DK GreenRoots

Promoted by the editors

I have walked in a few rainforests in my lifetime, mostly in Australia and Indonesia. I would never forget the time I spent trekking through the majestic Kakadu National Park trails and being entranced by the amazingly luscious layers of its tropical rainforest, teeming with life and fragile ecosystems. I have witnessed the long-tailed Balinese Macaques playing with one another and trying to steal my lunch in the Ubud santuary, a short visit to Sumatra took me to the Harapan rainforest which is home, among other species, to an astounding array of charismatic butterflies....but I have never been to the Yasuni National Park in the north-east of Ecuador and that's what I want to discuss in this diary.

There are far too many reports of environmental injustice suffered here and around the world. Governments can be the problem and even when it can be the solution, lawmakers tied up with corporate interests deny real remedies for years. As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated so eloquently, we don't have to remain in neutral waiting for governments to take action. All it takes is one person who believes we are joined in "an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny" to reach out to others. It is just one person who stood up to provide access to potable water to tens of thousands, two people who succeeded in protecting indigenous lands from corporate eco rapists, one person who introduced functional bamboo bikes to villages and just one person who decided the people needed a simple device to monitor corporate polluters.

Disturbing reports describe how precious water supplies are reacting to continued human abuse and climate change. Water resources are Drying, Drying, Disappearing…. "Lake Chad was bigger than Israel less than 50 years ago. Today its surface area is less than a tenth of its earlier size, amid forecasts the lake could disappear altogether within 20 years." The disappearance of this lake will impact the livelihoods of 30 million people, cause more hunger and pose a "massive threat to peace and stability."

From just the past few days, common themes in climate change news include how deniers continue to lie while politicians bicker or offer counterproductive proposals as a new study shows literally the speed of climate change spreading globally. Meanwhile, a power company thinks it is rational to strip mine a river to obtain coal.

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Where nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers flow.
The only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears.

- Do they know it's Christmas?

Warming sounds nice.

Ya know, warm & fuzzy, a glass of warm milk, a warm-hearted person, etc.

But the gruesome truth of climate change is this: Our planet's supply of fresh water is disappearing.

Obama, States Take Lead On Climate Change

TOP STORY

While there has been disappointing news from Copenhagen, and Congress drags out climate change legislation, President Obama has been working to address climate change reform in federal regulatory programs:

The Obama administration is quietly and methodically inserting ambitious climate-change and renewable-energy requirements into a vast array of federal regulatory programs. At the White House's direction, federal regulators are grappling with such diverse problems as how to respond to drought-induced water shortages, whether to require publicly traded corporations to disclose financial risks linked to global warming, and how to anticipate the national security problems that may well be triggered if rising sea levels devastate densely populated developing countries.

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Originally posted at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia.

Often, as I’ve travelled and lived in different parts of the globe, I’ve stood on mountains and beaches and looked around, somewhat wistfully, trying to visualise how those landscapes would have looked a few centuries ago. I’m sure you’ve done it too.

Many, if not most, of these places were once vast tracts of old growth forest, with rich diversity in flora and fauna. Natural biological water cleaning systems were in place, as the hydrological cycle was efficient and largely unmolested by man. Most places still had rich, dark soils and no chemicals had yet been employed to stamp out soil life.

These were the days of 280ppm. We lived then with respect, if not even fear, for a nature wide and wonderful – never for a moment thinking we could one day be the cause of these vast and mysterious systems collapsing wholesale.

But, that was then. The industrial revolution, in combination with the exponential function that has taken the human population into a steep hockey stick incline (it took from the dawn of time until the 1800s before we reached our first billion people, but we’ve multiplied that almost seven times in the two centuries since), has landed us in a world that looks vastly different today.

Meteor Blades and I are pleased to announce a very special blogathon of Climate Change Reality this weekend that will focus on making the case to the public that global warming is real and climate science is valid. An excellent group of Daily Kos environmental diarists will be participating. And, we are fortunate to have an outstanding selection of lawmakers, environmental advocates and climate scientists joining this blogathon, some will be blogging from Copenhagen. Some have posted before at DK, some have not. We hope you will enjoy this very special forum.

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I was happy to read that my morning newspaper, The Irish Times, has joined another 55 newspapers in 45 countries, to launch an unprecedented appeal to the opening of the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen.

How unprecedented, you might ask. Well, all 56 newspapers are publishing the SAME EDITORIAL, run in each of the newspapers.

It is addressed to the heads of government at the 190-nation summit which, hopefully, will try to broker a new global pact to combat the ever threatening climate change.

TOP STORY

The GOP climate deniers actually think that their "climategate" BS is a smoking gun that will derail climate change legislation in the U.S. and a global treaty in Copenhagen by decreasing public support in the belief in global warming. The deniers believe that their lies, disinformation and fallacious claims will cause public opinion polls to "drop through the floor" by early next year.

Heh, the deniers did not get the message sent by Senator Boxer when she proceeded with climate change legislation despite Inhofe's flaccid boycott. Well, tonight's top story is about how President Obama is moving past the lying deniers and the world is following his lead. Do the deniers really think the world will blink when they whine given the solid scientific evidence of global warming impacts happening now and the gravity of impacts that lie in our future if we don't take action now?

This was posted today.

Professor Phil Jones has today announced that he will stand aside as Director of the Climatic Research Unit until the completion of an independent Review resulting from allegations following the hacking and publication of emails from the Unit.

Professor Jones said: "What is most important is that CRU continues its world leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible.  After a good deal of consideration I have decided that the best way to achieve this is by stepping aside from the Director's role during the course of the independent review and am grateful to the University for agreeing to this.  The Review process will have my full  support."  

Vice-Chancellor Professor Edward Acton said: "I have accepted Professor Jones's offer to stand aside during this period. It is an important step to ensure that CRU can continue to operate normally and the independent review can conduct its work into the allegations.

In related news, scientific consensus remains unchanged in regards to anthropogenic climate change, evolution and the shape of planet earth.