Arctic tundra heats up and releases greenhouse gases

Arctic tundra hotter, boosts global warming: expert
By David Ljunggren
Reuters
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"Regions of Arctic tundra around the world are heating up very rapidly, releasing more greenhouse gases than predicted and boosting the process of global warming, a leading expert said on Wednesday."

"Professor Greg Henry of the University of British Columbia also said higher temperatures meant larger plants were starting to spread across the tundra, which is usually covered by small shrubs, grasses and lichen. The thicker plant cover means the region is getting darker and absorbing more heat. He said tundra covers about 15 percent of the world's surface and makes up around 30 percent of Canadian territory."

"Henry, who has been working in the Arctic since the early 1980s, said he had measured 'a very substantial change' in the tundra over the last three decades, citing greater emissions and plant growth. Since 1970, he said, temperatures in the tundra region had risen by 1 degree Celsius per decade -- equal to the highest rates of warming found anywhere on the planet."

"'We're finding that the tundra is actually giving off a lot more nitrous oxide and methane than anyone had thought before,' Henry told reporters on a conference call from Resolute in the northern Canadian territory of Nunavut."

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Rising temperatures threaten California fruit, grape and nut production

Grower-shippers unconcerned about global warming report
Published on 07/27/2009
By Don Schrack
The Packer

"...By the end of this century, global warming could make California’s San Joaquin Valley no longer suitable for stone fruit, grapes and nuts, according to researchers at the University of California-Davis and the University of Washington, Seattle."

“The main message to the industry is that we must start developing long-term strategies to deal with this quite likely problem of the future,” said Eike Luedeling, a post doctoral researcher at UC-Davis.

Most vulnerable to the warming climate, Luedeling said, is winter temperatures. To achieve proper dormancy, most tree fruit, grapes and nuts require a minimum number of chill hours — when the temperature is between freezing and 45 degrees.

According to the study, weather data from 1950 to 2000 indicates chill hours are likely to decrease by more than 50% during this century.

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More Polar Bear Populations in Decline

More Polar Bear Populations in Decline - Dot Earth Blog - NYTimes.com:

"There is rising concern among polar bear biologists that the big recent summertime retreats of sea ice in the Arctic are already harming some populations of these seal-hunting predators. That was one conclusion of the Polar Bear Specialist Group, a network of bear experts who met last week in Copenhagen to review the latest data (and data gaps) on the 19 discrete populations of polar bears around the Arctic."

"The group, part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, includes biologists in academia and government and at nonprofit conservation organizations. Only one bear population is increasing (in the Canadian high Arctic), while eight are declining in numbers, the scientists said. At its last meeting, in 2005, the group concluded that five populations were in decline. Three populations appear to be stable and seven are too poorly monitored to gauge a trend."

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Melting Permafrost Could Unleash Massive Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Climate Change Calculus: Why It's Even Worse Than We Feared
Published Jul 24, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Aug 3, 2009
Newsweek Voices - Sharon Begley
Newsweek.com

"Scientists have long known that permafrost, if it melted, would release carbon, exacerbating global warming, which would melt more permafrost, which would add more to global warming, on and on in a feedback loop. But estimates of how much carbon is locked into Arctic permafrost were, it turns out, woefully off."

" 'It's about three times as much as was thought, about 1.6 trillion metric tons, which has surprised a lot of people,' says Edward Schuur of the University of Florida. 'It means the potential for positive feedbacks is greatly increased.' "

"That 1.6 trillion tons is about twice the amount now in the atmosphere. And Schuur's measurements of how quickly CO2 can come out of permafrost, reported in May, were also a surprise: 1 billion to 2 billion tons per year. Cars and light trucks in the U.S. emit about 300 million tons per year."

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Politics-As-Usual While Planet Burns

Politics-As-Usual While Planet Burns: American Clean Energy and Security Act Can’t Solve Climate Crisis

By Brian Tokar
From the July 24, 2009 issue
of the Indypendent

"Carbon offsets have become the postmodern version of the indulgences the Catholic church used to sell in the Middle Ages to buy your way out of sin. But on a global scale, with corporations instead of individuals as the main players, they have become a scam of gigantic proportions."

"Rather than promoting innovative measures to reduce energy use in poor countries, as they are usually advertised, carbon offsets are subsidizing the already routine destruction of byproducts from China’s rising production of ozone-destroying hydrofluorocarbons, minor retooling of highly polluting pig iron smelters in India, and methane capture from a notoriously toxic landfill in South Africa."

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Should bags get an 'eco-sin' tax?

Should bags get an 'eco-sin' tax? tallahassee.com Tallahassee Democrat:
BY WAYNE T. PRICE
FLORIDA TODAY
July 4, 2009

"Supporters say forcing consumers to pay anywhere from 5 cents to a quarter a bag would do wonders at curbing plastic bags' popularity their use and protecting the environment. Just as there are so-called sin taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, the plastic bag fee would be an 'eco-sin' tax, they say."

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