Annual Editions: Environment 08/09 Book

UNIT 1The Global Environment: An Emerging World ViewUnit Overview

1. Climate Changes 2007, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Summary for Policymakers: A Report of Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, February 2007

This article summarizes the results of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning effort by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on our “understanding of the human and natural drivers of climate change”. Importantly, it presents estimates of how global warming will affect future climates. The degree of confidence of the assessments is indicated. Even the cautious consensus reached by this large group of scientists from around the world is troubling.

2. How Many Planets? The Economist, July 6, 2002

In a series of six interconnected short essays, the editors of The Economist present an up-to-date summary of global environmental issues, including sustainable development, the amount of information available on the environment, climate change, and the role of both technology and market forces in helping to shape the future of environmental systems.

3. Five Meta-Trends Changing the World, David Pearce Snyder, The Futurist, July/August 2004

The process of globalization has produced increasing modernization among both contemporary and modern cultures. Will human adaptability be enough to offset the massive culture changes that accompany such meta-trends as development of a global economy and society?

4. Globalization’s Effects on the Environment, Jo Kwong, Society, January/February 2005

Globalization, which was supposed to be such a good thing, has become a polarizing issue for policy analysts, environmental activists, economists, and others. The idea of removing barriers to the movement of goods and services has meant an increasing impact on environmental systems through the alteration of economic systems.

5. Do Global Attitudes and Behaviors Support Sustainable Development?, Anthony A. Leiserowitz, Robert W. Kates, and Thomas M. Parris, Environment, November 2005

Sustainable development is necessary in order to meet human needs and maintain the life-support systems of the planet. Advocates of achieving sustainability on a global scale recognize that significant change in values, attitudes, and behavior in human societies will be necessary before sustainability can be achieved.

6. Population and Consumption, Robert W. Kates, Environment, April 2000

A general consensus exists among scientists that the roots of the current environmental crisis are to be found in a combination of population growth, affluence, and increasing technology. No such consensus exists, however, about the ultimate cause of either population growth or the desire to consume. Notwithstanding this lack of agreement, society needs to sublimate the desire to acquire things for the good of the global commons.

7. Can You Buy a Greener Conscience?, Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, September 2, 2007

For $100/year, can a Hummer be pollution free? In this short article in the Los Angeles Times, Alan Zarembo debunks the concept of selling carbon offsets. While the idea of selling and buying carbon offsets sound like a good way to reduce your overall emissions, the reality is not quite the perfect scenario that the ‘carbon dealers’ claim.

8. A New Security Paradigm, Gregory D. Foster, World Watch, January/February 2005

Most people think of national security in terms of protecting a country against another World Trade Center disaster and think of the answers to such events in military terms. But there are many security dangers that do not involve rogue states or terrorists. There is an important area where environmental conditions and security issues coincide. Is it more important to preempt Al Qaeda or global warming?

9. Where Oil and Water Do Mix, Jason J. Morrissette and Douglas A. Borer, Parameters, Winter 2004–2005

Much of the past history of conflict in the North African/Southwest Asian culture realm has been based in religion, ideology, and territory. Future conflict in this area is more likely to be based in environmental scarcity—such as too little oil and not enough water—to support the population growth that is far outpacing economic growth.

10. The Irony of Climate, Brian Halweil, World Watch, March/April 2005

Modern climate change is certainly producing problems for the world’s farmers: changing weather is bringing the potato blight to areas of the high Andes, and Kansas wheat farmers operate in an uncertain environment where rains come at the wrong time. The threat of global warming could even change the character of the monsoons, altering agriculture in the world’s most populous area—South Asia.

11. Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia, Jacquelyn A. Ottman, Edwin R. Stafford, and Cathy L. Hartman, Environment, June 2006

Traditional approaches to green marketing or the marketing of products designed to be environmentally sound have focused on the “green-ness” of the products. Marketing specialists have learned, however, that in order to sell green products companies must not only demonstrate improved environmental quality but also satisfy customers’ needs.

12. Gassing Up with Hydrogen, Sunita Satyapal, John Petrovic and George Thomas, Scientific American, April 2007

Hydrogen is a super-clean fuel that has been touted as the ideal substitute for gasoline. In this Scientific American article, one of the formidable obstacles to a hydrogen economy is discussed, namely he hydrogen containment or storage. Hydrogen is a very powerful fuel, but it occurs normally as a non-compressible gas, making it very difficult to store on a car. Numerous futuristic options for storage are discussed.

13. Wind Power, Martin J. Pasqualetti, Environment, September 2004

Wind power is one of the oldest energy sources, used to power mills and water pumps for thousands of years. It is now one of the most promising of the alternative energy strategies. But in spite of its environmental attributes, wind power meets with considerable local resistance because of aesthetics, noise, and potential damage to bird populations. The proper strategy is to develop wind power in sites where it meets the least resistance.

14. Whither Wind?, Charles Komanoff, Orion, September/October 2006

Power generation accounts for 38% of our CO₂ emissions. Unlike electricity generated by CO₂ emitting fossil fuel plants, wind turbines generate 100% clean electricity, and the power source is renewable. Is it reasonable to expect that we could erect the 400,000 wind turbines necessary to substitute for our coal-fired power plants? Charles Komanoff discusses the myths and misconceptions of wind power.

15. The Rise of Renewable Energy, Daniel M. Kammen, Scientific American, September 2006

Solar cells, wind turbines and biofuels are discussed as possible clean, renewable energy sources for the future. Daniel Kammen is hopeful that ‘renewables’ can replace fossil fuel as as our major energy source. If the United States puts more money into research and development and has the political will to change, a major switch is possible. This energy change will be facilitated by the dramatically increasing prices of petroleum and natural gas.

16. The Future of Nuclear Power, Stephen Ansolabehere et al., The Future of Nuclear Power, 2003

It is difficult to know the costs, the pros and the cons of nuclear power. Is it really the fuel of the future, or are problems that have been recognized (and not totally recognized) insurmountable? “The Future of Nuclear Power–Overview and Conclusions” discusses the four major hurdles to nuclear power: cost, safety, waste and proliferation. Recommendations for the future are also presented.

17. Personalized Energy, Stephen M. Millett, The Futurist, July/August 2004

Several facts about energy consumption need to be recognized: any use of energy is going to have some negative environmental impacts, current reliance on fossil fuels cannot continue, most alternative energy systems (such as wind or solar power) are still inefficient enough to be very expensive. The solution that many energy experts are seeking is a scaling down of energy production and control—from huge power plants to those that power small areas such as cities or neighborhoods.

18. Hydrogen: Waiting for the Revolution, Bill Keenan, Across the Board, May/June 2004

Everyone from the President of the United States to the hopeful consumer has jumped on the hydrogen energy bandwagon. This will be the energy of the future: cheap, nonpolluting, and infinite in supply. But many energy experts warn that, as an alternative to other sources, hydrogen is just “a better mousetrap” when it comes to solving energy shortages. More important, it is still a mousetrap that is a long ways away from being able to catch a mouse.

19. Strangers in Our Midst, Jeffrey A. McNeely, Environment, July/August 2004

For hundreds of millennia, species emerged and stayed in relatively discrete geographical regions. With the expansion of worldwide transportation systems and goods of all kinds being moved about the world, many species have gained the capacity for movement. These invasive alien species are contributing factors in approximately 30 percent of all the extinctions of plants and animals since 1600.

20. America’s Coral Reefs: Awash with Problems, Tundi Agardy, Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 2004

America’s coral reefs—the rain forests of the oceans—are in trouble. This delicate ecosystem has declined by 80% over the last three decades. Overfishing, fertilizers, sediment input and ocean warming all contribute to the dramatic decline in this invaluable resource, both a thing of intrinsic beauty and economic value. The public is generally unaware of the destruction going on beneath the waves, but as author Tundi Agardy explains, there is hope. Public and private efforts can ultimately reverse the fate of these national treasures.

21. Markets for Biodiversity Services, Michale Jenkins, Sara J. Scherr, and Mira Inbar, Environment, July/August 2004

The traditional approach to the protection of biodiversity has been government action and financing. As both money and action has been diverted to other purposes, those concerned with conservation of biodiversity have turned increasingly to market-oriented funding sources. Private funding sources often recognize the economic benefits of preserving biodiversity more quickly than do governments.

22. Tracking U.S. Groundwater: Reserves for the Future?, William M. Alley, Environment, April 2006

The term groundwater reserves implies that the supply of groundwater, like other limited natural resources, can be depleted. Current rates of extraction for irrigation and other uses far exceed the rates of natural replacement, placing this precious water resource in jeopardy. The depletion of groundwater reserves has gone from being a local problem to a national—and probably even global—one.

23. How Much Is Clean Water Worth?, Jim Morrison, National Wildlife, February/March 2005

When the value of a clean water resource is calculated in monetary terms, it becomes increasingly clear that conservation methods make both economic and ecologic sense. The tricky part is manipulating the economic system that drives our behavior so that it makes sense to invest in and protect natural assets—like clean water.

24. Searching for Sustainability, Eirivelthon Lima et al., Environment, January/February 2006

Commercial logging in the Amazon has traditionally been an ecologically destructive process, as cleared areas were occupied by farmers who extended the clearing process. The development of the major economic corridor of the Trans-Amazon Highway illustrates how logging can be converted from a destructive force to one that promotes sustainable development.

25. Swift Boating, Stealth Budgeting, and Unitary Executives, James Hansen, World Watch, November/December 2006

The scientific thesis that anthropogenic change is altering the global environmental system has reached the point of consensus among scientists. The few scientists who do not accept global climate change are referred to as contrarians. Unfortunately, they approach the global warming problem as if they were lawyers, not scientists, whose job it is to defend a client rather than seek the truth.

26. The Truth About Denial, Sharon Begley, Newsweek, August 13, 2007

In this remarkable exposé, Sharon Begley describes the sophisticate efforts by the oil industry and lobby to dispel the science behind global warming. Much as the tobacco industry did a generation ago, big oil is working hard to sow doubt about global warming, and to even question whether it is such a bad thing in the first place. Although the overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that global warming is a serious threat to humanity, Begley explains how the powerful oil-funded ‘denial machine’ is succeeding at spreading confusion, and thereby preventing any action to combat this global threat.

27. How Science Makes Environmental Controversies Worse, Daniel Sarewitz, Environmental Science & Policy, Issue 7, 2004

Can a scientific controversy ever be settled? Will we ever come to consensus on global warming? Science is increasingly called upon to answer important environmental questions. But do the policy makers accept the scientists’ assessments, and should they? Daniel Sarewitz describes three obstacles that prevent scientists from defining directions for policy makers. Scientists generate many facts, but such facts may not do us much good and ‘sometimes makes considerable mischief’.

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