In a paper published recently in the journal Conservation Biology, two scientists attempt to summarize all the available arguments both for and against scientists-as-advocates. Their conclusion, arrived at because of the determination that scientists are citizens first and scientists second, is that the scientific community should indeed be more involved in advocacy than it is. Climate change, to me, seems to be the ideal spot for this to take place.
The Age of Stupid has arrived after half a decade in the making. Franny Armstrong has made a new climate change documentary-drama that stars Pete Postlethwaite as an indie climate change refugee from 2055, that shares the tragedy of of global warming.
In addition to their screenings, they offer ways to help via their ‘not stupid‘ climate activism effort. They are truly trying to encourage folks to participate in lobbying politicians leading up to the talks in Copenhagen at the end of the year.
The pioneering new president of the Indian Ocean nation announces plans for his country - under grave threat from climate change - to go carbon-neutral in a decade. Written by Duncan Clark and shared with EcoWorldly as part of the Guardian Environment Network.
“We have promised the islanders that the project for long-term protection will start next year meaning as soon as possible in the new year,” said vice-president Dr Mohamed Waheed.
While Waheed and current president Mohamed Nasheed ran for office promising to address the issue, they now say the current budget leaves no money for action. However, Nasheed has begun saving cash to purchase a new homeland if the country does not survive rising sea levels.
The Government of the Maldives, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean, is looking at alternative ways to deal with the nation’s impending inundation.
Global sea level rise is a big problem for many of the world’s nations. With an average height above sea level of 1.5m and a maximum height of 4m the Maldives has a bigger problem than most. In their 2007 report the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast that sea level rise is occurring and is speeding up. They also acknowledge that the amount of change varies from place to place. Some regions are seeing a rise, others a fall.
The governments of all small island nations under threat from these changes have been trying to come up with workable solutions. For example one solution under consideration by the Maldivian government involves building a protective sea wall around a several of islands and moving the entire population to a new protected home. This option has been dismissed however as it was thought to be prohibitively expensive.
This week at ZapRoot: The Maldives plan to buy a new homeland if global warming sinks their country. Honda unveils the FC Sport at the LA Auto Show. Go green for the holidays with our Holiday Gift Guide Part 1.
Global warming could cause a lot of islands to be covered by the rising ocean. But what do you do if that island is your country and home? President Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed of the Maldives has an answer: move your country.
Standing before the United Nations General Assembly in October 1987, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives, made an appeal representing “an endangered nation.” That year for the first time, “unusual high waves” in the Indian Ocean inundated a quarter of the urban area on the capital island of Male’, flooded farms, and washed away reclaimed land. Gayoom cited scientific evidence that human activities were releasing greenhouse gases that warm the planet, ultimately raising global sea level as glaciers melt and warmer water expands. The trouble extended beyond small islands; studies showed that rising seas would wreak havoc on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Netherlands, and the river deltas of Egypt and Bangladesh.
Fast-forward through two decades of swelling seas and more powerful storms and the call has moved from the need to study global warming to the necessity of dramatic action to stabilize climate. With small island nations in peril, these days President Gayoom evokes the vision of a United Nations where “name plates are gone; seats are empty.” He does not speak alone: this fall, some 50 countries, including a number of small island nations along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the European Union, are planning to put a resolution before the U.N. General Assembly requesting that the U.N. Security Council address “the threat posed by climate change to international peace and security.” As Ambassador Stuart Beck of Palau has asked, “Would any nation facing an invading army not do the same?”
