Weather Related Disasters, Climate Change

Death toll in Joplin, Missouri has risen to 116, 2000 buildings are destroyed and at least 14000 people are reported to be without power. Please, donate to American Red Cross

Help the victims in picking up the pieces and rebuild their lives, homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. It is about time. They are in a grave need for help.

Around the world, including Africa, the HIV / AIDS epidemic along with the devastation caused by climate change is creating lots of challenges, risks, demands, damages and disasters. Fanrpan.org published a report, “HIV/AIDS, climate change and disaster management: challenges for institutions in Malawi”, which highlights demands posed by the a combination of these two major challenges.

“Southern African institutions involved in disaster management face two major new threats: the HIV/AIDS pandemic (eroding organizational capacity and increasing vulnerability of the population), and climate change (higher risk of extreme events and disasters). Analyzing the combined effects of these two threats on six disaster-related institutions in Malawi, the authors find evidence of a growing gap between demand for their services and capacity to satisfy that demand. HIV/AIDS leads to staff attrition, high vacancy rates, absenteeism, increased workload and other negative effects enhanced by human resources policies and financial limitations. Many necessary tasks cannot be carried out adequately with constraints such as the 42 percent vacancy rate in the Department of Poverty and Disaster Management Affairs, or the reduction of rainfall stations operated by the Meteorological Service from over 800 in 1988 to just 135 in 2006. The authors highlight implications of declining organizational capacity for climate change adaptation, and formulate recommendations.”

There are many organizations throughout the world that are working hard on climate change issues. One of these is Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It released a report, “The IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation”, a detailed account on renewable energy sources, in 2011. These are the key points in this report:

1) Demand for energy services is increasing

2) CO2 emissions are increasing

3) Potential emissions from remaining fossil resources could result in GHG concentration levels far above 600ppm.

4) The current global energy system is fossil fuel dominated.

5) Renewable Energy (RE) growth has been increasing rapidly in recent years.

6) The potential of renewable energy technologies to supply energy services exceeds current demands.

7) RE costs are still higher than existing energy prices but in various settings RE is already competitive.

8) Technical Advancements: For instance growth in size of typical commercial wind turbines.

9) RE costs have declined in the past and further declines can be expected in the future.

10) Integration characteristics for a selection of RE technologies.

11) Capacity credit is an indicator for the reliability of a generation type to be available during peak demand hours.

12) An integrated RE-based energy plant in Lillestrøm, Norway, supplying commercial and domestic buildings.

13) Few, if any, fundamental technical limits exist to the integration of a majority share of RE, but advancements in several areas are needed.

14) RE can contribute to sustainable development.

15) A systemic approach is needed for a comparison of “cradle to grave” emissions.

16) Lifecycle GHG emissions of RE technologies are, in general, considerably lower than those of fossil fuel options.

17) GHG emissions from modern bioenergy chains compared to fossil fuel energy systems, excluding land-use change effects.

18) Land-use change and bioenergy.

19) RE deployment increases in scenarios with lower greenhouse gas concentration stabilization levels.

20) Global RE primary energy supply from 164 long-term scenarios versus fossil and industrial CO2 emissions.

21) Mitigation Costs.

22) RE and Climate Change Mitigation Policies 2004.

23) RE and Climate Change Mitigation Policies 2011.

In a previous report in 2001, IPCC emphasized the scientific bases of climate change. The report was titled, “CLIMATE CHANGE 2001: THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS”

The report summarized itself as follows:

”

• Analyses an enormous body of observations of all parts of the climate system.
• Catalogues increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
• Assesses our understanding of the processes and feedbacks which govern the climate system.
• Projects scenarios of future climate change using a wide range of models of future emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols.
• Makes a detailed study of whether a human influence on climate can be identified.
• Suggests gaps in information and understanding that remain in our knowledge of climate change and how these might be addressed.”

This report was:

“edited by J.T. Houghton Co-Chair of Working Group I, IPCC Y. Ding Co-Chair of Working Group I, IPCC D.J. Griggs Head of Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC M. Noguer Deputy Head of Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC P.J. van der Linden Project Administrator, Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC X. Da Visiting Scientist, Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC K. Maskell Climate Scientist, Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC C.A. Johnson Climate Scientist, Technical Support Unit, Working Group I, IPCC” It’s foreword was written by: “G.O.P. Obasi
Secretary General
World Meteorological Organization

K. Töpfer
Executive Director
United Nations Environment Programme
and
Director-General
United Nations Office in Nairobi”

The report’s preface states:

“This report is the first complete assessment of the science of climate change since Working Group I (WGI) of the IPCC produced its second report Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change in 1996. It enlarges upon and updates the information contained in that, and previous, reports, but primarily it assesses new information and research, produced in the last five years. The report analyses the enormous body of observations of all parts of the climate system, concluding that this body of observations now gives a collective picture of a warming world. The report catalogues the increasing concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases and assesses the effects of these gases and atmospheric aerosols in altering the radiation balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. The report assesses the understanding of the processes that govern the climate system and by studying how well the new generation of climate models represent these processes, assesses the suitability of the models for projecting climate change into the future. A detailed study is made of human influence on climate and whether it can be identified with any more confidence than in 1996, concluding that there is new and stronger evidence that most of the observed warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Projections of future climate change are presented using a wide range of scenarios of future emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. Both temperature and sea level are projected to continue to rise throughout the 21st century for all scenarios studied. Finally, the report looks at the gaps in information and understanding that remain and how these might be addressed.” In short, there is a wealth of information, scientific research, evidence, reports and studies, supporting the vastly accelerated climate change induced by human activity. I invite, everyone to overcome the barriers and hesitation in exploring this enormous data, created by corporate media and crooked politicians and have a serious and unbiased look over it. Please, give up the preoccupation created by vested interests and get the both sides of the picture to make an informed conclusion. Isn’t it true that we are not supposed to jump on the conclusions without learning the both points of view. This is not about the liberal or conservative. This is about the future of whole planet, humanity, and the survival and quality of life of our future generations.

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