Agenda - 06-03-2008-5b5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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"ln Kenya, where temperature increases have tracked the global average, malaria epidemics have. occurred in highland areas where cooler weather historically has kept down populations of disease- bearing mosquitoes... "Russian news media reported in September [2006] that larvae of the anopheles mosquito, the malaria carrier, had been found in Moscow." The same story points out there is a global justice issue unfolding here as well as a public health problem, in that under-developed parts of the world that contribute very little C02 emissians are already paying a price for activities of the developed nations in the "industrial north." f) C02 Accumulation & Acceleration of Effects. Nat only is the rate of accumulation of COz in the atmosphere increasing, but.the scientific community is lowering the upper limit it believes is necessary to avoid the mast dire Climate Change outcomes. A story in the N&O ("Carbon dioxide shows sharp rise," S/22/07} said that week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that "emissions from fossil fuels... are increasing at 3 times the rate seen during the 1990's." A ca-author of the report lamented that "despite the scientific consensus that carbon emissions are affecting the world's climate, we are not seeing progress in managing those emissions...In many parts of the world we are going backward..." Meanwhile NASA scientist James Hansen, one of the earliest to warn of planetary warming and the association with carbon emissions, is now saying that we must adjust downward the target for the atmospheric concentration of COz. Environmental groups and the European Union have long considered 450 parts per million (PPM) acceptable. Bill McKibben covered Hansen's latest findings in The Washington Post (Remember this: 350 parts per million," 12/28/07), writing that because of the acceleration of observed effects such as arctic melting the target must be set lower. "...the data just keep getting worse. The news this fall that Arctic sea ice was melting at an off-the- charts pace and data from Greenland suggesting that its giant ice sheet was starting to slide into the ocean make even 450 look too high. Consider: We're already at 363 parts per million, and it's knocking the planet off kilter in substantial ways. So, what does that mean? "It means, Hansen says, that we've gone too far. `The evidence indicates we've aimed too high - thatthe safe upper limit for atmospheric C02 is no more than 350 ppm...'" The "cascading" of Global Warming effects is seen in the Arctic & Greenland, where expanding pools of meltwater on the frozen snow become heat sinks that turn reflective surfaces into heat absorbers. Similar negative feedback is occurring further south, in the Rocky Mountains, where warmer winters have extended the range of pine beetles that are wiping out vast acreage of forests -and reducing vegetation needed to sequester COz. "Scientists now predict that escalating draughts, tree die-offs and fires could cause Western forests to contribute more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than they extract," wrote M. Martin Smith & Fiona Gow in the High . Country News ("Unnatural Preservation," 2/4!08). II. Planning Policy Documents. The Buckharn application includes a request for waiver of several EDD Guideline . standards, including, for instance, one regarding roof reflectivity, in order to retain the option to