NASA video shows a year of CO2 pollution

A ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.

Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/x1SgmFa0r04]

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The carbon dioxide visualization was produced by a computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.

The visualization is a product of a simulation called a “Nature Run.” The Nature Run ingests real data on atmospheric conditions and the emission of greenhouse gases and both natural and man-made particulates. The model is then left to run on its own and simulate the natural behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere. This Nature Run simulates January 2006 through December 2006.

While Goddard scientists worked with a “beta” version of the Nature Run internally for several years, they released this updated, improved version to the scientific community for the first time in the fall of 2014.

The Harper Government: Making The North Pole Safe, For Oil Companies & You

The Alberta tar sands aren’t only environmentally friendly, they’re good for the ozone layer, they will stop illiteracy and alleviate erectile dysfunction; and that’s just the tip of the melting iceberg! Don’t believe me? The Canadian federal government can’t stop gushing over them, so they must be out-of-this-world amazing!

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[youtube=http://youtu.be/WV07BEM-S9U]

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StopGreenWash.ca

Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance

Indigenous Environmental Network

Rolling The Dice: CO2 Concentration Hits Record High Amid Global Inaction On Climate Change

Via The Guardian:

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 399.72 parts per million (ppm) and is likely to pass the symbolically important 400ppm level for the first time in the next few days.

Readings at the US government’s Earth Systems Research laboratory in Hawaii, are not expected to reach their 2013 peak until mid May, but were recorded at a daily average of 399.72ppm on 25 April. The weekly average stood at 398.5 on Monday.

Hourly readings above 400ppm have been recorded six times in the last week, and on occasion, at observatories in the high Arctic. But the Mauna Loa station, sited at 3,400m and far away from major pollution sources in the Pacific Ocean, has been monitoring levels for more than 50 years and is considered the gold standard.

“I wish it weren’t true but it looks like the world is going to blow through the 400ppm level without losing a beat. At this pace we’ll hit 450ppm within a few decades,” said Ralph Keeling, a geologist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography which operates the Hawaiian observatory.

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four hundred ppm milestone reached

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Source: Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Source: Scripps Institute of Oceanography

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For more on the awful implications of this milestone in human history, check out the links below (hint: it isn’t good news for humans or animals or the ocean, either).

More links:

As CO2 Concentrations Reach Ominous Benchmark, Daily Updates Begin

The Keeling Curve: A Daily Update of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide From Scripps Institute of Oceanography At UC San Diego

Greenhouse Gas Levels Near Milestone: Highest in Millions of Years

The Last Time CO2 Was This High, Humans Didn’t Exist

Nobel Laureate: It is the People Who Must Stand Up For the Environment, Make Their Leaders Change

Fridays are the days I usually focus on good news. I think the best news around these days is that Rupert Murdoch and his right-wing, democracy-corrupting News International is finally being subjected to the harsh light of public and criminal investigation. Apparently last week, Murdoch’s media empire lost seven billion dollars worth of value in one day. Now that’s good news!

In another good news story, it turns out that forests play an even larger role in the Earth’s climate system than previously suspected.  According to a new study published in Science last week, this raises more concern about the risks from deforestation but also holds out hope for the potential gains from regrowth.

Werner Kurz, a scientist with Natural Resources Canada’s Canadian Forest Service who co-authored the paper, said the amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by forests is “good news” and reinforces what scientists had previously estimated — that forests are the biggest carbon sinks among land ecosystems.

“Right now, forests are helping,” he said, “but whether or not they will continue to help in the future will depend on the effect of human activities and climate change on the forest.” Read the full article on CBC.ca.

So if we buckle down and seriously address the issues of deforestation and reforestation across the globe – in the Amazon as well as in my backyard, the boreal forest – this could be a huge step towards stabilizing the world’s climate system. And who better to get inspiration from when talking about planting trees to heal the earth, than Wangari Maathai? Ms. Maathai is the Kenyan woman who started the Green Belt Movement which taught the women in her country how to plant trees, and who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work. Since 1977, GBM communities have planted over 45 million trees in Kenya to increase national forest cover and restore essential ecosystems. Here are some clips from Taking Root, a documentary by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater which tells Maathai’s story, “whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5GX6JktJZg]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzikL5MJWCg&feature=related]

Here’s a quote from Wangari Maathai to take into the weekend with you:

“It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change. And we cannot be intimidated. So we must stand up for what we believe in.” 

More links:

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

The Green Belt Movement

Climate Change 2: Forests Soak Up Third of Fossil Fuel Emissions: “Science” Study

CBC.ca: Forests Absorb A Third of World’s CO2 Emissions