The Environment / Global Warming

• Natural Gas Seeps May Contribute Significantly to Greenhouse Gas Levels

  Natural gas in underground rock layers can seep to the surface—sometimes in quantities abundant enough to produce “eternal flames.”Researchers say much remains to be learned about these conditions and their contributions to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.A team of geologists recently studied a little-known but spectacular flame behind a waterfall in Chestnut Ridge Park in western New YorkAt the New York site, the researchers identified numerous “micro seeps” of gas, apparently from the same source that fuels the eternal flame. This suggests that such seeps, if they are numerous and widespread, could make a significant contribution to atmospheric concentrations of…

• Politics Still Rules the Climate Change Debate in the US

  US residents who believe in the scientific consensus on global warming are more likely to support government action to curb emissions, regardless of political party. But, there’s still a divide.A political split remains on the existence of climate change despite the fact that the vast majority of scientists believe it is real, says Aaron M. McCright, associate professor in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University.The study, in the journal Climatic Change, is one of the first to examine the influence of political orientation on perceived scientific agreement and support for government action to reduce…

• Climate Change Debate Heats Up, Threatens Shale Boom

  Whether or not you believe that global warming is real, there is no disputing that the rhetoric over the issue is heating up again.Case in point:  Hollywood has thrown its latest incendiary bomb at the oil and gas industry:  Greedy Lying Bastards. a documentary by an activist filmmaker who claims to have exposed a cabal of fossil industry conspirators including oil and gas interests (usual suspects the Koch brothers, ExxonMobil) who bankroll climate "denial" campaigns and the politicians who purportedly shill for industry in the same way (Bush 43, Sen. James Inhofe [D-OK]). Related article: The Beijing Syndrome: China Begins…

• The Beijing Syndrome: China Begins to Care for the Environment

  As the term “China syndrome” has already been taken, I am terming what is happening in the country these days the “Beijing syndrome,” for China’s capital seems to be shaping up as the epicenter of a great upheaval to come. A “syndrome” is a group of symptoms that, when taken together, point to a more serious underlying disease; which, of course, is what we see emerging in the contention between China’s rapid growth and its environment.Thirty-five years ago, after China got over its bout of “cultural revolutions” and “great leaps forward” to become serious about economic growth, numerous reforms were…

• The Time has Arrived for China to Take Responsibility for the Environment

  This is another fine mess China got herself into.  On March 16, 2013, Huffington Post reported in “Dead Pig Count In China’s Waters Near Shanghai Spikes”:“The number of dead pigs retrieved from waters in and near China’s financial hub of Shanghai has reached 12,566.”“Authorities in Shanghai plucked 611 dead pig carcasses Saturday from Huangpu river, which provides drinking water to the city’s 23 million residents. In total, 8,965 dead pigs have been found in the river since March 8.”“Jiaxing — where small hog farms are prevalent — had recovered 3,601 dead pigs from its streams, according to state media.”“….. there…

• Highlighting Global Trends in Carbon Emissions

  It is rather easy to get swept up in the ‘holier than thou’ mindset when it comes to lower carbon emissions in the US. Granted, the US is making progress on this front: 2012 levels were about 13% below those seen in 2005.But it would be remiss to ignore the impact of the crippling recession kicked off in 2008, which significantly aided in crimping productivity, and hence pollution. And secondly, it would be misleading to claim that the changing dynamics in domestic energy consumption were an altruistic decision: they were not.For the precipitous fall in natural gas prices has only…

• Snowball Earth: Lessons for Climate Change

  About 635 million years ago, the Earth was covered by ice from pole to pole in what is being described as “Snowball Earth”, which is now becoming a trendy new topic in the polarized climate change debate. During “Snowball Earth”, the global mean temperature would have been about -50 degrees Celsius (-74 degrees Fahrenheit) as the sun’s radiation was reflected back into space by the icy surface.  In simpler terms, let’s call it life on Mars. The scientific research suggests this ice age was brought on by a lowering of atmospheric greenhouse gases to near-present levels through tectonically-mediated rock weathering,…

• Analysing the Link between Air Pollution and Heart Attacks

  There are many forms of air pollution. There is no doubt that air pollution is not healthy. The uncertainty is at what level is it an acceptable risk. The one of concern in this study is the finest of particulate matter. The largest study yet to investigate the links between fine air-borne particulate matter (PM) and patient survival after hospital admission for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) found death rates increased with increased exposure to PM2.5 — tiny particles that measure 2.5 micrometers in diameter or less, approximately 30 times smaller than a human hair. The amount of PM in the…

• China's Smog Becoming an International Issue

  The good news for the Chinese leadership is that their fiscal policies have paid off, producing both the world’s second largest economy and the globe’s leading creditor nation in less than a generation.The less good news is that the country’s hell-bent drive towards industrialization has brought in its train a host of collateral problems, not the least of which is pollution. Last month Beijing’s air pollution soared past levels considered hazardous by the World Health Organization.Prior to that, the government often played down the pollution in Beijing, insisting it was merely fog, despite evidence to the contrary that was plain…

• Do Key Volcanoes Control Earth's Climate Cycles?

  Volcanoes at key locations where enormous amounts of carbon dioxide are poised for release may have driven Earth’s back and forth between greenhouse and icehouse states over the past 500 million years.“We found that Earth’s continents serve as enormous ‘carbonate capacitors,’” says Cin-Ty Lee, professor of Earth science at Rice University. “Continents store massive amounts of carbon dioxide in sedimentary carbonates like limestone and marble, and it appears that these reservoirs are tapped from time to time by volcanoes, which release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”As much as 44 percent of carbonates by weight is carbon dioxide.…