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melting arctic

Artic ice cap could disappear due to melting caused by global warming - it is the most effected area and the tipping point could be reached.

'Experts at the US Naval Postgraduate School in California think the situation could be even worse. They are about to publish the results of computer simulations that show the current rate of melting, combined with increased access for warmer Pacific water, could make the summertime Arctic ice-free within a decade. Dr Meier said: "For 800,000 to a million years, at least some of the Arctic has been covered by ice throughout the year. That's an indication that, if we are heading for an ice-free Arctic, it's a really dramatic change and something that is unprecedented almost within the entire record of human species."'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1774814,00.html

What will happen if Britain becomes 3C warmer?

And there's more. Last year, the government said that a 3C rise could trigger the melting of the Greenland ice cap, the destabilisation of the Antarctic and "irreversible system disruptions" - basically, out-of-control change. The IPCC says that if emissions are not cut, sea leavels will rise 43cm by 2100, and go on rising after that for 200 more years. Britain, a small island, will become much smaller.

But if losing half the UK doesn't matter, then get used to wild weather. Our drains, houses, underground transport systems and temperaments can barely cope with six inches of snow, winds of more than 55mph or temperatures over 21C, but what is coming could make the great storm of 1987 seem a breeze. There will be no insurance when London is swamped, when your house crumbles into dust or you catch malaria. Yes: 3C is the point when malarial mosquitoes will be able to breed permanently in Britain, cement-eating termites move into your cellars and the green police take over.

In short, 3C will be another world. No more hols in Spain, no seaside jaunts, no short breaks to New York or any of the other world's coastal cities. 3C? It's short for hell.

Source Guardian

Now if you were not worried about Global warming before you should be now.

It is very very very important that we stop it.

It is the most important physical issue the human race has ever faced.

Currently we are messing up.

Lets go renewable. - lets win the war (on global warming).

Max shouts from the mountain top

You who are yet young, on the cold heights build strongholds for your children and go forth to fight the battle for their future. For when London is both Cairo and Atlantis Scotland shall be the new Greece. Build your houses strong on solid rock and give them their own power to last when the world around crumbles. Seed the fields with charcoal to make them last when their goodness would be washed away. Build the hedgerows on the contours and the jetties 11m high for there the water shall ride when the land called the green land is green once more. Build a floating Athens in Inverness and a Cairo of ships in London. For if the battle is lost we must look to the future. Fight to the last drop of blood but if we do not succeed let our children live. But when they see what we have wrought they will cry and though we wish for the world to be as it was when we were born, if we loose then, it shall not be the same for many thousand years 13 degrees is a long way to climb and it will take a long time to come back down again. If we make our own great flood to down in and light the fire to cook ourselves it is our children who will eat the bitter stew. Pray that the one who made us shall save us from our own folly.

I like hydrogen fuel cells

'A hydrogen fuel cell that uses enzymes instead of expensive metal catalysts to drive chemical reactions has been developed by UK researchers.'
This means that the hydrogen fuel cells can be smaller, cheaper and more efficient. Which is great since hydrogen could very easily be the fuel of the future for cars.
however remember 'But Allen notes that energy is still needed to produce the hydrogen required. "We must remember that fuel cells are energy stores not energy generators," he says. "Unless we develop renewable energy-generating capacity in the first place, there will still be a net energy shortfall in the future."'
We need remewable energy production - remember - Wind Turbines are Beautiful - and don't kill birds - birds having two eyes and being adept at avoiding moving things - like other birds - so unless you give them a SatNav system they won't fly into 'huge white birds with 3 wings' I mean you would have to be bird brained to do that. Oh and don't forget solar - the sun is the provider of all 'renewable' energy - so cut out the middle man and go straight for the sun.

oh dear - US emmissions increase by record amount

look here

It seems that voluntary measures don't work whatever Bush says - but then we all knew that - didn't we.

Global Warming

Global Warming is most definitely happening. It is definitely caused by increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. This is scientifically proven based on experiments carried out in laboratories since before 1900 on the properties of carbon dioxide - it reflects infra red radiation. If you do not understand this then the Guardian has an interactive guide. If you tell me that it is down to a natural cycle and that the Romans grew grapes in Northumberland then I tell you that they still grow grapes near Leeds and that there is enough scientific evidence to convince anyone who is not denying to support their own short term interests, several times over.
You might say there is no empirical evidence and I will tell you that 2005 was the warmest year on record (NASA) and that when CO2 levels are as high as they were last in the Eocene Epoch - which turned the oceans acidic for 10,000 years - it will be much to late for you to worry.
If like some people I know you don't think the future matters to you because you will have enough money to survive it and will die before the worst of it. I will probably almost live to the year 2100 by which time a sea level rise of 1m is probable I care. 1m sea level rise would devastate the world economy - the effects of global warming on the economy would be catastrophic.
The only solution is to prevent it from happening. Most options have been mentioned already but to that list I would add ground heat pump technology which is very promising and making hydrogen from algae in the desert which is currently in the pipeline.
I would say that Tony Blair is a hypocritical fool - he calls himself a Christian and then goes against basic principles in the Bible. He should be trying much harder on domestic policy if he is to be a steward of the earth and how can he say anything to anyone else given his own record - remove the log from your own eye before trying to remove another from someone else.
The fight against Global Warming is the biggest civil war ever fought because everyone has to fight themselves - against the greed and selfishness within them. Failure is not an option that we can accept losing the war on global warming would be worse than losing WWII even Hitler did not expect the Third Reich to last 10,000 years or to have the possibility of turning the earth into another Venus style planet.
Thousands of people are dying every year from global warming already and it will only get worse.
Max Randor

Suggestions

I would suggest that all new houses and those having extensions requiring planning permission should be required to produce 50% of their energy from renewable sources and that a tax based a percentage of the council tax should be levied to pay for subsidies with the tax being removed if the house had more than 50% of its energy produced from Renewables - if the percentage increased per anum then everybody would suddenly consider micro-generation through Renewables a very attractive option. Of course this idea needs work before it could become a policy but I think it is a good idea. - but then that is me
We will be installing a wind turbine on our new house which is in a windy location but most people would probably find this difficult, subsidies and simplified planning permission and the cancelling of all measures that prevent this would go a long way to making micro-generation easier.

The Nuclear option – not an option

Definitely not nuclear and never nuclear.
It can never be safe enough, it can never not produce radioactive waste and it will produce CO2 when being built and throughout its life.
Fission power if utilised fully would run out in 15 years.
Fusion looked good and is probably still worth investing in but 50 years is an optimistic estimate for it coming on line (if ever) - and it is even more prone to melt down - if the magnetic field fails it will melt very quickly - think of the heart of the sun in an eggshell - just kept from touching the sides by a magnetic field - H bombs are much more powerful than A bombs. Therefore a fusion plant melt down will be much worse than a fission plant melt down.
The future is renewables - solar, wind, wave, heat pump, tidal, geothermal, hydro, random kinetic.
The sooner the better the larger the scale the better and mandatory to the greatest possible extent.
Also efficiency and lots of it - efficiency increases year on year for everything possible.
In the civil war on Global Warming failure is not an option.
I would live to see the morrow and like living there.