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Global Warming

After decades of irresponsible consumption and unfounded optimism in the resiliency of the planet, the chickens are finally come home to roost.

After decades of irresponsible consumption and unfounded optimism in the resiliency of the planet, the chickens are finally come home to roost. According the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming is speeding up and the fall-out will be worse than the most pessimistic climate scientists even suspected.

In 1995, a panel of 500 scientists agreed that the Earth’s temperature will rise between one and 3.5 degrees Celsius by 2100. Now, after re-evaluating the data, the same experts are saying that the increase will be between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees – and that’s with world-wide controls in place. Without those controls, we’re actually on pace for a disastrous 12 degree increase.

Even a one degree increase in global temperatures is enough to thin glaciers and the alpine snowpack, dangerously raise water levels in the world’s oceans and waterways, dry out soil, endanger fragile arctic species, and lead to more catastrophic weather events on par with the 1998 ice storm in Eastern Canada.

A six degree increase would make the planet warmer than it’s been in a long time, submerging coastlines and swamping lowlands around the world – the human cost, as well as the cost of property would be enormous. While there are a few scientists out there who are still in global warming denial, there’s no denying that the increase in temperature has occurred in direct proportion to the increase in carbon dioxide levels. At the beginning of the industrial revolution, concentrations were 280 parts per million. Today concentrations are 360 ppm and climbing – the highest they’ve been in 450,000 years, which is only as far back as ice core sampling can go.

It’s an ironic revelation at a time when SUV sales are breaking all records and B.C. businesses are switching from relatively clean-burning fuels such as natural gas to oil and even diesel in order to save a few dollars.

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, we will have to reduce greenhouse gas emission by at least 50 per cent to stabilize the planet. That may seem like a lot, but according to DSF executive director Jim Fulton and Climate Change Project Director Gerry Scott, low carbon technology already exists – in fact, a lot of the technology is already three decades old.

Because people tend to get defensive about their own actions, stick their fingers in their ears and hum loudly until the science guy stops talking Armageddon, the DSF has made it clear that we are all equally at fault here (although some transgressors are clearly more equally at fault than others). A universal solution is required for a universal problem.

To simplify the causes, effects and remedies of global warming, the DSF has broken the issue down into the following categories: personal transportation; residential buildings; commercial buildings; industrial energy use; freight transport; agriculture; and electric power generation. Each category is different, and has its own solutions.

www.davidsuzuki.org

Where there’s a will there’s a way. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any political will in Canada to put any low-carbon initiatives into place. And as long as people are more worried about the high price of gas and tax breaks than about the well-being of the environment, there never will be.

According to a pre-election poll, 88 per cent of Canadians believe the government should do something about global warming. The government should do something, even if the Canadian public isn’t ready to do as much themselves. People will grumble, but when the future of the planet is at stake there’s little else they can do but swallow the low-carbon pill.

Visit this site to find out more about the DSF’s clean air campaign and find out how you can get involved at home, at work, and on the road.

www.ballard.com

This is the homepage of Ballard Power Systems, the creator of the Ballard Fuel Cell – a zero-emission "battery" that generates electricity without combustion. The only problem with the cells is the production and handling of hydrogen, both of which appear to be solved.

According to scientists, a three-metre by three-metre pond filled with green algae will be able to provide enough hydrogen to supply a home with heat, light and electricity, with enough hydrogen left over to fuel the family car. And while hydrogen can be extremely explosive under the wrong circumstances, engineers believe that it is no more dangerous than natural gas or propane if handled and monitored correctly. Visit the Ballard site to keep up to date on this ground-breaking technology which could become standard in homes and vehicles in the next decade.

www.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car.htm

While it may be a decade before hydrogen-powered cars make it out of the test phase, leading automotive manufacturers are already offering a selection of hybrid cars, powered by a combination of electricity and gas. The Honda Insight and Toyota Prius are the first prototypes to make it to market.

These hybrids are powered by an electric motor while a gas motor idles and fuels the battery. When the car accelerates past a certain point, the gas motor kicks in, driving the transmission with the assistance of the electric motor.

The result is about one-fifth the emissions and three to four times the mileage, depending on whether you drive mainly in the city or on the highway.

Consider that one gallon of gasoline weighs eight pounds, and that eight pounds of gas turns into approximately 25 pounds of Carbon Dioxide during combustion. If a single large SUV burns six gallons of gas on the trip to Whistler, that equals 150 pounds of carbon dioxide. When you consider that some 16,000 vehicles can make the drive from the Lower Mainland on any given day during peak season, and that many of those vehicles are SUV’s, trucks and vans, that results in approximately 1,200 imperial tons (1,100 metric tons) of carbon dioxide. That’s a lot of greenhouse gas.

Follow the links from this site to Honda and Toyota. If you’re in the market to buy a new car, think hybrid.

www.ecomall.com

Although the technology is more widely available, it’s not like you pass a solar, wind and geothermal energy shop on every corner. If you’re thinking about supplementing your power needs with the latest technology, rest assured that the companies are out there – you just have to do a little bit of digging to find them. EcoMall is a good starting point, leading you towards everything from energy efficient lighting suppliers to solar water heater companies. While it’s not the sexiest looking site on the net, it’s by far the most comprehensive.

www.ec.gc.ca/air/menu_e.shtml

While the government hasn’t done much of anything to alleviate global warming and the build-up of greenhouse gases, they have at least kept honest and accurate records of the situation.

Back in 1992, about the time that the world became aware of global warming, the Canadian government committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2008. Then, at the 1997 Kyoto Conference on Climate Change, Canada upped its pledge by another 6.5 per cent by 2010. Now, almost four years later, greenhouse gas levels are up 28 per cent over 1992 levels. Instead of living up to our commitments as they have arisen and reducing our emissions by one quarter, we have dug ourselves into a whole where we’ll have to reduce emissions by one half – and there’s no way we’re going to make it in time. Barring a miracle, Canadians will remain the largest per capita polluters in the world when 2010 rolls around.

That’s no excuse to give up, however. Every little thing counts.