ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF ANIMAL AGRICULTURE Part1 Part2
CLIMATE CRISIS - a planetary emergency
Dr. James Hansen, respected climatologist and Director of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, spoke of the urgency of addressing climate
change. Regarding the current state of atmospheric greenhouse gases, he noted, “We have
already passed into the dangerous zone.” Dr. Hansen went on to say that if such gas emissions
are not reduced immediately, “We would be sending the planet toward an ice free state. We
would … be creating a very different planet, and chaos for our children.”
"We have reached a point where we have a real emergency." - James Hansen
"We are so, so close to the red line, that perhaps we may wake up tomorrow and find that there
is nothing to save after all." - Maneka Gandhi
"We have a climate crisis that is a planetary emergency." - Al Gore
QUICK COOLING OF EARTH
(carbon dioxide which can remain in the air for more than a century, methane
cycles
out of the atmosphere in eight to twelve years)
Carbon will take 100 to 1000 years to dissipate, and will keep warming in all that time.
Scientists know that CO² takes up to 1000 years to be drawn out of the atmosphere by the
natural processes of the planets biosphere. Trees, ocean growing algae, and marine shellfish
all process CO²
into solidly stored forms that can remain stable for thousands or even millions of
years.
The current levels of CO² in the atmosphere, the rate of increase of CO² emissions, and the
depletion
of the natural systems which reverse this process are all reasons why CO² based
warming will continue for a very, very long time to come unless we begin making significant
changes now.
Cutting livestock farming and it's methane will have an immediate effect on lowering the
temperature, and have immediate positive effects in a range of other areas.
In 2007 the revision of the IPCC report highlighted the fact that the effect of methane and other
short lived Greenhouse gases have been underestimate in their forcing effect on global
temperature rises.
Since then growing numbers of scientists have been calling for urgent action
to be taken on reducing
the emissions of these gases as a priority over straight carbon
emissions, since they are having a
greater and more immediate effect on the speed of
temperature rise.
Because livestock farming is the greatest contributor to human induced emissions of these
gases it has
been pointed out as the logical starting point for reductions to begin.
AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION
FACT SHEET -
12 January 2011
Flooding and climate change
Recent scientific advice to the Queensland Government warned that the state
would be threatened by higher flood levels from intense torrential downpours
brought on by climate change.
In 2010 the Scientific Advisory Group to the Queensland Government´s Inland
Flooding Study advised that "an increase in rainfall intensity is likely" and "the
available scientific literature indicates this increased rainfall intensity to be in the
range of 3-10 per cent per degree of global warming".
Ref: Final Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) report-Derivation of a rainfall intensity figure to inform an effective interim policy approach to managing inland flooding risks in a changing climate http://www.climatechange.qld.gov.au/pdf/sag-report.pdf
The government´s Inland Flooding Study accepted the report of its Scientific
Advisory Body and in December 2010 recommended all Queensland state and local
governments include a 5 per cent increase in rainfall intensity per degree of global
warming in their flood studies.
In November 2010 Queensland´s Climate Change & Sustainability Minister Kate
Jones told a Local Government Association of Queensland conference that
Queensland councils should plan for higher flood levels from intense downpours:
"What we´re asking is that councils use this science to build into their flood risks an
increase in flooding as a consequence of climate change... What we´ll see is rainfall
intensity increasing by five per cent, which will mean they´ll need to build that into
their flood planning."
What the scientists say
While scientists are quick to emphasise that individual extreme weather events
should not be attributed to climate change alone, the floods in Queensland are
consistent with climate scientists´ forecasts.
Professor David Karoly, University of Melbourne´s School of Earth Sciences:
"Australia has been known for more than a hundred years as a land of droughts
and flooding rains, but what climate change means is Australia becomes a land of
more droughts and worse flooding rains... On some measures, it´s the strongest La
Nina in recorded history... we also have record-high ocean temperatures in
northern Australia, which means more moisture evaporating into the air. And that
means lots of heavy rain."
Professor Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science and Technology, Griffith
University, and president of ACF:
"The Queensland floods are another reminder of what climate science has been
telling us for 25 years. As well as a general warming and increasing sea levels, it
predicted more frequent extreme events: floods, droughts, heatwaves and severe
bushfires. The decline in rainfall in south-western WA and the increasing rainfall in
the tropics are exactly what the science has been telling us to expect. It is still too
early to say with certainty that climate change is responsible for the strong El Nino
event which brought devastating drought to eastern Australia and the equally
strong La Nina event which has produced the terrible floods. But they are exactly
what climate science has been warning us about. If we don´t want to see more
events like the 2009 Victorian bushfires and the floods now happening, we need a
concerted program of action to reduce greenhouse pollution."
Climate change is expected to result in more intense rainfall events. In 2007 the
UN´s International Panel on Climate Change concluded that:
"Observations are consistent with the physical understanding regarding the
expected linkage between water vapour and temperature, and with intensification
of precipitation events in a warmer world... consistent with rising amounts of
water vapour in the atmosphere, there are widespread increases in the numbers of
heavy precipitation events and increased likelihood of flooding events in many
land regions, even those where there has been a reduction in total precipitation."
Ref: IPCC (2007), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
More recently the National Academy of Sciences found that:
"Extreme precipitation is likely to increase as the atmospheric moisture content
increases in a warming climate. Typical magnitudes are 3-10 per cent per degree C
warming, with potentially larger values in the tropics, and in the most extreme
events globally."
Ref: National Academy of Sciences, (2010), Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts over
Decades to Millennia, Committee on Stabilization Targets for Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentrations,
National Academy of Sciences, National Academies Press, Washington, USA http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12877.html
For more information: Tony Mohr, ACF climate change program manager, 0408
806 206
Tony Mohr
Manager Climate Change Program
Australian Conservation Foundation
Suite 3, Level 7, 222 Pitt Street, SYDNEY NSW 2000, Australia
Ph 02 8270 9908 Mob 0408 806 206 Fax 02 8270 9988 t.mohr@acfonline.org.au www.acfonline.org.au
