11-2009 Speaking To The Environment-JLB
11-2009 Speaking To The Environment-JLB
11-2009 Speaking To The Environment-JLB
Did you know that in the report published by the Pacific Research Institute (“PRI”)
and the American Enterprise Institute (“AEI”) on April 16th, 2209 “Index of Leading
Environment Indicators” which addresses some major areas of concern, shows we
are improving are manner in managing our environment. I didn’t and maybe I’m a
bit slow but I have seen very few headlines addressing the good news. For
example;
1) There is growing evidence that tropical rainforests may now be expanding
faster than they are being cut, albeit more data is required the actual number
and the overall extent seems to be down.
2) The world’s most severe environmental problems, as ranked by the
Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland, say with clarity that our
overwhelmingly problems of poverty in developing nations – are contributing
more to our CO² production than;
3) No American or Western European city ranks among the top 50-cities in the
world for air pollution in a World Bank ranking
4) Air pollution levels are falling in the 10 most polluted cities in the United
States, by as much as 27% over the last decade, especially in the ranking of
fine particles showing a big drop in Los Angeles
5) Up-to-date ice core studies have found that levels of heavy metals in the
atmosphere have declined substantially during the 20th Century, although they
will again increase based on future use of coal in Asia
6) Stratospheric ozone (the good kind) appears to have ‘reversed’ its long-term
decline and is now increasing over the United States, whereas the ozone-
destroying chemical compounds have declined by 12% from 1995 to 2006.
7) Water quality monitoring efforts are picking up forward motion, though it will
be several years before we have enough data to draw a clear picture of water
quality trends on a national basis, but the USGS samplings of drinking water
drawn from surface waters in 17 areas around the continental United States
found very low (classified non-hazardous conditions) or no presence of 258
different man-made chemicals.
8) Long-term monitoring of Lake Tahoe (CA/Nevada borders) has detected an
improving trend in the clarity of the lake’s water over the last 7-years,
reversing decades of slow decline
9) The health of the United States ocean fisheries has improved substantially
over the last few years, this according to the United States Marine Fisheries
Service’s “Fish Stock Sustainability Index.” Recent research suggest that the
rate of collapse of the global ocean fisheries could be cut by 67% through the
use of a “property rights approach”, this according to a careful study
published in Science magazine
10) Flat or declining global average temperatures in 2008 have ignited new
“controversy” over Climate Change, whereas the data shows that 2008 was
the coolest year since 2000, and that there has been NO discernible warming
for the last decade, after two decades of steady warming between 1978 and
1998
11) Arctic sea Ice Levels rebounded from the all-time modern low observed in
2007
12) The global ambient level of Carbon Dioxide (“CO²”) rose by 0.5% in 2008, a
slight increase over the average annual rate of the last 25-years, to 385 parts
per million
13) United States CO² emissions rose 76 million tons in 2007 (most recent year
for which data is available) this rise noted after the year 2006 when it “fell” by
81 million tons, it is noted that the rise could be attributed to the colder
weather in the winter of 2007.
14) Public opinion data and advertising and marketing suggest a growing public
‘weariness’ with the constant “green” message being pumped into the
general public – in recent polls, 58% of Americans declined to identify
themselves as “environmentalists, consider that in 1991 78% of all Americans
identified themselves as environmentalists.
15) A Pew poll in January 2008 found that American’s ranked Climate Change
“last” among a list of 20-priorities for the Nation to address
16) A Rasmussen poll found a slight plurality of Americans (44 to 41%) that
believe Climate Change is a natural rather than a “man-made phenomenon”.