Sunday, August 01, 2010

Soot is second leading cause of climate change: study
He concluded that soot is currently the No. 2 driver of climate change — behind CO2 but ahead of methane — and that curbing emissions of black carbon would produce the fastest, most effective and affordable international response to climate change and the shrinking of the Arctic sea ice.
...
As of mid-July, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center showed Arctic sea ice is retreating at about the same pace it did in 2007, when an unprecedented summer meltdown sparked alarm among scientists and governments.
...
Jacobson estimates that eliminating soot from the burning of fossil fuels and solid biofuels alone could reduce Arctic temperatures by up to 1.7 C in the next 15 years — though other factors, without mitigation measures, could continue to drive overall temperatures upward.
...
One of the co-authors, University of California researcher Charlie Zender, said in 2007 that fallen soot had the effect of “placing tiny toaster ovens into the snow pack."
[How many milk cartons must be recycled to cool the Earth by one degree?]
RUPERT Murdoch's News Limited champions its Right to Know campaign, except when censoring comments of livid Melbourne Storm fans on the club's website. Rupe's behemoth also flies the green flag in its One Degree climate change initiative, the website showing editor Simon Pristel ''making One Degree of difference'' by recycling a milk carton at a green bin.
[They can't stress this enough: Cold weather is natural variation; warm weather means CO2 might kill us all]
In Peru, meanwhile, a cold snap has killed almost 50 people. Scientists say at least some of this extreme weather is being driven by an ocean cooling trend called La Nina, the flip said of the El Nino effect which brought warm, wet weather to much of the world last winter. Greenpeace is calling Russia's fires a clear consequence of global warming.

No comments: