Global Warming News, Global Warming Facts, Cause of Global Warming, Global Warming Information

Disappearing ice is altering the ecosystems gradually. There is a lot of shrinking sea ice, glaciers and snow in the high regions and here water is seen to be frozen for some time. This is seen to affect the ecosystem in many ways. Scientists have seen how many animals like polar bears and penguins are reacting to the loss of habitat, but slowly the  effects of the cryosphere on organisms is being seen. The way sea ice is disappearing is also decreasing the uptake of carbon di oxide in the sea from the air. Snowpack changes and also alters the suitability of the plant species. The amount of carbon di oxide also is affected by the melting permafrost. The carbon di oxide is taken out by the plants and the microbes in the atmosphere. So it is seen that decreasing snowfall in many regions actually threatens the animals which burrow, and also makes the roots of the plants totally susceptible to injury as the snow is a great insulator. The microbes like diatoms live  [...]

After a stint of around 40 years in the business of cars, Bob Lutz is still a greatly successful individual. Today he is retired from General Motors as the vice chairman and he has brought out a second book. The first book that he took out was Guts. He then became a part of Via Motors as a board member. Today this is converting the GM SUVs, pickups and vans to hybrids which are 100mpg. Lutz says that quality rules and all the consumers appreciate the bean counters give cars to save money. Styling is also equally important and it really matters to the auto enthusiasts. Lutz has the credit of knowing his subjects well. He gives the best theories on environment which he says are sure to make Sierra Club or the member of the NRDC stiff competition. He says that these would perhaps not make it to the Car Talk Plaza too. Lutz is the perfect car gentleman and has been in the business  [...]

It is time we wake up and understand the importance of water in our everyday life. Water the main element of mankind, plants and animals is given a special status every year on the International World Water Day. This year too as usual, it is going to be celebrated on March 22 so that the world focuses on the importance of freshwater in sustaining management of the freshwater resources in the world. This is an international day to celebrate freshwater and was recommended in the United Nations Conference held in the year 1992. This conference was held for the Development of the Environment and related matters. So the United Nations designated March 22 as the world water day and the first World Water Day was celebrated in the year 1993 on March 22. Every year World Water Day shows the actual aspect of freshwater and this year in 2012, the theme of World Water Day is Water  [...]

Rafael Moure-Eraso, chair of the US Chemical Safety Board, a key oversight panel, gave a statement recently that chemical plants need to take more action in preventing carelessness and oversights which have resulted in a number of recent fatalities. The chemical industry consists of about $ 720 billions. Popular consumer products and essentials such as clothing, furniture, electronics, plastics etc have their building blocks built in chemical plants. Moure-Eraso said to Reuters that the chemical industry has become a lot safer in the last twenty years. In spite of this, there are some basic issues that still go wrong. There are errors in the very bare basic issues related to safety and health. The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is an independent federal agency that investigates fatal mishaps at chemical facilities and other industrial plants. Its functioning is not unlike its sister agency the NTSB or the National Transportation Safety Board that investigates airline and train  [...]

A huge reservoir of water, the farthest and largest ever found in the entire universe, has been detected by two teams of astronomers. The water is present in a quantity equal to a hundred and forty trillion times of the total water quantity on the earth. All the water is surrounding a quasar or a feeding black hole of immense proportions and located more than twelve billion light years away. The unique environment that surrounds the quasar is what is responsible for the production of such a huge water mass. This proves that water is all-encompassing all through the universe, right from the ancient times. The discovery team that found the source of water was funded partially by NASA. The research was published in the Astrophysical Journal letters. A quasar  [...]

Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in Britain, CEO and Chairman of ArcelorMittal, the largest steel company in the world, has announced a recent project of building a huge new opencut mine located three hundred miles in the interior of the Arctic Circle. Mittal is bidding to extract iron ore worth a potential $ 23 Billion or £ 14 billion. The mega mine is now believed to be the biggest project for mineral extraction in the Arctic region. However, there is the threat of unique wildlife in this region being affected. The project also has two new ports and a hundred and fifty kilo meter railway line included. It highlights the huge potential for commerce and industry in the far northern regions. Global warming has increasingly made it easier for industrial development to reach this region. The steel billionaire  [...]

At the Infineon Raceway, a well known motor sports complex in Sonoma Valley, efforts are underway to green up the proceedings on a large scale. Car racing has always been seen as a strange bedfellow to environment consciousness and energy efficiency, but at Infineon, they seem to be aiming at purging that same impression. If you are at the Infineon Raceway, take a look at the hill behind the grandstand. It has sheep grazing on the land. They are actually mowing the grass as part of the greening up. Local farmers have been invited to get 3 000 sheep to graze at the track and grounds of the raceway. This is not all. There have been water conservation projects, recycling and other efforts. But all this pales in comparison with a major project. The Infineon campus now sports 1, 600 solar panels all over the area. 41 per cent of the energy used on the raceway now comes from the solar panels.  [...]

The EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency announced the extension of the deadline by two months on the proposal of the limiting rule against emission of green house gases at power plants. This was due to pressure from big utilities and Republicans. The EPA extended the deadline from proposing the rule from July 26 t h to Sept 30 t h. Businesses and states having to implement the regulation asked for the delay on the rollout. The rule limiting the carbon emissions has been described as a performance standard for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the power plants in the United States. This agenda is seen as one of the most ambitious moves by the EPA in the recent years. Big utilities as well as Republicans in Congress have protested that the rules could raise energy prices, as well as cost jobs. As said by the EPA, the stakeholders have presented the agency with important input deserving full consideration. The dead line for the final standards will be 16 t h May 2012. Ahead of the elections next year, Republicans as well as Democrats from energy intensive states have been trying to stop or slow down the EPA from enforcing regulation on air population. President Barack Obama has given the pledge to slash emissions of greenhouse gas by close to seventeen per cent from 2005 levels in 2020. The administration has rolled out EPA rules so as to control the tailpipes and smokestacks in the city, which has been much of the pollution control strategy, due to the comprehensive bill failing at the Senate last year. Franz Litz, senior fellow at the World Resources Institute, a think tank on environment issues, was of the opinion that extending the delay was less about bowing down to Republican and big business pressure, but rather more about drawing up a comprehensive rule policy. The EPA is expected to give the companies and states a good range of options for compliance, such as switching from coal to natural gas, solar or wind energy, or other renewable gases. This is in addition to the cap and trade programs on emissions.

A recent international study that was focused on Houston, TX, USA has revealed that there could be a connection between urban infrastructural development on a large scale and the altering weather patterns. The study says that due to the change in the weather, it has made it easier for polluting substances to be accumulated within the city limits. In the warm weather season, these pollutants are contained within the city, instead of being cleared away by breeze into the sea. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) was the agency that supported the research. The study has suggested that the deterioration of air quality in the quickly growing cities in the United States and other areas all over the world located in the mid latitude could be due to urban construction. The proliferating urban construction in  [...]

Germany had announced the plan to close down all of its power plants by 2022 recently. However, analysts said on Tuesday that this move will lead to increased carbon dioxide emissions in the tune of 40 mil tons as a result of the country depending more on fossil fuels as part of the nuclear abandonment plan. This extra increase of Carbon emissions would then give impetus to the demand for carbon permits under the trading scheme of the European Union. This will lead to higher pollution costs as well as carbon prices in the entire European Union. Amrita Sen, Capital Analyst at Barclays stated that the German Coal burn will display a pick up of sorts. Coal burn would be supported on a greater level this year, although more gas and renewable energy will be used in the longer run. This phase out of nuclear plants is seen as more of a  [...]