International treaties

The atmosphere is pretty much transnational (despite progress on a very high wall between the United States and Mexico). So work on global warming needs to be international.

Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was a 1998 agreement under which all Earth's nations would transform their economies to roll back their emission of CO2 by 2010. (Again, progress would be measured against that alternate Earth that has no humans.) All the nations, that is, except the following:

The United States, which never ratified the Protocol, and whose Senate was almost unanimously against any treaty if it had teeth.
Latin America and Africa, where existing laws aren't enforced and open fires are a fixture. Rural folk burn off crops after harvest rather than plowing them under; city-dwellers gather around open fires in 50-gallon drums, as an ice-breaker for early morning booze-ups before proceeding to the factories.
Crowded and grimy China and India, which were specifically exempted; and
The European Union, which eagerly ratified the Protocol but never complied with it.
The Protocol gave special status to "early ratifiers," the valiant nations that signed on before thinking it through. Bottom line: Nothing happened.

Follow-on treaty

A successor to Kyoto is being developed for the Copenhagen meetings. The parties' negotiating positions are as follows:

The United States is newly receptive to a treaty, but insists on getting credit for its vast forested area. It says these trees store carbon that otherwise would be discharged as CO2 into the atmosphere. But other nations point to the large number of Americans living together without marriage; the lack of diamond rings, which are also carbon, implies that the U.S. is responsible for additional CO2.
China and India insist they are as crowded and grimy as ever and should still be exempt.
Third-world countries have hardened their position. Rather than agreeing to terms they'll never enforce, they now want rich nations to pay them to make the required changes. The checks would be payable to the various Presidents-for-Life, military strongmen, and tin-god dictators, to be spent on behalf of their needy populations. (The portion stored in numbered Swiss bank accounts backs their currencies.)

Satellite Photos of Melting Sea Ice

Satellite Photos of Melting Sea Ice


These satellite photos, recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, show a dramatic change in the sea ice surrounding Barrow Alaska. It is estimated that approximately 1 million kilometers of sea ice disappeared in 2007 alone.

What should we be asking world leaders to agree to in Copenhagen

5 Category What are they asking for?
For more information

10:10 uk Domestic politics Encouraging individuals, businesses and organisations to cut their carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010 in order to put pressure on the British government to push for a more ambitious deal at Copenhagen 10:10
350.org Carbon trading A treaty that is strong, equitable and grounded in the latest science. There needs to be a high price on carbon and the treaty must ensure poor countries have a chance to develop 350.org/science
350.org CO2 reduction Reduce atmospheric concentrations of CO2 to 350 parts per million 350.org carbon emissions
ActionAid CO2 reduction Rich countries need to adopt 2020 targets of more than 40% emissions reductions against 1990 levels ActionAid/climatechange
ActionAid Funding Rich countries need to commit to finding £106bn a year to tackle climate change in developing countries ActionAid/climatechange
Avaaz International politics World leaders must tackle climate change now, decisively and together. They must start working toward a new global agreement and set binding global targets for emissions to avert catastrophic climate change Avaaz climate campaign
Cafod CO2 reduction Industrialised countries must commit to more than 40 per cent cuts - based on 1990 levels - by 2020 cafod.org/climate
Cafod Developing world Poor people are hit first and hardest by climate change, but have done least to cause it; they should not be the ones who pay the price cafod.org/climate
Cafod Funding Rich countries must commit to at least €110bn a year to help developing countries adapt to the changing climate and pursue their right to develop in a sustainable way cafod.org/climate
Christian Aid Developing world Rich countries should pay poorer countries to protect themselves from impacts of climate change Christian Aid/climate
Christian Aid International politics Get Gordon Brown and Barack Obama to attend the talks in December Christian Aid/climate
Christian Aid CO2 reduction The UK must reduce its own emissions by 80% by 2050 Christian Aid/climate
Friends of the Earth CO2 reduction Rich countries must commit to cuts of 40% by 2020 foe.co.ouk/climate
Friends of the Earth Carbon trading Rich countries should not be allowed to buy any of their reductions abroad foe.co.ouk/climate
Friends of the Earth Developing world Rich countries must provide additional money for developing countries to grow in a clean way, and to cope with the floods, droughts and famines caused by climate change foe.co.ouk/climate
Global Climate Campaign International politics The long-industrialised countries that have emitted the most greenhouse gas must take responsibility for climate change mitigation by immediately reducing their own emissions as well as investing in clean energy in the developing world globalclimatecampaign.org
Greenpeace International International politics World leaders to attend the meeting in person, agree to mandatory cuts in emissions for the developed world of 40% by 2020 and invest £84bn a year in developing countries so they can shift to a low-carbon economy, end deforestation and adapt to climate change impacts greenpeace.org/climate
Operation Noah International politics The British government should lead negotiations for a cut in global power sector emissions of at least one-third by 2020, as a move towards zero emissions from this sector by 2030 operationnoah.org
Oxfam International politics Asking Gordon Brown to attend the talks in Copenhagen and lead the push for a deal oxfam.org/climate
Oxfam Developing world The UK must pay its fair share of adaptation costs in poor countries - Oxfam estimates this as £1.56bn per year (and get Europe to commit to £9.44bn a year) oxfam.org/climate
Sandbag Climate Campaign International politics International governments should cut global power sector emissions at least 10% from present levels by 2020, sufficient to peak energy-related CO2 and usher in a clean energy revolution. sandbag.org.uk/onegiantleap
Stop Climate Chaos Developing world Resources must be provided to help the most vulnerable people stopclimatechaos.org/
Tearfund CO2 reduction Developed countries must reduce their emissions by at least 40% by 2020 (from 1990 levels) tearfund.org/climate
Tearfund Developing world Developed countries must provide at least £30bn a year of finance to help poor people adapt to the changing climate tearfund.org/climate
Tearfund CO2 reduction The vast majority of emission cuts should be made in the country where they were emitted rather than by offsetting tearfund.org/climate
UN Seal the Deal Developing world A framework must be established that will bolster the climate resilience of vulnerable countries and protect lives and livelihoods sealthedeal2009.org
UN Seal the Deal CO2 reduction Developed countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and limit the growth of their emissions sealthedeal2009.org
UN Seal the Deal Carbon trading An efficient institutional mechanism should be set up for dispersing these funds and an equitable, accountable governance structure sealthedeal2009.org
UN Seal the Deal Developing world Developing countries should receive financial support to limit the growth of their emissions sealthedeal2009.org
WWF CO2 reduction The EU should commit to a 45% reduction in emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels, with at least three-quarters of these cuts made domestically wwf.org/climate
WWF Funding The EU should provide its fair share of the total climate protection costs, currently estimated to be at least £30bn of the £93.4bn needed annually by 2020 wwf.org/climate
tcktcktck International politics World leaders must be called upon to sign an ambitious, fair and binding climate deal in Copenhagen tcktcktck.org

Countdown to Copenhagen

Timeline: Countdown to CopenhagenFrom 7 December 2009, environment ministers and officials will gather in Copenhagen for the COP15 UN climate conference to thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol
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It's your personal decision whether you want to be the cause of global warming

In this context the question is whether global warming and its effects will eventually wake up mankind and spark off a change of paradigm. Will we understand this hint of Nature to follow the true meaning of life or will we continue to let us manipulate by media and advertisement as sheer and willing consumers in the economic cycle? Will we continue to strive for power, prestige and possessions following the concept „the more the better "? Shall economic growth and an ever increasing personal income continue to be the reason for being here, beyond everything else?

These questions can and must be answered by everyone. It is not primarily a decision of politicians or of the government. Everyone has to make a personal decision.


It is in our very own interest to induce fundamental changes in our attitude and behavior towards Nature: Modesty and humility, admiration and respect for all life on Earth instead of arrogance and haughtiness.


Let's emphasize it again: Not the others need to change, we must change ourselves. There are no international treaties or additional national laws required to start changing. We can start to change our consciousness immediately. It is really only about our personal behaviour - independent of what others do or don't do.

It's time for change!

The ultimate global warming solutions is to behave as part of a larger whole

Many people between 20 and 65 years seem to live for the one and only purpose of earning as much money as possible in order to be able to buy as many things as possible. In this light, it is not surprising that discussions about potential solutions to fight global warming concentrate on technical measures instead of a fundamental change of our attitude to life in general and to Nature in particular.

Someone who respects Nature and regards mankind as a part of a larger whole would never dream about using up non-renewable resources in a short time nor would this person contaminate the environment with gigantic amounts of pollution. By contrary, someone who respects Nature and regards mankind as a part of a larger whole would in all decisions carefully evaluate any effects on Nature. The preservation of Nature would be given a very high priority. On this base, it wouldn't have been possible to deny and ignore global warming for more than 20 years!

We must change our thoughtless attitude to Nature.

In our technology and scientific minded world, we seem to have forgotten that mankind is only a relatively minor part of Nature. We ignore being part of a larger whole.

We believe to be able to control Nature instead of trying to arrange ourselves with Nature. This haughtiness is the true main cause of global warming. As a matter of fact, some people still believe that technical solutions alone would be sufficient to fight global warming.

Although we are guests on Earth, we behave as if no further visitors would arrive after us. It's like having a wild party where we destroy beds, the kitchen as well as the living room of a hotel without ever thinking about our future staying in the hotel nor about other guests arriving later.

In addition, our unit of measure is more and more often money only. What has no price tag, seems to have no value to us any more. In doing so we mix up economic growth with general well-being and financial income with personal happiness, respectively.
There is a loss of value behind this attitudes. We got blind for the true reason of our incarnation on earth:


We live here to train those traits , which will finally lead to perpetual harmony with ourselves and with our environment as well as to inner calm and peace.

The main cause of global warming is our treatment of Nature

It took more than 20 years to broadly accept that mankind is causing global warming with the emission of greenhouse gases. The drastic increase in the emission of CO2 (carbon dioxide) within the last 30 years caused by burning fossil fuels has been identified as the major reason for the change of temperature in the atmosphere.

More than 80% of the world-wide energy demand is currently supplied by the fossil fuels coal, oil or gas. It will be impossible to find alternative sources, which could replace fossil fuels in the short or medium term. The energy demand is simply too high.

Another issue is the non-renewable characteristic of fossil fuels: It took nature millions of years to generate these resources, however we will have used them up within the next decades. Alone the shrinking supply will not make it possible to continue as usual for a longer time.

We' ve got to Save Our Planet Earth!

Oh, No! Our earth is in trouble, and we've got to save it!
Oh, No!: Bad Facts about our earth

If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day.
Making a new can from scratch uses the uses the energy equal to half a can of gasoline.
About one third of what an average American throws out is packaging.
More than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.
In one minute, 50 acres of rainforest are destroyed.
Some rain has a pH of 3 or 4. (which is pretty acidic, considering 7 is neutral, not acidic, and battery acid has a pH of 1). Some fish, such as lake trout and smallmouth bass, have trouble reproducing at a pH of 6, which is only slightly acidic. Some clams and snails can't survive at all. Most crayfish are dead at a pH of 5. You can see how bad this is for the environment.
On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.
About 90% of the energy used in lighting a standard (incandescent) light bulb is lost as heat.
Air conditioning uses 10 times more energy than a fan, therefore, it creates 10 times the pollutants.
It takes half the output of the Alaskan pipeline to heat the air that escapes from all the homes in the US during a year.
Cars and pick-up trucks are responsible for about 20% of the carbon dioxide released into the air.
There are about 500 million automobiles on the planet, burning an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day. Each gallon releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
About 80% of our trash goes to landfills, 10% is incinerated, and 10% is recycled.
Since there is little oxygen underground, where we bury our garbage, to help bacteria eat the garbage, almost nothing happens to it. Scientists have dug into landfills and found ears of corn still intact after 20 years, and newspapers still readable after 30.
The average American makes about 3.5 pounds of trash a day.
In a year, the average American uses as much wood in the form of paper as the average resident of the developing world burns as fuel.
26 things we can do to help:

Turn off lights.
Turn off other electric things, like TVs, stereos, and radios when not in use.
Use rechargable batteries.
Do things manually instead of electrically, like open cans by hand.
Use fans instead of air conditioners.
In winter, wear a sweater instead of turning up your thermostat.
Insulate your home so you won't be cold in winter.
Use less hot water.
Whenever possible, use a bus or subway, or ride your bike or walk.
Try to buy organic fruits and vegetables if you're concerned about pesticides. (Organic food is grown without man-made fertilizers and/or pesticides).
Don't waste products made from forest materials.
Use recycled paper and/or recycle it. Reuse old papers.
Don't buy products that may have been made at the expense of the rainforest.
Support products that are harvested from the rainforest but have not cut down trees to get it.
Plant trees, espessially if you have cut one down.
Get other people to help you in your cause. Make and/or join an organization.
Avoid products that are used once, then thrown away.
Buy products with little or no packaging.
Encourage your grocery store sell environmentally friendly cloth bags for people to use when they shop, or bring your own.
REDUCE, REUSE, & RECYCLE.
Compost.
Buy recycled products.
Don't buy pets taken from the wild.
If you have a good zoo nearby, (if the animals are healthy and the zoo takes care of them), support it! Espessially if they help breed endangered animals.
Don't buy products if animals were killed to make it.
Cut up your six-pack rings before throwing them out.

poster making competition: global warming

global warming debate

Global warming debate

10 MYTHS about Global Warming

Don't believe these commonly heard statements:

* It isn't really happening (documented science overwhelmingly shows temperatures rising rapidly)

* It's natural (temperature increases, especially since the 1970's, are far above natural variations)

* Any effects well be very gradual (not only are severe storms getting stronger, but climate history shows sharp climate changes can occur abruptly, in only a few years)

* It does not affect the U.S. (the U.S. is experiencing rising sea levels, more severe storms and droughts, die-off of forests, altered animal migrations, and loss of glaciers such as those in Glacier National Park)

* It will be good for us (some areas may become more pleasantly warm, but the cost of negative effects will far outweigh any benefits; disease and heat deaths are increasing)

* Agriculture will benefit (CO2 may make some crops grow faster, but also will accelerate weeds, pests and droughts; crops may not grow well where they once did as climate zones shift.)

* It's being handled by our government Changes we make to how we get and use energy will cost billions and throw millions out of work. (There are costs to any change, but study after study shows the net effect of conservation, efficiency and less-polluting energy will be more local jobs, less cost for power, and savings in health and local pollution control. The costs of severe climate change effects like seacoast erosion is far greater than working to reduce them.)

* It's not a big deal compared to national security (Global warming is actually the most serious threat to the widest range of human concerns. Our national and world security is directly threatened by negative climate effects on weather, water supply, disease, agriculture, marine resources, and health)

* Technology will solve the problem for us (Massive "fixes" like burying greenhouse gases are very unlikely, but many smaller changes can make a difference AND are available now)

* There's nothing to be done anyway (Everyone can make a difference today)

A call for the Cool Earth Brigade of Kulachians

Climate change is real!

We are all responsible for it, and we must all be part of the solution.

Each of us is responsible for adding a lot of CO2 annually to

light our homes,

drive our cars,

fly to distant places

and everything else we do.

Be a leader in the fight against climate change today!

Spread awareness.

How much carbon emission is being done by countries of the world.

message for the COOL EARTH BRIGADE the green Kulachians

The Most Important Things You Can Do about Rapid Climate Change:


1. Understand the Problem,
2. its causes .
3. Do Something Today to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions,
4. find solutions

Take Action Today--------------action time !

To Do Today

Turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120°F). You'll not only save energy, you'll avoid scalding your hands

Start using energy-saving settings on refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, and clothes dryers.

Survey your incandescent lights for opportunities to replace them with compact fluorescents (CFLs). These lamps can save three-quarters of the electricity used by incandescents. The best targets are 60-100W bulbs used several hours a day. New CFLs come in many sizes and styles to fit in most standard fixtures.

Check the age and condition of your major appliances, especially the refrigerator. You may want to replace it with a more energy-efficient model before it dies.

Clean or replace the air-conditioners.

CORAL REEF DIE OFF DUE TO RISE IN SEA LEVEL

As it takes up heat, ocean water expands -- the major cause of sea level rising at a rate now exceeding 8 inches a century. Sea level rose about 6 inches in the 20th century, but the rise is predicted to increase to as much as a meter by 2100 (see Coastlines and Glacier sections). Coral, which thrives at and near the sea surface, is not expected to be able to keep pace with this rapid increase in water depth. In addition, seas are dissolving more and more carbon dioxide. Even though this adds more carbon, a raw material for coral making calcium carbonate reefs, it also acidifies the water, actually inhibiting the growth of coral.

RISE IN SEA LEVEL

Around the globe, sea level is more than 6 inches higher than it was 100 years ago, due primarily to warmer sea water and runoff from melting glaciers. The rate of rise is now 12 inches per century and increasing. The IPCC projected in its 2007 report a sea level up to 2 feet higher by 2100. However, leading glaciologists have long maintained that accepted estimates of sea level rise were underestimated, due to the rapid retreat of mountain glaciers and the unpredictable change to ice caps in Greenland and West Antarctica. Studies released in 2008 and 2009 using various satellite sensors of the sea surface plus estimates of continuing ice cap and glacier melt indicate sea level will be three feet or more higher by the end of the century.

Greenland's huge icecap melting?

Greenland's huge icecap, second only to Antarctica, is also showing signs of change, although measurements are preliminary. Outflow glaciers like this one on the central east coast, as measured by NASA airborne radar and laser, appear to be thinning and flowing more rapidly. The National Climate Data Center (NOAA) reports that 2002 saw the greatest measured surface melt of Greenland ice in 24 years of satellite records. Two deep ice cores from there provide a detailed Northern Hemisphere climate record extending beyond the last ice age.

Melting glaciers GREENLAND GLACIER

Receding Glaciers

Portage glacier in 1914

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/images/PortageReshoot.jpg

Portage glacier in 2004

Polar Bear Listed in Endangered Species Act

The polar bear was officially listed as threatened under the U.S. endangered species act (ESA) on May 14, 2008. This the first creature brought under the act's protection for habitat loss that is linked to global warming. The official reason given was loss of Arctic sea ice and predictions that the ice will continue to decrease. Although global warming has been identified by most atmospheric and polar scientists as the main reason for Arctic warming and melting of sea ice, the U.S. Interior Department did not use man-made global warming as a reason and clearly signaled it would not apply the law to greenhouse gas emissions.

Polar bears threatened by Global warming !

WELCOME ADDRESS BY THE SCIENCE TEACHER

Welcome!
all members of
the COOL EARTH BRIGADE
of KULACHI HANSRAJ MODEL SCHOOL.
The brigade has a lot to do as discussed earlier.
Children ! You all know that our beloved planet , Earth is dashing toward an immensely warmer future.
Global warming is caused by green house gases, which trap in the sun’s infrared rays in the earth’s atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earth’s atmosphere. These green house effect warming is called as global warming. The effects of green house effect are visible more prominently in the recent years, with number of natural calamities on the rise in the whole world.
Global warming threatens to extinguish hundreds of millions of human lives and nearly a third of the planet's wildlife, an international panel of climate scientists said in a report issued today.
So,hurry we have to make everybody aware of the mistakes in our lifestyles to reverse the effects of global warming.
So,here we --------------GET SET AND GO....................................................................... .
Savita Dhutti