Kangaroos: An alternative to sheep and cattle?

Top Australian government climate change adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, has confirmed that eating Kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle would lead to a positive climate change effect. Methane gas from cattle and sheep farts and belches are responsible for a large amount of Australia’s greenhouse gas emission total. Kangaroos, which emit very little gas, are a viable alternative to a more greenhouse friendly livestock.

Professor Garnaut states that Kangaroos were the main source of meat in Australia for 60,000 years before the introduction of cattle and sheep. Kangaroos are currently culled in Australia because they compete for food with farmed livestock. Their meat is then on sold as pet food. This leads to a social hurdle in the promotion of kangaroo meat as it is often considered of a lesser quality than sheep and cattle meat.

Environmentally Unfriendly Plane

It turns out that living a green lifestyle can be undone in a single flight overseas for a holiday. According to research leader Stewart Barr, of Exeter University in England, middle class families who prescribe to recycling, walking instead of driving, and perform other green activities, are also just as likely to take an environmentally unfriendly trip in a plane at some stage during the year.

Respondents to the survey claimed that they felt less guilty about flying abroad because they acted with environmental caution during the rest of the year. These findings highlight the difficulties of promoting environmentally aware attitudes without encroaching on desired lifestyles.

Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice

According to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, this year the Arctic sea ice covered a mere 1.74 million square miles, marking the second lowest reading on record. This is up slightly from last year, in which the sea ice covered a meagre 1.59 million square miles. Last year’s reading was the lowest reading since the record keeping started in 1979.

Warming Climates Hinder Carbon Dioxide Uptake

Scientists led by John Arnone of the Desert Research Institute and David Schimel of the National Center for Atmospheric Research have set a blow to anti global warming advocates by showing that prairie grass consumed less carbon dioxide in a warmer climate.

Some people argue that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to more lush, and greater carbon dioxide consuming plants. This experiment however contradicts this theory, and has shown that warmer climates in fact lead to a decrease in carbon dioxide consumption. Further information is available in an article in this weeks Nature.

In 2004, Leemans and Eickhout showed that the ability for plants to adapt decreased against an increasing rate of climate change.

National Wildlife Federation

Plants can help to stop global warming by consuming carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. The National Wildlife Federation has put out a great free booklet for concerned gardeners about what they can do to help stop global warming. The main idea behind all their tips is to decrease energy consumption, and conserve what resources we already have.

• Purchase solar powered garden products
• Swap powered yard tools for human powered tools. Instead of lawn mowers, weed eaters, and leaf blowers, try push mowers, hand clippers, and rakes.
• Introduce a diverse range of plants in to your backyard. This helps facilitate the important connections between food sources and pollinators.
• Compost garden and kitchen waste to help avoid the use of process intensive chemical fertilizers.
• Establish a greenroof by installing special soils and vegetation on your roof. This arrangement works as natural house installation and reducing the need for unnatural heating and cooler systems.
• Plant lots of trees to help consume carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One shade tree can absorb about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

This is a summary of the information provided by the National Wildlife Federation’s Gardeners Guide.

A Coughing Child

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 300 million people have asthma. It’s estimated that of those 300 million, 250,000 die from the disease each and every year, and this figure has escalated over the last couple of decades.

There is a growing concern that the increased carbon dioxide gas due to global warming is leading to an increase in pollen production by some plant species. Research has shown that increased levels of carbon dioxide gas can cause some weeds to produce an increase in pollen that is disproportionate to the growth of the weed.

Besides the accelerating production of pollen by weeds, a warming planet also leads to an increase in ground level ozone gas. Ozone gas is known to exacerbate the symptoms of asthmatics.

A Coal Power Plant

The Independent reports that a Greenpeace group who made £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station were justified in their actions, because the threat of global warming is so significant. The jurors accepted the argument of “lawful excuse” by the Greenpeace group which allows damage to be made to property to prevent even greater damage. This repurposed legal loophole was originally intended for cases such as breaking down a door to extinguish a burning house.

The global warming debate stirs a lot of passion from both sides, exemplified by the irony that Greenpeace should make a non-peaceful protest. We at stop-global-warming.com believe that you should be passionate about the global warming debate, but would rather you don’t break other people property regardless of your position. Such behaviour hinders constructive communication and progress.

The United Nations Going Green

One of our tips for helping to stop global warming is to increase the temperature of your thermostat during summer, and reduce it during winter. Starting in August the UN headquarters have raised their thermostat by 5 degrees, going from 72 to 77 degrees in offices, and 72 to 75 in conference rooms.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said the initiative has so far saved the equivalent of 710 round-trip trans-Atlantic flights, or 2,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. The program is set to end on September 15, but a winter program is under consideration.

At stop-global-warming.com we get asked many different questions about global warming. One frequently asked question is how can people help stop global warming?

We’ve put together a small list of changes that people can make to help stop global warming. You can find more tips on our How To Stop Global Warming page.

• Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. These lights bulbs are much more efficient than the ones most people are using right now. Not only will you help the environment, but you will save money.
• Drive less. You could walk to the shops instead of driving, or dust off your bike if you think the shops are too far to walk too. You also help your health and that’s a big bonus.
• Leave your thermostat a little warmer in summer, and a little cooler in winter so your heating system doesn’t consume so much power.
• Insulate your house. This improves the efficiency of the heating within your house, and you may find that you won’t need to heat or cool your house as often.
• Use low flow shower heads instead of regular shower heads. This helps you to consume less hot water which requires a lot of energy to warm.

Well, there’s a few short and simple ways you and your friends can help to stop global warming. Over time we’ll be adding to our list in the hope of building a long and useful list of things that people can do to help slow climate change.

If you have any other tips be sure to send them through from our contact form!

Stop-Global-Warming.com Relaunches

In March 2007 the first version of stop-global-warming.com was launched. Over this time our information has enjoyed many thousands of downloads and has helped to spread actionable information by its readers. Over 18 months later, we bring you a fresh, updated, and more dynamic publication of stop-global-warming.com.

Our site is now split in to two areas: information about global warming, and global warming news. The information section is aimed towards helping our readers better understand climate change including it’s causes, effects, and what can be done to prevent global warming continuing. The news section provides regular updates on the global warming debate, including the latest products and technologies, politics, and awareness campaigns.

If you have some news to share please feel free to contact us using the contact form.