Tag: earth day
Happy Earth Day — But Don’t Forget Arbor Day (And Trees!)

Happy Earth Day — But Don’t Forget Arbor Day (And Trees!)

The last Friday in April is National Arbor Day. You knew that, didn’t you? Born in the Victorian era, Arbor Day began mainly as a gentle reminder to admire trees as things of beauty. As an environmental observance, it has been upstaged by the more comprehensive Earth Day (itself now almost 50 years old). But Arbor Day has been very much updated.

The status of trees as uniquely important environmental players has risen in recent years. Trees are now on the front lines in the battle against climate change. That’s because forests absorb nearly 40 percent of human-made fossil fuel emissions every year. Burning wood and rotting trees release carbon dioxide into the air.

This makes massive deforestation a harbinger of doom for the environment as we know it. Fortunately, there are ways to head this off. Proposals to create a carbon-offset market for trees, if put in motion, could reverse the destruction. Right now, these cap-and-trade setups are open only to utilities and industrial companies. Adding trees to a cap-and-trade system would let owners of forested acres make real money by not cutting down trees.

The fate of tropical forests, particularly in Southeast Asia, is of greatest concern. The ranching, mining and timber industries have played a major role in leveling more than a billion acres of tropical forest over the last 40 years. The loss of these trees contributes an estimated 12 to 15 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Here’s a simplified version of how a market for trading carbon offsets now works: Company A reduces its emissions below a government-set cap. Company B’s emissions, by contrast, exceed the limit. To avoid paying a penalty, Company B buys offset credits from Company A.

The price of credits is set by supply and demand. That these systems are market-oriented pleases conservatives committed to fighting climate change. Trade in these markets already totals billions of dollars a year.

Some 40 countries now put a price on carbon. Some do it via cap-and-trade. Others, such as Canada, place a tax on fossil fuels, with most of the proceeds going back to Canadians through reductions in their tax bills. The United States does none of the above, but California and nine Northeast states have established their own cap-and-trade systems.

Where do trees come in? Removing trees increases emissions. Letting them grow reduces them. Putting a price on leaving them alone would act as a powerful incentive to not cut them down.

There remains the dilemma that many locals in and around tropical forests currently make a living in ways that require their destruction. Under a proposal known as the Rainforest Standard, however, mechanisms would be set up to spend some of the money building new livelihoods not dependent on axing trees. Examples include ecotourism, fishing and harvesting tree products, such as nuts and palm fruit.

Ordinary homeowners don’t have big forests to preserve but can nonetheless use trees to reduce their carbon footprint. Trees shading the house have a cooling effect in hot weather, reducing the need for air conditioning. And there is some money in this, of course, in the form of lower electricity bills.

So National Arbor Day is coming. Bear in mind that your state’s Arbor Day may fall on a different date than the national one. Many states move their observance to coincide with the best times in their area to plant trees. The big news this year is that in addition to providing beauty and serenity, trees can play a major role in saving our world from catastrophe. Is there a poem for that?

Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Web page at www.creators.com.

IMAGE: A fire burns near trees in a peatland area on the outskirts of Palembang on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, September 9, 2015. REUTERS/Beawiharta

March For Science On Earth Day To Resist Trump’s War On Facts

March For Science On Earth Day To Resist Trump’s War On Facts

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Science isn’t everything. But it is crucial to governing, decision-making, protecting human health and the environment and resolving questions and challenges around our existence.

Those determined to advance industrial interests over all else often attack science. We’ve seen it in Canada, with a decade of cuts to research funding and scientific programs, muzzling of government scientists and rejection of evidence regarding issues such as climate change.

We’re seeing worse in the United States. The new administration is proposing drastic cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and others. Information about climate change and environmental protection is being scrubbed from government websites, and scientists are being muzzled. Meanwhile, the government is increasing spending on military and nuclear weapons programs.

There’s nothing wrong with challenging research, developing competing hypotheses and looking for flaws in studies. That’s how science works. But rejecting, eliminating, covering up or attacking evidence that might call into question government or industry priorities — evidence that might show how those priorities could lead to widespread harm — is unconscionable. It’s galling to me because I traded a scientific career for full-time communication work because good scientific information helps people make the best decisions to take us into the future.

Many scientists prefer to work quietly, letting their research speak for itself. But recent attacks are galvanizing scientists and supporters throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. The March for Science on Earth Day, April 22, has been building steam for months. The main march will take place in Washington, D.C., but more than 425 marches are planned around the world. That kicks off a week of action, culminating in the People’s Climate March on April 29, also focused on Washington but with satellite marches throughout the world.

The March for Science website says organizers are “advocating for evidence-based policymaking, science education, research funding, and inclusive and accessible science.”

The group’s 850,000-member Facebook page is inspiring, with “advocates, science educators, scientists, and concerned citizens” sharing personal testimonials about their reasons for marching and why science is important to them, along with ideas for posters and slogans, questions about the march, articles about science and exposés of climate disinformation sent to schools and science teachers by the anti-science Heartland Institute.

March participants are a wide-ranging group, from a neuroscientist who is marching “for the thousands of people suffering from spinal cord injury” to sci-fi fans who are marching “Because you can’t have science fiction without science!” to a scientist marching to honour “the many, many women and young girls interested or involved in science” to those marching “because we know climate change is real.”

Celebrating and advocating for science is a good way to mark Earth Day. I’ll be in Ottawa, where a march is also taking place. David Suzuki Foundation senior editor Ian Hanington and I will launch our new book, Just Cool It!, at an Ottawa Writers Festival event that also features Nishnaabeg musician, scholar and writer Leanne Betasamosake Simpson.

Climate change is one area where anti-science rhetoric and actions at the highest levels of society are endangering human health and survival. Our book is a comprehensive look at the history and implications of climate science, the barriers to confronting the crisis and the many solutions required to resolve it.

It’s discouraging to witness the current attacks on science, and the ever-increasing consequences of climate change, diminishing ocean health and other human-caused problems, but seeing so many people standing up for science and humanity is reason for optimism. Of all the many solutions to global warming and other environmental problems, none is as powerful as people getting together to demand change.

Every day should be Earth Day, but it’s good to have a special day to remind us of the importance of protecting the air, water, soil and biodiversity that we all depend on for health and survival. Politicians are supposed to work for the long-term well-being of people who elect them, not to advance the often short-sighted agendas of those who pay large sums of money to get their way regardless of the consequences. Standing together to make ourselves heard is one of the best ways to ensure they fulfill their responsibilities.

This article was originally published by the David Suzuki Foundation. David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation.

 This article was made possible by the readers and supporters of AlterNet.

Top Reads: ‘Silent Spring’

Top Reads: ‘Silent Spring’

In 1962 Rachel Carson published the seminal work Silent Spring, an indictment of the agricultural industry for its careless use of dangerous pesticides, and a touchstone text for the nascent environmentalist movement. Today congressional Republicans are threatening to repeal EPA rules on carbon emissions, and leaders fail not only to address the problem of climate change, but to even admit it exists. Earth Day is this week; Carson’s imperative to protect our planet is more urgent than ever.

You can purchase the book here.

Florida Is ‘Ground Zero’ For Sea Level Rise

Florida Is ‘Ground Zero’ For Sea Level Rise

Miami Beach (United States) (AFP) – Warm sunshine and sandy beaches make south Florida and its crown city, Miami, a haven for tourists, but the area is increasingly endangered by sea level rise, experts said Tuesday.

During a special Senate hearing held in Miami Beach, Senator Bill Nelson described south Florida as “Ground Zero” for climate change and its threats to coastal communities.

The perils for Miami are particularly concerning because it has the most assets at stake in the world in terms of assets like homes, beachfront hotels and businesses, according to the World Resources Institute, a global research firm.

Not only is there $14.7 billion in beachfront property, but Miami is also home to the world’s fourth largest population of people vulnerable to sea level rise, the WRI said.

Nearly 20 million people live in the entire state of Florida, and about three quarters live on the coast, said Nelson.

The waters around south Florida are rising fast. The Florida coast has already seen 12 inches of sea rise since 1870.

Another nine inches to two feet are anticipated by 2060, said the WRI.

Miami is located just four feet above sea level.

“We are on this massive substrate of limestone and coquina rock which is porous and infused by water,” Nelson said at the hearing, held on the 44th anniversary of Earth Day.

“You could put up a dyke but it is not going to do any good,” he added, describing the land beneath Florida as “like Swiss cheese.”

“So we have to come up with new, innovative kinds of solutions,” said Nelson, a Democratic senator who was born in Miami.

The mayor of Miami Beach, Philip Levine, said residents are commonly seen wading through knee-deep waters to get to their homes and businesses during high tides and floods.

“This reality is not acceptable and it is getting worse,” said Levine.

Officials are investigating the use of tidal control valves and new water pumps to improve drainage, with three pumps planned for installation before October’s high tides, Levine said.

“We are projecting the cost of being anywhere from three and four hundred million dollars,” he said.

Discussions are also under way on urban designs and city plans that could better equip the area for rising sea levels, he said.

Climate change may bring more severe weather, warned Piers Sellers, deputy director of the science and exploration directorate at NASA.

“What does all of this mean to Florida? By the end of the century the intensity of hurricanes, including rainfall near the centers of the hurricanes, may increase,” Sellers said.

“Rising sea levels and coastal development will likely increase the impact of hurricanes and other coastal storms on those coastal communities and infrastructure.”

Fred Bloetcher, a professor of engineering at Florida Atlantic University, said sea level rise is a present threat to “nearly six million Floridians, their economy and lifestyle, 3.7 trillion dollars in property in southeast Florida alone and a $260 billion annual economy.”

Meanwhile, insurance companies are still unprepared to cope, said Megan Linkin, a natural hazards expert at Swiss Re Global Partnerships.

“Presently I know of no insurance or reinsurance company that directly includes the risk of climate change,” she told the hearing.

“And that is because our product is typically contracted on an annual basis, and in that time period the impact of any climate changes — including sea level rise — are too small and insignificant and without scientific consensus to responsibly include in our model and approach.”

Despite the risks, tourism continues to boom in Florida.

In 2013, 14.2 million visitors spent nearly $23 billion in the Miami area, said William Talbert, president of the greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Last year also marked the first time in history that more visitors came from foreign countries than from the United States, he said.

AFP Photo