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What to do about runaway global warming?

Humanity’s scorched Earth program – where to now? The Conversation, Andrew Glikson,  24 Jan 13,”……….Where to now?Some scientists despair. Professor Guy McPherson writes “It seems no matter how dire the situation becomes, it only gets worse when I check the latest reports”. Others accept Pablo Casals‘ dictum “The situation is hopeless. We must take the next step”.

In themselves, efforts at reducing atmospheric CO2-emission are no longer sufficient to prevent further global warming. Along with sharply reducing carbon emissions, we need to undertake efforts to reduce atmospheric CO2 from the current level of near-400 ppm to well below 350 ppm. A wide range of technologies – many known as “geo-engineering” – have been proposed to do this job.

The concept of “geo-engineering” rings alarm bells for some, but it has been confused. Most people understand this concept in terms of solar injection of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere. This is a Band-Aid at best; at worst it is a harmful measure causing further ocean acidification and the retardation of precipitation and of the monsoon.

By contrast, CO2 draw-down is a far-better option. It would attempt to reverse the deleterious consequences of the over 560 billion tons of carbon released from combustion and land clearing. Other measures such as NASA-applied outer space shade technology may buy time for such planetary defence effort.

The alternative does not bear contemplation. http://theconversation.edu.au/humanitys-scorched-earth-program-where-to-now-11525?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+conversationedu+%28The+Conversation%29

January 24, 2013 Posted by | 2 WORLD, climate change | Leave a comment

USA nuclear experts hype up the myths on Iran having nuclear weapons

US Cooks Up Nuclear Fairy Tale on Iran Dissident Voice, by Ismail Salami / January 23rd, 2013 In a 155-page report, four US nuclear experts have called upon the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran and resort to overt operations through using warplanes and missiles on Iranian nuclear sites.

Apart from the fact that a morbid mindset of this nature only helps fan up chaos and serves as an impetus to widespread pandemonium in the region, any mention of any such policy let alone an adoption of it will gradually terminate in an endless array of military legitimizations. Continue reading →

January 24, 2013 Posted by | general | Leave a comment

USA knew about nuclear meltdown risks long before Fukushima

  U.S. Warned About Multiple Nuclear Meltdowns Years Before Fukushima, Think Progress,By Jeff Spross   Jan 23, 2013 Four years before the accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was warned about the possibility of a plant suffering simultaneous meltdowns due to a natural disaster. [NYTimes]

The accident at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant in 2011 alerted the American nuclear industry and its regulators to the possibility that operators at plants with more than one reactor might have to deal with more than one meltdown at a time in a flood, earthquake or other catastrophe. Officials are now working to assure that they could master that situation.
But documents uncovered by a group that is critical of nuclear safety show that a high-level safety analyst at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission posed the possibility to his superiors in July 2007, about four years before the earthquake and tsunami that led to three simultaneous meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi. The documents also show that in August 2008, the commission staff formally acknowledged the issue. But until Japan’s disaster, progress in the American nuclear industry was glacial….
The warning, which now seems prophetic, predicted “common cause failures,’’ meaning single events that disable different pieces of equipment that are supposedly independent and nearly invulnerable to failing simultaneously on their own. The risk analyst, Richard Sherry, wrote that flooding or earthquakes could disrupt both normal grid power and emergency backup power…..http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/01/23/1484361/january-23-news-us-warned-about-multiple-nuclear-meltdowns-years-before-fukushima/?mobile=nc

January 24, 2013 Posted by | safety, USA | Leave a comment

North Korea ups the nuclear ante

Defiant North Korea ups nuclear rhetoric,SMH, January 24, 2013 Flavia Krause-jackson and Sangwon Yoon    NORTH Korea vowed to boost its nuclear capability after the United Nations Security Council, including its ally China, imposed new sanctions against the totalitarian state for last month’s rocket launch

Denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is impossible,” North Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. ”We will take physical response measures to expand and bolster the quality of our sovereign military power – including our nuclear deterrence.”

The Security Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to measures that build on a series of travel bans and asset freezes. The US-drafted resolution imposes sanctions on North Korea’s space agency, targets the illicit smuggling of sensitive items and updates a list of nuclear and ballistic missile technology prohibited for transfer in or out of the country……. The most significant aspect of the UN vote may be political, with China siding against its ally and neighbouring communist regime in the world body for the first time in four years.

North Korea has ignored repeated calls to abandon its nuclear weapons program and to also stop test launches to develop long-range ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/defiant-north-korea-ups-nuclear-rhetoric-20130123-2d7as.html#ixzz2IutipoMw

January 24, 2013 Posted by | North Korea, politics international | Leave a comment

Fukushima 7th Grader: “The people in the government know we are suffering and they don’t do anything” (VIDEO)

http://enenews.com/fukushima-7th-grader-people-government-suffering-dont-anything-video/comment-page-1#comment-325927
Published: January 23rd, 2013 at 3:37 am ET
By 

Title: Never Repeat the Mistake- Letters from Fukushima Children Read at UN
Source: WorldNetworkChildren
Filmed by: Independent Web Journal
Edited by: Fukushima Evacuation Collective Trial team
Date Filmed: Oct 30, 2012
Date Published: Jan 22, 2013

Duration 7.01 mins

 

January 24, 2013 Posted by | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

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