Oceans In Trouble As Acid Levels Rise

[Thomas Knierim]

by Michael Hopkin, nature.com

Report calls for more stringent carbon cuts to protect seas.

Corals and plankton are at risk of being destroyed by the rising acidity of the world's oceans as the waters absorb carbon dioxide from the air, British scientists have warned. The only solution, they say, is drastic cuts in carbon dioxide emissions, far beyond those called for by the Kyoto treaty.

[...]

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have pumped an estimated total of 450 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, around half of which has ended up in the oceans, Raven said. He and his colleagues are calling for no more than 900 billion tonnes to be added during this century - a tall order given the burgeoning industrial development of China and India.

[...]

Full article: http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/ful.../050627-14.html (http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050627/full/050627-14.html)

[Thomas Knierim]

Science And Sustainable Development

Special Feature, Nature.com, August 2002

Ten years on from the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of international policy makers gathered in Johannesburg between August 26 and September 4 at the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development. Politicians, scientists and pressure groups attempted to set out plans to counter the current global trend: that environmental degradation is the price to be paid for prosperity. Issues high on the agenda included depletion of fresh-water reserves, population growth, the use of unsustainable energy sources, food security, habitat loss and global health - all addressed in the context of social justice in balance with environmental sustainability.

Science is no longer on the fringes in attempting to solve these problems. Unlike Rio in 1992, consultation with researchers from a host of relevant disciplines was widely sought during the summit's preparatory meetings, and organisations such as the Paris-based International Council for Science have been asked to submit formal contributions to the summit.

Read on at: http://www.nature.com/nature/sustainablede...ment/index.html (http://www.nature.com/nature/sustainabledevelopment/index.html)

[zewc]

i read this and a few others illustrating the same picture, that the acid level are rising drastically.

But what can the individual do without the support of the rest of society? ITs a shame, but is down to the politicians to make the differences, people like the laughable-dubbya bush need to make changes for the better, but as long as the big corporations still run our country there is little we can do...except vote a better person in...

[MidnightSun]

poor my homeland planet...

[sonrisa]

Zewc, how can we vote these idiots out of office when the repugs are fixing the elections? Case in point- both the Diebold (Liebold?) voting machine company & the Secretary of State here in Ohio made sure that our state went to dubya in last year's elections. In one precinct up in Columbus alone that had 700 registered voters (give or take a few) dubya got over 4000 votes.That was just one precinct. Do the math.

Across the River in KY, George Clooney's Dad ran for Congress. He was considered a shoo-in, but was defeated by some unknown repug who ran a smear campaign against him. But Nick Clooney is a very popular dude around here, more popular than George, his Q-factor is thru the roof, morever the voters knew the other dude as smearing him. So how did that clown get elected over Nick? Folx across the River are still trying to figure out who actually voted for that jerk (everybody swears they voted for Nick)

Then there's the repug Senator from Neb who owns a voting machine company & won his election with 83% of the vote. Can you say conflict of interest?

[Thomas Knierim]

Moved replies reg. democratic governments here: http://www.thebigview.com/discussion/index...ct=ST&f=6&t=513 (http://www.thebigview.com/discussion/index.php?act=ST&f=6&t=513)

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