The Tipping Point - Canadian Documentary on Arctic Meltdown

Despite the economic and political turmoil, some Canadians still remember the coming climate crisis. A person at a holiday party last night tipped me off to this important-sounding documentary: The Tipping Point - Passionate Eye Monday | CBC Newsworld
From the promo page:

Scientists say that by 2013, there will be no sea ice left in the Arctic, causing a tipping point for climate change throughout the world. "The tipping point is where you've pushed a system into a state where, with no further pushing, it will rapidly change", explains Dr Ted Scambos. "It seems as though the Arctic simply can't recover". Polar bears, who are at the top of the Arctic food chain, are feeling the heat. As the sea ice shrinks, so does their world.

[...]

Melting permafrost could soon be a worldwide disaster, as it locks in carbon dioxide, which is released as the ice melts. "The amount of carbon which is sequestered in permafrost is at least the same as the amount of carbon in the atmosphere", says an expert in permafrost. "Thawing permafrost will release this methane and it is like a bomb will explode".

"The Arctic will export change to the rest of the world", warns Robie MacDonald. "Melting sea ice will intensify the extreme weather caused by climate change, bringing violent storms and cyclones." Very quickly the world's food and water supplies will begin to run short. "To put it in context, the Arctic Ocean has not been clear of ice for a couple of million years at least. This is extraordinary."

In the video preview, one expert also mentions the risk of war over arctic resourses, especially with the opening of the Northwest Passage (which I had discussed independently here).

I'd really like to see the full documentary, so I hope that they re-run it soon.

[Important Notice]

"Food miles don't feed climate change - meat does"

BlogThis!

We've blogged about vegetarianism as a great way to reduce your climate impact. But would eating imported fruits and vegetables negate the carbon benefits of avoiding meat? According to a recent study, the answer is a resounding "No". In fact, it's quite the opposite! Being vegetarian more than offsets the carbon emissions from imported plant-based foods. Christopher Weber and Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have done the math. NewScientist.com reports:

"Weber's team combined statistics on greenhouse gas emissions for different foods with estimated greenhouse footprints for transport for each step in a food's production and final delivery.

"Food travelled an average of 1640 km in its final trip to the grocery store, out of total of 6760 km on the road for the raw ingredients. But some foods log more kilometres than others. Red meat averaged 20,400 km – just 1800 of those from final delivery.

"Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions made those contrasts even starker. Final delivery 'food-miles' make up just 1% of the greenhouse emissions of red meat, and 11% for fruits and vegetables.

"To drive his point home, Weber calculated that a completely local diet would reduce a household's greenhouse emissions by an amount equivalent to driving a car 1600 km fewer per year. He assumed the car travels 10.6 km per litre of petrol (25 mpg). Switching from red meat to veggies just one day per week would spare 1860 km of driving.

"'The differences between eating habits are very, very striking,' Weber says."

This is great news for people in northern countries like Canada. Dietitians of Canada state that fruits and vegetables are an important part of a balanced diet. Yet fresh local produce is often impossible to find during the winter, and imported fresh produce can be expensive. The Canadian Cancer Society states that frozen, canned or dried fruits and vegetables can be good choices, too. But having looked at food labels, I've realized that many of these items come from warmer climes, as well.

The latest research implies that you can stop worrying so much about the carbon footprint of your imported carrots, oranges, and frozen okra. Just eat local produce when you can -- and most importantly, emphasize plant proteins like beans and bean products, nuts and whole grains. It's really that simple!

[Important Notice]

Discuss this on your own Blogger blog! Click here for a permalink in the Address Bar > highlight any text for quoting > click BlogThis!

"Eat less meat, reduce global heat" -- But Why Stop at 10% ?

BlogThis!

Reducing meat consumption is a great way to reduce carbon emissions, according to an article in the respected scientific journal, The Lancet (CBC News Report). While the scientific article itself is not openly accessible, here's what the Summary of the article on the Lancet's web site says:

"Worldwide average meat consumption could be realistically reduced by 10% to reduce the already substantial impact of livestock production on greenhouse gas emissions. This would also reduce health risks associated with very high consumption of red meat. The fifth paper in the series entitled "Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health." comments that the Global average meat consumption is currently 100g per person per day, with about a ten-fold variation between high-consuming and low-consuming populations. 90g per day is proposed as a working global target, shared more evenly, and with not more than 50g per day coming from red meat from ruminants (i.e., cattle, sheep, goats, and other digrastic grazers)."

But as I've said before, who needs meat anyway? Tasty vegetarian food can easily give you all the proteins you need, and could even make you healthier. Good for you, good for the planet and tastes great -- the time is now!

________________________
Post-script:

On CBC Radio News, a representative of the Canadian cattle industry has claimed that they could actually benefit from the Lancet report. He argued that Canadian cattle spend more of their time in open pastures than on feedlots than in other countries, and manure dropped on pastures actually returns carbon to the soil. He even predicted a rise in Canadian beef exports as other countries realize the benefits of Canada's "green" beef.

What a load of B.S., almost literally! Canadian cattle cannot possibly spend all their time outside -- at least until Global Warming wipes out the little thing that dumps snow all over the ground and makes the air too cold for cattle to be outside for months on end... What's it called? Oh, yeah, Canadian Winter! The carbon in cattle manure on the ground has to come from plants and soil in the first place -- why not leave most of it there instead of cycling it through cattle? As I've mentioned, we could feed many more people on the same amount of land (or use less land for the same population) if we didn't run the nutrients through the wasteful animal cycle, but fed the crops directly to people. Finally, the methane that cattle belch out or fart just goes into the atmosphere a little bit faster if the cows are outside.

In any event, meat exports mean refrigerated/freezer containers being shipped to other countries -- more carbon emissions from an already cruel and polluting industry.
________________________

(Hmm... why do I feel hungry for a good vegetarian meal all of a sudden?.. The black beans, spices, veggies, pressure cooker and cast-iron skillet beckon... :-)

[Important Notice]

Discuss this on your own Blogger blog! Click the post title for a permalink in the Address Bar > highlight any text for quoting > click BlogThis!

Need a break from reading? Excellent climate-change podcasts...

Here are some excellent climate-change related podcasts (click the link to listen, right-click to download):

Taking the Pulse of the Planet: David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis (CBC's Ideas, runs 53:46)

Climate Change and Food Security (CBC's The Current, runs 23:19)

Environmental Journalism & Blackwater USA (CBC's The Current, runs 48:20)

TreeHugger Radio: An Interview with David Suzuki