Is Global Warming happening for real?

Indeed, global warming is no myth. Not only affirmed a posteriori by global warming scientists around the globe but Mother Nature confirms it.  Each day the sources of the cataclysmic phenomena are growing and there are numerous evidences to prove it. On a global scale, most countries are already experiencing the drastic fluctuations in atmospheric temperatures – from extremely hot summers to unbearably cold winters.  Our planet is clearly succumbing to the power of Global warming unless we start to tackle its sources.

The sources of Global Warming:

·         Anthropogenic (man-made) Greenhouse gases (CO2, N20, CH4, …)

·         Emissions of carbon dioxide (56.6% deriving from the burning of fossil fuels)

·         Pollution of our environment by non-biodegradable substances

·         Deforestation (responsible for at least 25% of greenhouse gas emissions)

·         Natural causes such as methane released from Arctic Tundra and Wetlands.

 

The impacts of Global Warming:

There is no doubt cast upon the obvious interrelationship between the sources of global warming and the ‘bizarre’ catastrophes now happening around the world. For those who do not feel concerned about global warming, read on below to identify how the global crisis is affecting your quality of life.

Further Evidence of Global Warming unveiled:

       From this to:       

·  Coral reef bleaching is the result of extreme temperatures caused by Global warming to which oceans are exposed. Consequently,  the once rich multi coloured corals metamorphose into a ghostly white hue.  

Most of the stunning islands located in the Indian Ocean are already encountering the deterioration process of their corals. These include the Seychelles Islands, Mauritius Island, the Maldives, Madagascar and Andaman Islands.

Soon our exotic summer holidays will be drained of its colours completely if the Global warming process is not addressed by each one of us.

·  Rise in Sea-Level is a clear product of Global warming due to the ceaseless melting of land ice and the thermal expansion of sea water. As a result, the coastal areas of numerous countries and islands are shrinking.  such as Rufisque, situated on the South Coast of Senegal. Other ramifications of sea level rises are catastrophic tide waves, floods and change in water density and salinity.

The seriousness of the situation bolts out further when we realise how many coastal residences will have to be deserted in the near future, including hotels and all the attractions based in the coastal areas. Therefore, now is the ideal time to begin tackling Global Warming.        

·  Fatal Malaria epidemic across Kenya and Tanzania have increased due to the massive rise in temperature. Scientists have confirmed this is a direct effect of Global warming. 

·  Excessive warmth leading to drought in most cases, especially in regions nearest to the equator such as Cairo in Egypt, Kenya and South Africa.  

·  Decrease in ice thickness in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This result obviously relates to the unusually high temperature experienced by this region. As an outcome of this Global warming threat, an unbelievable number of penguins are perishing. So far 33% of the penguin’s population have already vanished. 

·  Receding glaciers in places such as Peru, Venezuela and Argentina. South America is suffering from a drastic rise in temperature, which has killed unusually high numbers of people.

 

Posted under Climate, Environmental News, Lifestyle & Fashion, Wildlife

Today China is one of the world’s largest timber traders. The eastern nation has also become the world’s second-largest producer of paper and paperboard, and the biggest producer of plywood and veneers made from tropical hardwoods. These actions have stirred the attention of ecologists across the globe who have dubbed China’s economic activity as ‘neo-colonial’, as China’s search for resources including energy and minerals, is reminiscent of that characterised by Western colonialism.

Between 1997 and 2007, the volume of wood imported by China tripled. In a decade, the country has established itself as the world’s biggest importer of raw forest products – including logs and saw timber. This vigorous appetite for wood is not likely to fade anytime soon: a 2006 report by Forest Trends, a group based in Washington DC that monitors and regiments the timber trade, predicts that China’s forest imports will double within a decade. And if the previous ten years are a mark of the future, this forecasting may come to light.

There are a few statistics that capture China’s recent impact on the world’s forest and timber industry, as well as the Western consumerism that has subsidised it:

A year before the Forest Trends report, in 2005, China had become the world’s single largest exporter of wood products, valued at more than $17 billion. In the same year China’s most regular big-spender was the United States, which bought approximately $7.9 billion worth – that’s over a third of the Chinese wood market expected sales.

China now makes about a 30% of the world’s furniture, which is a curious statistic if you consider Western spending power. Between 2000 and 2006, Chinese exports of furniture rose from 91 million pieces to 248 million, with the lion’s share – that of about 40% – going directly to the US. Finally, between 1997 and 2005, imports of wood products form China to the United States and the European Union rose by more than 700 per cent.

These figures are remarkable, consider the finite resources which the timber industry work with, and the stringent parameters that global organisations should be implementing to ensure an anti-monopoly economy. And with China now set as Gabon’s largest timber trading partner, there are scares of what this sort of aggressive market behaviour may encourage throughout the industry.

In 2003 Gabon supplied 40% of China’s log imports from the west and central Africa regions, and China imported an estimated 46% of Gabon’s total forest exports. Today, there are approximately 750 Chinese companies operating in 50 African countries – which equates to at least 7 Chinese companies per country. This economic foundation to China’s relationship with Africa is obviously raising concerns, and the procurement of natural resources with Africa has abided by Beijing’s sole political condition for establishing business ties between the two nations, that being, the refusal to diplomatically recognise Taiwan.

Whether it is considered to be political, economical or industrial, this behaviour is at best ominous and remains as a tentative backdrop for the accusations which have been continually thrown at the Chinese timber industry of being involved with illegal logging activity. And with China’s grip getting ever-tighter around the timber markets, let us hope that these fingers are misguided.,

Posted under Articles, Environmental News

After the increase in global awareness about the dwindling Brazilian rainforest in recent years, it seems worrying that there is once again concern over its destruction after official government data emerged recently stating that deforestation has risen by 64 percent in the last twelve months. This sudden increase in deforestation can be attributed to loggers and soy farmers pushing ever further into the Amazon jungle and the recent high commodity prices.

This week, Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research said that around 3,145 square miles – an area about half the size of Wales – of forest were destroyed between August 2007 and August 2008. The satellite images were captured by a real-time monitoring system, known in Brazil as Deter. It comes as a shock – and a terrible step backwards – that deforestation has picked up again after it seemed to be diminishing over the last three years.

The rainforest statistics have been highlighted by the Brazilian newspapers, sparking a debate over how best to preserve the Amazon rainforest and triggering environmental campaigners to attack the government, claiming that the battle to protect the rainforest is not being given sufficient recognition.

This information about the yearly rise in deforestation was released soon after an announcement of monthly figures assessing deforestation per month, which actually showed that it had decreased. Government figures show that between May and June this year deforestation fell by 25%. “This is not about luck, it is about work, work, work,” said Brazil’s environment minister, Carlos Minc who described the levels of forest destruction as “alarming”.

Although the monthly decline in deforestation is of course positive, Environmentalists think that the annual statistics give a more accurate representation of the damage being done to the rainforest, and the environment cannot afford for them to be ignored. Minc is aware that the government still has to combat large problems such as illegal logging. “We can’t celebrate because deforestation is still very large. We have to invest everything into sustainable development,” Minc was quoted in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

Environmental campaigners are now accusing the government of backing out of its original promises to protect the Amazon rainforest, which has been constantly destroyed since the 1970s by a mixture of logging, cattle ranching and soy farming. Brazil is striving to expand its economy and develop the Amazon region; however the campaigners fear that this is at the expense of Brazil’s natural resources.

“The president (Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva) said there would be no steps backwards,” the former environment minister Marina Silva said in an interview with the O Globo newspaper. “But suddenly there is a conjuncture of things that go against everything that was being done.”

We can only hope that the Brazilian government hasn’t just been making these claims to pacify environmentalists and that they really are willing to crack down extensively on the decimation of this rainforest before the destruction becomes uncontrollable and it is too late

Posted under Articles, Environmental News, Wildlife