There’s your total for the weather damage in Britain in 2007. [Envirostats author] 

- The (British) Environment Agency via the Guardian, Dec 7 2007

The Greenland ice sheet melted at a record rate this year, the largest ever since satellite measurements began in 1979, a top climate scientist reported on Monday.“The amount of ice lost by Greenland over the last year is the equivalent of two times all the ice in the Alps, or a layer of water more than one-half mile deep covering Washington DC,” said Konrad Steffen of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Greenland is about one-fourth the size of the United States and about 80 percent of it is covered by the ice sheet. One-twentieth of the world’s ice is in Greenland; if it all melted it would be equivalent to a 21-foot (6.4 meter) global sea level rise, the scientists said.

- Reuters, Dec 10 2007

Doomsday tourism, eh? Nice term. It’s a fine difference to eco-tourism, where you just want to see natural sites. Here, you want to see natural sites that is not predicted to remain for long. 

An interesting story about the eco-tourist boom of those rushing to see sites that are changing so fast they may disappear and never be seen as they were. Most of these are ice disappearing in one form or another, or sea levels rising. Let’s hope those who are rushing there are doing so responsibly so these sites are not gone sooner than would be otherwise without their presence!

Antarctica: the Müller ice shelf and the Larsen ice shelf are shrinking dramatically.

Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: global warming is blamed for melting of the year-round snows at the summit of Africa’s highest mountain. They could be gone in 15 years.

The Arctic ice cap: the melting of icebergs and ice caps in the Arctic is blamed on global warming and threatens the habitats of species such as polar bears.

The Maldives: rising sea levels (3½in per year) could make these 1,200 islands in the Indian Ocean uninhabitable within 100 years.

Venice: the Italian city is sinking into the Adriatic and rising sea levels could make things worse.

Alaska: American travel agents report thousands heading for the shrinking glaciers and melting permafrost.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia: it’s been predicted that rising water temperatures, which are bleaching the famously vivid reefs, will kill 95 per cent of the living coral by 2050.

Kitzbuhel, Austria: the home of the world’s most fearsome ski run is among low-lying Alpine ski resorts whose long-term futures are threatened by rising temperatures - on average the warmest they have been for 1,250 years.

Galapagos Islands: rising water temperatures are bleaching coral and causing the deaths of marine species.

Patagonia: South American glaciers are also retreating.

According to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, more than 37,000 tourists visited the continent last year - double the number five years ago. A third came from America, while the second largest contingent - one in seven visitors - travelled from Britain. “There definitely is a rush to see and explore the world before it changes,” said Matt Kareus, of Natural Habitat, which operates excursions to Antarctica.

Interesting. We Canadians flock to warmer weather. Going to Antartica isn’t exactly our style, though, mind you, I personally took a half day vacation last winter to photograph Halifax harbour freezing in -36C windchill. We’ve got the deepest ice free unfrozen natural harbour in the world, in case you didn’t know. Besides, we Canadians have got the North Pole so why go to the South Pole?

At least we’ve got the North Pole for now.

Merry Christmas again! [Envirostats author]

- Eco-tourism story via The Telegraph, Dec 23 2007

Here’s another big contributor to global warming not many talk about, but probably because it’s not something most of us have going on in our lives that contribute to global warming. It was marketed as one cheap and effective way to get bang for your buck in trying to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. [Envirostats author]

“Just like a global phase out of old, energy guzzling light bulbs or a switch to hybrid cars, protecting and restoring peatlands is perhaps another key “low hanging fruit” and among the most cost- effective options for climate change mitigation,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Peatlands are wetland ecosystems that accumulate plant material under saturated conditions to form layers of peat soil up to 20m thick - storing on average 10 times more carbon per hectare than other ecosystems. Peatlands occur in 180 countries and cover 400 million hectares or 3% of the world’s surface.

Major overall findings

• Peatlands are the most efficient terrestrial ecosystems in storing carbon. While covering only 3% of the World’s land area, their peat contains as much carbon as all terrestrial biomass, twice as much as all global forest biomass, and about the same as in the atmosphere.

• Peatlands are the most important long-term carbon store in the terrestrial biosphere. They sequester and store atmospheric carbon for thousands of years.

• Peatlands are critical for biodiversity conservation. They support many specialised species and unique ecosystem types, and can provide a refuge for species that are expelled from non-peatland areas affected by degradation and climate change.

• Peatlands play a key role in water resource management, storing a significant proportion of global freshwater resources. Peatland degradation can disrupt water supplies and decrease flood control benefits.

• Degradation of peatlands is a major and growing source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from peatland drainage, fires and exploitation are estimated to currently be equivalent to at least 3,000 million tonnes per annum or equivalent to more than 10% of the global fossil fuel emissions.

• Peatland degradation affects millions of people around the world. Drainage and fires in SE Asian peat swamp forests jeopardise the health and livelihoods of millions of people in several countries in the region. The destruction of mountain peatlands in Africa, Asia and Latin America threatens the water and food supply for large rural and urban populations.

• Climate change impacts are already visible through the melting of permafrost peatlands and desertification of steppe peatlands. In the future, impacts of climate change on peatlands are predicted to significantly increase. Coastal, tropical and mountain peatlands are all expected to be particularly vulnerable.

• Conservation, restoration and wise use of peatlands are essential and very cost-effective measures for long term climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as biodiversity conservation.

• Optimising water management in peatlands (i.e. reducing drainage) is the single highest priority to combat CO2 emissions from oxidation and fires as well as address peatland degradation and biodiversity conservation.

• There is in most countries an urgent need to strengthen awareness, understanding and capacity to manage peatlands- to address peatland degradation, biodiversity conservation and climate change.

- Assessment on Peatlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change via the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Press Release, Dec 11 2007

The greatest emissions resulted from flights to and from Indonesia, but extra air conditioning and car travel during two weeks of meetings added significantly to the carbon budget.

While all UN delegates and most European government delegates had their flights offset with financial investments in schemes which buy up greenhouse emissions, it is not known how many other attendees tried to lessen their impact.

The UN spent nearly £50,000 offsetting its emissions from two dozen UN agencies, funds and programmes, as well as the carbon footprint of secretary general Ban Ki-moon and his entourage. “We at the UN climate secretariat are offsetting by buying emission reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. Then it is up to the individual delegates and journalists. The responsibility lies with them,” said a UN spokesman.

David Adam, the Guardian’s sole correspondent in Bali, had his carbon footprint offset in a scheme by Climate Care, which invests in renewable energy in developing countries. 

- CO2 statistics courtesy of the United Nations while trees planted statistic courtesy of the Indonesian government, both via The Guardian, Dec 15 2007