Mark Lynas
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 This book only deals with what scientists call 'transient' climate change: because of the thermal inertia of the oceans it will take centuries for temperatures to stabilise at any given concentration of greenhouse gases into a so-called 'equilibrium' state.
I have also on occasion explored rather speculatively what the changes projected by today's scientists might mean for society in future. Might China invade Siberia to secure subarctic Lebensraum in a globe where only narrowing zones remain habitable? |
James Howard Kunstler
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 By putting large quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, humans are exerting pressure on an inherently unstable climate system that might produce a drastic change without much prior warning.
Apart from the levels of greenhouse gases, the causes of climate change probably include periodic variations in the sun's radiation, variations in the earth's orbit, volcanic activity and particulate matter in the atmosphere, and the extremely complex interplay of the oceans and the atmosphere that circulates heat and cold around the planet. |
Andreas Moritz
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 The world's livestock now produces at least 10 percent of all the greenhouse gases. In other words, emissions from livestock have become a significant source of atmospheric methane. As of 1990, domestic animals currently account for about 15 percent of the annual anthropogenic methane emissions, and the number has been steadily increasing ever since.
• Eighty-five percent of the topsoil lost in the USA each year is directly associated with the raising of livestock. In this way, 4 million acres of cropland is destroyed every year. |
Michael Pollan
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 A 2006 report issued by the United Nations stated that the world's livestock generate more greenhouse gases than the entire transportation industry. Henning Steinfeld, et al. Livestocks Long Shadow:Environmental Issues and Options. A report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome: FAO, 2006). Available online at http://www.virtualcentre .org/en/library/key pub/longshad/A070lE00.htm. tages and disadvantages of being at the top of the food chain: It accumulates and concentrates many of the nutrients in the environment but also many of the toxins. |
Mark Lynas
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| If there were no greenhouse gases at all in the atmosphere, the Earth's average temperature would be about -18°C.
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, concentrations of the principal greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (C02), have risen by a third, whilst those of methane -another potent greenhouse gas - have doubled. Although there have been fluctuations between the decades, global temperatures have also risen in the last 150 years by about 0.8°C, and are expected to rise even faster over the next century as C02 levels rise even further still. |
| What has happened before can happen again, argued Hansen, especially given today's enormous atmospheric loading of greenhouse gases, whose climatic impact far outweighs the tiny orbital changes which govern the ice-age-to-interglacial transitions. Just as they were in the past, ice sheet changes in the future could be - to use Hansen's phrase - 'explosively rapid'.
Hansen had little support, however, until the following year, when a European modelling team put an actual figure on Greenland's critical melt threshold: 2.7°C. |
| Clearly, at this point of time to do things that are expensive and which will impede our economic growth just to cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases would be something the Indian public would not accept,' Pachauri admitted recently.
One of the few Indians still to quote Gandhi's epithet 'Be the change you want to see in the world', Pachauri is unusual in stopping to think during the headlong national rush to get rich. |
| Global warming this century is a result of accumulated greenhouse gases emitted since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. (It seems amazing to think that coal burned in early steam trains like Stephenson's Rocket is still warming the planet today.) Even if we ceased all emissions tomorrow, therefore, it would take many centuries for the Earth to once again reach thermal equilibrium in a new, hotter state. Expecting today's Pliocene COz levels to equate to Pliocene temperatures tomorrow would be like expecting a kettle to boil instantly. |
David Steinman
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 Scientists admit that it is possible that Earth's climate may suddenly cross the critical threshold needed to trigger abrupt climate change at any time, and that the extra "forcing" humans apply to the climate system by emitting large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere makes this possibility far more likely than it would be otherwise. |
David R. Montgomery
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 If every farmer in the United States were to adopt no-till practices and plant cover crops, American agriculture could squirrel away as much as 300 million tons of carbon in the soil each year, turning farms into net carbon sinks, rather than sources of greenhouse gases. While this would not solve the problem of global warming—the soil can hold only so much carbon—increasing soil carbon would help buy time to deal with the toot of the problem. Adoption of no-till practices on the world's 1. |
David Steinman
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| The shift from petrochemical-derived plastics and polymers to those made from corn or other domestic renewable plant sources not only contributes to reducing the nation's dependency on foreign oil but also, if implemented on a large scale, would greatly reduce the amount of pollution, including greenhouse gases. America would not have to rely on unfriendly enemy governments for oil. |
Mark Lynas
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| But many different studies - looking at the impact of greenhouse gases alone - have reached the firm conclusion that heavier monsoon rainfall is the most likely outcome, especially given the fact that a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapour.
An intensification of the monsoon presents two problems. First, an increase in average rainfall during the monsoon will mean more heavy events and associated extreme flooding, thanks to this warmer, wetter atmosphere. Second, the monsoon is also likely to become more variable. |
David Steinman
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| The truth is that only God knows if greenhouse gases and vehicle emissions are changing the climate, but everybody knows that the fewer emissions there are, the better it is for the planet. So why don't we stop all the nonsense and work toward that goal, instead of playing politics with the environment?
While this might sound like a routine attack from the left, in fact the author of this quote is none other than Bill O'Reilly of the Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor. |
| It's a great way to eat healthy foods and cut down on transportation-related greenhouse gases. Visit www.freshdirect.com.
In Southern California, Pax Organica delivers certified organic produce once a week. Visit www.paxoorganica.com.
Nationally, Wild Oats is working with the online grocer Peapod to deliver about five hundred Wild Oats-brand foods to home delivery customers in the Chicago area. Visit www.peapod.com or www.wildoats.com.39
Participate in community-supported agriculture (CSA), and support local farms. |
| It also ranks among the cleanest, best facilities for the least pollution, which means during manufacturing they are more efficient and less likely to produce as much greenhouse gases, either.62'63'64-65'66 Visit www.bosch.com.
By using only a small amount of water, Miele also reduces energy consumption. Every Miele dishwasher made for North America qualifies for the Energy Star Program, meaning it exceeds government energy standards by over 25 percent. This means that Miele dishwashers qualify for a variety of rebate programs available throughout the country. |
Mark Schapiro
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 Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson announced talks with Chinese officials to develop an emissions-trading market in sulfur-dioxide emissions, a market-driven strategy that has been highly successful in reducing acid rain in North America but has had little effect on greenhouse gases. |
James Howard Kunstler
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| Carbon dioxide (COz) is only one of several so-called greenhouse gases that tend to trap heat in the earth's atmosphere, or prevent it from radiating into space, and it is the least effective by far of the three main culprits. The most effective heat-trapping agent is water vapor. The next one is methane, approximately twenty times more effective as an earth insulator than C02. |
Alex Steffen
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 Concerns about reliable and affordable energy, water, and other natural resources—and the increased likelihood that emission of greenhouse gases will be regulated —are just a few of the realities facing business leaders today. Institutional investors and large insurers [see Your Money, p. 382] are signaling their concerns about the risks and liabilities of companies that don't effectively manage their wastes, resource use, and emissions. |
| More pointedly, in late 2004 Swiss Re served notice to its clients that it might cease writing "directors and officers" insurance for companies that did not have credible programs to reduce greenhouse gases. Guess which gets more attention in corporate boardrooms: regulatory requirements or the prospect of losing the corporate veil against personal liability?
At the same time, some of the world's largest investment banks are finding opportunity where Big Oil offers nothing but denials. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 There are several commercial forms of freon; all are greenhouse gases. The latest form of freon being used extensively is designated R134. An older form, R12, was used as a solvent and in air conditioners through the 1990s (and is still used in some countries). When released into the atmosphere, all forms of freon eventually rise into the stratosphere. Through reaction with other atmospheric chemicals, freon has reduced the amount of ozone (O3). This ozone layer is a protective shield against harmful solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation. |
Alex Steffen
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| Power plants at one end produce huge amounts of energy (and greenhouse gases), which get sent down the pipeline to a comparatively small number of substations. These substations mete out this bulk energy to the lines that run into our homes. The slightest disruption in one substation can cause a domino effect that trips outages in multiple states. For instance, in August 2DD3, an overloaded transmission line in northwestern ?hio took down some power lines and started a cascade of outages that ultimately left 50 million people from Toronto to New York City without power, many for a full day. |
| Celsius) during the past century, according to a recent NASA report on global warming, and the connection linking this heating trend to the release of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide from human activities that burn coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas, is beyond dispute. Nature recently reported that the concentration of C02 is higher now than it has been at any time in the past 650,000 years—a substantial share of Homo sapiens' tenure on earth. |
| Jonathan Patz, puts it, "Those least able to cope and least responsible for the greenhouse gases that cause global warming are most affected. Herein lies an enormous global ethical challenge."
Global development and environmental sustainability are interconnected. Efforts like the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce poverty and improve health care in the world's poorest nations, are demonstrably critical tools for environmental response, as well. |
James Howard Kunstler
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| Apart from the levels of greenhouse gases, the causes of climate change probably include periodic variations in the sun's radiation, variations in the earth's orbit, volcanic activity and particulate matter in the atmosphere, and the extremely complex interplay of the oceans and the atmosphere that circulates heat and cold around the planet. The last can take on the characteristics of a positive feedback loop, and in the short term presents the greatest threats to our very delicate project of civilization. |
David Steinman
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| Web site. They offset office and bakery energy use with clean, renewable wind energy by purchasing green tags through Native Energy. They purchase only 100 percent postconsumer recycled paper for the office and use only unbleached, recycled paper and nontoxic inks for printing. All of their promotional T-shirts and tote bags are made of 100 percent certified organic cotton. Clif Bars shows how a relatively small company can make a big difference.13 www.clifbar. |
Alex Steffen
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| Computer chip fabrication processes could be radically cleaned up, as well; today they use deadly gases such as arsenide, silane, phosgene, and chlorine, and greenhouse gases such as COz and nitrous oxide —not to mention the few thousand gallons of water and kilowatt-hours of electricity it takes to fabricate a computer's worth of chips. These are solvable problems. In 2004 Texas Instruments worked with Rocky Mountain Institute to design a greener domestic fabrication plant that saved so much money in water, power, and construction costs that it was cheaper than manufacturing overseas. |
Arthur C. Upton, M.D.
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| In the last half of the twentieth century, levels of greenhouse gases have increased significantly, and while scientists debate the rate of their increase and how quickly (or slowly) they will contribute to a higher thermometer reading in our backyards, the potential exists for ecologic and economic disaster.
Both ozone depletion and the rise of greenhouse gases are air-pollution problems of sufficient magnitude to affect the global habitat and will require international cooperation in order to be addressed effectively. |
Brian O'Leary
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 There are just too many problems with hydrocarbon pollution to rely solely on finding sinks for selected greenhouse gases. Moreover, the feedback loops are too many and too complex to be playing God with Gaia; the only elegant solution in the long run is to cut to the quick of the problem.
Getting back to the task of preserving and replanting our trees, we must become aware that the ownership of our precious remaining forests is widely distributed and subject to exploitation. In fact, only eight per cent of the world's forests are protected. |
| And the effort to make waste disappear—by burying it, burning it, or dumping it in the ocean—has generated greenhouse gases, dioxin, toxic leakage, and other threats to environmental and human health." 24
The attitude of extracting, possessing and throwing away so many materials which we feel is our birthright is fundamentally incorrect. The new perception will require radical changes in our consuming habits to go to a recycling economy. In the end, we must insist that all materials used be sustainable. |
| At the top of their list of causes was the dumping of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, almost entirely attributable to our consumption of oil and coal5 and to unsustainable logging and slash-and-burn land clearing".
Still another group of Earth and atmospheric scientists comprising the American Geophysical Union (AGU) issued a January 1999 policy statement that there was a "compelling basis for legitimate public concern" about human-induced climate change. Scientific uncertainty, they said, "does not justify inaction. |
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