45 Nations Form Anti-Global Warming Body

The release of an authoritative - and disturbingly grim - scientific report in Paris that said global warming is "very likely" caused by mankind and that climate change will continue. It was the strongest language ever used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Forty-five nations answered the call Saturday for a new environmental body to slow inevitable global warming and protect the planet, perhaps with policing powers to punish violators.

The document, a collaboration of hundreds of scientists and government officials, was approved by 113 nations, including the United States.

Despite the report's dire outlook, most scientists say the worst disasters - huge sea level rises and the most catastrophic storms and droughts - may be avoided if strong action is taken soon.

One Government Official at the conference on Saturday, said, "It is our responsibility. The future of humanity demands it." Another well known Environmentalist said "We are at a tipping point," "We must act, and act swiftly ... Such action requires international cooperation."

The world's scientists and other international leaders also said now that the science is so well-documented, action is clearly the next step. "It is time now to hear from the world's policymakers," Tim Wirth, president

of the United Nations Foundation, said Friday. "The so-called and long-overstated 'debate' about global warming is now over."

Global Warming and Potable Water

As the World prepares to deal with the effects of Global Warming we need to be aware of how it relates to water consumption and fresh water supplies.

POTABLE WATER

• Reducing water consumption reduces emissions by reducing energy required to treat water, pump water and treat waste water.
• Reducing hot water consumption reduces energy emissions by having to heat less water.
• As Ocean levels rise the fresh water in our Aquifers turns into Salt Water. A rise of just 1" or less in Ocean levels turns billions of gallons of Potable Water at the bottom of our aquifers into Salt Water and substantially reduces the Worlds supply of Potable Water.
• Climate Change also enhances drought in many areas reducing the supply of Potable Water in our inland Aquifers.

Many of the Worlds largest Aquifers have dropped by 100 feet or more in the last ten years. Many U.S. Communities accustomed to having an ample supply of fresh water already have to bring water in by Tanker Trucks to supply the entire community. One U.S. Midwest City recently made a public announcement "we will be completely out of water by 2011".

Rising Waters Imperil Coastal Property

Erosion can destroy coastal property, such as this beach house located along North Carolina's Outer Banks. (NOAA) The historic Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was built in 1870 on a strip of sand more than a quarter mile from the water's edge. It was thought to be safe from the sea's force. For almost a century, it was. But by the 1970s, the slow rise of the ocean's waves threatened its foundation. The lighthouse was a mere 160 feet from the water's edge. To preserve the landmark, the nation's tallest brick lighthouse, the National Park Service moved it more than half a mile inland-an engineering feat that took a decade to plan and cost taxpayers a whopping $10 million.

Beach-front owners on the Outer Banks are losing ground, too. People from all over visit the shores, which are now lined with beach houses, explains Doug Stover, cultural resource manager of Cape Hatteras National Sea Shore. "What's happening," says Stover, "is that they're losing more sand so they're trucking in more sand ... to preserve their homes."

How global warming raises sea levels

Higher seas are one of the most certain consequences of global warming. Why? For one, melting glaciers and polar ice sheets add water to our oceans. Glaciers store water on land. When these huge ice masses melt into the oceans, it adds volume and water levels rise. (The concept is simple to demonstrate. Add a bunch of ice cubes to a glass of water that's already full to the brim and it will overflow. That extra water is like the extra ocean water from melting glaciers.)

On top of that, water expands as it gets warmer. So as the temperature rises, the same amount of water takes up more space. This raises sea levels higher.

Risks multiply as sea levels rise

Rising sea levels are a double whammy for the coastline. Not only do they flood the land, but higher ocean waves also erode more coastline. Coastal residents face a constellation of concerns: higher flood risk, more property damage and higher insurance rates. (Higher insurance rates can also cost taxpayers, since the federal government subsidizes flood insurance for many coastal properties.)

The lighthouse's situation illustrates another way in which global warming puts coastal property owners in double jeopardy. When scientists from the National Academies of Science assessed the lighthouse's troubles, they found two main reasons for the eroding foundation: rising sea levels and hurricanes. Hurricanes are expected to get stronger as global warming worsens. (More about hurricanes and global warming.)

On the health front, rising seas also contaminate fresh water supplies with salty water in places like Philadelphia, New York City (its drought supply), and much of California's Central Valley.

Trouble throughout the country

Over the twentieth century, the seas rose between four and eight inches, ten times the average rate of the last 3,000 years. This alarming trend threatens all of the nation's coastal communities, where more than half the U.S. population lives. Other parts of the globe are vulnerable, too. More frequent and extreme flooding due to sea-level rise threatens low-lying areas near the mouths of the Nile in Egypt, the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, and Ganges and Brahmaputra in Bangladesh and other rivers around the world. Italy's famous sinking city of Venice, which is surrounded by water and whose ground underneath is subsiding like Louisiana's, is also particularly vulnerable.

Scientists project that sea levels will continue to rise as a result of human-produced greenhouse gas pollution and could reach an additional 3.5 inches to 3 feet by the end of the century, with the possibility of even larger rises should the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica disintegrate. A foot of higher waters could destroy anywhere from 50 to 1,000 feet of horizontal shoreline in many parts of the U.S., depending on the slope of the coastline and other factors. Here is a snapshot of different areas suffering from rising seas.

• One-third of the marsh at the Chesapeake Bay's Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is now submerged.
• The edges of mangrove forests in Bermuda are lined with recently drowned trees.
• The loss of wetlands, Mother Nature's first defense against storms, put Louisiana's coastline and New Orleans in a precarious position. About every thirty minutes an area of land the size of a football field in the Mississippi Delta vanishes and is replaced by open water. (While global warming is contributing to rising sea levels, part of Louisiana's land loss is due to subsidence from both natural and man-made causes.)
• On the West Coast, flat, low-lying coastal areas such as the San Francisco Bay area and parts of the L.A. area also vulnerable.
• If sea level continues to rise, thousands of square miles of land in densely populated areas such as the eastern U.S. may be lost in a century or two, and flooding during storm surges will worsen. Construction of physical barriers such as seawalls would be expensive and in some cases infeasible.

Coral Reefs: In Hot Water

Coral reefs, such as the a reef-building favites abdita seen here at low tide, are vulnerable to bleaching and possible extinction. Warmer waters, more acidic oceans and stronger storms are taking their combined toll on coral reefs. "Coral reefs may prove to be the first ecological victims of unchecked global warming," says Environmental Defense scientist Rod Fujita. Loss of coral reefs would translate into huge economic losses in coastal regions dependent on reefs-they provide about $375 billion each year in food and tourism income. ( U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy)

Severe damage to reefs is also an ecological catastrophe. Coral reefs are sometimes called "rain forests of the ocean" because they are home to a rich diversity of marine life such as reef fish, turtles, sharks, lobsters, anemones and sponges.

Warmer water linked to "bleaching," death

Corals get both their food and their spectacular color from tiny algae called zooxanthellae that live in them. Corals are very sensitive to temperature and thrive within a narrow range of heat and cold. An increase of just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above the typical maximum summer temperature can cause corals to expel their algae, or "bleach." After prolonged bleaching, they often die.

A massive bleaching of corals occurred during one of the warmest 12-month periods on record, in 1997 and 1998. About 16 percent of the world's reefs suffered severe damage, and thousand-year-old corals perished. Continued increases in ocean temperature could make mass bleachings an annual event. Environmental Defense scientist Doug Rader says that "within a century, very large portions of coral reefs could be gone."

Double damage: Oceans getting more acidic

Coral reefs face another threat related to global warming: carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. Carbon dioxide is the main heat-trapping gas that causes global warming, but that's not the only damage it does. A report by the U.K.'s Royal Society found that the increased levels of CO2 in the ocean are making it more acidic.

When CO2 dissolves in ocean waters, it produces carbonic acid, which corrodes the limestone structures of coral reefs and seashells. In acidic water, "there is a greater tendency for seashells to dissolve, like putting them in vinegar, but not quite as dramatic," says Environmental Defense climate scientist Dr. James Wang.

"The world's seas are naturally alkaline," adds Fujita, "and many of these marine creatures that have been around for eons will not survive in an acid sea."

As waters become more acidic, coral reefs and other marine ecosystems could suffer. The Royal Society's panel of scientists report that acidification will hurt tropical and subtropical reefs the most, but cold-water corals are also in danger. Since acidification is "irreversible in our lifetimes," the authors say, "the only practical step is to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide as quickly as possible to minimize large-scale, long-term harm to the world's oceans and marine ecosystems."

Guard reefs from stress, and they are resilient

Rader has spent years diving in the Caribbean and seen first-hand the decimation to reefs. Disease has nearly destroyed elkhorn and staghorn reefs throughout the region, he says. "Add to that more frequent bleaching events and an abundance of CO2 in the water," says Radar. "It seems hard to believe that it is happening-and happening on our watch."

But Fujita offers a sliver of hope. "Corals are sensitive but also very resilient-if conditions are right. If we can reduce some of the other direct stresses from human activities on coral reefs, like pollution from diffuse sources, that may also enable reefs to cope better with threats like climate change."

Creating more protected areas for coral reefs may help them better withstand the rigors of too-warm water and be less vulnerable to extinction. Kelp forests seem to be able to cope with warmer water better in marine reserves, explains Fujita. But even so, cautions Fujita, "the number of corals that can adapt to or withstand such dramatic, rapid changes may be just a tiny fraction."

Snow Melts, Industry Feels Heat

Making snow is an expensive way to beat global warming. (Mammoth Mountain) "If it's above 30 and the humidity's high, they can't make snow," says Bill Farrell. He's talking about Enfield, New Hampshire's ski areas, known as the Upper Valley. Now 57, Farrell has skied the area's slopes since he was four. He and his wife virtually raised their children on the slopes, and they now teach skiing in Colorado. While his son and daughter are enjoying plentiful snow out West, Farrell says that New Hampshire's Upper Valley is hurting this year. "They can't make the snow. On January 6, it was 68 degrees," says Farrell. "A pond that you can usually drive a plow on is open water."

Once a national NASTAR (National Standard Race) pace setter, Farrell has skied enough mountains over the past half century to see the trends. In order to stay in the ski business, he says, resorts are going to have to invest in snowmaking equipment-and those costs add up. On top of the tens of thousands of dollars needed for the machinery, there's the staff needed to run the machines, the energy required to power the snow guns, and the natural resources like water-and weather.

This season, some New England slopes, like Tenney Mountain in Plymouth, New Hampshire, are staying closed. Other mountains that are open offer a limited number of trails for skiers. In short, winter recreation areas have warmer winters on their radar.

A troubling trend

Penny Sirjane, who runs World Cup Supply, a company that deals in products for on-hill events and safety equipment, says that while snow-making technology is improving, "weather patterns of recent years have created challenges in the industry."

Sirjane is concerned, but her business is flexible-she sells nationwide and even internationally, so she can go where there's snow. Mountain resorts don't have that option.

The 2006-2007 season is troubling for many hills in the Northeast, but last winter, some West Coast mountains struggled.

Lisa Isaacs, Environmental Director of California's Mammoth Mountain, says 2005-2006 was "the warmest winter we've had since installing snowmaking." Mammoth opened on time last season, but conditions were not ideal. "We got some storms and were able to make a little bit of snow," explains Isaacs. "We were one of the only ones open for those who wanted to ski."

With a base at 9,000 feet, Mammoth's high elevation gives it an edge. A recent study from the University of Zurich projects tough times for low-altitude ski areas. Some lower-lying resorts in Switzerland are already experiencing unreliable snowfall. (Bürki)

Communities depend on winter business

As average global temperatures rise, America's $4.5 billion ski industry is taking notice. (NSAA) "If we don't have snow, our whole economy is dead," says Isaacs about the resort town of Mammoth Lakes. "Everybody is hurt."

Colorado is especially concerned with the problems a warming climate poses. "Colorado, like most of the West, has gone from an extraction economy to an attraction economy," says Auden Schendler of Aspen Skiing Company. The state's outdoor recreation, from skiing to river rafting, all depends on climate. And for winter recreation businesses, snow cover is key.

Between 1950 and 1997, springtime mountain snow cover in the Rockies was down 16 percent, the Cascades lost an average of 29 percent, and many sites in Washington, Oregon and Northern California saw springtime snow down more than 50 percent. (Mote)

Making snow is costly

"Most resorts see snowmaking as one way to deal with climate change," says Schendler.

"The problem is that if you're not cold enough, you can't make snow," says Mammoth's Isaacs.

Man-made snow is made by simulating the same conditions needed for natural snow. While the surrounding temperatures don't have to be freezing (depending on humidity), they have to be close. And the warmer it is, the more expensive it is to make snow.

"Warming isn't just warming-it's increased cost," explains Schendler. "If you're making snow around freezing, it's not an optimal economic proposition. Optimal is around 20 degrees." And even in the best of conditions, producing the manmade white stuff can account for 20 percent of operating costs.

Resorts lead on cutting heat-trapping emissions

Although resorts contribute less to climate change than other industries (such as manufacturing), slopes around the country are taking steps to cut emissions and boost efficiencies. Aspen Skiing Company is at the forefront. In addition to harnessing wind to run parts of its hill, it's generating about 200,000 kilowatt hours of renewable power by pumping spring runoff through snowmaking pipes.

Initiatives at other resorts include solar-powered lighting in the Canyons in Utah and wind power for parts of New York's Hunter Mountain's operations. Mammoth's efficiency measures include lighting with compact fluorescent bulbs, supplemental solar heat panels in lift stations and free biodiesel buses to and from the resort for employees and visitors.

These reductions in global warming pollution benefit not only the ski industry, but all of us. Mammoth's energy guru Bob Bradbury sums up the resort's efficiencies like this: "Every little bit helps. You make 100 improvements here and there, and it adds up to a lot of savings in money and energy."

Innovations at winter sports resorts have symbolic power, too: "The ski industry is very powerful and visible," says Auden, "and we can help drive change because of the importance of our business in these western communities."

Dying Lobsters: Preview of Future?

Jim King witnessed the mass death of lobsters in Long Island Sound in 1999. Lobsters are part of Jim King's life. His father was a fisherman in Long Island Sound, off New York and Connecticut, and Jim has been a lobsterman himself for more than 40 years. He appreciates the mysteries and charms of lobsters: "You see trends over time in the fishery, but every time you think you've got the lobsters figured out, they do something different. They're a unique animal."

Jim has seen good and bad years since he started trapping. But in 1999, lobsters in the area began dying in record numbers. In parts of the sound, nearly all the lobsters died. Jim remembers the horror stories: Fellow lobstermen pulled up traps filled with dead lobsters.

Financial disaster follows lobster die-off

"A lot of folks in the western part of the sound depended on the fall molt," says King, referring to the period just after lobsters shed their shells and lay low until their new shells become hard. After this waiting period, they voraciously go for food in the traps. The two major molts-in June and early fall-are the lobstermen's biggest payday. In 1999, the lobsters never showed after the fall molt, and many lobstermen were plunged into financial ruin.

Trapping on the less-affected eastern part of the sound spared lobsterman King most of the economic misfortune. But the area where he traps still felt the after-effects: "It took its toll a few years later in terms of the number of stock."

The summer of 1999 was one of the hottest summers on record. The heat most likely contributed to the mass deaths and made the lobsters more susceptible to disease. It's a clear warning of how higher temperatures around the globe can disrupt ecosytems that people depend on for their livelihood.

In 2000 the U.S. Secretary of Commerce declared the Long Island Sound area a "resource disaster." The value of the lobster fishery fell from $42 million in 1998 to $10 million in 2002. Over $7 million dollars was allocated to assist the hard-pressed lobstermen.

Long decline started with bad year

By 2003, lobster populations were down 70 percent from 1998 levels. The die-off made 1999 more than just a bad year. King says, "All the bad things that can happen to a lobster resource happened in that one year. High water temperatures, hurricanes and on top of that we had mosquito spraying."

"It was a perfect storm," agrees Environmental Defense scientist Jake Kritzer. "Hot water drove the lobsters down into deeper waters to try to get where it was cooler and in the process it exposed them to toxic sediment and more crowded conditions that promote spread of disease."

Higher temperatures put lobsters at risk

Lobsters are cold-blooded (or poikilothermic). This means a lobster's body temperature is determined by the temperature of the water it lives in. Studies show that lethal temperatures for lobsters range from 75 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coastal bottom waters off the Long Island sound fall within the upper limit of the lobsters' tolerance, reaching an average of about 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months. (CT DEP Water Quality Monitoring Program) Because the water in the western sound is shallow and doesn't mix much with the deep Atlantic Ocean waters, its temperature depends on the air above it. If air temperatures are high, the bottom waters, where lobsters live, can also warm up.

The summers of 1999 and 2002 were the fourth and fifth hottest in 108 years of record-keeping in Connecticut. New York City recorded its highest summer temperatures in 1999 and 2002. (National Climatic Data Center) That meant the sound was also unusually warm. The record-breaking heat most likely contributed to the mass deaths and helped make lobsters more vulnerable to disease.

An insecure future for lobsters and lobstermen

"This is my 43rd season," says King. "It's been up and down." It will take several more years for the lobster population to rebound from the 1999 die-off. But the lobster's long-term survival in the sound remains in question. Scientists predict that global warming could raise the average global temperature by four to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years. If global warming continues unchecked, Long Island Sound water temperatures-especially in the shallow western part-could become too high to support the lobsters.

A combination of limiting polluted runoff and slowing global warming can reduce stress on the lobster population. That would give lobstermen like Jim King a better chance of passing on the tradition. "I think the stocks are starting to come back now since the die-off," says King.

Wineries Prepare for Change

"Global warming is on everyone's radar," says viticulturist Franci Ashton of her colleagues in California's winegrowing industry. Small wonder: The quality and taste of wine depend utterly on the soil and climate conditions in which the grapes are grown-a concept known as terroir. Scientists predict that global warming will bring higher temperatures, more heat waves and less precipitation, changes that could transform the state's $15 billion wine industry. (Wine Institute, 2004)

For example, Ashton's employer, Etude Wines, is known for its pinot noir-a notoriously difficult-to-grow varietal made famous by the movie Sideways. The pinots produced by Etude and other winemakers depend on the climate of Napa and Sonoma's famed Carneros region. It lies just north of San Francisco Bay and benefits from its moderating ocean breezes.

Eventually, says Ashton, places where pinot and chardonnay are currently grown may no longer work because the cool climate they require may no longer exist.

Water shortages on the horizon?

Water has an enormous impact on grape cultivation, and changes to the water supply are a likely consequence of global warming. Water is high on the mind of David Graves, co-founder of Saintsbury Vineyards, which is developing a plan to use recycled water from sanitation districts for its irrigation.

"One of the big problems that might present itself would be volatility of water supply," says Graves. "When I read about things like the drought in the Grain Belt this year, that's scary. If periods of drought become longer and more severe, that's where I start to think the recycled water issue becomes a way to have a kind of insurance policy."

Ashton says she and others are also starting to consider scarce water resources. "We're looking into research that could help us become more efficient in our irrigation," says Ashton. "We're asking 'How much water do we need to maintain our wine quality?' We're worried that our current viticultural practices may become obsolete."

Preparing for drought is a wise business choice. From 1998 to 2004, below-normal precipitation and high temperatures led to the most severe drought in the western U.S. in 80 years and one of the most severe in 500 years. Global warming is expected to bring on more frequent and severe droughts.

Innovative farming techniques cut pollution

In addition to preparing for warmer climes, wineries, like all agricultural businesses, have a unique opportunity to help fight global warming by storing carbon. No-till agriculture eschews traditional practices that disrupt the soil and release its stored carbon into the air as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the key heat-trapping gases that lead to global warming. More growers are practicing no-till farming, which involves minimal soil cultivation and keeps more carbon in the ground.

"It used to be a lot more common to see clean-tilled vineyards," says Graves. "Now we have a lot of no-till."

Graves estimates the amount of non-tilled acreage has increased by a factor of 10 in Napa. The practice has many benefits. It's really good on hillsides for preventing erosion. It helps water infiltration because the roots sit in healthier, microbial-rich soils. And it naturally keeps out pests.

Fetzer Wineries, in Southern Mendicino County, uses cover crops to attain similar soil improvements. Planted between rows of grapes are red clover, daikon radishes and grasses that set nitrogen into the soil. During the dry months from June to November, the stubble left after mowing provides habitat for spiders and other predators that eat grapevine-eating critters-natural alternatives to pesticides and herbicides.

Other ways to fight climate change

"The wine industry in itself is being pretty proactive about becoming environmentally sensitive and sustainable," says Patrick Healy, Fetzer's environmental manager. A number of wineries, including Rodney Strong and St. Francis, are embracing solar power, an optimum choice for sunny California. Fetzer has a 40-kw solar display on its administration building that powers about three-quarters of the building.

Fetzer is one of the Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Leaders. That means the company is working in partnership with the government to develop long-term climate strategies. Additionally, starting in 1999, Fetzer participated in a greenhouse gas emissions study to set benchmarks for heat-trapping pollution ion the industry. To reduce its emissions, Fetzer buys green electricity and uses biodiesel in all its tractors and half its big rigs.

"We have lots of efficiency and conservation goals here," says Patrick Healy, Fetzer's environmental manager. As a result, the company says, its electricity emissions are net zero.

In addition to the biodiesel and green energy, the winery avoids using electricity during peak demand hours. From May through usually some time in August, when the crush starts, "we turn off refrigeration between 12 and 6-that's our biggest single energy sink at the winery," says Healy, who adds, "We wouldn't do it if it threatened the quality of the wine at all."