Lowered Evapotranspiration Causing Drying and Heating of Southern Hemisphere
Huge areas of the Southern Hemisphere are now drying out. This could lead to increased drought stress on vegetation and less overall productivity, and as a result less carbon absorbed, less cooling through evapotranspiration, and more frequent or extreme heat waves
Burning Our Forests For Fuel Will Doom Our Planet
Bioenergy is an urgent problem that requires a real and immediate reduction of CO2 emissions. Burning wood to replace fossil fuels will increase CO2 output for several decades. And there is no assurance that energy from wood-fueled power would replace energy from gas-fired plants; it may just all be additional to the CO2 loading.
Forests of Carbon
Mountain pine beetle devastation in BC has resulted in 400-plus million cubic metres of dead wood, enough to rebuild the three cities of Toronto, Montreal and New York. This one ecological disaster, the largest in North America, means that BC’s 60 million hectares of forests are now a net emitter of greenhouse gases, and the province will be unable to reach its goal of reducing its GHG emissions 30% by 2020.
Study, “Managing BC’s Forests For A Cooler Planet,” by Ben Parfitt, a collaborative work of environmentalists, labour unions and academics, proposes a revolutionary change in BC’s forestry practices. The emphasis would shift from the maximum amount of cut that forests can sustain to the maximum amount of carbon that can be sequestered in trees and wood products – from an Annual Allowable Cut to a Carbon Cut Calculation (CCC).
A Outspoken Interview and Strongly Worded Article by Naomi Klein on the Case for Climate Debt
As faith in government action dwindles, however, climate activists are treating Copenhagen as an opportunity of a different kind. On track to be the largest environmental gathering in history, the summit represents a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures, such as carbon offsets and emissions trading, and introduce some effective, common-sense proposals — ideas that have less to do with creating complex new markets for pollution and more to do with keeping coal and oil in the ground.
Among the smartest and most promising — not to mention controversial — proposals is “climate debt,” the idea that rich countries should pay reparations to poor countries for the climate crisis.
More Countries Recognizing the Importance of Stronger Targets at Copenhagen
It hasn’t made massive headlines in Europe; in fact it’s hardly been noticed. But over the last fortnight, three big countries have made major new pledges to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide from industry, transport and deforestation which is causing climate change.
Since 12 November, Russia, South Korea and Brazil have all announced new targets for cutting CO2, leading to a significant improvement in hopes for the outcome of the Copenhagen climate summit, which is now only two weeks away – and which, it was announced yesterday, at least 65 world leaders will attend.
Johann Hari: A fight for the Amazon that should inspire the world
In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, the poorest people in the world have taken on the richest people in the world to defend a part of the ecosystem none of us can live without. They had nothing but wooden spears and moral force to defeat the oil companies – and, for today, they have won.
