Panel: Global warming a threat to Earth | Billions face climate change risk | The Report

[Sapphire Blue]

Panel: Global warming a threat to Earth
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium - An international global warming conference approved a report Friday warning of dire threats to the Earth and to mankind — from increased hunger to the extinction of species — unless the world adapts to climate change and halts its progress.

Agreement came after an all-night session during which key sections were deleted from the draft and scientists angrily confronted government negotiators who they feared were watering down their findings.

(snip)

There was little doubt about the science, which was based on 29,000 sets of data, much of it collected in the last five years. "For the first time we are not just arm-waving with models," Martin Perry, who conducted the grueling negotiations, told reporters.

The United States, China and Saudi Arabia raised the many of the objections to the phrasing, often seeking to tone down the certainty of some of the more dire projections.

The final IPCC report is the clearest and most comprehensive scientific statement to date on the impact of global warming mainly caused by man-induced carbon dioxide pollution.

(snip)

Areas that now suffer a shortage of rain will become even more dry, adding to the risks of hunger and disease, it said. The world will face heightened threats of flooding, severe storms and the erosion of coastlines.

Continued @ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070406/ap_on_sc/climate_report_14

Billions face climate change risk

Billions of people face shortages of food and water and increased risk of flooding, experts at a major climate change conference have warned.

The bleak conclusion came ahead of the publication of a key report by hundreds of international environmental experts.

Agreement on the final wording of the report was reached after a marathon debate through the night in Brussels.

People living in poverty would be worst affected by the effects of climate change, the gathered experts said.

"It's the poorest of the poor in the world, and this includes poor people even in prosperous societies, who are going to be the worst hit," said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Mr Pachauri said those people were also the least equipped to deal with the effects of such changes.

Continued @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6532323.stm

READ THE IPCC FINDINGS...

Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_04_05_climate.pdf

[bdamomma]

1. we have to make some changes in our lifestyle

we cannot put this subject on the back burner no more.

[babylonsister]

2. And the US et al, raises objections. I am beyond sick of these people who

put profit before the planet and people. :mad:

[mod mom]

3. THIS IS WHY IMPEACHMENT MUST START IMMEDIATELY! not wait for 2 more years

of denial and damage! WE NEED LEADERSHIP NOW!

[Sapphire Blue]

4. Amen!

[EFerrari]

7. That's right!

www.impeach07.org
www.sfimpeachnow.com

[Jcrowley]

5. Number one culprit

US military uses 1.7 million gallons of fuel PER DAY just in Iraq.

K&R

[Sapphire Blue]

6. That figure is astounding... and utterly dismaying.

[EFerrari]

8. Is that in the report or is there a different link? We're presenting

petitions to Pelosi's office later this month and that statistic could be very important to our discussion with her office.

[Sapphire Blue]

10. Jcrowley may have more info for you; this is what I found (not in the report):

In the May 2005 issue of the Atlantic Monthly article Robert Bryce says that “The U.S. military now uses about 1.7 million gallons of fuel a day in Iraq. … each of the 150,000 soldiers on the ground consumes roughly nine gallons of fuel a day. And that figure has been rising.” This mean in Iraq each day 40 000 b/d of oil is consumed by the US military.

http://www.energybulletin.net/13199.html

(Note: the Atlantic Monthly article is available by subscription, which I don't have)

More links (including a thread posted by Jcrowley: Poll question: How Many Gallons Of Fuel Is The US Military Using Per Day In Iraq?: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x578612)...

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-07,GGLD:en&q=%221%2e7+million+gallons+of+fuel%22+%26+%22PER+DAY%22+%26+Iraq

[EFerrari]

16. Thank you, Sapphire Blue!

:hi:

[kirby]

11. 0.4% of US fuel is not where you should focus your presentation

No quicker way to lose credibility than to focus on the 0.4% consumption rather than the 99.6% that we consume.

Think about this. Even if each soldier consumes 9 gallons per day. Each of us in the US consume 4 gallons per day. There are 200,000 of them over there, and 100,000,000 of us driving here each day.

[Sapphire Blue]

13. "200,000" US troops in Iraq?

[EFerrari]

15. I'm looking for facts, thanks The focus is elsewhere.

:)

[Jim Warren]

25. 200,000? Hmmmm

Curiously, that's the number I've heard bushco is eventually reaching for.

[Jcrowley]

14. Here are some links

This one being the best for scouring out the details of US military energy use:
http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2006/06/military-oil-consumption-in.html

Some links within:
http://www.energybulletin.net/13199.html

Yes, something is wrong with that figure. Compare it with the one given by the Defense Logistics Agency spokeswoman Lana Hampton. According to an American Forces Information Service News Article she said the U.S. military is using between 10 million and 11 million barrels of fuel each month to sustain operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. This makes 330 000 - 360 000 barrel per day.

This is more than double the amount of oil used in the Gulf war!

According to a Rand Corporation report “1.88 billion gallons of fuel were consumed within the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (ODS/S), between August 10, 1990 and May 31, 1991.” <5>. This makes 44.8 million barrels, or 150 000 barrels a day. Note that ODS/S lasted 295 days.

Moreover, “during ODS/S Saudi Arabia and the UAE supplied fuels without charge (1.5 billion gallons), whereas Bahrain, Egypt, Oman and Qatar charged for the fuels,” adds the Rand report.

Did Saudi Arabia and the UAE report that fuel as export? Did the US report it as import? Was it counted as Saudi or UAE domestic consumption? Or Was it counted as the US consumption?

I am afraid the answers to those three questions are No, No, No and No!

And here:
http://lawnorder.blogspot.com/2005/04/dod-gas-pains.html

If you want more info on US military fuel use just ask.

Now remember the stats in above links only relate to the US military forces in current operations and do not even touch upon the day to day military use in domestic operations nor the fuel use in the numerous other places where you'll find US forces. I'm quite sure the figure is unknowable.

Now another point to this which comes from Amory Lovins, who was involved in "greening" the military, is that the amount of fuel requisitioned for the Iraq war does not reflect nearly the amount used as they get fuel from outside sources that are not taken into account.

[EFerrari]

17. Right -- the private companies that we also pay for. Thanks.

[Jcrowley]

20. Go here

http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid939.php

And related:
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/67

Best to you.

:hi:

[EFerrari]

24. Thank you, Jcrowley!

:hi:

[kirby]

9. Give me a break...

The Global Warming issue is serious enough without a false declaration that the '#1 culprit' is the US military use of 1.7m gallons per day just in Iraq.

We in the the US use 400 million gallons per day. So the military is using about 0.4%. Let keep the focus on the real global warming sources, not a red herring. Please.

[Jcrowley]

12. So you're saying

Don't focus on the world's number one user of fuel and the world's number one polluter?

The U.S. war machine is the world's greatest polluter. As the U.S. Government engages in endless preemptive war, the Pentagon injects the poison of environmental terrorism all over the globe. The U.S. military generates nearly a ton of toxic pollution every minute — 500,000 tons of toxics annually — more than the five leading chemical companies combined.

Every year the U.S. military uses enough energy to run all U.S. mass transit for 22 years.

An aircraft carrier uses 150,000 gallons of fuel per day.

A fighter jet consumes as much fuel per hour as the average U.S. motorist uses in two years.

[gravity]

19. Don't blame one source

We all need to make sacrifices to stop global warming. And by we, I mean the whole world.

[Jcrowley]

21. I agree

Every aspect of our lives and every destructive institutional force. Important to look at all sources as you state and important to focus intensely on the worst. One thing to consider as relates to the military and global warming is how the funds that are sunk into the military are funds that should be going to mass transportation infrastructure, and many other places, eliminating the need for such individualized car culture modes of transport thus reducing greenhouse gasses.

There are so many places in the US where public transit is simply not an option.

Yes we all must take some degree of personal responsibility but we must foremost shut down the leading causes of our pollution that being the US military, giant chemical companies, oil giants etc... That's a tall order.

[kirby]

22. I'm not saying

Don't focus on the world's number one user of fuel and the world's number one polluter?

I'm not sure you are seeing the true problem because you keep bringing up diversions about the military. I specifically said 'Focus on the 99.6%' of the fuel that we as a nation consume, not the '0.4%' that the military is currently spending in a 'war' zone (which is not even a permanent usage and will decrease lower when its over).

You are saying things that just aren't the main source of the problem. For example 'A fighter jet consumes as much fuel per hour as the average U.S. motorist uses in two years'. If this it true, it still is a drop in the bucket. Remember we have only perhaps 10,000 fighter jets (not sure of that number), but 200,000,000 cars in the US.

[Imagevision]

18. CaN YOU FORESEE WATER GOING UP TO $4.00-$5.00 A GALLON?

how bout gas??

[porphyrian]

23. We HAVE to stop this before it's too late. - n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

26. ..

:kick:

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended

Thanks for the thread Sapphire Blue

[cascagraphic]

28. kick

[nam78_two]

29. The poor are the first to pay of course

:(

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/07/europe/EU-GEN-Belgium-Climate-Report.php

Global warming effects hit poor hardest, here already and worsening by degrees

BRUSSELS: Global warming's effects on daily life are here already, still more pesky than catastrophic. But a new authoritative scientific report says that when the Earth gets a few degrees hotter, inconvenience will give way to danger, death and extinction of species.

The poorest parts of the world, especially Africa and Asia, will be hit hardest, says the summary from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, issued Friday after a long, contentious editing session.


(I am posting a separate thread on this. Please K&R :hi:)

[Reterr]

30. K&R.eom

:(

[entanglement]

31. Does the present rapacious profit system with competing elites in rival nation states

even have the ability to BEGIN to address this problem in a meaningful way? I'm highly skeptical.


Thanks for the PM, Sapphire Blue :hi:

[gulfcoastliberal]

32. Overpopulation is the problem.

This little planet cannot support 6 billion people. But we're going to find that out the hard way.

[calimary]

33. Kick!

Thank you for this research!

We all have to do something. Even little steps. Every action forward is just that - an ACTION - FORWARD.

Great post. Bookmarking.

:thumbsup:

[Jcrowley]

34. KIcking

[orleans]

35. k&r n/t

[bagrman]

36. Listening to NPR early one morning,,,,,

there was a report about the average temperature going down across the US, for the few days after 9/11/01, The only thing that could have attribuited to that was the fact that the airplanes were ground across the country and most of the world. I get up way early and at that time listened to NPR all day at work and the report was never played again.
On another front it seems that we (humans) have come up with another way to protect our food from insects and it's haveing a terrible effect on honey bees. If the honey bee is wiped out, we won't have to worry about rising waters or growing deserts. Funny how MSM in the US doesn't pickupp on this and it's the European news that digs in and informs.

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/11/26/millions_of_bees_dead_bayers_gaucho_blamed.htm


Latr

[frogcycle]

38. the temperature went UP, not down

the lack of vapor trails caused less high-level reflection. That has been used by some to recommend pumping particulates into the upper atmosphere to increase the planetary albedo (reflectivity). A very speculative and risky proposition.

honeybee populations are indeed at risk, and that could be catastrophic

[Jcrowley]

37. Kick