V: Energy Independence! Help Make Freedom From Oil a Reality

Have hope for a brighter future! Sometimes GOOD things DO happen. Here's to free enterprise, collaboration, and human genius and innovation.

We need energy solutions, and face it, we can't depend on the government and big business to bring them to us. Government and corporate interests have actively suppressed development and utilization of new technologies. Low cost, sustainable, and renewable energy technologies have existed for many decades, yet we remain absolutely dependent on fossil fuels. As gasoline prices skyrocket, our society is effectively crippled.

(By the way, oil prices are intentionally manipulated. None of the reasons we are fed for oil price inflation are the reality of what is happening. It goes way beyond the oil companies. You and I are just pawns in a global money game. If we were to develop no-cost energy systems, their HUGE PROFITS would evaporate. They just can't let that happen, so they suppress the emergence of new technologies.)

It's up to US to make this a reality. We CAN do it. What this requires is organization and cooperation, joining our individual efforts together to accomplish otherwise imposing tasks. Fortunately for us, and for the whole world, a non-profit organization has already been created, specifically for this purpose.

Because this organization combines the efforts and intentions of many individuals worldwide, it will be much more difficult for profit-seeking corporate interests to keep us held down. We WILL have sustainable energy.

(This is being done by individual people intentionally gathering together into a non-profit organization for beneficial purposes. This does NOT depend on large established international organizations or on treaties, and it creates NO international treaties or obligations. Therefore it will have no negative impact on U.S. sovereignty. Ultimately, by ending our dependence on foreign oil, this dramatically increases our freedom. And eventually, the technologies developed will be provided at little to no cost to societies around the world who need free, low-impact energy production.)

I watched the videos on The Orion Project's website. They are terrific. Dr. Steven Greer says we can have sustainable energy production within a year. They are already making significant progress.

Watch these videos! Tell other people! Click on the newsletters below to get to their website.

http://www.theorionproject.org/en/video.html

An Introduction to The Orion Project

The Orion Project Scientists

The Breakthrough Campaign

The Transition

CONTRIBUTE TO THE ORION PROJECT.
It is public contributions that will make this a reality. Your investment today will soon pay off with FREE energy forever.

Because Dr. Steven Greer of The Orion Project says it better than I do, I'm pasting in two of their newsletters in their entirety. Click on the newsletters to get to their website.
Sandra

The Orion Project Renewable Energy Free for Everyone! Imminent scientific breakthroughs will eliminate your monthly energy bills (and the world's) FOR LIFE! (Keep reading to learn how YOU can be a part of this exciting opportunity!) Dear Friends: IMAGINE a device that could produce every watt of energy your home will ever need. IMAGINE this device being CLEANER than solar power, but as free as the air you breath! IMAGINE no more dependence on oil reserves run by cartels in foreign lands. IMAGINE no more nuclear waste or stripping of the countryside for coal. And finally... IMAGINE this device being available EVERYWHERE on the planet: from the apartments of NYC, to the desert communities in Africa, and even to your favorite camping destination... "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." - Albert Einstein But do not confuse these exciting possibilities with mere wishful thinking. These are very REAL technologies that exist RIGHT NOW! What needs to be done is to quickly develop these technologies into actual products you can buy at a local store, allowing you to unplug from high monthly bills and unsustainable, polluting utilities. Many of you know I have been working together with scientists, inventors and leaders in society to advance a new, clean technology energy system for 17 years. My vision for The Orion Project is to provide free renewable energy for everyone. We're getting so close to a solution, and I need your help today. So how can YOU be a part of this? DONATE NOW to join us on this incredible endeavor! SPREAD THE WORD by forwarding this note to 10 others! Your donation of $30 or more will make a huge difference. Referring 10 friends will help us reach our goal of $3 Million in a very short time. We currently have 6 different technologies under development. Any of them is potentially "the one" that will be the breakthrough we need. Once we have rigorously verified the results, it's a straight sprint to optimization and production. But, this is currently being done on a shoestring budget! To make this occur in 12-18 months versus 12-18 years, we need to be able to bring these scientists together. And, we need to give them the necessary tools and assistance to develop multiple technologies that will provide free energy perpetually for all people. Imagine $10/gallon in less than 5 years. Imagine having to forego heating in the winter or A/C in the summer. Imagine familities having to decide between eating and being able to drive miles away to work. Imagine having more and more pollution in the water, in the air, in your food, everywhere... It's not a pretty future... that is why we need you now to generously donate as much as you can to develop these new technologies as quickly as humanly possible! Cleaner than solar energy, but as free as the air you breath! Do not delay! Share this message with ten others, and Donate today and as generously as you can afford! $30 or more makes a huge difference in our future. We soon shall stand at the finish line with our device in hand. Toward a more sustainable and equitable future for all. PS. Your donation is tax-deductible! "Energy Cleaner Than Solar, And As Free As The Air" Our campaign needs you and your help. In order to bring an alternative energy device into your home or place of business, The Orion Project needs funding to build a prototype, test it and manufacture it. When you donate a small amount (even $30 makes a huge difference), we promise that 100% of your contribution goes directly to the development of an alternative energy device. DONATE NOW In addition to making a tax-deductible contribution, The Orion Project Team asks that you introduce us, and Dr. Greer's vision of a renewable energy device, to 10 friends and family members who are passionate about a cleaner, less expensive energy source. REFER A FRIEND We appreciate your support and interest and thank you for spreading the word of our efforts to others. We will share our progress on this, and other projects under development, in future newsletters. Do you know of a scientist or inventor whose focus is on alternative energy solutions? Please let us know. The Orion Project Team Inventor Shares Energy Prototype with The Orion Project (TOP) Mr. Bill Costantino and Dr. Ted Loder of TOP just recently had the opportunity to meet with an inventor who presented a wide range of possible technologies and prototype samples that may be capable of producing clean and sustainable electric power - without using polluting fossil fuels. If such a breakthrough is indeed possible, TOP expects to have actual data from preliminary tests within 2-3 months! (To read the full article, please click on Cutting Edge Inven tor ). We Hope You Can Imagine a Future Where Everyone - Rich or Poor - Can Have Clean, Free Energy The technology is just around the corner. Let your imagination reach higher limits. We can move from imagination to reality. Reality is just 1-2-3 steps away: Refer 10 friends to The Orion Project. Your contact information will never be sold or exchanged: 1. REFER TEN FRIENDS Donate what you can, but $30 or more makes a HUGE difference: 2. DONATE NOW Sign up for our newsletter and breaking news about the Orion Project on our website: 3. FREE NEWSLETTER Upcoming Lectures & Conferences Dr. Greer will be speaking at the IIIHS Conference scheduled for July 11-20, 2008. Please check the conference website for more information.

July 4, 2008 Celebrate Freedom Why The Orion Project? Why now? Dear Friends and Supporters: People keep coming on board and supporting our vision of free energy. However there are many others that hesitate and have some concerns. We hope to alleviate them here. The two dominant questions that we face are: Why The Orion Project? And, why now? We hope that in sharing our vision with you that you will have faith in our commitment and ability to achieve what the world has longed for... cheap, clean, renewable energy accessible everywhere in the world. But before we do that, we want to reiterate to you that we are not "all talk and no action". While The Orion Project core team is running our Breakthrough Campaign to make our vision possible, our inventors continue to plug away and make great strides on their particular devices. To demonstrate our continued progress, here is another update on the Mr. Q. PMG device. Mr. Q. and Mr. P. Continue to Approach Over-Unity Against some fairly tough barriers (limited budget, employment limitations, and travel distance), we currently have to plan our experiments and run them continuously for as many hours as they can stay awake. Nevertheless, these 2 ambitious and determined inventors continue to make significant and necessary optimizations and get better results with each trip. Their most recent research week was June 23-27. Details of this research week will be available soon. For those interested in the full update on their first research week, please read the exciting details on our Latest News web page. It should be noted that this particular group (the PMG group with Mr. Q. and Mr. P.) is working on a shoestring budget, which is graciously supported by a single angel investor of limited financial resources. The mere fact that we have gotten this far on so little is, again, a testament to the dedication and desire of all parties involved in bringing this project to fruition. Once we achieve our Breakthrough Campaign and can bring these inventors under one roof in a modern facility, the results of this and our other groups will be vastly accelerated and turbo-charged. To help us move past a shoestring budget, please consider a donation to The Orion Project. Your donation is tax deductible. Our Vision Currently, our Pulsed Motor Generator inventors need to cram 4 round-the-clock workdays in a row every 3-4 weeks when we have the financial ability to bring them together. This isn't exactly an ideal way to do any job, but we will continue to move forward in anyway we can while waiting for a successful donation campaign. But to give you a taste of what would be possible when we are successful, I'd like you to imagine how much faster, better, and more successful we'll be with the following: Imagine Imagine bringing all of our projects under a single roof... from garages into a modern facility with adequate floor space. Imagine each scientist being able to work on these devices full time, rather than averaging 2-10 hours a week because of other employment. Imagine these inventors being able to match skill sets, greatly complementing each other's weaknesses and strengths to achieve FAR MORE together than they ever could individually. Imagine being able to get up and running after Mr. Q.'s anomalous event (see previous article) in a matter of hours rather than a month. Imagine being able to brainstorm with other brilliant inventors in real time, on-site, with proper equipment, space, availability of parts. Why The Orion Project? Why Now? So I ask our readers... wouldn't we be more likely to succeed? And in a much shorter timeframe? Wouldn't this help us get working prototypes of these devices to independent testers to verify we have in fact succeeded? Wouldn't this ultimately accelerate the timeframe in getting these devices to you so you can stop paying $4+ dollars a gallon for a fuel that is finite? We believe so, and we are commited to our vision. Others have failed before us because they lacked funding, matching skill sets, the ability to take a working device and get it into production. We have expertise at all of these levels and our Breakthrough Campaign will help bring these experts together for the sole purpose of seeing this project through, beginning to end, to give us the best chance of succeeding. And the progress will only accelerate with each new substantial discovery and with each stage of the process that we achieve. Right now we have promising results, but we do not personally have a device going over-unity. Once we do and have lab-certified results, we can begin making media announcements and begin to pull in even larger donors and investors as they begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But we need to get to that point first! And that is why we have created a lean and straightforward Breakthrough Campaign to get us to and through these first critical stages. What will it take? To make this vision happen, we need your help to achieve a critical level of funding in order to support our inventors with employment and a laboratory facility for 12-18 months. We cannot begin implementing this until we have the entire budget in hand, lest we get caught without the funds to complete the task within a limited window of opportunity. PLEASE DONATE TODAY There is one more way you can help. It's critical that this thermometer rise quickly. Please pass this email along to 10 of your friends and family who share our concern. Encourage each one to do the same... exponentially, we will become a community working toward a common goal. Thank You I cannot thank the donors enough for their very generous contributions, many of whom are donating well above our minimum request. It humbles me and the rest of The Orion Project team to know that you are putting your faith in us to deliver on our promise. That is our promise to develop at least one free energy device that can be the key to eliminating high energy costs, environmental damage, and the political struggles associated with the world's energy crises. To do this, we are asking for a meager $3 million to do what NO other energy program will ever achieve with annual budgets that can be THOUSANDS of times larger per year! We at The Orion Project certainly understand the tough economic situation that many are faced with. However, that problem will only get worse if we do not break free from these old paths and paradigms. We hope that others among you will continue to pass our message and our vision to others as well as also donate to our cause so that we can bring about this change in 6-18 months vs. 6-18 years. If you can, please donate today to help us, help you, help the world... Toward a more sustainable future for all of mankind. Dr. Steven Greer www.theorionproject.org Join our mailing list!

V: Global Warming News & Updates

Here we have extensive information about global warming and climate change. Over the course of many years, my mother has gathered this information from numerous sources. Climate change really is a huge group of issues that we must start taking action to resolve. The future of life on our planet is at stake.

I have not modified this material to make it easily read on the blog. I've been short on time. Please accept my apologies.
Sandra

Global Warming News & Updates
by Carolyn Lee, July 2008

Have you read the studies and reports I recommended in my previous post, "Is Global Warming for Real?" http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/05/is-global-warming-for-real.html If you haven't read them yet please take the time to do so, because global warming is going to impact your life whether you like it or not. Burying your head in the sand is not going to save you from its consequences. Only an informed populace can know what actions to take to get us out of this mess that we have created for ourselves and the planet. There is no more important issue facing us at this particular moment in time, but you can't know that in your heart until you have read the research for yourself.

Unfortunately our own government has been the most culpable in hiding the truth of global warming from its citizens. As you have read elsewhere at this blog, our republic has morphed into a very fascist-type state, where the government serves the interests of large, moneyed corporations and not the people whom they are elected to serve. Our government protects the turf of fossil fuel-related corporations with a vengeance and blocks public access to clean energy technologies. It has therefore been an enormous contributor to the greenhouse gas problem for many, many years. As they are a part of the problem, how can we possibly expect them to help solve it? The answer is pretty obvious. They won't!

This is really sad because we have some of the brightest and most innovative thinkers on the planet living right here in the United States. What a waste! A waste of talent and a terrible, criminal waste of precious time.

The Orion Project

But there's hope, as a new non-profit has now been formed to bring many great minds together to help solve our energy problems without government involvement. It's called The Orion Project. Go to http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/06/energy-independence-help-make-freedom.html and learn about The Orion Project and over-unity energy technology. Donate everything you can, then please help t o spread the word to friends, relatives, and business associates worldwide. Here is something we can all do that can really make a difference! Help to mitigate the damage that we have caused to our home. Help to keep the situation from becoming truly catastrophic. Help to create a brighter future for the earth and future generations.

Soil Carbon Sequestration

Have you heard about soil carbon sequestration? It turns out that proper land use practices can return the excess CO2 we have released into the atmosphere back into the ground where it belongs and quickly! Read about it at http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/05/putting-carbon-back-where-it-belongs-in.html. Be sure to watch the fantastic slide presentation. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Then go to three postings on this blog to learn what types of agriculture contribute to the global warming problem and which ones help to reduce it.

http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/05/un-blames-cows-for-global-warming.html, http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/05/reversing-global-climate-change-with.html and http://whataretheissues2008.blogspot.com/2008/05/grassfarming-can-help-to-reverse-global.html

Of course, at the local level, it is important to support farmers who employ these types of practices. That goes without saying. But much more needs to be done, as hardly anyone has heard of soil carbon sequestration. The whole world has spent years wrangling over carbon caps, carbon trading, and carbon taxes...while ignoring one of the most natural, least expensive, and healthiest solutions of all! So you can really help by sending this information on.

The data about global warming is constantly changing. Thousands of scientists around the world are studying hundreds of aspects of the problem. The most recent findings are announced and posted at http://www.climateark.org/ whenever a new scientific paper is published. It's incredible, and rather frightening, that changes are happening so rapidly. Things that were not expected to occur for decades or even centuries are happening right now. Here are some of the latest findings. Updates will be added periodically. Click on links to access the original posts. Some sites have related videos, so watch for them.

Stay informed!!

Too Much CO2!!

(note: Until you read the reports and studies I referred to earlier you can't really grasp the significance of these numbers.)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/carbonemissions.climatechange

World carbon dioxide levels highest for 650,000 years, says US report

7 Rise in chief greenhouse gas worse than feared
7 Earth may be losing ability to absorb CO2, say scientists

http://www.andhranews.net/Technology/2008/June/28-World-might-51665.asp

World might have already reached the tipping point of climate change

Washington, June 28 : Climate experts have warned that the world might have already reached the tipping point of climate change, where immediate actions needed to be done to reduce the effects of global warming.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174930

Tomgram: Bill McKibben, The Defining Moment for Climate Change

Already climate change -- in the form of a changing pattern of global rainfall -- seems to be affecting the planet in significant ways. Take the massive, almost decade-long drought in Australia's wheat-growing heartland, which has been a significant factor in sending flour prices, and so bread prices, soaring globally, leading to desperation and food riots across the planet.

A report from the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia makes clear that, despite recent heavy rains in the eastern Australian breadbasket, years of above normal rainfall would be needed "to remove the very long-term [water] deficits" in the region. The report then adds this ominous note: "The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past five to 10 years over large parts of southern and eastern Australia is without historical precedent and is, at least partly, a result of climate change."

Think a bit about that phrase -- "without historical precedent."

It's Not Just CO2!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423181652.htm

Greenhouse Gases, Carbon Dioxide And Methane, Rise Sharply in 2007

ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2008)  Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion tons. Additionally methane rose by 27 million tons after nearly a decade with little or no increase. NOAA scientists released these and other preliminary findings today as part of an annual update to the agencys greenhouse gas index, which tracks data from 60 sites around the

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming_potential

Global warming potential

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. It is a relative scale which compares the gas in question to that of the same mass of carbon dioxide (whose GWP is by definition 1). A GWP is calculated over a specific time interval and the value of this must be stated whenever a GWP is quoted or else the value is meaningless.

Importance of time horizon

Note that a substance's GWP depends on the timespan over which the potential is calculated. A gas which is quickly removed from the atmosphere may initially have a large effect but for longer time periods as it has been removed becomes less important. Thus methane has a potential of 25 over 100 years but 72 over 20 years; conversely sulfur hexafluoride has a GWP of 22,800 over 100 years but 16,300 over 20 years (IPCC TAR). The GWP value depends on how the gas concentration decays over time in the atmosphere. This is often not precisely known and hence the values should not be considered exact. For this reason when quoting a GWP it is important to give a reference to the calculation.

The GWP for a mixture of gases can not be determined from the GWP of the constituent gases by any form of simple linear addition.

Generally, it is by regulators (i.e. CARB) the time horizon of 100 years.

Values

Carbon dioxide has a GWP of exactly 1 (since it is the baseline unit to which all other greenhouse gases are compared).

GWP values and lifetimes from 2007 IPCC AR4 [3] (2001 IPCC TAR [4] in brackets)	Lifetime - years	GWP time horizon
		20 years	100 years	500 years
Methane	12 (12)	72 (62)	25 (23)	7.6 (7)
Nitrous oxide	114 (114)	310 (275)	298 (296)	153 (156)
HFC-23 (hydrofluorocarbon)	270 (260)	12,000 (9400)	14,800 (12000)	12,200 (10000)
HFC-134a (hydrofluorocarbon)	14 (13.8)	3830 (3300)	1430 (1300)	435 (400)
sulfur hexafluoride	3200 (3200)	16,300 (15100)	22,800 (22200)	32,600 (32400)

A GWP is not usually calculated for water vapour. Water vapour has a significant influence with regard to absorbing IR-radiation; however its concentration in the atmosphere mainly depends on air temperature. As there is no possibility to directly influence atmospheric water vapour concentration, the GWP-level for water vapour is not calculated; see greenhouse gas.

The substances subject to restrictions in the Kyoto protocol either are rapidly increasing their concentrations in Earth's atmosphere or have a large GWP.

The GWP depends on the following factors:

• the absorption of infrared radiation by a given species
• the spectral location of its absorbing wavelengths
• the atmospheric lifetime of the species

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_equivalent

Equivalent carbon dioxide

Equivalent CO₂ (CO₂e) is the concentration of CO₂ that would cause the same level of radiative forcing as a given type and concentration of greenhouse gas. Examples of such greenhouse gases are methane, perfluorocarbons and nitrous oxide. CO₂e is expressed as parts per million by volume, ppmv.

CO₂e calculation example:

• The radiative forcing for pure CO₂ is approximated by RF = aln(C / C₀) where C is the present concentration, a is a constant, 5.35 and C₀ the pre-industrial concentration, 278 ppm. Hence the value of CO₂e for an arbitrary gas mixture with a known radiative forcing is given by C₀exp(RF / a) in ppmv.
• To calculate the radiative forcing for a 1998 gas mixture, IPCC 2001 gives the radiative forcing (relative to 1750) of various gases as: CO₂=1.46 (corresponding to a concentration of 365 ppmv), CH₄=0.48, N₂O=0.15 and other minor gases =0.01 W/m2. The sum of these is 2.10 W/m2. Inserting this to the above formula, we obtain CO₂e = 412 ppmv.

Carbon dioxide equivalent

Carbon dioxide equivalency is a quantity that describes, for a given mixture and amount of greenhouse gas, the amount of CO₂ that would have the same global warming potential (GWP), when measured over a specified timescale (generally, 100 years). Carbon dioxide equivalency thus reflects the time-integrated radiative forcing, rather than the instantaneous value described by CO₂e.

The carbon dioxide equivalency for a gas is obtained by multiplying the mass and the GWP of the gas. The following units are commonly used:

• By the UN climate change panel IPCC: billion metric tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (GtCO₂eq).
• In industry: million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (MMTCDE).
• For vehicles: g of carbon dioxide equivalents / km (gCDE/km).

For example, the GWP for methane is 21 and for nitrous oxide 310. This means that emissions of 1 million metric tonnes of methane and nitrous oxide respectively is equivalent to emissions of 21 and 310 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Unpredictable Weather!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619175522.htm

Expect More Droughts, Heavy Downpours, Excessive Heat, And Intense Hurricanes Due To Global Warming, NOAA

ScienceDaily (June 20, 2008)  The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research has released a scientific assessment that provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories. Among the major findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Food and Water Shortages!

(note: see The Oceans)

http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=94778

Melting glaciers start countdown to climate chaos

Source: Copyright 2008, Observer
Date: March 16, 2008
Byline: Juliette Jowit

For centuries, writers, painters and photographers have been drawn to the wild and seemingly indestructible beauty of glaciers. More practically, they are a vital part of the planet's system for collecting, storing and delivering the fresh water that billions of people depend on for washing, drinking, agriculture and power. Now these once indomitable monuments are disappearing. And as they retreat, glacial lakes will burst, debris and ice will fall in avalanches, rivers will flood and then dry up, and sea levels will rise even further, say the climate experts. Communities will be deprived of essential water, crops will be ruined and power stations which rely on river flows paralysed.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL14573335.html

Melting mountains a "time bomb" for water shortages

Tue 15 Apr 2008, 8:00 GMT

(Corrects name of hydrologist in paragraphs 2, 6 and 15 in story issued on April 14)

By Sylvia Westall

VIENNA, April 15 (Reuters) - Glaciers and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual, meaning the water has already gone when millions of people need it during the summer when rainfall is lower, scientists warned on Monday.

"This is just a time bomb," said hydrologist Carmen de Jong at a meeting of geoscientists in Vienna.

Those areas most at risk from a lack of water for drinking and agriculture include parts of the Middle East, southern Africa, the United States, South America and the Mediterranean.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-28-01.asp

Melting Andean Glaciers Could Leave 30 Million High and Dry

WASHINGTON, DC, April 28, 2008 (ENS) - About 99 percent of the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia has disappeared since 1940, says World Bank engineer Walter Vergara, in his new report, "The Impacts of Climate Change in Latin America."

One of the highest glaciers in South America, Chacaltaya is one of the first glaciers to melt due to climate change. Although the glacier is over 18,000 years old, it is expected to vanish this year.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ichfish15-2008jun15,0,587682.story

Alaska Salmon May Bear Scars of Global Warming

By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 15, 2008

TANANA, ALASKA -- With a sickening thud, another hefty and handsome salmon lands in the waste barrel, headed for the dogs.

"See, it's all of the biggest, best-looking fish," said Pat Moore, waving a stogie at the pile of discards. "It breaks my heart. My dogs cannot eat all that. The maggots will get them first."

More Alaskan salmon caught here end up in the dog pot these days, their orange-pink flesh fouled by disease that scientists have correlated with warmer water in the Yukon River.

The sorting of winners and losers at Moore's riverbank fish camp illustrates what scientists have been predicting will accompany global warming: Cold-temperature barriers are giving way, allowing parasites, bacteria and other disease-spreading organisms to move toward higher latitudes.

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Lifeforms and Biodiversity:

(note: These first two articles portend absolutely disastrous consequences for the world's tropical forests and with only the slightest rise in temperature. This is really alarming!)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/insects-will-be-climate-changes-first-victims-821616.html

Insects 'will be climate change's first victims'

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Tuesday, 6 May 2008

• Tropical insects rather than polar bears could be among the first species to become extinct as a result of global warming, a study has found.

Insects in the tropics are already living at the limit of their temperature range and any further increases could quickly kill them off with huge repercussions for tropical habitats, which rely on insects for everything from pollination to waste disposal. Scientists have found that a rise in average temperatures in the tropics of just 1C or 2C could be enough to exert a significant and harmful effect on the survival of a wide variety of important insects.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=tropical-insects-may-not-thrive-in-warming-world

May 6, 2008 in Earth & Environment

Toasted Bugs? Tropical Insects May Not Thrive in Warming World

Although insects, frogs, lizards and turtles in the tropics are used to hot weather, climate change may prove too much for many species

By David Biello

BYE BYE BEETLE: This leaf beetle, which lives in the cloud forest in the Ecuadorean Andes, may find future condtions too warm--or dry--for it to thrive.
)KIMBERLY SHELDON, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Global warming may prove worse for insectsand other cold-blooded crittersliving in the steamy tropics than for their counterparts living closer to the frigid polar regions, according to a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. Even though climate change is likely to affect areas near the poles, tropical insects are already living in conditions that verge on being too hot for them, which means they could be teetering on the edge of extinction.

http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=96331

Australia: Koalas may be threatened as climate change makes leaves inedible

Source: Copyright 2008, Asia News International
Date: April 6, 2008
Original URL

A new research has indicated that Koalas and other leaf-eating animals may be threatened because of climate change causing eucalyptus leaves to become inedible.

The research, carried out in Australia, saw eucalyptus leaves, which are the staple diet of Koalas, turning to leather. Koalas and greater gliders depend entirely on eucalyptus leaves for food, while some other marsupials, including brushtail and ringtail possums and many wallaby species, feed extensively on the leaves.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN14494485

Giant study pinpoints changes from climate warming

Wed May 14, 2008 1:00pm EDT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Human-generated climate change made flowers bloom sooner and autumn leaves fall later, turned some polar bears into cannibals and some birds into early breeders, a vast global study reported on Wednesday.

Forests and Rainforests:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/WireStory?id=4232909&page=1

Rain Forests Fall at 'Alarming' Rate

Forests Besieged: With Africa Ahead, World Fells Trees at 'Alarming' Rate, Imperiling Climate

By EDWARD HARRIS Associated Press Writer
ABO EBAM, Nigeria February 3, 2008 (AP)

The Associated Press

In the gloomy shade deep in Africa's rain forest, the noontime silence was pierced by the whine of a far-off chain saw. It was the sound of destruction, echoed from wood to wood, continent to continent, in the tropical belt that circles the globe.

http://www.onearth.org/article/the-giving-trees

The Giving Trees

by Sharon Levy

ISSUE: Spring 2008, feature stories | February 29, 2008

Click for full-size image New science explains how forests could help save us from global warming. Oksana Badrak

For some people forests are measured in board-feet of lumber. For others they're a source of spiritual renewal. But scientists are finding that protecting ancient trees could also be an important new strategy in the fight against global warming.

The Oceans:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217102140.htm

Climate Change Has Major Impact On Oceans

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2008)  Climate change is rapidly transforming the world's oceans by increasing the temperature and acidity of seawater, and altering atmospheric and oceanic circulation, reported a panel of scientists at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston.

"The vastness of our oceans may have engendered a sense of complacency about potential impacts from global climate change," said Jane Lubchenco, the Wayne and Gladys Valley Chair of Marine Biology at Oregon State University, who moderated the panel. "The world's oceans are undergoing profound physical, chemical and biological changes whose impacts are just beginning to be felt."

Panelist Gretchen Hofmann, a molecular physiologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, describes the situation as "multiple jeopardy."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080521105251.htm

Ocean Acidification: Another Undesired Side Effect of Fossil Fuel-burning

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2008)  Up to now, the oceans have buffered climate change considerably by absorbing almost one third of the worldwide emitted carbon dioxide. The oceans represent a significant carbon sink, but the uptake of excess CO₂ stemming from man's burning of fossil fuels comes at a high cost: ocean acidification.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004431933_webacidocean22m.html

Acidified ocean water rising up nearly 100 years earlier than scientists predicted

By Sandi Doughton

Seattle Times science reporter

Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century.

So Seattle researchers were stunned to discover that vast swaths of acidified sea water are already showing up along the Pacific Coast as carbon dioxide from power plants, cars and factories mixes into the ocean.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43114

CLIMATE CHANGE: Corals Collapsing in More Acid Oceans
By Stephen Leahy

Coral reefs like this one could be gone by 2050 due to ocean acidification from global warming. Credit:Chuck Savall

FORT LAUDERDALE, U.S., Jul 8 (IPS) - Coral reefs need to be put on "life support" if they are to survive climate change, but their ultimate survival is dependant on major reductions in fossil fuel emissions, say experts.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23970127-11949,00.html

No credit as oceans turn sour

Anthony Bergin and Ross Allen | July 05, 2008

NOW that Ross Garnaut's draft report has been released, most of the climate change debate in Australia will focus on the economic effects of any emissions trading scheme.

However, there's another carbon problem, which will profoundly affect our oceans, that has received scant attention beyond a small band of marine scientists and is largely independent of global warming.

The public, aware of the role of carbon dioxide in climate change, doesn't know of its function in acidifying the oceans and the hundreds of years that would be required for recovery.

Ocean acidification refers to the natural process whereby carbon dioxide dissolves in the sea, forming a weak carbonic acid. The ocean is a major sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide and has absorbed about 48 per cent of the CO2 emitted by human activities since the pre-industrial age.

A recent report from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre claimed that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is at its highest level in 650,000 years, and possibly 23 million years, and half has been dissolved in the oceans, making them more acidic.

The Arctic:

(note: Read The big Melt: Lessons from the Arctic Summer of 2007 for an in-depth understanding of what is happening in the far north. http://www.carbonequity.info/docs/arctic.html)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKN1822988120080318

NASA data shows thickest and oldest Arctic ice is melting

Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:45pm GMT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The thickest, oldest and toughest sea ice around the North Pole is melting, a bad sign for the future of the Arctic ice cap, NASA satellite data showed on Tuesday.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/04/16/arctic-ice.html

Cracks in Arctic ice shelves even worse than feared: scientist

Last Updated: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 | 4:08 PM CT CBC News

Polar ice researchers who teamed up with Canadian Rangers on a patrol around Ellesmere Island this month say they've found that cracks in ice shelves are worse than they originally thought.

Permafrost and Methane:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,547976,00.html

A Storehouse of Greenhouse Gases Is Opening in Siberia

By Volker Mrasek

Researchers have found alarming evidence that the frozen Arctic floor has started to thaw and release long-stored methane gas. The results could be a catastrophic warming of the earth, since methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But can the methane also be used as fuel?

It's always been a disturbing what-if scenario for climate researchers: Gas hydrates stored in the Arctic ocean floor -- hard clumps of ice and methane, conserved by freezing temperatures and high pressure -- could grow unstable and release massive amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Since methane is a potent greenhouse gas, more worrisome than carbon dioxide, the result would be a drastic acceleration of global warming. Until now this idea was mostly academic; scientists had warned that such a thing could happen. Now it seems more likely that it will.

http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-111171.html

Large methane release could cause abrupt climate change as happened 635 million years ago

30.05.2008

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, about 635 million years ago from ice sheets that then extended to Earths low latitudes caused a dramatic shift in climate, triggering a series of events that resulted in global warming and effectively ended the last snowball ice age, a UC Riverside-led study reports.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/arctic-thaw-threatens-siberian-permafrost-846951.html

Arctic thaw threatens Siberian permafrost

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Saturday, 14 June 2008

The permafrost belt stretching across Siberia to Alaska and Canada could start melting three times faster than expected because of the speed at which Arctic Sea ice is disappearing.

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/49255/story.htm

Global Warming Will Push Russia to Destruction - WWF

RUSSIA: July 9, 2008

MOSCOW - Global warming will sow destruction across Russia and ex-Soviet states, a report said on Tuesday after the world's richest countries issued targets on harmful emissions that environmentalists criticised as too soft.

The 52-page report -- written by green group WWF and British charity Oxfam -- described a grim picture of social, ecological and economic collapse in the world's biggest country and its former empire unless the world took urgent action.

The Antarctic:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,540059,00.html

New Research Confirms Antarctic Thaw Fears

By Markus Becker

New research confirms that ice sheets in West Antarctica are thinning at a far faster rate than in past millennia. Although scientists are divided as to the cause of the melt, many feel it is directly related to climate change.

The boom must have been deafening last fall as the gigantic chunk of ice finally broke off from the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica. For almost a year, the creaks and groans from the river of ice had presaged the birth of a new, expansive iceberg. And finally it was there -- 34 kilometers long by 20 kilometers wide, an area almost as great as that of New York City.

http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN1462532420080314

Antarctic glacier melted more quickly last year

Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:19pm EDT

By Karina Grazina

MARAMBIO BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - A glacier used as a benchmark to measure global warming's impact on the Antarctic Peninsula melted more than usual in the past year, according to an Argentine glacier researcher.

For more than 20 years, Pedro Skvarca has studied the Devil's Bay glacier on Vega Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, a part of Antarctica that is warming five times faster than the average in the rest of the world.

The whole of Antarctica holds enough ice and snow to raise world sea levels by 187 feet if it all melted over thousands of years, according to U.N. data.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN2529744920080326

Slab of Antarctic ice shelf collapses amid warming

Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:59pm GMT

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images show that a large hunk of Antarctica's Wilkins Ice Shelf has started to collapse in a fast-warming region of the continent, scientists said on Tuesday.

The area of collapse measured about 160 square miles of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, according to satellite imagery from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/26/healthscience/ice.php

Runaway ice chunk in Antarctica worries scientists

Published: March 26, 2008

The Associated Press

Published: March 26, 2008

WASHINGTON: A chunk of Antarctic ice seven times the size of Manhattan Island has suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, according to scientists.

Satellite images starting Feb. 28 show the runaway disintegration of a chunk covering 414 square kilometers, or 160 square miles. The ice was on the edge of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and had been there for possibly 1,500 years.

Tipping Points:

http://www.physorg.com/news121366474.html

Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

Anthropogenic forcing could push the Earths climate system past critical thresholds, so that important components may tip into qualitatively different modes of operation. In the renowned magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) an international team of researchers describes, where small changes can have large long-term consequences on human and ecological systems