Lost by Sea – The Global Warmings First Victims

The small islands of Tuvalu, northeast of Australia, is the first victims of the global warming, writes Dan McDougall in the article Lost to the Sea in News of the World on the 22nd of March 2009, the largest newspaper in the UK.

The small group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, with it’s 12,600 residents have large problems when the sea level rises. John Iakopo, a sailor in the 100-men strong Navy, is interviewed by News of the World, said that “The good Tuvalu is going down. Yes sir. Surer that the sun rises over the sea in the morning.” Iakopo shows very hard feelings for the industrialized countries like the US and the UK and blames them for that his islands drowns in the sea. “Whe have the world’s most insignificant carbon footprint and yet we will be the first to go, the first victims of global warming.” He says that the Americans, the British and all the developed countries have sealed his peoples fate.

The forgotten island of Tuvalu and it’s inhabitants is a tragic proof of that the world needs to take actions to prevent other beutiful islands like these to disappear from the face of the earth. The children going to school in Tuvalu may be the last generation to do so on these islands. The IPCC’s reports shows on a rise of three feet, wich is just above three feet in many places on the island will disappear – that is certain.

The island of Tuvalu is one more proof of that it is not the one that have caused the global warming that is the ones the is going to take the consequences of it. In the best case-scenario Tuvalu will last for another thisty year. But one day the people of Tuvalu is going to have to leave their islands in planes and lifeboats to head for New Zeeland as high sea refugees.

Warning – High Sea Level

Scientists claim that the sea level could rise by 10 feet (3 metres). That would lead to flooding big coastal cities as New York, London, Calcutta and Tokyo which would put millions of people at risk of leaving their homes. All this according to an article in the Daily Telegraph by Richard Alleyne, 15 Apr 2009.

The Telegraph, one of the major newspaper in the UK, writes that the melting of the ice on Greenland and Antarctica causes water to pour into the worlds oceans at an alarming rate and rise the oceans sea-level. The fact that the Telegraph has many readers shows that it is a newspaper that keeps their stories to what many people consider is the truth. Or else they would not read their paper. By analyzing fossilised coral reefs from the last time the polar ices melted, called the interglacial, the sceintists can show that many reefs died during this time and that they where replaced by new reefs on higher ground. The interglacial time occured 121,000 years ago. Studying this time helps the scientists to understand what will happen to the earth with a warmer climate.

The quick change into the interglacial time worries the scientists that the climate change will in a similar speed and make the sea-level raise to a disastrous level in the near future. The new researches shows that the sea-level could raise to dangerous levels in this century. This prediction is not that high as other scientists claim. Some scientists claims there will be a raise to as much as 16 feet (5 metres) by the end of the century. But a raise of one metre will cause problems for low-lying countries who dont have the economy to build sophisticated sea defence systems, as Bangladesh.

This article shows that by studying our earth helps the scientists to understand how the earth will react when the temprature raises and the ices melt. Where people are in danger and will have to leave their homes because of the sea-level raises. And that it is mostly the poor countries that will suffer from what we in the rich part of the world have caused.

Buckingham Palace – a waste of energy

The gates of Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace has com to the top of the “dirty dozen” – the list of the most enviromentally damaging buildings in London, writes Andrew Pierce for the Telegraph.co.uk on the 11 March 2009.

Thermal imaging technolegy, that is used to identify and maesure energy waste showed heat pouring through windows, the roof and cracks in the wall. The team of energy surveyors labelled “shocking and appalling” and gave Buckingham Palace a score of 0 out of 10.

On top of that the Prince of Wales, who a short time after the article was published used a speech to make his most apocalyptic warning about the climate change, will probably be embaressed to discover that St Jame’s Palace, his estate in London, is in 12th place on the survey of 170 biuldings. St Jame’s Palace scored a 5 out of 10.

After this news the Queen has set up an energy-saving committee at Buckingham Palace to reduce the consumption of energy. The infrared picture, taken during the big freeze in London last month, captured a huge amount of energy escape into the the night sky. The thermal images shows heat instead of light and the Buckingham Palace is completely lit-up dispite being in darkness. Buckingham Palace last year spent £2.2 million on utility bills. The biggest problem is the windows that is single-glazed and there might not accapteble to replace them with dubble-glazed. Howerver there are improvments that could be made to reduce heat losses and bills.

One positive thing that the thermal images show is that some groups of windows looks cooler than others which shows that the Queen at least turns down the heat in unused rooms.

This article shows on dubble standards of morality. Which I believe is a big problem in the enviromental debate. The leaders who speaks for change to reduce consumption and waste not always lives up to their own words. I hope the Royal Family makes some changes and that they in the future can be a good example of people in head of the climate-debate.

I choosed this story because the climate lies in my interest and it is important to be a part in to try to change peoples lifestyles so that the human can live on earth with the same standards as we have in the future. The article comes from the Telegraph wich is one of the larger newspapers in the UK which makes their reliable source of news.