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POPSChina Tells Rich Polluting Nations To Change Lifestyle China wants technology aid to feature in that pact, which negotiators hope to seal in Copenhagen late next year. Climate officials gathered in Beijing welcomed China's growing activism on the issue but questioned its proposal, especially with an economic downturn draining coffers. "It is undeniable that the financial crisis will have an impact on the climate change negotiations," said Yvo de Boer, who heads the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat. "If we go to citizens under the current circumstances ... and say 'I'm increasing your tax burden in order to pay for climate policy', that might not go down very well," he told Reuters. But Beijing will wait to see what U.S. President-elect Barack Obama offers in greenhouse gas goals and aid before showing more of its own bargaining cards, said Hedegaard. Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSPEK56602
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POPSDevastation of World's Coral Imminent? According to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters, the world's coral could be devastated by rising CO2 levels. This isn't just an issue for science --- the tourist economy in various countries would also be devastated if coral reefs were to vanish. I've written about this before here: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/06/travel-sustainable-coastlines-forbeslife-cx_rr_0307travel.html. More recently, I wrote about endangered natural wonders and the business of tourism here: http://www.forbes.com/travel/2008/09/15/travel-endangered-ecosystems-forbeslife-cx_rr_0915travel.html.
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POPSCloud-seeding ships could combat climate change The 300-tonne unmanned ships used to seed the clouds would be powered by the wind, but would not use conventional sails. Instead they would be fitted with a number of 20 m-high, 2.5 m-diameter cylinders known as “Flettner rotors” that would be made to spin continuously. This spinning would generate a force perpendicular to the wind direction, propelling the ship forward if it is oriented at right angles to the wind. around 1500 ships would be needed altogether to counteract a carbon doubling, at a cost of some £1m to £2m each. This would involve an initial fleet expanding by some 50 ships a year if the scheme is to keep in step with the current rate of increase in atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels.
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POPSFirst Stage of Global Cooling During 2008/09 Mr. Dilley of Global Weather Oscillations has found seven different types of recurring gravitational cycles ranging from the very warm 460,000 year cycle down to a 230 year recurring global warming cycle. All of the gravitational cycles coincide nearly 100 percent with 2200 global warming events during the past half million years. This includes the earth’s current warming cycle which began around the year 1900, and the first stage of global cooling that will begin during 2008 and 2009.
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POPSBeijing Psyops Prepare Olympic Athletics For Brutal Smog Despite traffic restrictions put in place to reduce pollution, the city's air combined with warm temperatures and high humidity could create "a soupy mix of harmful chemicals, particulate matter and water vapor." Before we start eviscerating the U.S. economy with carbon trading, perhaps we could get China on board some sort of cleanup program since it has 16 of the top 20 polluted cities in the world.
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POPSClimate of the Carboniferous Period Earth's atmosphere today contains about 380 ppm CO2 (0.038%). Compared to former geologic times, our present atmosphere, like the Late Carboniferous atmosphere, is CO2- impoverished! Understanding Earth's geologic and climate past is important for understanding why our present Earth is the way it is, and what Earth may look like in the future.
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POPSPerspective on Temperature Many questions remain to be answered regarding the real significance of anthropogenic carbon dioxide as a climate forcing factor and related rising sea level consequences projected by the I.P.C.C. First, there is no incontrovertible evidence to support contentions that pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels were consistently lower than the 380 ppm recorded now. More than 90,000 published measurements carried out between 1812 and 1961 indicate that atmospheric levels were actually rising before the Industrial Revolution. They reached about 440 ppm in 1820, dropped to about 390 ppm by 1855, and rose back to about 440 ppm by 1940.
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POPSFive Myths About The LW Global Warming Legislation
For example, the recent United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report estimates 7 to 23 inches of sea level rise by the end of the century--far less than the widely popularized claims of 18 to 20 feet and little more than ongoing trends over the past several centuries. Myth #4: LW effectively addresses the threat of climate change. Fact: Even assuming the worst of global warming, LW reduces the threat by a minuscule amount. The bill reduces emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the United States only. China has overtaken America as the world's largest emitter, and its emissions growth is several times greater than that of the U.S. India and other fast-developing nations are on a similar trajectory. Thus, the unilateral impact of the bill on global emissions would be inconsequential. At most, it would reduce the earth's future temperature by one or two tenths of a degree Celsius--too small to even verify.