We know what Al Gore thinks. We know what Hollywood thinks. And we know what some mereorologists think. Can we get a word on the global warming debate from a scientists or two? How about, say 400 scientists? Yep, that’s not a typo- it’s FOUR HUNDRED scientists! Over 400 prominent scientists from more than two dozen countries recently voiced significant objections to major aspects of the so-called “consensus” on man-made global warming. Objections you say?

The new report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s office of the GOP Ranking Member details the views of the scientists, the overwhelming majority of whom spoke out in 2007. Ah, so the report came out of the politicians closet- and a GOP one of course!

Who can believe a Republican politician? But, wait!

This blockbuster Senate report lists the scientists by name, country of residence, and academic/institutional affiliation. It also features their own words, biographies, and weblinks to their peer reviewed studies and original source materials as gathered from public statements, various news outlets, and websites in 2007. This new “consensus busters” report is poised to redefine the debate.

Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies, explains how many of his fellow scientists have been intimidated.

“Many of my colleagues with whom I spoke share these views and report on their inability to publish their skepticism in the scientific or public media,” Paldor wrote. Does this mean we scrp the Greenhouse effect ideas?

Specifically, these scientists, many of whom are current and former participants in the UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), criticized the climate claims made by the UN IPCC and former Vice President Al Gore. Why not. He’s become the lightning rod, the poster child for global warming.

One other top-notch scientists added to the 400 pile on.

Paleoclimatologist Dr. Tim Patterson, professor in the department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University in Ottawa, recently converted from a believer in man-made climate change to a skeptic. Patterson noted that the notion of a “consensus” of scientists aligned with the UN IPCC or former Vice President Al Gore is false. “I was at the Geological Society of America meeting in Philadelphia in the fall and I would say that people with my opinion were probably in the majority.”

So much for the Kyoto Agreement- or disagreement too!

Let the debate heat up!

Related posts:

1. Global Warming Scientists Dispute Man-made Greenhouse Effects
2. Effects of Global Warming on Agriculture and Food Supply
3. An Overview of the Effects of Global Warming

Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases that trap heat from the sun and warm the planet’s surface. The process is known as “greenhouse effect” and is responsible for allowing earth to warm sufficiently to support life. Although the greenhouse effect is certainly a necessary and very essential part of our earth’s environment if it is to sustain human life, too much of it and there is trouble. The higher the concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the higher will be the Global Warming. Global warming, a gradual increase in planet-wide temperatures, is now well documented and accepted by scientists as a fact.

However the earth’s climate has changed many times during the planet’s history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth; the current industrial development and human activities has accelerated the climate change and worsened the damage done to the environment. On Earth, human activities are changing the natural greenhouse effect. Many human activities are responsible for releasing much more greenhouse gases than the earth can possibly sustain. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2. This happens because the coal or oil burning process combines carbon (C) with oxygen (O2) in the air to make CO2. Atmospheric CO2 has increased about 25 percent since the early 1 800s.

High levels of greenhouse gas emissions are resulting in global warming and climate change and this climate change is very likely having an impact now on our planet and its life. Besides resulting in more hot days, many scientists believe an increase in temperatures may lead to changes in precipitation and weather patterns. Global warming may also affect wildlife and species that cannot survive in warmer environments may become extinct. The effects of global warming are very large in number and still there are so many that are still to be found out.

Being carbon neutral is increasingly seen as good corporate or state social responsibility and a growing list of corporations and states are eager to take active part in this direction. Being carbon neutral, or carbon neutrality, refers to neutral (meaning zero) total carbon release, brought about by balancing the amount of carbon released with the amount sequestered or offset. This is an innovative concept which should be adopted by everyone who wants to take his/her personal responsibility for the consequences caused by his/her actions. Becoming carbon-neutral is not only about reducing emissions, but off-setting those that cannot be avoided.

Becoming carbon neutral

When an individual or an organization sets out to become carbon neutral it’s usually achieved by combining the following three steps:

1. Limiting energy usage and emissions from transportation (walking, using bicycles or public transport, avoiding flying, using low-energy vehicles), as well as from buildings, equipment and processes.

2. Obtaining electricity from a renewable energy source

3. Offsetting the remaining emissions that can’t for the moment be avoided or generated from renewable in a responsible carbon project, or by buying carbon credits.

Last but not least, becoming carbon neutral is not the end of the road, but it is a good start in attempting to halt or even reverse climate change and its effect on the Green Planet.

Related posts:

1. What Is Climate Change
2. The Greenhouse Effect – What Is It?
3. What Is The Greenhouse Effect?

Climate refers to the average weather experienced over a long period of time, and includes temperature, wind and rainfall patterns. The climate of the Earth has changed many times during the planet’s history in response to a range of natural causes, but it is now changing rapidly due to human influence.

The emission of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) is the main human influence on the world’s climate. The build up of these gases in the atmosphere increases the greenhouse effect, which occurs when the heat generated by the sun’s rays entering the atmosphere is retained, causing global warming. The greenhouse effect is necessary for life to exist, though human actions have exaggerated its effect to a level which is highly dangerous not only to our future economic, social and environmental growth, but the planet’s ability to support life as it is now.

The increased use of fossil fuels and ensuing carbon dioxide emissions (carbon dioxide equivalent, which includes all greenhouse gases) has disturbed the carbon cycle of the Earth. Supplies of fossil fuels take millions of years to regenerate, and oil supplies are now in decline. Deforestation has exacerbated the situation – with fewer trees to ‘soak up’ the carbon dioxide emitted, more of the gas is held in the atmosphere.

As you can see, farming cows on land where trees used to be doesn’t help either – since they respirate, or breathe and fart, they are releasing more methane into the atmosphere.

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1. Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change
2. Climate Change
3. The Ill Effects Of Climate Change

Taxes industry news provided by Financial News USA. A veteran state lawmaker and Democratic gubernatorial candidate on Tuesday proposed swapping Michigan’s flat income tax rate for a graduated one, eliminating a business tax surcharge and some business tax breaks, and lowering the sales tax rate while extending it to services.

The massive tax overhaul would raise $6.5 billion more for state coffers that could be used to restore funding for public schools, local police and fire protection, and important services such as mental health care, Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith said.It also would provide enough money to fund a new income tax credit Smith is proposing that would cover all tuition paid to state universities, community colleges and vocational schools — in essence, making tuition free. The tax credit also would apply to preschool costs.

Junk Science: The Senate expects to take up global warming legislation by spring, but nothing more should happen in Congress on this issue until there’s been a thorough probe of the ClimateGate scandal.

The scientists who have rung over and again the global warming alarm appear to be guilty of fraud. This we long suspected. Now, their own words, exposed by hackers who hijacked their e-mails, seem to confirm our suspicions.

For decades they’ve told us that the Earth is warming because of a greenhouse effect caused by man’s carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. But what they’ve been telling each other isn’t consistent with that story. The e-mails, more than a thousand of them, use phrases and terms such as “hide the decline,” “trick” and “contain” (as in to conceal the Medieval Warm Period, an era in which temperatures might have been higher than today’s).

A proposal unveiled today by state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith to revamp Michigan’s tax structure to raise $6.5 billion more would:

–Extend the sales tax to services and reduce the overall tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent.

–Replace the state’s 4.35 percent flat income tax rate with a graduated income tax rate of 4 percent for individuals making zero to $45,000, 7 percent for individuals making $45,000 to $60,000 and 9.75 percent for individuals making more than $60,000 (income brackets would be doubled for joint filers). Some of the tax would be offset for those who itemize deductions on their federal income tax forms.

–Create a new income tax credit that would cover all tuition paid to state universities, community colleges and vocational schools. The credit also would apply to preschool costs.

Obama administration pushed back Wednesday against claims that it’s not doing enough to slow the growth of health care costs, a topic senators will debate heavily in coming weeks.

White House budget director Peter Orszag cited economists and analysts who say a pending Senate bill would take several steps in that direction. And Orszag left no doubt that the administration supports a provision disliked by many House Democrats, union activists and others: a new tax on generous health insurance plans offered by employers.

A rival health care bill passed by the House would, instead, place a new surtax on millionaires’ incomes. Lawmakers must resolve such differences if Congress is to send a bill to President Barack Obama’s desk.

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2. Survey Reveals Increased Concern for Global Warming

An increasingly number of the house owners are interested by what they can do to be more environmentally responsible around the home and often ask a professional for advice on the topic. They might be surprised to discover how maximum use of a workhorse appliance in the kitchen – food waste disposers – can make a difference. In fact, according to studies in the United Kingdom and Australia, using disposers actually decreases a household’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The food comprises approximately 20 percent of the jet of residential reject, and currently approximately 41 percent of loss of food of the United States is sent to the embankments. The narrow examination of this scenario proves that it is ambient problems. Initially, the trucks lead in the two directions between the points of collection of waste and the embankments, spreading the exhaust containing of gases with greenhouse effect.

In the second place, once in the embankment, the loss of food continues to create ecological problems. Carbon-being based, it breaks up quickly, producing methane, a gas with effective greenhouse effect up to 21 times more harmful for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. While the embankments try to capture methane, they face the logistic exits due at the speed with which food breaks up and the fact that methane is produced in the entire site. This means that only part of methane can be recovered. Moreover, on the loss of average food of water for it is 70 percent break up it liquefies and mixes with the flow of fill to produce the lixiviate which can soil subterranean water.

On the other hand, pulverizing falls of food in one to have modern such as the series of evolution InSinkErator — what can rectify almost any loss of food – is more ambient one responsible alternative. The loss sent by laying out it with the municipal factory of water treatment waste is extracted like dirty oil with other and of solids digested by micro-organisms. The biosolids while resulting can be employed like conditioner of manure or ground. (Currently almost 60 percent of the dirty oil produced by treatment plants of waste water of the United States is transformed into manure.)

Disposers themselves affect the environment modest. The water consumption at the same time as the use to layout is roughly a gallon of water by anybody per day – more or less like a simple glare of toilet. On average based the use of household, one to lay out ‘electricity consumption annual of S is approximately 51 years.

While composting can be an excellent manner of getting rid of the falls of food, it is not always practical – in cold climates, the tight urban environments or for inhabitants and him of high apartment is not recommended for the meat or the dairy products. In these situations and more, using disposers of loss of food is an alternative in the environment responsible this for the complements perforating.

The next obvious target is loss of food. New York carries out the nation in food of wasting. Up to 40 percent of the city of ‘refuse of S day laborers are of old bone and sandwiches of Bologna. A reason is the great number of the restaurants here – almost 18.000. But even the percentage of the residential loss which is old falls of food are higher here than the national average (almost 13 percent compared here with 10 percent nationally). The residents of other cities stick their loss of food in their back-yard, creating composting food-rich person; too much the does of New York of’t has such back-yards. The falls of food which would be rectified in bottom of the sinks of kitchen in Los Angeles or San Francisco finish to the top with the pavement in Brooklyn or Manhattan.

To try to re-use a more organic loss – falls of food and material yard — would equip inside with what is supposedly a new slope in the city ‘the strategy of management of waste of S. the department of New York City of hygiene is programmed this fall to present to the Council of New York City his late complete plan of management of solid waste, describing what should be made during the 20 years come to handle the city ‘refuse of S. There are some indices that the city looks at to decrease its invoice of dumping by re-using more loss.

This fall the department of hygiene will take again the passive collection of waste from yard to three equipment: Fresh fill of settings with died on the island of Staten, cracks of spring in Brooklyn and Sound view in Bronx. In the case of the loss of food, however, the only current options of re-use for the majority of the residents and companies are the programs of garden of the local community which offer the limited balance perforating.

The barriers to increase such voluntary programs are important. Christine Datz-Romero is a cofounder of the lower center of ecology of east coast, a program of vicinity which re-uses currently more than 60 tons per annum of loss of food. The program sells 10 tons of compost that one year with the local provisioning of garden makes shopping. Hopes of center to increase — it currently explores a plan to provide the collection of pavement for the sector surrounding the whole council of the local community – but Datz-Romero indicates that it gained ‘t easy, is given the need for laisux, placement, and so on. If you begin the process today, you would open the door on your dexterity between three and four years — if you ‘about lucky.

Related posts:

1. Effects of Global Warming on Agriculture and Food Supply
2. Survey Reveals Increased Concern for Global Warming
3. Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change

There has been much discussion, both among experts and lay people, about the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a term that refers to changes in the Earths atmospheric composition, which have been related to the warming of our planet. There is a growing amount of evidence that human activities, particularly those relating to the burning of fossil fuels like oil and coal, are major contributors to the greenhouse effect. The predicted consequences for the planet as a result of the greenhouse effect are extremely serious. They include major changes in the climate that will have an impact on food production and rising sea levels, which will put many coastal and other low-lying communities under water.

Additional information that we have learned about the planet Venus provide a frightening example of the greenhouse effect. Venus has a very dense atmosphere made up of gases. The planet has what has been described as a runaway greenhouse effect. It has surface temperature of about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Experts generally point to gases like carbon dioxide as the main contributors to the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide, which is a gas that is exhaled by everyone, can absorb infrared radiation. This type of radiation is heat that is radiating away from a warm object. During the day, the Earth is warmed by sunlight, and at night, the Earth cools off by radiating the heat back into space in the form of infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide, and other gases to some extent, absorb this radiation and limit its exit into space. Therefore, the natural cooling mechanism is thwarted.

While it may seem that eliminating the greenhouse effect would be the best strategy, this is not what we want to do. Water vapor represents another element in the heat-absorbing process. There is a great amount of water vapor in the atmosphere at all times. This is why we experience rain. We need the water vapor in the atmosphere to keep the Earth at its normal, comfortable temperature. Without the warmth created by water vapor, the planet would freeze, and that would be the end of life as we know it. Therefore, we need to have some degree of the greenhouse effect in order to maintain life on Earth.

We need to strike a balance. Mother Nature is telling us, again, what we should already have learned by now in any situation, extremes of any kind cause harm.

Related posts:

1. What Is The Greenhouse Effect?
2. Venus – A Runaway Greenhouse Effect?
3. Greenhouse effects are real and smother

The Earth and Venus are near each other in the Solar System, and are similar in size, density, and composition. Based on our understanding of the origin of the Solar System, we would expect that their initial atmospheres would have been rather similar. Yet the present atmospheres of the two planets could hardly be much more different than they are. How did this come to be? The reason is thought to lie in what is termed the “Runaway Greenhouse Effect”.

Sunlight falling on the surface of a planet is primarily in the visible part of the spectrum. However, the reflection of light from the surface tends to produce light of longer wavelength called infrared (IR) radiation (also known as radiant heat; IR radiation is the heat that we sense being radiated from a hot surface like a hot piece of metal).

Now, because of their molecular structures, certain gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor (and many others) have the property that they are essentially transparent to visible light but absorb IR radiation very strongly. Such compounds are sometimes termed greenhouse gases because, if they are present in a planetary atmosphere, they absorb the scattered IR radiation and tend to raise the temperature of the atmosphere by trapping solar energy. (The analogy with a real greenhouse is imperfect because the mechanism by which a greenhouse stays warm is different, but it is sufficiently good that the name “(Planetary) Greenhouse Effect” is now the common one for this phenomenon.)

The greenhouse effect occurs for all planetary atmospheres containing greenhouse gases, and is responsible for their being warmer than would be the case otherwise. The greenhouse effect by itself could not account for the conditions that we find on Venus. However, under certain conditions we believe the greenhouse effect can “run away”. For example, consider the case of a planet like the Earth. The Earth has enormous amounts of two greenhouse gases: water vapor and carbon dioxide. However, for the Earth most of the water and carbon dioxide are not in the atmosphere. The water is mostly in the oceans, and the carbon dioxide is mostly bound chemically in rocks made from compounds that chemists call carbonates (for example, limestone).

Now suppose we increased the effectiveness of greenhouse heating of the Earth’s atmosphere, for example by increasing the amount of solar radiation falling on it, or by increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (for example, by burning fossil fuels, which produce water vapor and carbon dioxide as byproducts of burning). We would then expect the temperature to rise in the atmosphere (assuming no other effects intervened—a big “if” in the realistic case since the atmosphere is complicated). This would be a greenhouse effect.

It would become a runaway greenhouse effect if the rising temperature approached the boiling point of water, because then the oceans would begin to convert to water vapor, the water vapor would increase the effectiveness of heat trapping and accelerate the greenhouse effect, this would cause the temperature to rise further, thus causing the oceans to evaporate faster, etc., etc. (This type of runaway is also called a “positive feedback loop”.) When the oceans were gone the atmosphere would finally stabilize at a much higher temperature and at much higher density, because all the water would now be in the atmosphere.

We can envision even a further runaway stage in this scenario. Suppose the preceding runaway raised the temperature so high that chemical reactions begin to occur that drive the carbon dioxide from the rocks into the atmosphere (the process is called sublimation; a few hundred degrees Celsius would be sufficient). Then another runaway would occur as the carbon dioxide feeding into the atmosphere would accelerate the heating, which would in turn accelerate the transfer of carbon dioxide from the rocks to the atmosphere.

The atmosphere would finally stablilize at a still higher temperature and pressure after all the carbon dioxide had been driven from the rocks. In fact, we believe that if this sequence were to take place on the Earth, the resulting temperature and pressure of the atmosphere left behind would not be very different from that for present-day Venus: the atmospheric termperature would be hundreds of degrees Celsius and the pressure would be maybe 100 times greater than it is today.

Thus, we believe that in the case of Venus the initial solar heating kept oceans from forming, or kept them from staying around if they did form, and the subsequent lack of rainfall and failure of plant life to evolve kept the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rather than binding it in the rocks as is the case for the Earth; thus, Venus has an environmental disaster for an atmosphere.

The sobering warning for us is obvious: we have to be extremely concerned about processes such as burning of fossil fuels in large volumes that might (we don’t know for sure because the scientific questions are complex) have the potential to trigger a runaway greenhouse effect and produce on the Earth atmospheric conditions such as those found on Venus.

Related posts:

1. The Greenhouse Effect – What Is It?
2. What Is The Greenhouse Effect?
3. Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change

There has been much discussion, both among experts and lay people about the ‘greenhouse effect’. The greenhouse effect is a term that refers to changes in the Earth’s atmospheric composition, which have been related to the warming of our planet. There is a growing amount of evidence that human activities, particularly those relating to the burning of fossil fuels like oil and coal, are major contributors to the greenhouse effect. The predicted consequences for the planet as a result of the greenhouse effect are extremely serious. They include major changes in the climate that will have an impact on food production and rising sea levels, which will put many coastal and other low-lying communities under water.

Additional information that we have learned about the planet Venus provide a frightening example of the greenhouse effect. Venus has a very dense atmosphere made up of gases. The planet has what has been described as a ‘runaway greenhouse effect.’ It has surface temperature of about 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Experts generally point to gases like carbon dioxide as the main contributors to the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide, which is a gas that is exhaled by everyone, can absorb infrared radiation. This type of radiation is heat that is radiating away from a warm object. During the day, the Earth is warmed by sunlight, and at night, the Earth cools off by radiating the heat back into space in the form of infrared radiation. Carbon dioxide, and other gases to some extent, absorb this radiation and limit its exit into space. Therefore, the natural cooling mechanism is thwarted.

While it may seem that eliminating the greenhouse effect would be the best strategy, this is not what we want to do. Water vapor represents another element in the heat-absorbing process. There is a great amount of water vapor in the atmosphere at all times. This is why we experience rain. We need the water vapor in the atmosphere to keep the Earth at its normal, comfortable temperature. Without the warmth created by water vapor, the planet would freeze, and that would be the end of life as we know it. Therefore, we need to have some degree of the ‘greenhouse effect’ in order to maintain life on Earth.

We need to strike a balance. Mother Nature is telling us, again, what we should already have learned by now – in any situation, extremes of any kind cause harm.

Related posts:

1. The Greenhouse Effect – What Is It?
2. Venus – A Runaway Greenhouse Effect?
3. Greenhouse effects are real and smother

What do greenhouses, glasshouses, and hothouses have in common? They all refer to a facility that controls the environment where specific crops are to be planted and harvested. In countries where harsh weather and climate conditions are manifest, greenhouses have revolutionized the green industry. By use of such a facility, one is able to control certain factors such as heat, temperature, and the like; creating or extending a growing season.

The Benefits of Greenhouses

A greenhouse traps heat and saves it for future use. Being able to grow one kind of plant, say out of season flowering shrubs, regardless of the external weather conditions is the main benefit of having a greenhouse. This in turn leads to the practical benefit of making certain crops, fruits, and flowers available all year round regardless of the season and weather.

A greenhouse gives you more control over the conditions that affect your plants’ growth. It gives you the ability to predict with a certain degree of accuracy how much crop you will harvest, unless of course something goes wrong in any of the various aspects and processes involved in its operations.

Because of these benefits, an enterprising individual can actually supply out of season flowers and crops and thus gain more profits because of it. The predictable plant production of greenhouse also gives a businessman a better handle on his business economics.

Construction of the Greenhouse

The materials commonly used for greenhouses include plastic and glass. These are specially modified materials that allow heat storage. Heat can then be allocated for future use so that the greenhouse can be maintained at a specific temperature all-year-round. Moreover, these structures have little or no openings because the warm air might escape and a drop in the temperature may lead to unfavorable results.

Greenhouse Limitations

Greenhouses need to comply with certain engineering specifications; this requires special design/build skills and specialized materials. Moreover, greenhouses need a lot of maintenance. Unlike normal gardening, greenhouse conditions must be strictly controlled and monitored. There are various systems for heating, cooling, circulation irrigation, and pest control. There may be specialized equipment for seeding, transplanting and potting. A greenhouses production numbers depend largely on how well the owner or the greenhouse operator has been able to maintain it at its optimal working condition.

Greenhouse for Hobbyists

Despite the costs and efforts needed to maintain a greenhouse, there are still a number of gardening aficionados who choose to maintain such facilities. While most people put up greenhouses for business purposes, there are hobbyists who maintain greenhouses for the pleasure of starting their own plants from seeds and cuttings, or to grow loved plants that would not survive the local climate outdoors. Greenhouses also make it possible for these gardening hobbyists to attend to their plants anytime they wish to do so.

So whether you are getting a jump on the neighborhood “first ripe tomato competition” or you need to extend the growing season for your commercial crop of green peppers. Greenhouses have made greater horticultural success possible.

Related posts:

1. The Greenhouse Effect – What Is It?
2. What Is The Greenhouse Effect?
3. Climate Change Factoid – The Greenhouse Effect (# 1 of a series)

The main reason for deforestation is the demand for fuel, wood and paper products, cattle ranching, farming, mining and road construction. Half of all the trees cut down in the world are used for fuel. Burning wood is common in developing countries where there are often no readily-available alternatives. This in itself may not a huge problem; only, most of these trees are not replaced, which is a problem. The use of wood and paper, mainly in developed countries, is a huge factor driving deforestation all over the world. Hardwoods like mahogany are sought after for furniture and are consequently very valuable. In every square kilometer of rainforest, there are probably only half a dozen mahogany trees, yet the whole area is often cut down for those few trees, with other trees left to rot, even if they are useful for something. Areas of rainforest, generally in developing countries, are cleared by cutting down all the vegetation and then burning it. Pastures of grass are then grown and used for grazing cattle. As soon as the cattle are a certain age, they are slaughtered. Although some of the meat goes to the locals, a lot goes to the cheap meat industries giving products such as corned beef and burgers. Huge areas of rainforest have to be cleared to support several hundred cattle. After a few years, all the nutrients have been removed from the already poor soil and the land is useless, so another area of rainforest has to be cleared. Rejuvenation of the soil is possible, but it takes a lot of time and energy. Large areas of rainforest are cleared for farmland all over the world. In developing countries there are two main types of farming: ‘Slash and Burn’ and ‘Subsistence Farming’. In Slash and burn forming areas of forest are cleared to grow crops for a couple of years, and then left for a few years for the rainforest to recover, and then the process starts again. It is the most sustainable of the farming methods, but only if the population in the area is low, because as soon as you get more people in an area, there is less land available for each person and areas of land don’t have enough time to recover, so the soil is quickly exhausted. Slash and burn also increases air pollution. In Subsistence Farming, small areas of land that have been cleared are farmed. The produce is used to feed the family and provide a small surplus to buy other goods. The problem with this method is that the soil is quickly exhausted of its few nutrients and they are not replaced. This means that the farmers have to rely increasingly on fertilizers before eventually being forced to move. Rare minerals such as gold, bauxite and iron ore are often discovered in areas of rainforest. To mine them huge portions of rainforest are cleared, not just the area where the mine is, but also routes for roads and areas for storage of equipment and housing for men. Examples include gold-mining in the Amazon Basin and tin-mining in Indonesia. In places where there are large rivers running through rainforest, deforestation often takes place in order to build hydroelectric power stations. The resulting dams cause enormous amounts of flooding behind the walls and large areas of drought downriver. The world population is increasing. With this increase the amount of land needed for humans to live on also increases. More and more areas are being cleared to provide living space. This is known as urbanization. In developing countries people are moving into previously undisturbed areas of rainforest to log, mine or farm. For example, on the Indonesian island of Java, the population has grown so rapidly that people are encouraged to move to other less densely populated islands where they cut down the rainforest for farming and homes. Immediate effects of deforestation include the washing away of soil in the monsoon season. This is because trees are no longer anchoring and binding the soil and so mud slides take place. The earth is leached of minerals by the large amounts of water. The lack of vegetation also means that there will be very few animals in the area. The lack of decomposing vegetation and animals means that the nutrients are not replaced and the area quickly becomes infertile. Rivers often silt up as soil is moved downriver and deposition takes place. Fish and plants relying on clear water die as the river becomes more and more clogged. This has a knock-on effect through the entire food chain. If large areas of rainforest are cleared, the pattern of precipitation may change. This is because less evapotranspiration takes place due to the lack of trees. Water is also not delayed before making its way through the ground because of the lack of trees, shrubs, and leaf litter. Another very worrying effect of deforestation is global warming. The Earth is made habitable by a process called the greenhouse effect. Gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and water vapor (H2O), are found in the atmosphere. When light rays from the sun come into the Earth’s atmosphere, they are absorbed by the Earth, and then emitted as infra-red rays; the greenhouse gases trap some of them in the atmosphere, warming the earth. The greenhouse effect is essential for life to be able to live on earth because without it, it would be too cold. Current scientific theory suggests that when the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, more of the heat rays are trapped in the atmosphere, gradually warming the Earth. This increase in temperature might seem quite nice, but it isn’t good. The effects of global warming are already showing themselves; the polar ice caps are melting and if this continues we are set for a significant rise in sea level, flooding many places. Places which are now full of life could become deserts if rainfall patterns change with the temperature increases. Deforestation may account for part of the rise of greenhouse gases because trees have a large store of carbon in them, they take in CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and although a lot of what they absorb comes out through respiration, some of it stays in the tree in the form of carbon. When trees are cut down, and especially when they are burned, this carbon reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere and becomes CO2.Less trees mean more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and an increased greenhouse effect, which in turn means more global warming. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are also rising because of the increasing burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are made from dead organisms, which have gradually been compressed over millions of years, so they contain a lot of carbon. This means that when they are burned carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This increased use of fossil fuels contributing to global warming led 160 nations to come together in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, to try to reduce emissions. In 2001, the then newly elected president of the USA, George W Bush, declared that the USA would not sign the Kyoto Protocol because it would be economically damaging for the USA. Without the backing of those of the nations that have the highest emission levels in the world, however much all the other nations may try, there are remote chances reducing global warming, which, if not reduced, will have disastrous effects for all Many countries have a forestry management Commission, a governmental department that is set up to protect and increase the size of woodlands. For example, the forestry commission of U.K. and the National Forest Service of USA. Sustainable forestry is the act of managing a forest so that it continues to grow and the ecosystem is undisturbed. For every tree cut down, two more young ones are planted. Sustainable forestry is a good idea because even though trees are being cut down, if they are replaced, the amount of CO2 that can be absorbed and stored in the trees will stay roughly the same, thereby not contributing to the greenhouse effect. Land is set aside for trees with agreement from the owner and the local community that the region of land should be a woodland area. Grants are given to help with costs of planting etc. Pine trees are often planted as opposed to oak and other deciduous trees because they are fast-growing and there is a high demand for pine furniture and products.

Related posts:

1. What Is Climate Change
2. Venus – A Runaway Greenhouse Effect?
3. GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS