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Brett Rohring

Climate Panel Cites Near Certainty on Warming - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...limate-change-panel-finds.html

climate warming nytimes

shared by Brett Rohring on 20 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • An international panel of scientists has found with near certainty that human activity is the cause of most of the temperature increases of recent decades, and warns that sea levels could conceivably rise by more than three feet by the end of the century if emissions continue at a runaway pace.
  • “It is extremely likely that human influence on climate caused more than half of the observed increase in global average surface temperature from 1951 to 2010,” the draft report says. “There is high confidence that this has warmed the ocean, melted snow and ice, raised global mean sea level and changed some climate extremes in the second half of the 20th century.”
  • The draft comes from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body of several hundred scientists that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, along with Al Gore. Its summaries, published every five or six years, are considered the definitive assessment of the risks of climate change, and they influence the actions of governments around the world. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being spent on efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions, for instance, largely on the basis of the group’s findings.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • The 2007 report found “unequivocal” evidence of warming, but hedged a little on responsibility, saying the chances were at least 90 percent that human activities were the cause. The language in the new draft is stronger, saying the odds are at least 95 percent that humans are the principal cause.
  • On sea level, which is one of the biggest single worries about climate change, the new report goes well beyond the assessment published in 2007, which largely sidestepped the question of how much the ocean could rise this century.
  • Regarding the question of how much the planet could warm if carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere doubled, the previous report largely ruled out any number below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. The new draft says the rise could be as low as 2.7 degrees, essentially restoring a scientific consensus that prevailed from 1979 to 2007.
  • But the draft says only that the low number is possible, not that it is likely. Many climate scientists see only a remote chance that the warming will be that low, with the published evidence suggesting that an increase above 5 degrees Fahrenheit is more likely if carbon dioxide doubles.
  • The level of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is up 41 percent since the Industrial Revolution, and if present trends continue it could double in a matter of decades.
Adriana Trujillo

Bringing Back the Night: The Fight Against Light Pollution by Paul Bogard: Yale Environ... - 0 views

e360.yale.edu/...2681

shared by Adriana Trujillo on 22 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • France
  • within an hour of workers leaving
  • cannot be turned on before sunset
  • ...61 more annotations...
  • two years
  • designed to eventually cut carbon dioxide emissions by 250,000 tons per year, save the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of 750,000 households, and slash the country’s overall energy bill by 200 million Euros ($266 million).
  • “reduce the print of artificial lighting on the nocturnal environment
  • lighting in many parts of the world is endangering our health and the health of the ecosystems on which we The good news is that light pollution is readily within our grasp to control.rely
  • ecological light pollution, warning that disrupting these natural patterns of light and dark, and thus the structures and functions of ecosystems, is having profound impacts
  • China, India, Brazil, and numerous other countries are becoming increasingly affluent and urbanized
  • glowing white
  • Connecticut and California — have enacted regulations to reduce light pollution, but most nations and cities still do little to dial down the excessive use of light
  • LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, can improve our ability to reduce and better regulate lighting
  • “blue-rich
  • disruptive to circadian rhythms.
  • reducing
  • or Loss of Night
  • 30 percent of vertebrates and more than 60 percent of invertebrates are nocturnal
  • bright lights
  • All are potentially impacted by our burgeoning use of artificial light
  • We have levels of light hundreds and thousands of time higher than the natural level during the night
  • computer-generated maps that dramatically depict the extent of light pollution across the globe
  • Every flip of a light switch contributes to altering ancient patterns of mating, migration, feeding, and pollination, with no time for species to adapt
  • 2012 study of leatherback turtles
  • “artificial lighting of the nesting beaches is the biggest threat to survival of hatchlings and a major factor in declining leatherback turtle populations.”
  • eflected light of the stars and moon from the beach to the ocean
  • follow the light of hotels and streetlights
  • drawn off-course by artificial light
  • between 100 million and 1 billion, we don’t really know — killed each year by collision with human-made structures
  • our outdoor lights are irresistible flames, killing countless moths and other insects, with ripple effects throughout the food chain
  • natural pest control
  • for bats
  • artificial light disrupts patterns of travel and feeding since many bat species avoid illuminated areas.
  • that street lighting influences the migratory pattern of Atlantic salmon,
  • studies on light pollution, ranging from research into the socio-political challenges of cutting light pollution in the Berlin metropolitan area to the effects of light pollution on nocturnal mammals
  • composition of entire communities of insects and other invertebrates.
  • humans
  • nocturnal light disrupts our sleep, confuses our circadian rhythms
  • hormone melatonin
  • most disruptive to our body’s
  • blue wavelength light tells our brain that night is over,
  • consequences of excessive exposure to light at night include an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease
  • American Medical Association
  • “risks and benefits of occupational and environmental exposure to light-at-night
  • “new lighting technologies at home and at work that minimize circadian disruption
  • are concerned about the impact of some new lighting
  • make LEDs a
  • these lights may actually make things significantly worse
  • often brighter than the old lights they are replacing
  • LEDs could “exacerbate known and possible unknown effects of light pollution on human health (and the) environment” by more than five times.
  • preventing areas
  • recommends limits for the amount of light in five different zones of lighting intensity
  • banning unshielded lighting in all zones.
  • researchers have identified numerous practical steps to reduce light pollution:
  • spectral composition of lighting (
  • limiting the duration of lighting
  • altering the intensity
  • the Model Lighting Ordinance
  • simple act of shielding our lights — installing or retrofitting lamp fixtures that direct light downward to its intended target — represents our best chance to control light pollution
  • lines of shielded lighting fixtures
  • light equals safety, and darkness danger
  • with little compelling evidence to support common assumptions.
  • The objection
  • For example, ever-brighter lights can actually diminish security by casting glare that impedes our vision and creates shadows where criminals can hide.
  • light effectively than abundantly
  • Del Birmingham on 22 Aug 13
     
    As evidence mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet
  • Adriana Trujillo on 22 Aug 13
     
    mounts that excessive use of light is harming wildlife and adversely affecting human health, new initiatives in France and elsewhere are seeking to turn down the lights that flood an ever-growing part of the planet.
Adriana Trujillo

LEGO Group to invest 1 Billion DKK boosting search for sustainable materials - June - A... - 0 views

www.lego.com/...sustainable-materials-centre

lego other company news add sustainable materials

shared by Adriana Trujillo on 24 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Adriana Trujillo on 24 Jun 15
     
    The LEGO Group announced plans to invest approximately $150.5 million in R&D to identify and implement new, sustainable raw material input for its product and packaging manufacturing process
Adriana Trujillo

Clean Energy Saving US Companies More Than $1 Billion Annually | Sustainable Brands - 2 views

www.sustainablebrands.com/...panies_more_1_billion_annually

ROI renewable energy other company news

shared by Adriana Trujillo on 23 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • renewable energy
  • clean energy is becoming mainstream for U.S. corporations
  • Walmart, for example, now produces more solar power than 38 U.S. states.
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  • corporate investments in clean energy are not yet at the scale we need,
  • Del Birmingham on 23 Jun 14
     
    The nation's largest companies are rapidly embracing renewable energy sourcing and greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts, according to a new report from Calvert Investments, Ceres, David Gardiner & Associates, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
  • Adriana Trujillo on 24 Jun 14
     
    The nation's largest companies are rapidly embracing renewable energy sourcing and greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts, according to a new report from Calvert Investments, Ceres, David Gardiner & Associates, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 
Adriana Trujillo

WRI Announces $2 Billion Commitment to Restoring Degraded Forests - 1 views

www.triplepundit.com/...wri

NGO forests WRI investment

shared by Adriana Trujillo on 30 Nov 17 - No Cached
  • Adriana Trujillo on 30 Nov 17
     
    Latin America and the Caribbean are due for an ecological makeover. The World Resources Institute (WRI) says it already has the funding committed to restore some 131 million degraded lands across the region. The project has 16 investors so far. Another 19 investors are already hard and work funding the restoration of more than 24 million acres.
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