Science Horizons

Ever since the slow realization set in and we began to understand that our conspicuous consumption over the decades has led to serious damage to our environment, as a society we have been looking for ways to turn it around. Certainly, the problem is gigantic as we are very reliant on the use of fossil fuels for our energy. The subsequent emission of dangerous greenhouse gases has caused a considerable problem and must be addressed.

While the majority of us can agree that something needs to be done about greenhouse gas damage to our environment and the adverse climate effects, it will almost certainly take legal action on the behalf of governments to make any change whatsoever. Some are already moving in this direction, as in the United Kingdom a cap and trade carbon system has been introduced to force the largest consumers to cut back on their conventional methods and their output of these dangerous gases.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment is legislation aimed squarely at the largest producers in the United Kingdom. This cap and trade carbon system will place a limit on the total amount of carbon emissions and force individual organizations to trade between themselves and with the government, effectively reducing the overall volume emitted.

The concept of a cap and trade carbon system is not new. Theoretically it works by forcing consumers to trade actively underneath a limit, thus achieving a natural reduction. However, carbon has not before been viewed as a commodity. Other governments around the world are likely to take up a similar approach and many are viewing developments with interest.

According to the British government, there are approximately 5000 businesses that will be forced to participate in the cap and trade carbon system when it gets under way soon. These organizations will now be under a lot of pressure as they have no choice but to improve the efficiencies of their organization or face a financial hit from the increased cost of the carbon allowances that they must purchase. In addition, the government will be communicating the results of the program to society as a whole, creating potentially negative connotations for underperformance.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment has set goals of reducing the overall level of emissions each year up until 2050, by which time the intention is that carbon emissions will have been reduced by 80%. It is felt that this kind of aggressive action is necessary to ensure that even more serious and potentially devastating damage to our environment and climate is contained.

While you would have thought that the United States could lead any initiatives aimed at addressing climate change, there is still some confusion surrounding whether a similar cap and trade carbon system, as initiated by the British, will be adopted in this country.

Without the intervention of government, it is unlikely that either individuals or corporations would take the scale of action required to address climate change. Thus, although the cap and trade carbon system has its detractors, it is likely to make significant headway.

Daniel Stouffer Environment Air Pollution, Air Quality, energy efficiency, Environment, global warming, health and fitness

Earth Friendly Products is a company dedicated to aiding the average person change their lifestyle so that they minimize the volume of damage done to the environments. By searching for environmentally safe choices to products such as bleach, Earth Friendly Products has taken great steps towards protecting the rain forests and minimizing the environments footprints left in the average home.

In order for Earth Friendly Products to be considered for manufacturing, there is a procedure the company goes through to insure their products are as green as possible. Prior to manufacturing starts, the scientists and workers demand many questions. Does gathering the materials for this product damage the rain forest? Does this product remove the habitat of endangered species? Will making this product cause pollution? If all of the answers to these questions, as well as many more, are no, then research and development of the product continues. If the answer is yes to any of these, Earth Friendly Products will not employ the materials. This philosophy has ensured that Earth Friendly Products keep up the highest standard of quality for their products and the protection of the environments.

Earth Friendly Products concentrate on five diverse categories of household cleaners. Bathroom care, Laundry, general Household, Kitchen and for pets. All of their products are cleaning agents that lack chlorine, petroleum, bleach and caustics, so they are cozy both to the environments and towards your health. However, its fundamental to actualize that there are items such as coconut oil in Earth Friendly Products. If you have allergies to coconuts and other natural oils, you should read the ingredient label vigilantly.

When you utilize Earth Friendly Products, you may be ensured that the cleaning agents are safe for utilise. Nevertheless, it is still unwise to drink these products. They are not meant for human consumption. While environmentally social, Earth Friendly Products aren’t necessarily human digestible. Please keep all Earth Friendly Products out of the reach of young children and pets so that you may stop them from becoming ill on them.

One of the most significant Earth Friendly Products that you may buy is their Ice Melt compound. Working to -13 Fahrenheit, this product is safe for pets and vegetation. Unlike salts, which will severely damage plants and may make animals sick, this line of Earth Friendly Products is revolutionary in aiding with the safety of those near your home and the environments.

Earth Friendly Products are obtainable online or through local retailers.

Ferdinand Emy Environment Air Pollution, Arts, authors, books on global warming, carbonmonoxide, celebrities, climate change, Environment, global warming, go green, Health, Humanities, society

In the war against global warming and climate change, economists and politicians have long advocated the use of market forces to help us achieve efficiencies. Indeed, Pres. Obama is known to take this approach and it has been recently introduced in Great Britain, as well. The UK cap and trade scheme has been put in place to drive down domestic carbon emissions through such market forces.

The UK cap and trade scheme sets an overall limit on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that can be released to the atmosphere. The goal of the British government is to gradually reduce this each year up until the year 2050, by which time an 80% reduction will hopefully have been achieved.

Once the government has issued an overall cap in the amount of carbon emissions, any organization that wishes to emit any carbon as a consequence of its operation will need to purchase a limited amount of allowances. The fact that there is an overall cap imposed by the government means that the UK cap and trade scheme creates a real-time value for carbon, essentially creating a commodity.

As a tonne of CO2 will retain an actual value under the UK cap and trade scheme, it follows that an enterprise will be incentivized to reduce its reliance on carbon by introducing efficiencies within its cycle. As it will rely less on carbon emissions, it may sell its unused allowances on the market, trading to other companies who may not be as efficient. In this way, market forces will eventually force a reduction in overall carbon emissions.

A similar version of the UK cap and trade scheme may well be adopted within the United States, if legislation circulating through Congress is eventually taken up. It seems only a matter of time before such hard-hitting programs are introduced, as without them the task of actually reducing carbon emissions in an industrialized society is much harder.

Significant financial penalties await those organizations who fail to actively and successfully participate in the Carbon Reduction Commitment. According to their known electricity usage figures, the largest emitters of carbon dioxide must join the UK cap and trade program and make sure that they succeed.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment threatens organizations on many fronts. It will not only be sufficient to make sure that a company complies with the requirements, but there will be fines allocated should it need to purchase additional allowances. In addition, a league table of results will be published by the government and consumers will be able to vote with their pocketbooks whether they support an organization that is seen to be less than efficient.

Those companies that need to participate in the UK cap and trade program are actively involved in the process of registration and preparation. Although the project does not start until 2011, it was necessary for a company to look back to 2008 to determine whether it needed to take part or not.

Daniel Stouffer Environment Air Pollution, Air Quality, energy efficiency, Environment, global warming, health and fitness

The pressure has been growing on individual companies, producers and emitters of greenhouse gases to try and restrict the output. Up until this time, it has been voluntary to report carbon emissions but legal initiatives are now underway to make this mandatory. A carbon reduction bill has already been put in place in the UK and may soon come out in the US.

The carbon reduction bill in the UK is known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment and is in the process of rollout during 2009. Companies that are affected, estimated to be 5,000 of Britain’s largest carbon emitters, must get ready for registration by assessing whether they are liable by looking back to 2008 for information.

The British government moved quickly to introduce a carbon reduction bill following the passage of the Climate Change Act. Benchmarks have been set for carbon reduction dating back to the Kyoto Protocol, but this is the first time that legislation has been imposed upon businesses to comply and to actively engage in a reduction of their carbon footprint.

While the United Kingdom has moved decisively, a lot of people in the United States are wondering whether legislators in Washington will have the will to pass a similar carbon reduction bill in this country. The US House of Representatives has indicated that they wish to see something similar to the UK legislation, but the ACES Act as it is known may not survive through the Senate unscathed.

The UK government specified that the largest emitters of carbon gases use at least 6,000 Mwh of electricity per annum. This is being measured through half hourly meters and this figure is used as a trigger to prompt companies to register and participate. Several key details are still being worked out during the course of 2009 but once the initiative gets underway there will be considerable repercussions should an organization fail to perform adequately.

Could a similar carbon reduction bill be passed in the United States? The UK initiative reflects what many industrialized nations have called for, for some time. However, traditionally the USA has not been at the forefront of this movement, although the change in administration may now significantly alter things.

While they are waiting to see whether they may be impacted in the future, US organizations that fear a carbon reduction bill could now look at the Chicago Climate Exchange for a version of a voluntary carbon trading scheme. Within this market, allowances and offsets are traded on a voluntary basis, although rules must be strictly adhered to once a company has agreed to participate.

As more and more evidence comes to the surface pointing to a dangerous acceleration of global warming and climate change, it is likely that carbon reduction bills and legislation will appear in increasing number worldwide.

Daniel Stouffer Environment Air Pollution, Air Quality, energy efficiency, Environment, global warming, health and fitness

Earth Friendly Products is a company dedicated to aiding the average person change their lifestyle so that they minimize the volume of damage done to the surrounds. By searching for environmentally safe options to products such as bleach, Earth Friendly Products has taken huge steps towards protecting the rain forests and minimizing the environs footprints left in the average home.

In order for Earth Friendly Products to be considered for manufacturing, there is a process the company goes through to insure their products are as green as feasible. Prior to manufacturing starts, the scientists and workers demand many questions. Does gathering the materials for this product damage the rain forest? Does this product clear the habitat of endangered species? Will making this product cause pollution? If all of the answers to these questions, as well as numerous more, are no, then research and development of the product continues. If the answer is yes to any of these, Earth Friendly Products will not utilize the materials. This philosophy has ensured that Earth Friendly Products conserves the highest standard of quality for their products and the protection of the surroundings.

Earth Friendly Products focus on five various categories of household cleaners. Bathroom care, Laundry, general Household, Kitchen and for pets. All of their products are cleaning agents that lack chlorine, petroleum, bleach and caustics, so they are cozy both to the environment and towards your health. Nevertheless, it is consequential to realize that there are items such as coconut oil in Earth Friendly Products. If you have allergies to coconuts and other natural oils, you should read the ingredient label vigilantly.

When you employ Earth Friendly Products, you may be ensured that the cleaning agents are safe for use. Notwithstanding, it is still unwise to drink these products. They’re not meant for human consumption. While environmentally friendly, Earth Friendly Products are not necessarily human digestible. Please keep all Earth Friendly Products out of the reach of young children and pets so that you may inhibit them from becoming ill on them.

One of the most significant Earth Friendly Products that you can purchase is their Ice Melt compound. Working to -13 Fahrenheit, this product is safe for pets and vegetation. Unlike salts, which will severely damage plants and can make animals sick, this line of Earth Friendly Products is revolutionary in assisting with the safety of those near your home and the surroundings.

Earth Friendly Products are obtainable online or through local retailers.

You ought to be Anti Global Warming just like every other responsible citizen of the world, learn the better practices to adopt so as to curtail this global scourge

Okeke Nnaemeka Environment Air Pollution, Arts, authors, books on global warming, carbonmonoxide, celebrities, climate change, Environment, global warming, go green, Health, Humanities, society

An increasingly large amount of peer-reviewed research, published since the IPCC 4th Assessment Report was released in 2007, shows that global warming is happening right now, and that it is quicker than predicted just 2 years ago.

The evidence for this statement is from a multitude of areas. Some of the regions currently undergoing change are shown below.

-Multiple plants and animals, in widespread sites, are already showing evidence of climate change. Examples include the timing of plant flowering, animal breeding, and lake thawing.

-Increased ocean surface temperatures in Pacific & Atlantic hurricane-formation zones which will lead to stronger cyclones are definitely related to human-induced warming.

-Ocean acidification is happening rapidly, as a result of CO2 in large amounts being dissolved in sea water. This will have massive changes on marine ecosystems and also food security for many nations.

-Probable sea-level rise over the next 100 years will be higher than that calculated in 2007. It will probably increase at least 100cm, based on newly released scientific studies.

-The increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet which began in the summer of 2004 has been definitely related to global warming.

-West Antarctica’s Ice Shelf is undergoing accelerated melting during the last decade and has witnessed ten major ice-shelf collapses in that period of time.

-Northern polar sea-ice is melting much quicker than previously estimated, and it is likely that the Arctic will be free of ice in summer within a few decades.

-Arctic Circle permafrost is thawing much faster than recently thought, and is liberating a lot more greenhouse gases than forecast.

The climate change that we are now witnessing is expected to continue for millennia, even after all anthropogenic carbon dioxide production stops. This is because of the major lags present in the climate system, and the slow removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.

Read more at the planet’s coolest climate change blog, or learn more about accelerated sea level rise. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.

GORDON KELLY Environment Arts, Business, climate change, ecology, Environment, global warming, greenhouse effect, Health, Issues, Nature, news, Science, society, Technology

There are several good reasons to consider installing low energy light bulbs, chief among them being that you can save serious sums of money, you can help to reduce global warming and, thanks to legislation banning incandescent light bulbs, you don’t really have a choice.

So what are your choices when it comes to low energy lighting? In two words, not much, and in two more words CFL and LED (Compact Fluorescent Lamp and Light Emitting Diode respectively).

CFL’s have been around for a while now, however they deliver only about a 4 times improvement on efficiency over incandescent bulbs and they bring a lot of nasty baggage in terms of aesthetic qualities (or lack thereof), usability, health and environmental risks.

In contrast, LED’s for general domestic use have only appeared quite recently yet in terms of efficiency they are already 10 times better and still improving at an astonishing rate; they also present no particular concerns either.

So if LED’s are way better than either incandescent light bulbs or CFL’s then why aren’t more people installing them? There are several reasons but we’ll look at just the main two.

The first is that many people still associate LED’s with their past as Xmas lighting and battery torches and simply don’t regard them as viable domestic lighting. This is in large part due to the fact that high quality domestic LED light bulbs are still very new and still not widely available.

The second reason that LED technology is still proving slow to take off is centred on the fact that most folk really don’t comprehend the economics of electric lighting. It’s simply in our nature to assign importance to headline information and avoid figuring out the (usually more complex) full picture.

That’s why we grumble when opening the latest electricity bill and balk when confronted with the cost of LED light bulbs in the hardware store; all the while totally missing the connection. A sizable proportion of the average electricity bill is due to the cost of lighting – it’s not the cost of the light bulbs that matters, it’s how much it costs to run them.

Those “cheap” incandescent light bulbs convert less than 10% of the electricity into light; the rest of the electricity (and the money you paid for it) is wasted as heat. Compare that to an “expensive” LED light bulb that converts over 90% of the electricity into light.

The payback period on those apparently costly LED’s can be as little as one year and given that most boast life spans of 50,000 hours and upwards compared to 2,000 for regular light bulbs you would need to replace your cheap light bulbs over 25 times to keep pace with the LED’s. Hmm… maybe “expensive” high quality LED light bulbs aren’t so pricey after all.

So what should you look for when checking out low energy light bulbs? Foremost is quality; there are many cheap LED’s on the market and they’re not worth a candle (well maybe a few, but that’s all).

In general you can spot a high quality LED bulb by the fact that it will state what sort of incandescent light bulb it aims to replace; so if you want to replace a 35 watt, 50 degree beam, warm white halogen lamp then check that the LED you’re considering is a good match for all 3 features (luminosity, light spread and color).

The second most important thing to take on board is that the light from an LED is by nature extremely directional and therefore highly suitable for spot lighting. Which is not to say that there aren’t good all round light LED’s available, just that spot light applications are where LED’s have a natural advantage and have accordingly become highly popular with folk wanting to replace hot and inefficient MR15 format halogen spot lamps.

As a side note, the term MR16 has become closely associated with low voltage (12v) lighting but it actually describes both the GU5.3 base format with two pins used for 12v systems and the GU10 twist n’ lock format used for main voltage lighting. In either case though, both 12v MR16 and its GU10 mains variant are an excellent way to get started right this minute with genuine energy saving lighting.

Briony Kennicot Home 12v lighting, cfl light bulbs, eco, energy saving, energy saving lighting, Environment, global warming, Home, home improvements, led lighting, lighting, low energy light bulbs, low voltage lights, saving money

Have you ever wondered what exactly is up with pollution? This informative report can give you an insight into everything you’ve ever wanted to know about water, air and land pollution.

Yet another type of pollution is the land pollution. Agricultural chemicals, sewage effluents, chemical discharges from industry, mining and construction activities have denuded the surface of earth. The instructor talked about tides and how land pollution is brought into the river and will be carried all the way down to the Atlantic Ocean. The kids got to see how this works using their 5′ river and land model. Water pollution, land pollution and air pollution are the major pollutions around the world.

Recycling aggregate operations will use powered machinery, fuel oil, lubricating oil and grease in various plant, equipment and vehicles on site, which have the potential to contaminate water or land. Storage of these fuels in tanks or drums may also be a cause of potential pollution problems during filling, dispensing and if leaking or spillage were to occur. The environmental quality team is responsible for inspecting sites in the borough for sources of contamination. In most cases contamination is only an issue when a new use is proposed for the land. This is dealt with through the planning system when development is taking place.

If your pollution facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don’t let important land pollution information slip by you.

Planning applications are inspected to see if any proposed developments may be on potentially contaminated land and requests conditions to be placed on those that are to ensure that any clean up necessary is carried out. It has agreed a strategy for inspecting and determining whether land may be contaminated and is currently prioritising these.

The Environmental Health Unit of the Council will usually become involved if the contamination is on private land, or if there is a threat to the public at large. Oil spillages and other spillages on the road, for example, would normally be dealt with by the Fire Service who may involve the Highways Cleaning Agency and the Environment Agency.

The amount of contaminated and polluted land has been steadily decreasing as many high value sites have been cleaned up as part of re-development projects. Pollution from existing industrial sites is strictly controlled. The statement of contamination status of the site and its suitability or unsuitability for any use is available. The implications of the LBWF Contaminated Land Strategy are explained in detail in the attached documents. This strategy has been developed to be consistent with national and local LBWF objectives and policy documents.

Now you can be a confident expert on land pollution. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on pollution.

Ben Chester Environment Air Pollution, car pollution, climate change, energy, Environment, environmental pollution, global warming, land pollution, noise pollution, ocean pollution, pollution, pollution causes, pollution effects, pollution poems, water pollution

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding land pollution. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about pollution issues.

Some contaminants will degrade overtime, but many will remain in the soil and may pose a risk to human health. Click the link to the left on Contaminated Land Strategy for further information. Pollution to rivers, groundwater, canals and ponds can occur by the leaching of contaminants out of the soil into water courses through the natural drainage of the soil. This in turn can effect aquatic plant and animal life and contaminate human drinking water.

Recycling aggregate operations will use powered machinery, fuel oil, lubricating oil and grease in various plant, equipment and vehicles on site, which have the potential to contaminate water or land. Storage of these fuels in tanks or drums may also be a cause of potential pollution problems during filling, dispensing and if leaking or spillage were to occur. The environmental quality team is responsible for inspecting sites in the borough for sources of contamination. In most cases contamination is only an issue when a new use is proposed for the land. This is dealt with through the planning system when development is taking place.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following about water, air and land pollution:

Solid waste can become toxic especially if they contain chemicals like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and toxic metals as already reported in huge refuse dumps that now adorn our urban cities. Besides air pollution and water pollution, the urban life style of man also causes land pollution. The large amount of waste produced in order to support modern man’s urban life style has lead to an alarming increase in land pollution.

Industrial activities also are a contributing factor to land pollution. For example, in open cast mining, huge holes are dug in the ground and these form dangerously deep mining pools. If everybody follows this rule, undoubtedly this planet has no the matter about the air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution. It is understood that the battery has reached 18 billion annually, about 850,000 tons each year, a black garbage, and used batteries can be a result of 60 litres of water, 1.6 square meters of land pollution. Staff said that they do so can reduce the pollution of used batteries, in order to contribute to environmental protection, but also to enhance public awareness of environmental protection.

People only think of air/water/land pollution when they say ‘pollution”. Yet when I tried to sleep outside under the stars in the woods around my house the other night, I could not sleep because of too many aircraft ahead flying. Garbage is also another cause of land pollution. Humans produce tons of garbage each year. Used batteries to the rivers, lakes, groundwater, land pollution threaten human health, damage to the living environment of mankind. Hazardous wastes listed in these documents are included in the battery with those of raw materials harmful compounds.

Now you can be a confident expert on land pollution. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on pollution.

Nick Learner Environment Air Pollution, car pollution, climate change, energy, Environment, environmental pollution, global warming, land pollution, noise pollution, ocean pollution, pollution, pollution causes, pollution effects, pollution poems, water pollution

The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood about the natural causes of global warming. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.

Carbon capture and sequestration at coal-fired power plants might raise costs for electricity as little as one to three cents per kilowatt-hour, according to a special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These incremental costs imply far less than 1 percent of the world’s annual income to convert to a clean power grid.

Climate change poses, above all, the problem of the unpredictability of climate patterns: 40C one month, -20C the following one, a hurricane today and a drought for the following five years. No patterns anymore, and there is no way to grow anything with those conditions, if we talk about agriculture. Climate model projections summarized by the IPCC indicate that average global surface temperature will continue to rise during the 21st century by 1.1C to 6.4C.

If your global warming facts are out-of-date, how will that affect your actions and decisions? Make certain you don’t let important global warming information slip by you.

Global warming threatens unmanageable calamity. Global warming sceptics consider that the weather models used to establish global warming and to forecast its impacts are distorted. According to the models, if calculations are made the last few decades must have been much worse as compared to actually happened to be.

Climate change is a natural and much needed process. But it is our living habits that are disturbing the natural balance. Climate change is rightly at the top of the agenda and until we are all agreed on robust ubiquitous action it should remain there — not because other challenges are unimportant but because this one is seminal. Dealing rationally with human social organisation and related resource usage is impossible without considering pretty much every transnational policy question of any significance — poverty, education, biodiversity, the configuration of cities, housing, transport, health and water.

Global warming isn’t just about adding a few degrees to the world’s overall temperature. It’s about melting ice caps that will slowly erode some of the world’s most fertile farmlands, making growing the food the world consumes harder and harder. Global warming is an increase in the average temperature of Earth’s surface. Global warming is the new phlogiston.

Knowing enough about the natural causes of global warming to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you’ve just learned about global warming, you should have nothing to worry about.

Daniel Staines Environment climate change, Education, energy, Environment, Environmental, geography, global warming, pollution, Recycle, Recycling, sea levels, society