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ENVIRONMENT BRIEFS
Permanent Arctic ice will be gone
by century’s end
A 1978-2000 NASA satellite survey shows that an area of ancient
Arctic ice roughly as large as Alberta is vanishing every decade.
Over the course of the survey an area of supposedly permanent
ice bigger than Ontario melted away. And the melt rate is speeding
up, said physicist Josefino Comiso, author of the study, which
means the permanent cover will be gone before the end of this
century.
As the ice disappears it exposes the ocean which pulls in ever
greater amounts of solar energy. As well, the surface temperature
of the ice is rising at the rate of 1.2 degrees C every decade,
which could force the ice to melt even faster.
Arctic snow and ice play a key role in controlling the planet’s
temperature. They act as insulation, keeping heat and moisture
in the land and ocean and out of the atmosphere. Animals and
fish that thrive on the permanent ice and snow — polar
bears, for example — are likely to die off.
The warming, according to the Meteorology Service of Canada,
is linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Scientists do not
believe the thawing trend is reversible. (Toronto Globe &
Mail)
Chretien vows
to ratify Kyoto
Canada will ratify the Kyoto Treaty by mid-December, prime
minister Jean Chretien said this week. His party has majority
control of Canada’s parliament.
But industry groups and some provinces, especially oil- and
gas-producing Alberta, continue to fight the deal, saying it
will hurt business and cost thousands of jobs and that ratification
may be unconstitutional.
Under the treaty, Canada, the world’s highest per-capita
energy user, committed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases
to six percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
Chretien says his government has already compromised on Kyoto
limits. Recent plans allow the country’s major industrial
emitters, responsible for half of Canada’s total emissions,
to emit 14 percent more than in 1990, and allow the transportation
sector, responsible for more than 25 percent of emissions, to
stay 27 percent above 1990 levels.
In the lower chamber of parliament, the Alberta-based Canadian
Alliance Party continues to use procedural rules to monopolize
debate on ratification, and the oil industry has hired some
of the country’s top lobbying firms to stop it. The government
may have to use its majority to break the deadlock, officials
say. (IPS)
Bush admin. OKs controversial power plant
On Nov. 26, the Department of the Interior and the Forest Service
approved development by the Calpine Corporation of a geothermal
power plant at Telephone Flat, near Medicine Lake on the Modoc
National Forest in northern California. The agencies say that
the project will produce renewable energy with fewer environmental
impacts than conventional energy sources.
The decision overturns a 2000 decision by the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) and the Forest Service to deny a permit for
the project on the basis that construction would destroy some
of the environmental and spiritual values of the site.
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Oceans deteriorate as ‘Law of the Sea’
turns 20
“Oceans: the Source of Life,” a new UN report, says
that the vast resources of the oceans are being threatened by
pollution, overfishing, and environmental destruction. A UN
study last year discussed other ocean-based hazards including
piracy, armed attacks, and the smuggling of drugs and immigrants.
The current study says that more than half the world’s
population live in coastal areas; the number is expected to
rise to 75% by 2025.
This, along with “a significant increase in economic
activity and industrialisation along the coastline... [puts]
enormous pressure on coastal areas.”
These problems have worsened despite the creation of The Law
of the Sea Convention, which established an international set
of rules to govern the oceans. The convention was opened for
signature in 1982 and has been ratified by 138 countries so
far. The US has not ratified the treaty although it publicly
stated its intention to do so as soon as possible. (IPS)
US backs out of pollution register treaty group
On Nov. 25 the US pulled out of a conference to finalize the
UN’s Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-Making, and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters,
also known as the Aarhus Convention. The convention will compile
information on the disposal, storage, recycling, and treatment
of industrial pollutants into publicly available registers.
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