materials)
Industry = 24%
Other Transport = 15%
Passenger cars = 9%

Yes. The biggie? Our buildings. The smallest? Cars.
Now, this is worldwide. In the US, the numbers move around a bit, but buildings are always the largest emitter, in virtually every country and worldwide. By over 5X worldwide. Surprised?

We Can Fix It
In order to address the built environment, we need to address the materials (such as new cement, drywall, metal processes) as well as building operations (primarily heating and cooling). Currently, almost every building material process was designed 100 to 150 years ago, when energy was nearly free and CO2 had no significance. Today, both are issues. And while homeowners cannot develop new processes to replace the old ones, new industry is doing just that. Companies like CalStar and Serious Materials among many are re-inventing the old processes, reducing embodied energy by 75% or more.

But we all can address operations, at least at home. Easiest targets are sealing ductwork, installing programmable thermostats, insulating homes that aren't, and choosing high R value windows (at least R6 and preferable higher). Up to 50% of heat loss occurs through windows which are closed. Upgrading to dual pane low E windows is a start, but only gets to an R3, hardly much improvement. But new technology is becoming available (such as ThermaProof Windows) which can provide R values above R 10. A 300% improvement, and a significant savings in heating and cooling bills.

Just The Beginning
Education and awareness are key. Yes, we must address everything, including our cars. But cars are not the answer, just a start. We all need to improve our homes and offices. Look around, seal those ducts, and upgrade those windows. Today.

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Accelerated Global Warming And Atmospheric CO2 Emissions

Up to now it has been generally assumed that global warming will be a linear process. However evidence from the geological past linked with climate modelling that takes into account the global warming that is already locked into the system indicates that there may not be a linear response to rising CO2 levels. There is a danger that at some point we will cross a threshhold when global warming accelerates. By continuing to increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere we are getting closer to that point.


From the analysis of the bubbles of air trapped in ice cores taken from the Greenland icecap that are up to 500,000 years old it has been shown that the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and the CO2 content has followed a regular 100,000 year cycle of change with the CO2 content and temperature closely linked and following the same graph line. Within this regular cycle there are some recently discovered very short periods of approximately only a few hundred years duration when temperatures rise dramatically by 8 degrees centigrade above the slower rises of up to 7 degrees centigrade. This gives a total range of 15 degrees centigrade from peak to trough. These records show natural processes at work before the impact of man's activities. We are currently in the lower temperature part of the cycle.

During the period covered by the ice core research the CO2 content of the atmosphere has varied between 170 and 280 ppm. (parts per million). From 1850 to today with the added input from the burning of fossil fuels the CO2 content has risen to 350 ppm. So we are now well outside of the historic range of values and CO2 levels are going to continue to rise for a long time yet and temperatures will follow.

Recent research has shown that the Amazon rain forest is not a stable mature forest with growth and decay in balance but is in fact an expanding forest that is being fertilised by the excess atmospheric CO2. The trees are getting bigger and there is a net take up of 5000 kg of carbon per hectare per year (1 hectare = 100 x 100 metres). The total area of forest is 400 million hectares so the whole forest could be absorbing 2 billion tons of carbon per year.

Research in the savanah lands to the east of the Amazon Basin has established that the crucial factor determining the development of the rain forest is the length of the dry season. The savanah to the east of the Amazon Basin and the eastern Amazon rain forest both receive about the same amount of rainfall, 1500 mm per year. However in the savanah the dry season lasts 6 months but in the rainforest the dry season only lasts 4 months.

As a result of the longer dry season the savanah catches fire an average of twice in ten years whereas the rainforest with the shorter dry season does not dry out and remains damp enough to prevent fire. In the savanah the fires destroy most of the vegetation and this prevents the savanah developing into a rainforest. If the dry season in the rainforest was extended to 6 months by climate change effects then the rainforest would dry out and burn and could not then re-establish itself. If the rainforest burnt this would release the CO2 currently being absorbed year by year. So the forest would change from being a buffer which for a hundred years has absorbed our excess CO2 into a major source of CO2 releasing tens of years build up of CO2 in a matter of weeks.

It is accepted by all, including climate change sceptics, that increasing the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere will lead to increased global warming and many computer models have been constructed giving a rise in average atmospheric temperature of between 2 and 6 degrees centigrade by the end of the century i.e. by 2100.

But only now are models being constructed that incorporate a feed-back into the model of the effects of changes in world climate due to the changes in temperature that are predicted by the model as the model programme runs. One of the most important effects of climate change is the release of carbon dioxide from natural processes as atmospheric temperature rises.

Because of the "above normal" level of CO2 already in the atmosphere we are already committed to a certain amount of global warming because the excess CO2 will remain effective for many years. In addition the continued burning of fossil fuels will continue to add to the atmospheric burden of CO2. This warming will inevitably cause some climate change.

The area of the world most vulnerable to the effects of global warming induced climate change is the Amazon basin. The climate change models show that rising sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean result in less rainfall and a longer dry season in the Amazon Basin. As described above this could lead to a reversal of the Amazon basin acting as a CO2 sink and it becoming a major source of CO2 returning the billions of tons of carbon to the atmosphere that have been stored there.

If the Amazon rainforest burns and releases billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in a short period then this will be a further boost to global warming that will result in significantly higher end of century temperatures.

The climate change model with climate change induced feedbacks indicates that on present trends the date for the change from CO2 sink to source for the Amazon rainforest is about 2050. So we have not got much time to get CO2 under control before that might happen. The Amazon rainforest is at present still acting as a buffer and is protecting us from the full effect of the global warming that would be created if all the CO2 we produce remained in the atmosphere.

If temperatures rise too high then there could be another natural phenomenon which would lead to the release of methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas

Current research based on the analysis of ancient sediments from Vladivostock and fossil evidence from Wyoming indicates that runaway methane global warming events have occurred in the past and the conditions prevailing on Earth now are suitable for it to happen again.

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Time for Individuals and Businesses to start using On-Line Carbon Offsets Services

The UK Government announced in February 2008 under "the Climate Change" Bill a legal commitment to reduce UK carbon emissions between 60 and 80 pct cut UK by 2050. The Bill also introduces a carrot and stick system, the Carbon Reduction Commitment for large non-energy organizations and businesses representing around 10 percent of UK CO2 emissions from 2010 which will inevitably have a knock on impact on small businesses and consumers. Coupled with the European Emissions Trading system some fifty percent of net UK carbon emissions will soon be capped in some way.


However, with only a very small proportion of our energy today come from alternative sources which do not add to overall carbon emissions and with the Government’s central 2056 UK population forecast of 78.6 million, 30 percent higher than today, an absolute 60 pct cut in carbon emissions below the 1990’s levels the Bill when it becomes law will enable the Government to force every individual and business to think about their CO2 emissions and what they can do to reduce emissions.

Private individuals or even small businesses employing hundreds of people can’t afford the luxury of expensive consultants or staff to measure their carbon emissions and when they do these groups need clear actionable advice and easy cost-effective solutions with sensible pay backs measured in years and not decades.

Fortunately among the many carbon offset and environmental consultancy businesses some low-cost solutions to meet the needs of individuals and businesses are starting to arrive. Three or four companies, which works globally now provide on-line tools and do-it yourself advice on-line and by email to help individuals and businesses simply measure their CO2 emissions, reduce carbon emissions and if they want to go that bit further purchase high quality carbon offsets without the need for expensive consultants or to employ staff.

If individuals or businesses in the UK or around the world will be forced to start to measure and reduce carbon emissions or to go that bit further and purchase carbon offsets then the solutions are going to be needed on-line.

About the Author: Luna is an associate editor to the website: http://www.carboncreditagency.com . We provide requisite information about Reduce Carbon Emissions,Car Offset, Carbon credit,Carbon Offsets,Carbon Neutral Flights etc... Your feed back comment and suggestions will be highly appreciated at contact@carboncreditagency.com

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Save money with eco friendly driving

The credit crunch and fuel prices have rarely been out of the news recently. When you combine this with the stark environmental warnings regarding CO2 emissions, it puts motorists under more pressure, both in terms of finance and conscience.

Clearly it’s just not practical for everyone to use public transport on a daily basis, so when you have to use your own car or a work vehicle, there are a number of steps you can make to your driving style that can help the environment and your wallet at the same time.


Eco-friendly driving is a term that’s been used more frequently in recent years. It covers a whole range of different aspects that are easy to implement into your daily journeys. The first of these is driving at a more even speed. Every day on the roads you’ll see people in urban areas accelerating harshly only to be stopped in their tracks by a set of traffic lights around the corner or a vehicle that’s obeying the limit. This rapid burst of speed of course means that they have to use their brakes more fiercely than normal too. Driving in this way only ever really achieves two things: wasting fuel and wearing down your car's controls.

Driving at a consistent and even speed whenever possible results in less CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere as well as preserving your fuel and brake components. By planning ahead and anticipating both the conditions and other road users, you can tailor your speed accordingly and also be in a position to brake more evenly and progressively rather than slamming them on at the last available moment.

There are other simple eco-friendly driving habits you can adopt, such as ensuring you’re in the correct gear for your speed, changing into neutral when you’ve stopped at traffic lights - even switching off your engine if you’re in a jam, and it’s clear you won’t be moving for a few minutes. Other things like driving with weight in the boot that you don’t need to be carrying, poorly inflated tyres, and even having the radio on when you’re not even listening to it will all increase your fuel consumption and the more you use, the more your emissions will be.

Another area where you can make a significant environmental impact is by switching fuels. Regardless of what fuel your vehicle uses just now, you can have it converted to use Liquefied Petroleum Gas or LPG and petrol. By using LPG you will cut down your emissions considerably and without affecting the performance and miles per gallon rate. Changing your vehicle to one with a smaller engine, can also help with emissions and put a smile on your face when buying road tax or getting a car insurance quote.

These are just some of the key areas where you can improve your driving, help the environment and save yourself money too. By implementing these small steps, you can bring about a lot of positive changes.

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What Is The Outlook For The Availability Of Fossil Fuels?

I think this article is comparable to the people who slow down on the highway to look at an automobile accident. You are not involved in the accident, yet you surely are curious about what is happening. At the present time we can sense the presence of a disaster, but we do not have enough information to feel that we can get involved. My push to adopt renewable energies is based on our continued polluting of the environment with the burning of fossil fuels. We know that we must slow down this pollution so that our quality of life will not be severely degraded. There is another piece of information needed to prod us into action, and that is how long do we have before we run out of fossil fuels? As a current member of the earth, I am concerned that we leave future generation's sufficient energy to bridge the gap from fossil to renewable fuels. This, to me, is looking at the car wreck. How long do we have until we are the ones involved in the wreck?

The majority of Americans now think that climate change is a problem and that global warming is real. But there still is not a sense of urgency. Every year the US emits CO2 that equals the equivalent weight of 1.2 billion elephants (2 trillion pounds using average size elephants). It is time to stop ignoring 1.2 billion elephants in the room. It is time to implement a plan that will adopt renewable energies at a pace to stabilize the environment from CO2 pollution and then, hopefully, start to reduce the amount of pollution we must derive this plan with an eye to how long our reserves of fossil fuels will last. Once we derive this plan we then can look at future generations and inform them "Here is the plan".

The development of modern civilization has been dependent on both the availability and the advancement of energy. We have witnessed a progression from animal and steam power to the internal combustion engine and electricity generation and to the harnessing of alternative sources of energy. Because of our reliance on energy sources, it is also important to understand the impact of energy use on the environment. All aspects of energy, the way it is produced, distributed, and consumed, can affect local, regional, and global environments through land use and degradation, air pollution and global climate change via greenhouse gas emissions.

Over the foreseeable future, it is very likely that fossil fuels will remain our largest source of energy. However, fossil fuels are finite resources and there is concern not only about both domestic supply and U.S. reliance on foreign supplies but, also, with the increasing cost of these fuels. The research on the longevity of fossil fuels is an exciting adventure in itself. I will touch on some of the theories before I conclude this series of articles. Given the slack of a decade or two, the best summation of the longevity of fossil fuels is presented in "Wikipedia, Fossil fuel: Years of production left in the ground with the most optimistic reserve estimates (Oil & Gas Journal, World Oil)".

Oil: = 45 years

Gas: = 72 years

Coal: = 252 years

With the slack of plus or minus 10 years, most projections are consistent with the Wikipedia numbers. . The popular Hubert peak theory projects that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum oil production tend to follow a bell-shaped curve. "Olduvai revisited 2008" from The Oil Drum blog is an amazing study. This theory was first laid out by Richard Duncan in1989 when he observed that world energy per capita had been declining for a decade. The Olduvai waveform for oil starts in 1950 which is consistent with the Wikipedia projections that the waveform will be completed by 2053.

The energy consumption of a nation is proportional to its Gross National Product (GNP).i.e. (The higher the GNP of a nation, then the higher its consumption.).To maintain our accustomed standard of living, we require the amount of energy that we are burning now to maintain our lifestyles. With the depletion of fossil fuels this will require renewable fuels to fill in the gap.

How do we hammer this information into a plan? A roadmap needs to be derived that utilizes the adoption of solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energies into our energy consumptions needs. Technologies such as stuffing CO2 into caves should not be adopted until they are proven. A plan that incorporates renewable energies with fossils fuels usage would be more realistic for our country to follow.

How do we proceed?

We must continue tax incentives for the renewable energy sectors to incubate their growth. Our House of Representatives in Congress has passed a bill to renew the energy tax incentives that are due to expire December 31, 2008. President Bush threatens to veto this bill because it taxes the Oil Industry $19 billion dollars from multi-billion dollar profits. The president's premise is that the oil companies require these profits to continue exploration of new oil. Politics aside, we desperately need to find new sources of renewable energy.

We need to demand that our local and national leaders produce renewable energy action plans. There are pockets of leadership like Arizona and California. This leadership needs to be at a national level to be successful for the USA. Once this is accomplished we will be well on our way for future generations.

I have a BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering. Thirty six years spent in the development of semiconductors. Business experience in start up business plan. Currently, an oyster farmer and interested in helping the environment by deploying solar energy. Please visit my Blog http://environmentalhelp.typepad.com/ for further discussions.

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Nuclear Energy and the Federal Deficit

The advantages of using Nuclear Power should be apparent to everybody with common sense, especially now with the resurfacing of the Global Warming and the Federal Deficit. Approximately 20% of the Federal Deficit is the value of imported oil.

The politics of nuclear energy, however, is rather complicated. In the U.S. the Congress has mainly favored nuclear energy, with the Republicans more so than the Democrats. Around 1990 a bill simplifying the licensing process for new plants became law. In the early 90s Congress voted to store nuclear waste in Nevada if the studies turned out favorable. Lengthy studies came out favorable around 2000, and in 2002 Congress voted to override the opposition oft he State of Nevada. Apparently lawsuits will tie up actual construction for a while, but it is expected that the storage of waste in Nevada will begin around 2010.

There has been a virtual moratorium on nuclear power plants in the United States during the past generation, and it has many causes. But one significant factor in the industry's decline was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) licensing process. This process didn't allow approval of the plants until after construction. This caused many costly delays while the completed plants were idling waiting for their operating licenses.

The old regulatory process, established in 1956, had been widely seen as a cumbersome failure. In 1992, the NRC established two new processes to streamline nuclear plant licensing. By 2003, however, after the September 11 attacks, the California blackouts, the steep rise in the cost of gas powered electricity and the growing concerns of global warming, nuclear power again became an option.

In contrast to the old Part 50 procedure, the new 10-CFR 52 or "Part52" regulation aim to settle questions about sitting, design, and operating licensing issues well before you start construction. Standardization of every aspect of an application's form and contest is also a crucial feature of Part 52. With this approach, the NRC will have to review and approve a specific design only once. After that, NRC needs to check only the areas where the applicant differs, such as environmental characteristics of the specific site.

According to Mechanical Engineering, October 2007, other future reactors will likely be one of the two designs below:

1. The AP-1000 power plant designed by Westinghouse, 1.1 gigawatt pressurized water reactor. According to Westinghouse, the design features two steam generators connected to the reactor pressure vessel and an array of passive safety system that don't require AC power or cooling water to be operational.

2. The other plant is General Electric design called the Economic Simplified Boiling Water reactor. The recirculation and safety system pumps have been replaced by natural gravity-driven water circulation and passive safety systems.

A switch to nuclear energy will cause there to be economic winners and losers. The potential losers will be tempted to resist the process politically.The winners, of course, are the nuclear industry itself as well as the construction industry. The public in general will win too. The losers are the coal industry, the oil industry, and the alternative energy industry. The alternative energy industry hasn't generated an appreciable amount of energy but has absorbed much Government money, and has absorbed much research energy in the academic world.

The capital cost for electric power plants is in the neighborhood of $1000 per installed kilowatt. It is somewhat lower for gas-fired turbines and often much higher for some nuclear plants (where construction delays and post facto safety regulations have raised costs considerably). These capital costs will have been largely amortized for nuclear plants whose license to operate is being extended.

Fueling a reactor for one year requires approximately 350,000 lb of raw uranium to produce about 1,000 MW of electricity for about 7500 hours. At $10 per pound, this is 0.04 cents per KW-h. These are rough numbers I found them in my notes.

Over 78% of French electricity demands are met by nuclear energy.This was one of the goals of the French Nuclear program, to decrease French dependence on foreign energy sources. As of September 30, 2007 there were a total of 197 nuclear power plant units with an installed electric net capacity of 169,842 MWe in operation in Europe and 12 units with 9,991 MWe were under
construction in five countries.

For Nuclear Power Plants in USA Statistics (Photius Coutsoukis) click the link below:

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/967_nuclear_power_plants_num

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/967_nuclear_power_plants_number_capacity_and.html

Have a Great Success
Gabriel Kazakias
http://www.wisenet-global.com
gabe314@optonline.com

Check the "Private Stash" of our site for more interesting articles.
http://wisenet-global.com

My name is Gabriel Kazakias. I am presently a retiree spending most of my time maintaining our website. I am a graduate mechanical engineer with a Bachelor's and Master's Degrees having more than twenty five years experience working as a Project Manager for a major Nuclear Power Plant Utility.

If you were going to ask me if Nuclear Plants are safe, the answer is absolutely yes. The people that I came across not only in my plant but also during my visits to other Nuclear Utilities through out the country are the most sincere professionals that I have seen in my life.

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Going Green For the Non-Green - 10 Easy Ways Greenify Your Life in One Week

If you have recently decided to go green, congratulations! Making the decision to go green is an exciting and responsible action, but it can certainly be overwhelming. The good news is that there are actually many ways in which you can quickly and easily go green in very little time without the need to become overwhelmed by all of the green, eco-friendly terminology that surrounds us.

1. Begin by changing out your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs. This is a very easy and fast way you can begin making a big difference within your own home. Not only will you be pitching in to help the planet, but you will also notice savings on your electric bill as well as the life span of your light bulbs.

2. Grab a re-usable bag and take it with you the next time you go shopping to avoid the need to use paper or plastic bags which contribute to waste levels.

3. Consider changing your transportation habits. When weather permits, ride your bike or walk to your destination. Consider grabbing a ride with a friend or co-worker or taking public transportation. You will reduce your own fuel costs as well as carbon emissions that pollute the environment.

4. When you are not actually using it, turn off the water, such as when brushing your teeth, rinsing your hair in the shower, doing the dishes, etc. You will save on your water bill as well as cut down on the world's water consumption.

5. Stop using items that are disposable, such as paper plates, paper towels, plastic cutlery, paper napkins, etc. These are small ways that you can make a huge difference in the amount of waste that is generated on the planet and must be handled. Opt for real plates, cups and cutlery and grab some pretty cloth napkins and dishcloths to clean up messes.

6. Opt for natural cleaning products. Not only are there are a lot of great natural cleaning products currently on the market, but you can also make your own cleaning products from items such as vinegar and baking powder in order to clean items even better and save money as well. While you are at it, use a re-usable spray bottle to cut down on waste.

7. Go meatless one day per week. The amount of energy that is required to feed livestock as well as manufacture it and ship it is tremendous. Going meatless one day per week will help to cut down on those energy costs as well as slash your grocery bill. In addition, you may find you are healthier as a result. Consider great high-protein dishes such as beans and legumes for alternatives.

8. Shop at your local farmer's market, provided that it is close-by. The produce is typically much healthier and often does not contain as many pesticides as store-bought produce. In addition, you will be doing your part to help the environment by reducing the amount of energy that is required for produce to be shipped in.

9. Compost scraps from your kitchen instead of tossing them in the trash. This is a great way to add back nutrients to the soil.

10. Turn off lights when you are not in the room and unplug appliances when you are not actually using them. This is a wonderful way to reduce the amount of energy that you use and also see savings on your electric bill.

Djuna Woods writes the popular blog Simple Ways to Help at http://simplewaystohelp.com where she discusses simple ways to greenify your life for the non-green.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Djuna_Woods

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Five Easy Things You Can Do To Destroy The Environment

With Earth Day nearly upon us, and all of the talk about the damage that humans are doing to the environment, maybe you feel as though you aren't doing your part. Fear not, I've compiled a list of some very easy things that you can do to have the greatest impact on the environment in the shortest amount of time. So, without further adeiu, here they are:

Eat strawberries

I mean non-organic strawberries here. Strawberry production, as well as some grape, tomato, and other fruit production still uses Methyl Bromide as a pesticide and fungicide. Methyl Bromide (MB) is one of the most damaging chemicals to the ozone layer destroying ozone molecules 50 times faster than other ozone depleting compounds. While outlawed in 1987 as a part of the Montreal Protocol, a loophole called the "critical-use exemption" allows countries to continue to use the chemical if they decide that there is no suitable replacement. That exemption has prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to approve the use of 4,813.5 metric tonnes of the stuff for 2008. As an added benefit, the fruits and vegetables that are often produced using consistently rank at the top of the "most contaminated" list each year. See the "foodnews" link below for more information.

Drink Your Water

You should know this one already. The government suggests that you drink eight glasses of water per day, but why not drink those eight glasses out of a convenient plastic bottle? Everyone else is! Each hour, 2.5 million individual water bottles are thrown away in the United States alone. By using a plastic bottle, you get the added benefit of potentially consuming a chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) that comes from plastic which mimics natural estrogen. Too much estrogen can result in certain kinds of cancer as well as hampering fertility in some people.

Fill'er up With Biofuel

Two recent studies published in the journal Science provide an economist's view of the biofuel industry. Because biofuels are currently the subject of much venture speculation as well as government promotion, more and more farmers are jumping on the bandwagon. That means that the crops they used to produce that can't be turned into fuel are being farmed elsewhere, and more often than not, environmentally valuable lands are converted to agricultural lands instead. Time Magazine recently published an article illustrating how this macroeconomic phenomenon is played out in one of the more valuable carbon stores, the Amazon rainforest. In one photo, a tiny sliver of forest is seen against a sea of newly converted agricultural land. See the Time Magazine link below.

Eat Meat - Lots of Factory-Raised, Grain-Fed Meat

Those vegetarians have it all wrong. A great way to stick it to Mother Nature is to treat yourself to an extra helping of beef. If you, along with everyone else in America heeds the advice, it will have the same impact as putting an additional half million cars on the road. Imported meat is better because of the gas used to get it to you, but at very least, try to find some locally grown animal to eat. All the better if it was raised in a factory farm. The runoff created could have the added benefit of introducing bacteria into waterways and killing fish along the way. See the meatrix link below for more information.

Keep a Well-Fed, Well Watered Lawn

With water shortages looming all over the western US this summer, it would only be right if you had a nice looking lawn. A green lawn means using a lot of water and a lot of fertilizer. Water often, but especially during the hottest part of the day or whenever it is windy. Also, make sure to use lots of high nitrogen fertilizer to keep the lawn green. If you're really doing it right, you'll want to water heavily right after fertilizing heavily. Maybe the runoff created will take out any fish that are left.

Shane Turner's interests include nursing faculty employment (http://www.nursingfacultyjobs.com), welder employment (http://www.hirewelders.com), and helping individuals with their new ventures (http://www.yournewventure.com).

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shane_Turner

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Report from World Environment Day 2008 - "Kick the Habit Towards a Low Carbon Economy"

World Environment Day, which is commemorated each year on June 5th, is one of the most significant mode through which the United Nations stimulates the global awareness of the environment. It is by this way that the United Nations attract political attention and enhances action to shape a better global environment. Each year the World Environment Day is celebrated in recognition of unique theme. Norway was honored to host International World Environment Day 2007 celebrations in recognition of the theme -- 'Melting Ice - The Hot Topic'. Over a hundred nations across the globe celebrates the World Environment Day with highly relevant theme each year.

The slogan for World Environment Day 2008 is 'Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy'. With an understanding of the fact that the change in climatic condition is gradually becoming one of the most defining issue of the age, UNEP is requesting the nations, companies and communities to put special focus on the greenhouse gas emissions and to put spare thought over how to reduce them. The World Environment Day 2008 is going to highlight resources and focuses on promoting low carbon economies with a view to shape a better and healthier future. Promoting a low carbon economy involves steps towards improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation and eco-friendly consumption. The chief international celebration of the World Environment Day 2008 is going to be held in New Zealand.

The Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Ministers of Environment deliver statements and commit themselves to care for this only green planet of the universe. Serious pledges establish sound and non-transitory governmental policies related to environmental management and economic planning. bicycle parades, tree planting , recycling campaigns, clean-up campaigns, street rallies, school level essay and poster competitions etc. are organized all over the world on June 5th to celebrate the World Environment Day.

Here are some information on World Environment Day for the last ten years regarding where the WED celebration was held at and what were the respective themes each year:

Places of celebration:

World Environment Day 2007 - Tromsø, Norway
World Environment Day 2006 - Algiers, Algeria
World Environment Day 2005 - San Francisco, U.S.
World Environment Day 2004 - Barcelona, Spain
World Environment Day 2003 - Beirut, Lebanon
World Environment Day 2002 - Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
World Environment Day 2001 - Torino, Italy and Havana, Cuba
World Environment Day 2000 - Adelaide, Australia
World Environment Day 1999 - Tokyo, Japan
World Environment Day 1998 - Moscow, Russian Federation

Themes of celebration:

World Environment Day 2007 - Melting Ice - a Hot Topic?
World Environment Day 2006 - Deserts and Desertification - Don't Desert Drylands!
World Environment Day 2005 - Green Cities - Plan for the Planet!
World Environment Day 2004 - Wanted! Seas and Oceans - Dead or Alive?
World Environment Day 2003 - Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It!
World Environment Day 2002 - Give Earth a Chance
World Environment Day 2001 - Connect with the World Wide Web of Life
World Environment Day 2000 - The Environment Millennium - Time to Act
World Environment Day 1999 - Our Earth - Our Future - Just Save It!
World Environment Day 1998 - For Life on Earth - Save Our Seas

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World's food prices rise and alternative energy.

If you in the goods investing industry, or even if just tend to read financial newspapers, you probably already heard about the tremendous rise in basic food prices in the past few years. Some people blame the use of biofuels in that effects, claiming that using biodiesel and ethanol from crops causing the price increase.

Although partially true, the production of biofuels is still much, much lower than needed in order to cause such a dramatic effect (rise of over 200% in wheat process etc.).

The real cause of the price explosion is the increase in demand, mainly in developing countries, in which a rise in demand come along with a rise in the life quality. The demand for new food resources marks and emphasizes the energy resources problem.
The real solution must come from the science and industry of agriculture – we must increase our production ability now. The shortage in food is a lot more dangerous, and must be solved before we all suffer from the catastrophic results. However, increasing the crops production will also be beneficent to the energy market, supplying new resources of energy for the good of all. So I suggest to look on green energy resources such as ethanol and biodiesel as a catalyst to increase the research of crop viability and growth, for a more secure future.

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