Climate Change Weather Patterns Reforestation Action Now Na

The devastation from the storms of last week (kawawa Luzon!) could have been mitigated if the Philippines had not lost 90% of its primary forest cover since 1950. The vast majority of the forest cover lost during this period has been the result of inappropriate forestry regulation or, in many cases, no regulation at all – allowing pervasive legal and illegal logging without subsequent reforestation programs.

Reforestation would have prevented many of the numerous landslides; the vast areas inundated could have been avoided. Reforestation can arrest global warming by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels.

We now know that climate change is a by-product of global warming; global warming is the result of increased levels of atmospheric CO2. Based on millions of years of historic records, new estimates (October 2009, Science journal) of sea level rise, that will result from global warming (due to the concentration of atmospheric CO2), indicate that even the current levels of atmospheric CO2 (around 385ppm), if sustained, will cause sea level rises of 25-40 meters. Baha!

As an island nation, with almost all of its major population centers, tourist meccas, industrial zones and agricultural areas located below 40 meters above (2009) sea level, it would seem logical for the Philippines to partner with organizations such a the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).

The AOSIS is a coalition of small island and low-lying coastal countries that share similar development challenges and concerns about the environment - especially vulnerability to the adverse effects of global climate change. AOSIS comprises 39 member nations and is dedicated to keeping up the pressure on the major contributors of increased levels of atmospheric CO2 and global warming, for immediate and effective action to prevent further increases in atmospheric CO2 and to start to roll-back atmospheric CO2 concentrations to below 350ppm to prevent further climate change.

The weather patterns are changing because of global warming: anyone over the age of 30 will have seen the changes, e.g. 20 years ago weather patterns in Davao featured mostly sun every morning and tropical thunderstorms every afternoon almost year round, now Davao has overcast skies for most days of the year and hardly any afternoon tropical thunderstorms. These changed weather patterns are the cause of the storms of last week.

If sea levels rise by 40 meters within this century, gone will be:

Major population centers such as

• Metro Manila
• Davao City
• Cebu City
• Iloilo City
• Bacolod City
• Cagayan de Oro
• San Fernando (La Union)

Major agricultural industrial zones such as

• Mactan Island
• Subic Bay
• Pampanga
• Cavite

Tourist meccas such as

• Boracay
• Puerto Galera
• Samal Island
• Siargao Island
• Dapitan

If we want to prevent a repetition of the devastation seen last week we must take action now na.

We must immediately take action now to:

• commence reforestation by planting trees wherever we can find space
• reduce atmospheric CO2 by using energy more efficiently
• lobby our government to partner with the AOSIS

This is not something for tomorrow it is for action NOW na!

Juliet

I have read What happened to global warming? And I suspect that someone at the BBC is pandering. I prefer to believe millions of years of climate records rather than observations by special interest groups of "scientists" who make sweeping deductions from a few decades of statistics.

I recall it was the BBC News cable channel that offered us an Australia "scientist" in the 1990s on the subject of global warming and climate change: the scientist aimed to prove that we have nothing to fear from global warming because ice floats - tanga (=stupid) conclusion, tanga scientist, tanga BBC for taking the time to show the footage! The "scientist" supported his argument by placing an ice cube in a glass of water and waited till it melted. If that is the type of climate change scientist the BBC likes to listen too then I call it irresponsible journalism, something the BBC has become quite adept at since the first Iraq war, when they consciously embraced U.S.-media deception practices. Just look at recent BBC reports in Afghanistan for further proof of continued irresponsible journalism: the BBC's continued employment of reporter Martin Patience, who purports to know what the Taliban and other "insurgents" are actually thinking - it is quite obvious to me that he is either, a mouthpiece for Brown's government who want keep selling arms and sending British troops to their deaths or, the BBC is condoning the publication of Martin's own imagination without appropriate journalistic oversight. Either way: irresponsible journalism.

Kawawa the British troops who are still losing their lives for the despicable actions of Blair and Bush.

Global Warming is a real and present danger to the Philippines and to humanity; Climate Change is solvable; changed and increasingly destructive weather patterns can be mitigated with action now na!

Juliet

22nd October Delhi - India and China Sign Climate Change Deal

All well and good for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to rattle his saber at conferences and (finally) utter dire warnings on non-compliance with climate change initiatives but look what is happening with India and China. India and China are making a deal on "technology development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions" but at the same time India, in a statement published by the BBC, has reconfirmed "[India has] never at any stage considered or advocated abandoning the fundamental tenets of the [1997] Kyoto protocol . . . Internationally legally binding [greenhouse gas] reduction targets are for developed countries and developed countries alone, as globally agreed under the [2007] Bali action plan,"

Where does this leave the developing nations? Can they do their own thing?

The way I read it, India and China are largely ignoring the rest of the World in their lust for unsustainable growth. India and China may not yet be "developed countries" but they sure act as irresponsibly as those they seek to emulate and disenfranchise.

The risk I can see here is that there will be two (or more) initiatives with different agendas and no cooperation. We need to cooperate now and I mean now na to save the Philippines and almost every other country around the globe. This is a global issue and needs a global solution.

Please, everyone, love and heal planet Earth, our only planet Earth, because we don't have another one to go to.

Juliet