Global warming has slowed because of pollution
From The Telegraph
The latest figures from more than 20 scientific institutions around the world show that global temperatures are 
higher than ever.
However the gradual rise in temperatures over the last 30 years is slowing slightly. Global warming since the 1970s has been 0.16C (0.3F) but the rise in the last decade was just 0.05C (0.09F), according to the Met Office.
Sceptics claim this as evidence man made global warming is a myth.
But in a new report the Met Office said the reduced rate of warming can be easily explained by a number of factors. And indeed the true rate of warming caused by man made greenhouse gases could be greater than ever.
One of the major factors is pollution over Asia, where the huge growth in coal-fired power stations mean aerosols like sulphur are being pumped into the air. This reflects sunlight, cooling the land surface temperature.
Dr Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice, said pollution may be causing a cooling effect.
“A possible increase in aerosol emissions from Asia in the last decade may have contributed to substantially to the recent slowdown,” she said. “Aerosols cool the climate by reflecting the sunlight.”
Another factor that has reduced the rate of warming is a prolonged minimum in the solar cycle, meaning the Earth is receiving slightly less heat from the sun.
In the long term the whole world, including Britain, is warming, according to Dr Pope.
“In the grip of a cold spell people find it difficult to understand global warming. But if you look at the long term trends we are in fact experiencing fewer freezing winters and more heatwaves,” she said.
Dr Pope also said that new technologies, that improve the accuracy of measurements, show that the rate of increasing temperatures over the last ten years could be slightly more than previously estimated.
She said that warming in Arctic is likely to be greater than the rest of the world, but statistics are not included because of the lack of weather stations in the Poles.
Dr Pope said the latest figures are the strongest evidence yet that the rise in global temperatures is being caused by the massive increase in man made greenhouse gases over recent decades.
She urged politicians to stop the trend before the rate of warming causes the ice caps to melt and more extreme weather events around the world.
“On the eve of the latest United Nations talks on climate change in Mexico, the Met Office analysis reveals that the evidence for man-made warming has grown stronger in the last year,” she said.
More than 190 countries are meeting in Cancun, Mexico for climate change talks later this month to discuss the best way to bring down emissions so that global temperature rise remains below 2C (3.6F).
At the moment global temperature rise is 0.8C (1.4F)above pre-industrial levels.
>>> Please read the full article here
December 1, 2010
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Top 10 August Eco Pictures
Below we have listed the Eco Pic of The Day August Top 10 Eco Pic’s.
Click the link to see the picture;
1 - NO KINDA SURPRISE – PLASTIC POLLUTION
2 - PLASTIC MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
3 - PLASTIC BEACH RUBBISH IN LE TOUQUET
4 - THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH
6 - PLASTIC BOTTLES IN SAINT MALO
7 - FRENCH SUPERMARKET MINI RECYCLING CENTER
8 - HEATHROW TERMINAL 1 RECYCLING BINS
9 - RUBBISH TIDE AT LE MONT SAINT MICHEL
10 - PORSCHE 918 SPYDER HYBRID SUPERCAR
September 8, 2010
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Eco Picture of The Day – July 2010 Top 10 Eco Pic’s
Below we have listed the Eco Pic of The Day July Top 10 Eco Pic’s.
Click the link to see the picture;
1 - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
2 - Plastic bottle catamaran crosses Australian finish line
4 - Ecover factory recycle bins
5 - Dead whale found pinned to alaska cruise ship
6 - Creating art out of plastic debris
7 - Heathrow Terminal 1 recycling bins
8 - Fight for your right to clean air emissions equality
August 2, 2010
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Emissions Equality – The need to improve air quality
VOLVO ANNOUNCES THREE-POINT PLAN TO HELP THE CAR INDUSTRY IMPROVE UK AIR QUALITY.
Volvo Car UK has launched a three-point plan aimed at providing all motorists with a broader range of emissions information when they buy their next car – irrespective of marque – to help combat the UK’s rising problem of poor air quality.
With the UK facing a fine of up to £300m for its poor air quality and the Environmental Audit Committee predicting 50,000 premature deaths* through air pollution, Volvo believes it’s time to educate drivers of a car’s complete emissions picture rather than just CO2 in isolation.
Automotive emissions other than CO2 (NOx, Hydrocarbons and Particulates**) are the key contributors to poor air quality, particularly in urban areas, and are one of the main reasons why the UK suffers from one of the highest recordable asthma rates in the world***.
Volvo is proposing:
1. Volvo Car UK will encourage the Department for Transport and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders to mandate a second environmental label covering non-CO2 emissions for all new and used cars up to five years of age. This would sit alongside the current CO2 label on all cars displayed.
The CO2 and other emissions information shouldn’t be combined in one single label as drivers still need to understand CO2 emissions for tax purposes. All of this information is readily available on the VCA website but needs presenting in an easier to understand format such as www.CleanGreenCars.co.uk and be made more accessible to all drivers.
Volvo believes there is room for a new environmental label similar to the one in the United States of America, run by the US Environmental Protection Agency which scores the environmental impact of vehicles, including both air quality and CO2 emissions.
2. Volvo Car UK is launching a phone/PC App in the next few weeks to make all air pollution and CO2 emission information readily available to drivers for when they visit a showroom to choose their next car.
3. Volvo Car UK will create an Emissions Equality Automotive Air Pollution Think Tank to move the subject of emissions and air quality further up the agenda of the automotive industry over the coming 12-24 months.
The Think Tank already has a number of high-profile members covering all sides of the debate, including Environmental Protection UK’s Policy Officer Ed Dearnley, environmentalist andTV naturalist Chris Packham, Professor of Environmental Health from Kings College London Frank Kelly, the automotive environmental commentator Jay Nagley from www.CleanGreenCars.co.uk and Volvo’s own environmental consultant Don Potts.
To support the campaign they have developed a great animation which helps explain the issues in an easily to understand way. You can watch this great eco video here.
Further discussion and debate will also be directed to facebook and twitter, where conversation will be tagged #EmissionsEquality.
Additional Information;
*Source: Environmental Audit Committee
**The Vehicle Certification Agency’s description of non CO2 emissions is as follows:
CO – Carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood.
HC – Hydrocarbons contribute to ozone formation. Some kinds of HCs can also be carcinogens and are also indirect greenhouse gases.
NOx – Oxides of nitrogen react in the atmosphere to form nitrogen dioxide (NO2) which can have adverse effects on health, particularly among people with respiratory illness.
***http://www.asthma.org.uk/news_media/media_resources/for_journalists.html
July 15, 2010
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UK companies reviewing transport arrangements
Businesses in the UK are rethinking their transportation arrangements in a bid to reduce their fuel bills.
According to the Transport Exchange Group, companies are considering the cost of every journey they make now that fuel prices are set to reach record highs.
Managing director Lyall Cresswell pointed out that diesel is already 123 pence per litre in some petrol stations.
“That coupled with the rise in fuel duty being phased over the next nine months is a double-whammy that will put some businesses in jeopardy,” he remarked.
To combat this, he claimed that businesses are showing increased interest in ensuring that lorries and vans are not running half empty and that journeys are completed in the most efficient way.
As well as saving money on fuel bills, this is also allowing firms to reduce their carbon footprint, he pointed out.
“It is in nobody’s interest to have vehicles driven around the country empty or near empty on return journeys,” Mr Cresswell stated. “It is not good for the company, the environment or the economy.”
In his 2010 Budget speech, chancellor Alistair Darling announced that the planned three pence increase in fuel duty would be phased, with the first one pence rise being introduced this month.
>>> Please read the full article here
May 17, 2010
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Monsoons send Asian pollution round the world
By Fred Pearce – New Scientist
ASIAN pollution is a global problem. Millions of tonnes of soot, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants are fast-tracked into the stratosphere each year by the summer monsoon.
“The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region,” says William Randel of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.
The stratosphere begins about 12 kilometres up, above the troposphere where weather systems like the monsoon develop. Most pollution stays below the boundary between the two. However, by using satellite instruments to track hydrogen cyanide, a minor but telltale ingredient of the pollution, Randel and his colleagues found “pipes” of polluted air moving through the boundary.
They think that the exceptional updraughts of air inside the monsoon’s giant clouds can bust through and send pollution deep into the stratosphere (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1182274). This is where the planet’s ozone layer sits, filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
The findings will trigger a radical rethink about the state of the stratosphere. “Received wisdom has been that gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides don’t make it into the stratosphere,” says Peter Bernath of the University of York, UK, a member of the research team. “Nitrogen oxides in particular are of concern,” he says, because they can destroy ozone. Sulphur dioxide can shroud the planet in a cooling haze.
John Pyle, a specialist on the ozone layer at the University of Cambridge, agrees that the research raises key questions. “How much will the transport of pollution change in the future, as emissions increase or the monsoon changes?” he says. It’s unclear whether climate change will weaken or intensify monsoons.
In the lower atmosphere, pollutants like sulphur dioxide “rain out” of the air within days. But in the stratosphere they can stay aloft for years, spread by fast winds known as jets, meaning the threat is global. The effects may have already been unwittingly detected: researchers recently noted an increase in sulphate particles in the stratosphere around the globe, which could be linked to China’s rapid industrialisation over the past decade.
>>> Please read the full article here
April 18, 2010
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Air pollution linked to 50,000 early deaths a year
Around 50,000 people in the UK die prematurely each year as result of air pollution, a new report claims.
The House of Commons environmental audit committee argued that minute particles from burning fuel are exacerbating respiratory illnesses and heart disease.
According to the group of MPs, poor air quality is shortening the lives of UK citizens by between seven and eight months.
In heavily polluted areas, like central London, this rises to nine years for the most vulnerable people.
Tom Yeo, chairman of the committee, said the government should be taking more action to combat air pollution, given the findings.
“Much more needs to be done to save lives and reduce the enormous burden air pollution is placing on the NHS,” he remarked.
The publication of the report follows a study by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare which found that three per cent of all asthma hospitalisations in 2006 were related to air pollution.
>>> Please read the full article here
April 6, 2010
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Defra: air pollution targets could save £24bn
Joint measures to cut emissions and improve air quality could save the UK around £24 billion, according to a new government report.
The Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) published the paper last week outlining new ‘cost-effective’ initiatives to meet EU targets on reducing air pollution.
Defra’s chief scientific adviser, Bob Watson, said: “We’ve seen time and again that dealing with environmental problems in isolation is neither effective nor efficient. We need a coordinated view which confronts the complexities involved and seeks to maximise the co-benefits of actions.”
Studies cited in the report found that air pollution and climate change derived from the same sources. Recent success in improving air quality was attributed in part to reductions in transport emissions.
One of the conclusions of the report is that promoting “non-combustion renewable sources of electricity, promoting the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and reducing agricultural demands for nitrogen” is key to better air quality in the future.
>>> Please read the full article here
March 27, 2010
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State of UK Beaches
A recent BBC Panorama programme raised some interesting points about the state of our beaches, but a lot of information that was provided to the BBC was left out. This film was produced to provide important information about bathing water that people need to know.
September 16, 2009
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