Category: RT Newswire

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” …  the voracious power of today’s global economy, which has created a situation in which the world is not just getting hot, it’s getting raped.”
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NEW YORK TIMES
It’s Too Late for Later
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: December 16, 2007

Bali, Indonesia – The negotiators at the United Nations climate conference here in Bali came from almost 200 countries and spoke almost as many languages, but driving them all to find a better way to address climate change was one widely shared, if unspoken, sentiment: that “later” is over for our generation.

“Later” was a luxury for previous generations and civilizations. It meant that you could paint the same landscape, see the same animals, eat the same fruit, climb the same trees, fish the same rivers, enjoy the same weather or rescue the same endangered species that you did when you were a kid – but just do it later, whenever you got around to it.

If there is one change in global consciousness that seems to have settled in over just the past couple of years, it is the notion that later is over. Later is no longer when you get to do all those same things – just on your time schedule. Later is now when they’re gone – when you won’t get to do any of them ever again, unless there is some radical collective action to mitigate climate change, and maybe even if there is.

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Science News

Top 11 Warmest Years On Record Have All Been In Last 13 Years

ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2007) – The decade of 1998-2007 is the warmest on record, according to data sources obtained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The global mean surface temperature for 2007 is currently estimated at 0.41°C/0.74°F above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.20°F.

The University of East Anglia and the Met Office’s Hadley Centre have released preliminary global temperature figures for 2007, which show the top 11 warmest years all occurring in the last 13 years. The provisional global figure for 2007 using data from January to November, currently places the year as the seventh warmest on records dating back to 1850.

Other remarkable global climatic events recorded so far in 2007 include record-low Arctic sea ice extent, which led to first recorded opening of the Canadian Northwest Passage; the relatively small Antarctic Ozone Hole; development of La Niña in the central and eastern Equatorial Pacific; and devastating floods, drought and storms in many places around the world.

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Carnegie Institution
Public release date: 14-Dec-2007

Coral reefs unlikely to survive in acid oceans

Stanford, CA – Carbon emissions from human activities are not just heating up the globe, they are changing the ocean’s chemistry. This could soon be fatal to coral reefs, which are havens for marine biodiversity and underpin the economies of many coastal communities. Scientists from the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology have calculated that if current carbon dioxide emission trends continue, by mid-century 98% of present-day reef habitats will be bathed in water too acidic for reef growth. Among the first victims will be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest organic structure.

Chemical oceanographers Ken Caldeira and Long Cao are presenting their results in a multi-author paper in the December 14 issue of Science* and at the annual meeting of American Geophysical Union in San Francisco on the same date. The work is based on computer simulations of ocean chemistry under levels of atmospheric CO2 ranging from 280 parts per million (pre-industrial levels) to 5000 ppm. Present levels are 380 ppm and rapidly rising due to accelerating emissions from human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels.

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—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: FW: [FOL] : Action Alert!!  Lubicon Cree
From:    “wsdp” <wsdp@igc.org>
Date:    Fri, December 14, 2007 10:30 am
To:      wsdp@igc.org
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FYI.

—–Original Message—–
From: fol-bounces@masses.tao.ca [mailto:fol-bounces@masses.tao.ca] On Behalf

ACTION ALERT!

Phone or email TransCanada and tell them no pipeline without Lubicon agreement!

This is an easy five minute action that can make a big difference-not only to the Lubicon Cree but for the rest of the planet as well.

STEPS FOR THE ACTION:

By Phone:

1. Starting today, phone TransCanada Pipelines  — toll free
1.800.661.3805 (or in Calgary at 403-920-2000)

2. Let them know:
1. you are a concerned citizen
2. tell the company you strongly oppose any pipeline through Lubicon territory without Lubicon agreement,
3. that the company must obtain that agreement before approaching the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board.

A sample script is below but always remember that a similar message in your own words has a much stronger impact.

Hi, my name is _____ and I am calling to express my strong opposition to TransCanada Pipelines announced plans to seek Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (or AEUB) approval to build the North Central Corridor pipeline. This pipelines runs through the middle of unceded Lubicon territory and your company does not have Lubicon agreement to use their land in this way. I demand that you seek this agreement before going any further. Thank you.

By Email:

Compose your own message or simply copy and paste the above message (but write your name on the blank and change ‘calling’ to ‘writing’ of course) into your own email browser and send to the CEO of TransCanada, Harold Kvisle, c/o his “Associate” Janna Laberge at:

janna_laberge@transcanada.com

If you like you can also cc a copy to Stelmach at:

fortsaskatchewan.vegreville@assembly.ca

and the Alberta EUB at:

bill.tilleman@eub.ca

Thanks!!

Friends of the Lubicon Alberta