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Author Archive for EarthTalk

EarthTalk: Climate Change and Hawaii’s Coral Reefs

Poisonous run-off, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on Hawaii's reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are working hard to stem the problem but must now deal with invasive algaes that are compromising the whole reef system.EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What’s the prognosis for Hawaii’s coral reefs in the face of global warming, invasive algae and other environmental threats?  – Bill Weston, San Francisco, CA

Despite sweeping protections put in place near the end of George W. Bush’s presidency for large swaths of marine ecosystems around the Hawaiian Islands, things are not looking good for Hawaii’s coral reefs. Poisonous run-off, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are trying to remain optimistic that there is still time to turn things around, but new threats to Hawaii’s corals are only aggravating the situation.

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EarthTalk: Biomass Energy – Hype or Solution?

Biomass can be a part of the effort to cut back on fossil fuels, but only if it is harvested and used in ways that reduce pollution, cut emissions and protect forests. Pictured: A biomass-burning power plant.

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: What is “biomass” and why is it controversial as a potential source of energy?    – Edward White, New Bedford, MA

Biomass is plant matter that is burned as a source of energy. Fallen or cut wood that is burned for heat is one primary form of biomass, but another includes plant or animal matter that is converted into biofuels.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), which was formed during the oil shocks of the early 1970s to help ward off future energy shortages, biomass combustion is a carbon-neutral process because the carbon dioxide released at burning has previously been absorbed by the plants from the atmosphere.

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EarthTalk: Global Warming, Droughts and Wildfire

By throwing the planet’s climate out of whack, global warming is likely to cause more extreme weather events -- and not just rain, snow and flooding but more droughts and wildfires, too, sometimes within the same regions that at other times experience extreme wet weather.EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: How are droughts and wildfires cause by global warming? I thought warming mostly brought on wet and flooded conditions.   -David Mossman, Albuquerque, NM

By throwing the planet’s climate regulation systems out of whack, global warming is likely to cause more extreme weather events of every kind, including additional precipitation and flooding in some cases and more drying and drought in others—sometimes within the same region.

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EarthTalk: Airplane Emissions and Climate Change

Airplane emissions: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that CO2 emitted by jets can survive in the atmosphere for upwards of 100 years, and that its combination with other gas and particulate emissions could have double or four times the warming effect as CO2 emissions alone.EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Why is it that airplane exhaust is so much worse for the environment than engine emissions on the ground?
– Winona Sharpe, New York, NY

While air travel today accounts for just three percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions, the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants that come out of jet exhaust contribute disproportionately to increasing surface temperatures below because the warming effect is amplified in the upper atmosphere.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific intergovernmental body set up by the United Nations (UN) to provide comprehensive scientific assessments of the risk of human-induced climate change, reports that CO2 emitted by jets can survive in the atmosphere for upwards of 100 years, and that its combination with other gas and particulate emissions could have double or four times the warming effect as CO2 emissions alone. Read More→

EarthTalk: Clean Energy Victory Bonds

Clean Energy Victory Bonds support clean energy development. Solar panels mean jobs and clean energy.Dear EarthTalk: What are “Clean Energy Victory Bonds?”  – Max Blanchard, Wilmington, DE

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Green America, a non-profit membership organization that promotes ethical consumerism, created the “Clean Energy Victory Bonds” concept as a way to give everyday Americans the opportunity to invest in clean energy and related fields in a fashion similar to how the federal government raised billions of dollars for the war effort during World War II over a half century ago. At that time, four out of five American households purchased the original Victory Bonds, raising $185 billion (over $2 trillion in today’s dollars) to support the war effort.

 

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