The Human Imprint

CO2 emissions rising faster than predicted

Nature reports that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and cement manufacturing are rising faster than even the worst-case scenario drawn up by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  The Global Carbon Project  has just released the 2007 worldwide carbon budget, which identifies that emissions from fossil fuels and cement manufacturing rose by 3.5% a year between 2000 and 2007, compared with the 2.7% calculated by the IPCC. and 1990s levels where emissions rose at 0.9% a year.

To get a good review of the statistics check out the carbon budget.

Cap and Trade in the US

Scientific American reports that a group of ten US Northeastern states are going to holdthe first US mandatory carbon auction. Carbon emissions trading has been in place in the EU since 2005 and the US cap-and-trade programme has been developed as a mechanism to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Scientific American discusses that power generators have been ordered to limit their collective carbon dioxide emissions to the current level of 188 million tons beginning next year, then reduce them by another 10 percent by 2018 in an attempt to reduce climate-change causing emissions. Follow the link for the full report.

Potential conservation cuts in the US

When I undertook my Nuffield Study in the US, one of the examples that was quoted to me was the success story of the Chesapeake Bay with regard to water quality. Mulch has reported on proposed US conservation cuts and the impact on the EQIP programme. The report gives a link to the EWG site whcih gives a lot of further detail. The 2008 farm bill was passed five months ago and promised to increase funding for programmes to address water pollution and other priority conservation projects. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) was due to receive $1.337 billion dollars in funding in the 2009 fiscal year 2009. However further bills have effected a reduction in support. The EWG has analysed the changes in detail and whilst fourteen states will see cuts in their funding of more than $6 million, five states will lose significantly more. Texas is due to lose $22.5 million, California $15.5 million, Colorado  $10.0 million, Minnesota $8.1 million and Nebraska $8.0 million.

The EWG site states that "the Chesapeake Bay region will suffer a cut of over $16 million in EQIP funds, erasing much of the $23 million gain the Bay states are set to receive under the new Chesapeake Bay Watershed Program created in the 2008 farm bill. Either figure is a fraction of the $262 million per-year experts estimate is needed from the federal government to pay for agricultural practices that will "clean up the Bay" by 2010-the deadline established in the 2000 Chesapeake Bay Agreement."

It could be argued that farmers in the US already receive subsidies for food production and that this money and increasing the farmgate price for the food should be used as mechanisms to address the negative impacts of food production. However there is an ongoing market pressure on food prices at the farmgate level and not all types of food production receives subsidy. I am sure the conversation on payment for the negative environmental impact of food production will continue, but who ultimately pays the price?

Fuel Poverty

It was five months ago that I last wrote a blog post about cuts in support to address fuel poverty. Due to the rise in fuel prices 2.3 million UK households had fallen below the level determined as fuel poverty. BBC News reports that by the end of 2009, the number of households is predicted to rise to 5.7 million UK households. This would mean that one quarter of the population would be spending at least 10% of their income on energy bills.  Follow the link to read the full article.   

Spanish wine and climate change

According to the BBC News report - Spain is the country with the greatest area of land under vine production. Changes to the climate has meant that the the grapes are now ready to harvest a month earlier than previous years. This is changing the tone and quality of the wines as well. Temperatures in Spain have gone up by an average of 2 degrees centigrade in the past 50 years. There is concern that if this trend continues the wine growers will have to move further north if they wish to continue producing wines. Follow the link to find out more.

Is London ready to address climate change

The Guardian has carried an interesting report on the risk assessment work that has been undertaken to determine the capability of London to cope with rising temperatures, sea levels and water security issues. Follow the link for more details.

River Murray in crisis

The Guardian has published a worrying report on the effect of Australia's flood on the River Murray. Sobering reading - the lakes need the volume of water equivalent to 350,000 Olympic sized swimming pools in order to aid their ecological recovery.

Eat kangaroo and lower your carbon footprint

The BBC carried an article this week on food choices and their effect on your environmental footprint. I have blogged before about water footprint and this is another article with a similar theme. According to the article sheep and cattle account for 11% of Australia's carbon footprint - check it out.

Algae source of green fuel?

Again when I was in the US last autumn I first heard about the potential for producing biofuel from algae. The benefits of this technology would be that farmland otherwise used for food production would not have to be diverted to producing fuel and fossil fuel is not used to process or manufacture the biofuel in fact when the fuel is burned it only releases into the air the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plant cells during their growth. This makes the whole process carbon neutral. The Guardian recently carried a very good article on the latest developments - check it out.

Woodland birds under threat

The Independent carried an article on a very alarming report on bird numbers and the marked decline in woodland birds as well as farmland birds in recent years. Whilst some issues may be related to changes in farm use I wonder how much is due to the impact of climate variation on migration routes. Last year the weather was so extreme the housemartins and swifts around the house were throwing many of their chicks out of their nests maybe because they didn't have enough food for all of them. This year all seems to be well and the parents are busy on the wing finding food. Four years ago we had forty nests around the house - this year probably twenty are inhabited. Follow the link to find out more.