Saturday, February 12, 2011

Big Arctic Ice Thaw coming this summer

Big Arctic Ice Thaw coming this summer
By Craig Dillon | February 12th 2011 05:31 PM
Science20.com

"...The Arctic Ice is preparing itself for a large reduction in sea ice area this summer. The summer of 2007 surprised climatologists when a summer low in ice area was set at about 3 million sqkm. To put that in perspective, in the early 1980's, the Arctic sea ice would melt back to an area around 5 mil sqkm.

The current ice coverage is 1.1 mil sq km less than what it should be, and should be setting a record low for winter ice area this winter. More importantly though, the Cryosphere Today website by the University of Illinois shows that the current midwinter ice cap has not completely frozen over its coverage area. The presentation of the ice cap is color coded indicating the percentage of ice coverage in its area. The colors show that 5% and 10% of much of the ice covered area is actually open water.

This means that the ice cap is susceptible to a large reduction in sea ice area when the thawing begins this March..."

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Carbon Confessions from Earth Day 2009, Santa Barbara, CA

The Tree of Carbon Forgiveness

The Tree of Carbon Forgiveness
Carbon Penance Generator

 

   Instructions

 

  1.  Click the Forgiveness Button.
  2.  Implement Carbon Penance quickly.
  3.  Avoid future Carbon Temptation through greater

     personal and social awareness. 

 


Penance -- Then and Now

Penance -- Then and Now
In the Middle Ages, there was no buying and selling of carbon indulgences. Now it's a booming business. "The worst of the carbon-offset programs resemble the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences back before the Reformation," said Denis Hayes, the president of the Bullitt Foundation, an environmental grant-making group. "Instead of reducing their carbon footprints, people take private jets and stretch limos, and then think they can buy an indulgence to forgive their sins." The New York Times, 4/29/07

What's a Carbon Footprint?

What's a Carbon Footprint?
A carbon footprint is a "measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide". It is meant to be useful for individuals and organizations to conceptualize their personal (or organizational) impact in contributing to global warming. A conceptual tool in response to carbon footprints are carbon offsets, or the mitigation of carbon emissions through the development of alternative projects such as solar or wind energy or reforestation. A carbon footprint can be seen as a subset of earlier uses of the concept of ecological footprints

Source:  Wikipedia - Carbon Footprint