Natural Environment Blog

Satellite image of the ozone hole on 24th September, 2006.

You may have heard about the “ozone hole” that’s located somewhere above us, in the Earth’s atmosphere. You may also have heard that it’s not really a good thing for us here on Earth. If you’ve heard this, you heard right.

But what exactly is the ozone hole?

The ozone hole is an area of extremely depleted ozone in the ozone layer above the Antarctic. The ozone hole is not present all year round though. It only occurs during the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere spring - between August and October. 

The problem with the ozone hole is that, it allows harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun to reach Earth. These UV rays are usually filtered out by the ozone layer, but when the ozone has been depleted (as is the case with the ozone hole), the UV rays are no longer filtered out.

Why are UV Rays Harmful?

Although in small doses, UV light can be beneficial, overexposure can cause sunburn and some forms of skin cancer. Prolonged exposure to UV rays can also cause other problems for the skin, eyes and even the immune system.

UV rays don’t only affect humans. Studies have shown that hundreds of species of plants and animals display a negative reaction to increased UV rays. There are however, some species that react positively to an increased exposure to UV light.  

What Causes the Ozone Hole?

Here are the main factors that contribute to the ozone hole:

• Stratospheric sulfate aerosols - In other words, volcanic eruptions
• Stratospheric winds
• Greenhouse gases
• Sunspot cycle - an 11 year cycle that causes variation in the UV radiation produced by the sun
• Stratospheric chlorine - coming mainly from man-made halocarbons

While we generally have little control over natural occurrences, we do have control over the man-made ones. You may have heard that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are causing the ozone hole to grow bigger. CFCs are a group of chemical compounds that consist of alkalines such as methane or ethane. They also have one or more halogens linked, such as chlorine or fluorine.

CFCs find their way into the atmosphere from refrigeration and propellant devices and processes.

Basically, man-made products are contributing to the increasing size of the ozone hole.

What’s Being Done About It?

Many countries have banned the use of most CFC-emitting aerosol products, such as fly spray, deodorants, and hair spray. The bans generally require that those types of products are produced in a way that doesn’t result in CFCs being emitted.

Such a ban was introduced in the U.S. in 1978, and although most CFC-emitting products were banned long ago, there are still some that are being phased out. For example, albuterol metered dose inhalers (MDIs) will not be available in the U.S. after 31 December 2008.

There is also an international environmental treaty called the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. At present, 191 countries are involved in this agreement, which is designed to phase out substances that lead to ozone depletion. There is also a belief that, as long as the treaty is adhered to, the ozone layer will recover by 2050.

I recently wrote about an “Online Treehouse”, where you could find furniture and every day items that are certified by the Rainforest Alliance. Well, along the same theme, here’s another way of finding eco-friendly furniture.

The Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC) is a non-profit industry association, which was established to promote sustainable practices within the furniture industry.

Well, its original focus was on the furniture industry when it was first established in October 2006, when it was called the Sustainable Furniture Council. However, since then, it has changed it’s name to Sustainable Furnishings Council, to better reflect it’s more diverse membership base. Its 250+ members include suppliers, manufacturers, importers, and designers of accessories, lighting, rugs and other categories.

The goals of the SFC are:

• To raise awareness of the sustainability issue
• To assist companies in adopting good practices
• To serve as an information clearing house
• To create a symbol of assurance for consumers

Earth Hour 2009 will be at least 3 times bigger than 2008 with more than 76 cities officially participating. These before/after photos were taken during Earth Hour 2007 in Sydney. Photo: madradish.

Earth Hour 2009 stands to be the biggest Earth Hour to date. Last year, 26 cities officially participated in Earth Hour. The current count for 2009 is almost 3 times that figure - and we’re still more than 3 months away from the event.

Furthermore, organizers anticipate that over 1 billion people will take part in 2009 - up from 50 million in 2008. This is largely due to China’s involvement in 2009, where populous cities such as Beijing and Shanghai will participate

The official number of cities to participate in Earth Hour 2009 currently stands at 76 cities.

Official Cities To Particpate In Earth Hour 2009

Here are the cities currently listed for participation in Earth Hour 2009. Note that this figure is sure to increase over the coming months as more cities are announced.

Australia

• Adelaide
• Brisbane 
• Canberra 
• Darwin 
• Hobart 
• Melbourne 
• Perth
• Sydney

Bolivia

• Santa Cruz de la Sierra 

Bulgaria

• Sofia

Canada

• Toronto 

China

• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• Shanghai

Costa Rica

• San Jose

Denmark

• Aalborg
• Copenhagen
• Odense

Federated States of Micronesia

• Ponphei

Fiji

• Suva

Finland

• Espoo
• Helsinki

Guatemala

• Guatemala City

Italy

• Bologna
• Florence
• Milan
• Naples
• Palermo
• Rome
• Turin
• Venice

Jordan

• Amman

Mexico

• Mexico City

New Zealand

• Auckland
• Christchurch
• Hamilton

Norway

• Oslo
• Tromso
• Trondheim

Phillipines

• Manila

Poland

• Gdansk
• Lodz
• Poznan
• Torun
• Warsaw

Portugal

• Lisbon

Russia

• Moscow
• Petropalovsk-Kamchatsky

Singapore

• Singapore City

South Africa

• Cape Town

Sweden

• Ekero
• Gothenberg
• Kalmar
• Kiruna
• Lilla Edet
• Malmö
• Mullsjo
• Nassjo
• Norrkoping
• Orebro
• Sodertalje
• Ulricehamn
• Vaxjo
• Ystad

Turkey

• Istanbul

United Arab Emirates

• Abu Dhabi
• Dubai
• Fujairah
• Sharjah

United Kingdom

• London

United States

• Chicago
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Miami 
• Nashville

Note that China has already indicated that more chinese cities will be announced in the future.

About Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change.

On Monday, WWF officially announced that China will participate in Earth Hour in 2009.

Back in April,  WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) indicated that China would have more involvement in Earth Hour next year, but the extent of its involvement was largely unknown.

Hong Kong is already on the list of cities to take part in Earth Hour 2009. On Monday it was announced that Beijing and Shanghai would also participate.

WWF has also indicated that more Chinese cities will be announced in the future. 

2009 To Be Bigger Than 2008

In 2008, 26 cities were officially part of Earth Hour (although more than 370 cities, towns and councils took part unofficially). 

For 2009, the official count currently stands at 76 cities across 62 countries. It is anticipated that more than 1,000 cities, towns and councils will participate unofficially in 2009.

About Earth Hour

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change.

The event began in Sydney in 2007, when 2 million people switched off their lights. In 2008, more than 50 million people around the globe participated. In 2009, it is anticipated that more than 1 billion people in 1,000 cities will participate in Earth Hour.

Masdar city's compact and shaded design will encourage walking and cycling. Photo: Foster + Partners.

A brand new city is being built in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates which, when finished, will be the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste city.

Masdar City, a completely self sustaining city, will be powered by renewable energy and all waste will be recycled or reused. 

The city will be built in the most energy efficient way possible. Because of this, its power requirements will be about a quarter of that of a similar sized city.

A solar-powered desalination plant will provide the city’s water. As with its power, Masdar will be extremely water efficient. Masdar’s water requirements will be 60 percent lower than other similar sized cities. 

The city will cover an area of roughly 6 square kilometers and will eventually be home to around 1,500 businesses and 50,000 residents. As many as 60,000 people will commute to the city on a daily basis via a light rail line.

The name Masdar translates into “the source” in Arabic. 

Designed by Foster + Partners, Masdar City is due for completion in around 8 or 9 years. The first stage of development will be complete in 2009.

Artist's impression of Masdar city, the world's first zero carbon, zero waste city. Photo: Foster + Partners.

A World First

This is the first time a city has ever been built with the aim of producing zero carbon and zero waste.

“The environmental ambitions of the Masdar Initiative – zero carbon and waste free – are a world first.” said Norman Foster Chairman of Foster + Partners.

“They have provided us with a challenging design brief that promises to question conventional urban wisdom at a fundamental level. Masdar promises to set new benchmarks for the sustainable city of the future.”

No Cars

Instead of using cars, Masdar residents can use eco-friendly travel pods, like the one above, that run on magnetic tracks.

Masdar city will be completely car-free. 

Instead of cars, residents will be able to use travel pods running on magnetic tracks. To use a travel pod, a passenger will simply locate a pod station, get into the pod, and program where they want to go.

And the stations will be plentiful. With around 1,500 stations, no point in the city will be more than 200 meters from a transport link.

But, due to the city’s layout, it is anticipated that many residents will cycle or walk to most destinations. Walkways will be shaded to make walking more bearable in the region’s extreme heat.

A solar-powered light rail system will connect Masdar city with other nearby cities.

Masdar’s Initiatives

Because of the ambitious goals of the Masdar initiative, the project includes a number of supporting initiatives to assist in acheiving the ultimate outcome. In particular, the Masdar initiative will include the following:

• substantial investment in innovative and renewable energy technologies
• the fostering of talent, expertise, and knowledge sharing in renewable energy disciplines
• the construction of local and regional green power production facilities that complement and balance fossil fuel production
• the reduction of carbon emissions through active participation in carbon markets
• the creation of a model, zero carbon, zero waste city that demonstrates the practical viability and appeal of living in alternative energy environments

The Masdar Initiative is currently seeking suitable partners from around the world to help achieve its ambitious goal.

For more on the initiative, see the official Masdar Initiative website.

The white lemuroid possum could now be extinct, thanks to climate change. Photo: WetTropics.gov.au

There’s a strong possibility that the Australian white lemuroid possum has now become extinct as a direct result of climate change.

The possum, endemic to the Daintree Rainforest in tropical north Queensland Australia, has not been seen for 3 years, despite numerous and extensive searches in the area.  

The white lemuroid possum can only survive in the high altitude areas - where the temperatures are lower.

Higher Temperatures in Australia

According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s 2005 Annual Australian Climate Change Statement, the annual mean maximum temperature for the region was between 0.5 and 1.0 degrees higher in the region in 2005 - the hottest year on record in Australia. Since then it has dropped slightly, but the damage could already have been done.

“We’ve already had in Australia, I think, it’s between 0.6 and 0.8 of a degree of increase in average temperature,” said Professor Stephen Williams, director of the university’s Center for Tropical Biodiversity and Climate Change.

But Professor Williams points out that it’s the extreme temperatures - rather than the average - that are the biggest threat for the possum.

“We do have local temperature data but, as I said, it’s not really that average increase that’s important, it’s the increase in the record temperatures.”

Due to the animal’s inability to maintain its own body temperature, four or five hours of temperatures over 30 degrees celcius is likely to kill it.

No Proof Yet

Despite media reports suggesting that the animal is definitely extinct, Professor Williams stresses that he doesn’t yet have proof of the animal’s extinction.

“I guess that’s the danger in talking to the media, because my original comments essentially were that we were concerned. We had made no claim that it had gone extinct,” he said.

“It is sort of irrelevant because it’s just as serious if it hasn’t gone extinct.

“The fact that it has declined to such a degree that we can’t find one suggests a very serious impact regardless of whether it’s actually completely gone extinct.”

If climate change has caused the animal’s extinction, it would be the first Australian mammal to become extinct due to climate change.

Other Possible Causes

William Kininmonth, former head of the National Climate Centre and a consultant to the World Meteorological Organisation, doubts that climate change is responsible.

“Well, I’d be very surprised if the white possum had become extinct because of climate change,” he told ABC’s The World Today radio program.

“Over the last few decades the climate really hasn’t changed that much at all. We’ve had some drought periods and some wet periods and it’s got a little bit warmer and there’s been some El Niño and so forth.

“But there’s been nothing that one could say is a remarkable trend. It’s more likely that habitat damage and other things have contributed to the demise of the white possum.”

The Brazilian government has announced plans to slash deforestation in the Amazon region by 72 percent by 2017.

The announcement, made by Environment Minister Carlos Minc in Brasilia on Monday, comes three days after it was revealed that deforestation in the Amazon had increased in 2008 for the first time in 4 years. 

Part of the plan includes adding 3,000 more officers to fight illegal logging in the Amazon.

“This plan improves Brazil’s image, we’ll have more moral authority internationally,” Minc told reporters after announcing the plan.

The 72 percent figure comes from comparing against an annual deforestation average between 1996 and 2005. Minc says the plan would reduce deforestation by 72% when compared with the 7,330 square miles lost on average each year during that period.

Reduced Carbon Emissions

Brazil’s announcement came as this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference commenced in Poznań, Poland. 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva believes that the plan puts Brazil ahead of many other countries attending the conference.

“We will surely receive criticism, but we can say that we are presenting a better one than China or India, and better than others that still haven’t signed the Kyoto Protocol,” he said.

Minc shares the president’s view ”Just in terms of avoided deforestation in the Amazon, the plan foresees a reduction of 4.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide that won’t be emitted up to 2018, which is more than the reduction efforts fixed by all the rich countries,” he explained.

Reforestation

Brazil not only plans to reduce deforestation, but also plans to double the reforested areas to 11 million hectares by 2020.

“This means that by 2015 we will be planting more trees than cutting,” Minc said.

Brazil’s Forestry Service Welcomes the Plan

The Brazilian government’s forestry service welcomes the announcement.

“We can now adopt targets because we now have the instruments to implement them” said Tasso Azevedo, head of the forestry service.

The ‘instruments’ Azevedo refers to is the new Amazon fund established earlier this year.

The Amazon Fund

The Amazon Fund is a fund established to preserve millions of acres of the Amazon as quickly as possible. 

Through the fund, Brazil hopes to attract $21 billion in donations from rich countries to protect the Amazon.

Norway has already made a pledge of up to $1 billion to the fund. Norway’s contribution will be made by installments, each one being made on the condition that deforestation had reduced during the previous year.

A mass stranding has claimed the lives of 150 pilot whales on a beach in the Australian state of Tasmania.

While the media initially reported 80 casualties, a body count on Sunday reveals that the number is actually 150. 

The beached whales were discovered on Saturday near Sandy Cape. The coastline where they were stranded is very rocky, which makes any rescue effort all the more difficult.

According to Warwick Brennan from the Department of Primary Industries and Water, volunteers from the community and six department staff tried to save the whales, but they were too badly injured by the rocky coastline.

Blood stains the water as rescuers desperately try to save 150 stranded whales. Photo: The Examiner, Tasmania

30 Whales Saved

Although the rescuers were unable to save the 150 beached whales, they were able to prevent another 30 whales from coming ashore.

The whales were milling around offshore but drawing closer to the coastline, where one stranded whale appeared to be calling out to the pod. 

“Our first priority was to try to stop other animals from stranding so we decided to move the animal still calling onshore further up the beach and away from the pod to see if that made any difference,” explained Mr Brennan.

“Unfortunately, that whale died but what happened then was those 30 whales milling around seemed more willing to move on and with a boat in the water we managed to shepherd them out of the bay.

“Hopefully, those animals now will move on.”

More Strandings Expected

This weekend’s stranding comes only a week after another mass stranding in Tasmania. Last weekend, 53 pilot whales died in a mass stranding at Anthony’s Beach.

And according to Mr Brennan, we should expect more in the near future. He says that whale strandings in Tasmania are becoming more and more common. 

“We go through periods where we are dealing with strandings every 12 days.” he said.

“That runs from a single animal stranding to these mass strandings and, at this time of year, it seems to be especially busy.”

Cause Of Whale Strandings

The cause of whale strandings has been the subject of much scientific debate. Theories range from noise related causes such as acoustic smog and seaquakes, to whales simply following their prey into shallow waters. 

Although whale strandings are never a good thing, future strandings will hopefully provide us with more clues on what causes the strandings in the first place. The more we know about the causes of whale strandings the more we’ll be able to forecast and prevent them.

As environmentalists push for “green” energy, the coal industry continues to emphasize the fact that coal is cheaper than its greener alternatives. 

But is coal really as cheap as we think it is?

Greenpeace has released a report that reveals the true cost that coal is having on the world at large.

Entitled The True Cost Of Coal: How people and the planet are paying the price for the world’s dirtiest fuel, the report shows that coal is costing the world around €360 billion per year.

Over the next ten years this would translate into €3.6 trillion - roughly $US4.6 trillion. 

The Hidden Costs

In calculating the figure, Greenpeace looked at the external costs of coal, such as costs arising from mining accidents, acid rain, and more.

The report says:

Traditionally considered the cheapest fuel around, the market price for coal ignores its most significant impacts. These so-called “external costs” manifests themselves as damages such as respiratory diseases, mining accidents, acid rain, smog pollution, reduced agricultural yields and climate change.

Greenpeace explains that the the harm caused by mining and burning coal is not reflected in its price per tonne or its costs for a kWh of electricity, but the world at large is nevertheless paying for it.

Coal’s Impact On Climate Change

The report also explains that coal burning contributes more to climate change than any other fossil fuel, and that coal-fired power stations produce 11 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. 

Greenpeace emphasizes that our decisions regarding coal is not something we should take lightly:

As the single largest source of CO2 emissions, the manner in which we deal with coal in the coming years will determine whether we can respond adequately to the climate crisis.

And, our decisions of today, will have an ongoing impact for years to come:

A coal plant built today will emit CO2 pollution for at least the next 40 years.

Dirty Coal vs Clean Coal?

And Greenpeace is not impressed by so called “clean coal”, where carbon from the burning coal is captured and stored underground.

Greenpeace says that, even if it were a feasible option, there isn’t enough time to deploy Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) plants.

The earliest possibility for deployment of CCS at a useful scale is not expected until at least 2030, while global greenhouse gas emissions must start falling after 2015 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change 

Greenpeace believes that CCS is providing an unwelcome distraction in the discussion on reducing greenhouse gas emissions:

Those peddling technological fixes – such as carbon capture and storage which claims to make coal clean and safe for the climate – create a dangerous distraction as the world seeks truly sustainable solutions that will reduce emissions and protect our climate. It is only by quitting coal and increasing energy efficiency and production of renewable energy that we will prevent catastrophic climate change. 

Coal Must Be Phased Out

The strong message in the report is that coal must be phased out, and proposed coal-fired power stations must not go ahead.

Instead, Greenpeace emphasizes that renewable energy and energy efficiency must be the way forward:

Given the availability of alternatives such as renewable energy and energy efficiency, which can meet our energy needs in a safe and climate-friendly way, there is no need to continue relying on coal. We must reduce our dependence on this dirty fuel and abandon plans to build new coal-fired power stations. 

So, given the true cost of coal, the report makes the argument for renewable energy even more compelling.

Full Report [PDF document]