SGC Admin Eco News

FYI David Suzuki Science Matters

From my inbox.  If you would like to receive updates from Science Matters in your inbox please connect to David Suzuki’s website. ☺

By David Suzuki with contributions from Ian Hanington, Communications and Editorial Specialist

Photo credit: themajesticfool via Flickr.

ExxonFlare-SmallIn their desperation to find even a tiny shred of peer-reviewed science to challenge the volumes of research from around the world about human-caused climate change, deniers have often held up Willie Soon’s work.

Dr. Soon, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is known for studies that purportedly show that the sun, and not CO2 emissions from human activity, is the main factor in climate change, and that climate change in the 20th century wasn’t that unusual to begin with. He has also argued that mercury emissions from burning coal are no big deal.

Now, in response to a Greenpeace investigation, Dr. Soon has admitted that U.S. oil and coal companies, including ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Koch Industries, and the world’s largest coal-burning utility, Southern Company, have contributed more than $1 million over the past decade to his research. According to Greenpeace, every grant Dr. Soon has received since 2002 has been from oil or coal interests. This despite the fact that he once told a U.S. Senate hearing that he had not been hired by, employed by, or received grants from any organization “that had taken advocacy positions with respect to the Kyoto protocol or the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.”

Dr. Soon has also been affiliated with a number of industry front groups, including the coal-funded Greening Earth Society, and Koch-Exxon-Scaife-funded groups including the George C. Marshall Institute, the Science and Public Policy Institute, the Center for Science and Public Policy, the Heartland Institute, and Canada’s Fraser Institute.  Please Click Here to view this article in its entirety.

SGC Admin Eco News

FYI: David Suzuki.Org… Science Matters: Wind Energy

By David Suzuki

wind-farmWind energy is increasingly being considered a viable and attractive power source. Many countries, including the U.S., Germany, Spain, China, and India, are putting policies into place to drive the development of their wind energy industries. In Canada, the amount of wind energy being harnessed for use in our homes, offices, and factories has grown quickly over the past few years, led by Ontario with its Green Energy Act.

However, a backlash has been growing in many places where wind power is being developed. In Ontario, one of the main criticisms of wind development has been its impact on human health, mostly because of the noise that wind turbines produce. Yet, the peer-reviewed scientific research indicates that the sound from windmills, which generally falls into three categories (audible sound, low frequency, and infrasound), has little to no impact on human health.

This is especially true if windmills are built far enough away from residences. For example, the required setback in Ontario is 550 metres. At this distance, the audible sound from windmills has been found to be below 40 decibels, which is around the level of sound you’d find in most bedrooms and living rooms. Studies from the University of Massachusetts similarly found that even if the sound were audible, annoyance would be minimal.

Critics have also pointed to low frequency sound and infrasound as the source of health impacts from wind turbines. These are sounds that are either difficult to hear or inaudible to humans. However, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health did a review of the scientific literature and found no evidence that low frequency sound from wind turbines causes adverse health effects.

Research from Sweden and the Netherlands may shed some light on the opposition that windmills are facing, despite the lack of evidence for human health impacts. At or just under 40 decibels, 73 per cent of people could notice the sound and six per cent were annoyed. But those who did not like windmills or found them ugly were more likely to notice the sound and were more likely to be annoyed by it.

Though we should always remain open-minded about new and emerging research on any issue, the evidence seems clear that wind turbines built with appropriate setbacks do not constitute a health hazard. And wind becomes a more attractive energy source when you consider the health impacts of the main energy alternative, burning coal and other fossil fuels.

The Canadian Medical Association estimated that in 2008 Canada’s air pollution was responsible for 21,000 premature deaths, 92,000 emergency room visits, and 620,000 visits to a doctor’s office. Even if you look only at the health impacts of Ontario coal-fired power plants, the numbers are significant and startling.

When considering whether Canada needs to curtail the development of its wind resources or expand wind power in the way that Ontario’s Green Energy Act proposes, we should heed the conclusion of Maine’s Center for Disease Control . After dismissing the notion of a moratorium on wind development due to its health impacts, the Center’s Dr. Dora Ann Mills concluded, “If there is any evidence for a moratorium, it is most likely on further use of fossil fuels, given their known and common effects on the health of our population.”

For the rest of this article or to find out more about our environment please visit 

David Suzuki’s web site

Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation climate change policy analyst Dale Marshall.

Photo credit: Randy Harrison via Flickr

SGC Admin Moon Phase: Current Sun Sign:

Sun Moves into Cancer

Cancer the sign of the Crab...
 

June 21 2011 The Sun moves into the zodiacal sign of Cancer.

 
Cancer the Crab: Water: Feminine: Cardinal:
 
We love you guys, you are always trying to take care of everyone. ☺Nurturing is in your nature, whether it be children, plants or animals, you just feel the “need to nurture”  Emotional you usually operate on ‘gut feelings’ and you need to feel connected to a family, but you like your privacy too. Some of you can become needy, dependent or unable to function unless someone or something needs you.
 
Most Cancerians are great in the kitchen, as feeding others is another way to say “I love you” and it’s likely that those who enjoy cooking or baking find it very easy to do. You may suffer from tummy/breast/chest troubles as these are the parts of the body ruled by Cancer. Sensitive by nature you may at times imagine slights from others and become defense or withdrawn (as a crab into its shell) if an effort to block any hurt.
 
The Sun remains in Cancer until July 23 2011:
 

Warm Birthday Wishes :

Ian, Christine, Janine, Jeff (cusp) Rose (cusp) And warm birthday wishes are sent to everyone celebrating a Cancerian birthday. Happy New Year All… ☺ 
SGC Admin Eco News, News and views

Ocean Life at Risk of Extinction:

There are many people who don’t believe that Climate Change is something to worry about, partly because it’s hard to believe, I mean who wants to believe that our way of life may potentially be the cause of so many upheavals within nature.

Dr. David Suzuki has been warning us for decades about the effects that our continued way of life will have upon the planet, and sadly his forecasts are coming true.

Our Oceans have been a source of life for many species upon this planet including humans since the beginning of time, yet we refuse to treat what we have with respect, we continue to believe that like everything else on this planet the Ocean and everything in it is ours for the taking.

If you have any questions about our impact on our Environment, please visit David’s Suzuki’s website, there is sure to be someone to contact who will be happy to assist.

Artical Source: Yahoo: (Editing by Jan Harvey)

“OSLO (Reuters) – Life in the oceans is at imminent risk of the worst spate of extinctions in millions of years due to threats such as climate change and over-fishing, a study showed on Tuesday.

Time was running short to counter hazards such as a collapse of coral reefs or a spread of low-oxygen “dead zones,” according to the study led by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO). “We now face losing marine species and entire marine ecosystems, such as coral reefs, within a single generation,” according to the study by 27 experts to be presented to the United Nations. “Unless action is taken now, the consequences of our activities are at a high risk of causing, through the combined effects of climate change, over-exploitation, pollution and habitat loss, the next globally significant extinction event in the ocean,” it said.

Scientists list five mass extinctions over 600 million years — most recently when the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago, apparently after an asteroid struck. Among others, the Permian period abruptly ended 250 million years ago.

“The findings are shocking,” Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, wrote of the conclusions from a 2011 workshop of ocean experts staged by IPSO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at Oxford University.

Fish are the main source of protein for a fifth of the world’s population and the seas cycle oxygen and help absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from human activities. OXYGEN Jelle Bijma, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the seas faced a “deadly trio” of threats of higher temperatures, acidification and lack of oxygen, known as anoxia, that had featured in several past mass extinctions.

A build-up of carbon dioxide, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate scientists on human use of fossil fuels, is heating the planet. Absorbed into the oceans, it causes acidification, while run-off of fertilizers and pollution stokes anoxia. “From a geological point of view, mass extinctions happen overnight, but on human timescales we may not realize that we are in the middle of such an event,” Bijma wrote.

 The study said that over-fishing is the easiest for governments to reverse — countering global warming means a shift from fossil fuels, for instance, toward cleaner energies such as wind and solar power. “Unlike climate change, it can be directly, immediately and effectively tackled by policy change,” said William Cheung of the University of East Anglia. “Over-fishing is now estimated to account for over 60 percent of the known local and global extinction of marine fishes,” he wrote. Among examples of over-fishing are the Chinese bahaba that can grow 2 meters long. Prices per kilo (2.2 lbs) for its swim bladder — meant to have medicinal properties — have risen from a few dollars in the 1930s to $20,000-$70,000.”

SGC Admin Moon Phase: Current Sun Sign:

New Moon June 1: Full Moon June 15th

This months new moon occurs June 1st in the sign of Gemini. Gemini is all about communication and multi-tasking and with the moon in this position it is likely we will want to chat a bit more than usual and do more. We may find ourselves restless, perhaps not sleeping well or finding we are happy to get up early and see what the day brings. This proves to be a fabulous time for letter writing, emails, phone calls and short trips. Even if the short trip is a visit to your local store, it’s likely to be a productive one. The biggest challenge with this New moon will be in trying to keep your feet on the ground. ☺

June’s Full Moon falls on the 15th of the month, in the earthy sign of Capricorn. Practical, organized and businesslike the Capricorn full moon brings out our sense of duty, and can encourage the more pessimistic, cautious side of our personality to come to fore front.  Future goals may become more important making this a great time to act responsibly taking care of any business that needs taking care of. A good time to set down ground rules, limitations and guide  lines. The Challenge with the Capricorn Full Moon is a tendency to act more business like than human, perhaps unwittingly upsetting others without realizing the emotional scarring that may remain behind.

June 1 also sees a Solar Eclipse:

June 15th also sees a Lunar Eclipse:

Late June 14th (11:31pm) to Early hours of June 15th (1:59) am: The moon will be Void off Course until she moves into the sign of Capricorn. During this time our emotions will be harder to understand. Caution is advised in all emotional dealings.