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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [permaculture] CNN.com - Global warming 'threat to Arctic' - Nov 8, 2004
  • Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 10:40:44 -0800


<http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/11/08/globalwarming.reut/index.html>
Science & Space
Global warming 'threat to Arctic'
Monday, November 8, 2004 Posted: 6:40 AM EST (1140 GMT)
Polar Bear.
The report says polar bears are unlikely to survive.

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- Global warming is heating the Arctic almost twice
as fast as the rest of the planet in a thaw that threatens
millions of livelihoods and could wipe out polar bears by 2100, an
eight-nation report said on Monday.

The biggest survey to date of the Arctic climate, by 250 scientists, said the
accelerating melt could be a foretaste of wider disruptions
from a build-up of human emissions of heat-trapping gases in the earth's
atmosphere.

The "Arctic climate is now warming rapidly and much larger changes are
projected," according to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA),
funded by the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway
and Finland.

Arctic temperatures are rising at almost twice the global average and could
leap 4-7 Celsius (7-13 Fahrenheit) by 2100, roughly twice the
global average projected by U.N. reports. Siberia and Alaska have already
warmed by 2-3 C since the 1950s.

Possible benefits like more productive fisheries, easier access to oil and
gas deposits or trans-Arctic shipping routes would be outweighed
by threats to indigenous peoples and the habitats of animals and plants.

Sea ice around the North Pole, for instance, could almost disappear in summer
by the end of the century. The extent of the ice has already
shrunk by 15-20 percent in the past 30 years.

"Polar bears are unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete
loss of summer sea-ice cover," the report said. On land,
creatures like lemmings, caribou, reindeer and snowy owls are being squeezed
north into a narrower range.
Fossil fuels blamed

The report mainly blames the melt on gases from fossil fuels burnt in cars,
factories and power plants. The Arctic warms faster than the
global average because dark ground and water, once exposed, traps more heat
than reflective snow and ice.

Klaus Toepfer, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, said the Arctic changes
were an early warning. "What happens there is of concern for
everyone because Arctic warming and its consequences have worldwide
implications," he said.

And the melting of glaciers is expected to raise world sea levels by about 10
cm (4 inches) by the end of the century.

Many of the four million people in the Arctic are already suffering.
Buildings from Russia to Canada have collapsed because of subsidence
linked to thawing permafrost that also destabilises oil pipelines, roads and
airports.

Indigenous hunters are falling through thinning ice and say that prey from
seals to whales is harder to find. Rising levels of ultra-violet
radiation may cause cancers.

Changes under way in the Arctic "present serious challenges to human health
and food security, and possibly even (to) the survival of some
cultures," the report says.

Farming could benefit in some areas, while more productive forests are moving
north on to former tundra. "There are not just negative
consequences, there will be new opportunities too," said Paal Prestrud,
vice-chair of ACIA.

Scientists will meet in Iceland this week to discuss the report. Foreign
ministers from Arctic nations are due to meet in Iceland on
November 24 but diplomats say they are deeply split with Washington least
willing to make drastic action.

President George W. Bush pulled the United States, the world's top polluter,
out of the 126-nation Kyoto protocol in 2001, arguing its curbs
on greenhouse gas emissions were too costly and unfairly excluded developing
nations.

"Kyoto is only a first step," said Norwegian Environment Minister Knut Hareide, a
strong backer of Kyoto. "The clear message from this
report is that Kyoto is not enough. We must reduce emissions much more in coming
decades."

Copyright 2004 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.




  • [permaculture] CNN.com - Global warming 'threat to Arctic' - Nov 8, 2004, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 11/08/2004

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