New Environmental Treaty in the Works for acception

Governmental leaders recently worked in pulling together climate information into a legally binding agreement between nations rich and poor.  Over a year’s work with the input of the scientific community and organizations like the WWF, the government leaders in Copenhagen drafted this agreement with fairness in mind while keeping the environment in mind every step of the way.  The goal of this agreement is to bring the environmental pressures put on it by humanity back below the “too risky” level, this is to say, the temperature must be kept below increasing another 2 Celsius.   The information on this enlightening step for the world’s ecosystem can be found here.  A good video to see what kind of ideas they are pushing without you having to read my type face is below.

Its all the kind of stuff we already know about, but its the stuff we need the world to adhere to.  The new ideas we’re trying to push into international agreement are not really new to us here in the states, well for those of us who have been made aware of them.  Many less developed nations need to have their development guided with more green friendly policies.  Like incorporating where possible solar panels or water dams instead of coal plants.  The document can be acessed at the link above, if you’re interested in learning a bit more about the intricacies of the agreement.

How can each one of us contribute to conservation?

According to the World Wild Life Fund there are quick and easy solutions that we can all do to make a large impact on our environment for the better these can be found here. The most important thing is to take these step and try our best to make them no longer chores, but a way of life.  Since these will not effect our daily routines there is not much of a reason for the majority of us to not make sure our water heaters, if we have one, set to 120 degrees.  If anything these steps such as checking to see if you have efficient water fixtures, such as toilets and shower heads can save us money in some cases the short run, for those people who have egregiously wasteful fixtures and for others this could save you money in the long run.  Much of the problem is not the willingness of people to change for a less wasteful routine and way of life, but it is a lack of awareness.  When a person leaves a light on in their room and forget about it all day, sure it is only several pennies of a mistake, but en masse  these mistakes build up with many people making the same mistakes.

If large portions of the population kept their lights off during the day we could save millions of dollars a year as well as reducing the demand on coal and other fuels that provide us the creature comforts of light in a shaded room during the day and air conditioning.  If the demand goes down the price can go down when we all need these appliances.  If a heat wave heats your area, you cannot avoid using cooling appliances unless you have vaulted ceilings and have air drafts so air keep circulating.

What I am trying to say is, turn your appliances off if you’re not using them.  If its 80 degrees out, sure its hot in the sun, but you most likely live in a home or an apartment with windows and have walls which provide shade.  If you keep one window on one side of the living space open, you can sometimes generate a draft where air will pull from one side to the other side and provide cooler conditions.  Of course there are exceptions, if you live in LA, California and there is a high smog alert, you should close the windows and let the air conditioning filter the air.  The point is, if everyone could be a touch more pragmatic, we could save money and the environment by reducing the need to harvest the amount of coal we do from the mountain removing mines in West Virginia and other states.  The more people we can persuade to join a good cause such as conservation, can reap us a win – win.

Climate Change News & Adopting an Amur Leopard

“Scientists are in the process of reviewing their predictions and say climate change is accelerating at an alarming and much faster pace then previously expected.”

This is the latest from the WWF in its interest to help push climate change policy through at the UN’s current meeting at Copenhagen. The threat of Global Warming is now becoming a quicker and harsher reality each and everyday we continue to pour green house gases into the air.  The newest goals are that

“We need deep reduction targets by industrialized countries. WWF is asking developed countries to agree to an aggregate emissions reduction goal of at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020,” Carstensen said.” (you can find this link here)

Another part of the problem is that American of a small percentage of the world’s population 5% it consumes a much larger chunk of the pie then other countries, this means a higher out put of CO2 and other gases which harm this planet.  One PR problem America has, is that it is not a member of the Kyoto protocols.  To show we are a responsible people we should move to adopt the principals of the Kyoto accord and call for further reductions in harmful practices around the world.  We should lead the world to a better state then just sit back and tell others to do so.

On a different note, I am pledging to adopt an Amur leopard through the WWF.  This is of course once I build up enough money this Summer.  If you are interested yourself you can do this at the WWF website.  I’m picking the Amur leopard not only because it is beautiful, but because of how close to the brink the poor cat is due to poaching in Eastern Russia. There is, according to the WWF, “Only 40 Amur Leopards estimated to be in the wild”, right now.  This is sad to me and I feel we as a people should try and reach out in ways such as donations to groups that help and through some more unorthodox methods, such as giving by “adopting” an animal.

I hope some people consider it, because many of these animals will simply not last much longer in this world if they are not helped by us.

The project results, the hike. (updated 6.3.09)

Runoff water Pipe, water is artificially concentrated and causes a faster flow which picks up more dirt and debris which in the end causes erosion and damage to local fauna, by creating unnatural conditions.

Today we went on a hike where I took notice of water damage throughout Great Falls park, VA.  A group of us numbering around 9, gathered by family connections at their work places, we were all of a college and high school age. The hike was roughly 7 miles, which was supposed to be 5, but we took a couple of wrong turns.  When we came upon water damage I pointed out this damage to them and we conversed about it and thought of different ways to remedy these errors.  Some of the ideas we came up with were to widen drainage pipes to what the natural width of the streams are.  This also related to the problem of stream’s natural bends being taken out by buildings and roads.  These bends are important because they slow down the flow of the river and give more time for the water to be used by fauna and wildlife, these bends should be replaced where possible.  Another idea we also thought that the sewers should be made with a less number of open vents and holes so it doesn’t cause as much of an impact, or find a different route for it.  Another thought that came to us was that we should adopt permeable concrete and other kinds of permeable paving mixtures due to the effects to the environment.  In the long run, erosion can cause large amounts of damage to the buildings we have built, with a little change we can have a more healthier habitat and a more longer lasting infrastructure.  Everyone there seemed to benefit and come to a higher understanding of the impact we have on the stream environment. In the end I thought that a hike through damaged habitat was the best way to bring awareness about, instead of just looking at pictures on the computer or reading it on a newspaper.  If we could involve elementary schools, middle schools, or some form of educational foundation and bring the population to see the damage that is occurring all around us, perhaps more could be done through the awareness that could be gained.

Excess water during rain storms causes the artificial choke points such as the runoff water pipe or sewer pipes to flood and fill other areas with water which may damage the natural habitat.

This sewer pipe has many open air vents which causes not only a nearly unbearable odor but provides for an unnatural aberration from the normal habitat, it can bring bugs and can over flow into the park during heavy long term rains causing further damage.

This all ends in an excess number of nutrients in the water, which can block sun light from the plants which are the base producers and food for wildlife in these stream/river environments.

Stream Ecology

I am something of an amateur hiker and I have found an issue within the WWF that I can relate to personally.  The issue is stream ecology.

Where I live in Northern Virginia, there are parking lots, parking lots, and more paved over surfaces that one can count only with an army.  These impermeable surfaces cause much of the rain water to not absorb into their natural areas such as the water table and under ground aquifers, but into rivers and streams.  This is a large problem due to the large amounts of run off that occurs due to the unnatural number of impermeable surfaces this makes the run offs especially damaging to river, stream, lake, and basically all water environments.  The run off contains large amounts of soil due to rain pulling dirt, oil, chemicals and everything else it can carry into the rivers.  This can end in large clouds of ‘nutrients’ which can cloud under water fauna’s light supply and thus kill the circle of life under water.

The WWF is working to get the word out that such practices are not sustainable and this will cause havoc among people and wildlife which depend upon natural amounts of nutrients and not these outrageous levels which block out the sun and kills the natural diversity within the water ways around people.  Things that could help alleviate these problems could be the wide adoption of permeable concrete and other man made surfaces, restoration of water habitats such as streams that have been bulldozed over and given a corrugated aluminum pipe instead of the normal rocky/mud stream bed a stream used to have, and also the reduction of the amount of directed water run offs.  Natural bends and rock formations naturally break up the flow of water and causes the nutrients in the water to be filtered and held back from causing too much harm.

These three examples are just among the many things that need to be kept in mind when trying to deal with the problems of run off.  For my interest in stream ecology I will be planning on a hike which will be taking place in Great Falls Park, VA this weekend and I will take pictures of the damage that is taking place, if there is some to be found, which I believe there will be, since the damage will be fresh after this week of steady precipitation.  I will try and post these pictures after this weekend.

Coral reefs and the good news!

According to the www.wwf.org website

“Leaders of six Coral Triangle countries promised to take action to safeguard the world’s richest marine resource and some 100 million people who depend on it. The announcement followed a recent WWF report which found that without action on climate change, coral reefs will disappear from the Coral Triangle by the end of the century, the ability of the region’s coastal environments to feed people will decline by 80 percent, and the livelihoods of around 120 million people will have been lost or severely impacted.”

One of the largest concerns of the conservation movement is the involvement of the developing world.  As the developing world contains the majority population of the world, the actions they take now will make an enormous impact upon the world as they continue to develop.  into nations much like American among other western countries this will give much gravity to the actions they take and the environments in which these countries reside.   Not only does these developing nations have large population bases, but they also have the majority of vital habitats for wildlife and also important natural resources.  One such example are the coral reefs of Oceania.  These reefs harbor the main food supplies of the islanders who inhabit the area and with their leaders on board with sustainable development and conservation of the reefs that serve them we can now hope that these reefs will be around for a much longer period that we could have before.

The World Wildlife Fund

I will not make any pretenses that I am an official advocate for the World Wildlife Fund, however I will do my best to cover incoming information on their latest efforts that should be presented so as to shape an appropriate image of who they are and what they stand for, along with if there is anything we can do to help.

http://www.worldwildlife.org/

This is the link to the organization.  The focus of this group is to help protect and revitalize the environment. The World Wildlife Fund has specific areas where it chooses to put large amounts of energy into such as the rivers in South Eastern portion of the United States, the Amazon, the Himalayas, among many others 19 to be exact. The ways in which the WWF makes change happen is through as they put it, a place based approach where people become involved from the field work on up to the governmental level, community action and awareness is raised through things such as this blog, partnerships are made between corporations and environmental concerns while involving local communities in conservatory approaches.  With all this the WWF takes into consideration the world market and what the drives the devastation of local fauna and animals.  Most of the time it is economically driven, and if there is a way in which wildlife and humans can coexist and not impact each others livelihood then a noble act has been carried out.  This blog will attempt to cover issues relating to conversation and what the WWF is doing.