Canada and the World Backgrounder articles from September 1998

Canada and the World Backgrounder archives from September 1998

Anyone for a game of interplanetary hopscotch? (climatic change)
September 1, 1998... The late astronomer Carl Sagan studied the planet Venus and put forward the idea that there, for all to see, was a view of a possible future for Earth. It's not a very pleasant future to look forward to. Rainfall on Venus comes in the...

The limits of science. (attempting to understand climatic change)
September 1, 1998... Science is a key that unlocks the secrets of our world. Discoveries Unimaginable half a century ago, are almost commonplace today The wonders revealed to us by science can blind us to reality Science hasn't unlocked all the secrets yet....

The greenhouse effect.
September 1, 1998... Over the past two centuries, the average temperature of our planet has been rising faster than at any time during the last 1,000 years Anybody who gets into a car that's been sitting in the sun all afternoon understands the "Greenhouse...

Dust bunnies in the sky. (aerosols)
September 1, 1998... Among the many variables that must be accounted for in global warming predictions are what scientists call "aerosols" The word covers dust, smoke, and other airborne particles. Just look at a shaft of sunlight coming into a room and you'll see...

Science under the microscope. (global warming and scientific explanations)
September 1, 1998... Our planet is definitely getting warmer and so is the debate about what's causing the heating up No one is arguing about whether or not there is a Greenhouse Effect -- scientists agree that greenhouse gases warm Earth. Carbon dioxide, water...

A sea of trouble. (changes in sea level due to global warming)
September 1, 1998... It's a Matter of Survival points out that the prospect of a rise in the sea level prompted the president of the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean, to plead for help to protect his county from total destruction. In 1987, at the General Assembly of...

A cure worse than the disease. (catalytic converters and increased nitrous oxide emissions)
September 1, 1998... Catalytic converters have cleaned up the exhaust from cars. But, according to the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., the converters contribute to global warming. Catalytic converters have been reducing smog for 20 years; they...

Mysteries of nature. (natural causes of climate change)
September 1, 1998... While everybody seems focussed on looking for human causes behind global warming, natural climate changes may be far more significant True, we've been changing the world for thousands of years -- ever since we started farming about 10,000...

A silver lining. (clouds reflect heat and fight global warming)
September 1, 1998... It could be that clouds are also helping to turn down the heat. It's been calculated that a 10% increase in the amount of low-level cloud could completely cancel the warming that is typically predicted to occur as a result of a doubling of the...

Stormy weather. (frequency of severe storms and climate change)
September 1, 1998... Stormy weather keeps making headlines largely because of the human tragedy it entails. But, many scientists say it is nothing out of the ordinary. According to experts, the devastating floods that took 98 lives and caused $8.7 billion in...

Hot times, summer in the city. (reducing emissions and improving air quality)
September 1, 1998... Even if the skeptics are right and reducing [CO.sub.2] emissions does not have much of an effect on global warming it could give a big boost to local air quality Smog. Most big cities have it. And it's not surprising that it affects the...

Islands in the smog. (localized warming in urban areas due to pollution)
September 1, 1998... We may not be setting the world on fire but we are turning up the heat in our cities. This localized warming in urban areas is called the urban heat island effect, and scientists have been studying it for more than a century. Robert C....

The answer is blowing in the wind ... or maybe not. (wind power)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1998... Sure. Wind power may be the fastest growing energy source but it has a long way to go considering that it only generates about 1% of the world's electricity. A hundred percent increase still only takes it to 2%. Nevertheless, believers...

Compromise at Kyoto: the search for a worldwide treaty on greenhouse gas emissions goes on.
September 1, 1998... Global warming has made it onto the international treaty scene. Whether or not our world is about to fry in its own waste products, politicians are acting to at least slow global warming down. Why? For politicians, the environment is what they...

Kuznet's curve. (study in economic growth)
September 1, 1998... Simon Kuznets won the 1971 Nobel Prize for economics largely for his work in stUdying economic growth. Professor Kuznets said that every nation goes through a dirty phase as it industrializes. As they grow richer, societies clean up their...

State control. (dangers of global environmental regulation)
September 1, 1998... Writing in the Globe and Mail, Terence Corcoran dumps all over the Kyoto Protocol. He argues that the agreement will slow economic growth in developed countries, kill jobs, and set up a huge, global system of government intervention in the...

The story so far. (global environmental action history)
September 1, 1998... Any international agreement on global warming has to be handled through the United Nations. In 1988, the UN set up a working group to begin to create a draft treaty. Fall 1990 -- Geneva, Switzerland. The First Scientific Assessment of...

Science meets politics. (global warming research used for political ends)
September 1, 1998... Some eminent scientists claim the results of painstaking research are being altered to meet certain political goals Someone seems to be fudging the figures. That's the conclusion of Dr. S. Fred Singer and other scientists. Dr. Singer is the...

Leipzig declaration. (1995 climatologist gathering in Leipzig, Germany)
September 1, 1998... One hundred climatologists gathered in Leipzig, Germany in 1995. They were concerned about the way in which scientific research was being twisted out of shape to serve certain political goals. They issued the "Leipzig Declaration" as an...

2,900,000,000,000. (calculated economic value of nature)
September 1, 1998... David Pimentel is an ecologist at Cornell University in the United States. He's done some calculations to estimate the annual value of Nature's gifts to humans. In the December 1997 issue of BioScience magazine, he calculates that...

Food energy. (amount of energy needed to produce food versus the amount of energy the food provides)
September 1, 1998... Vegetarians like to portray themselves as environmental angels and meat eaters as villains. A 1997 report in New Scientist magazine begs to differ. The magazine quotes a survey by Britain's Centre for Energy and the Environment that looked at...

Meeting the challenge. (Canadian greenhouse gas emission regulations)
September 1, 1998... Canada has set itself some tough goals for cuts to greenhouse gas emissions The numbers are awesome. Canada has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 6% of their 1990 level by 2012. That means a reduction of 138 million tonnes a year,...

Emission - some numbers. (Canadian greenhouse gas emissions statistics)
September 1, 1998... Percentage of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions accounted for by carbon dioxide: 80% Percentage of all greenhouse gases accounted for by transportation in general in Canada: 27% Percentage this is expected to rise by about 2020: 40%...

Cars - the costs. (average cost of owning a car in Canada)
September 1, 1998... According to the Alberta-based Pembina Institute, the average Canadian car owner spends approximately $7,400 a year to own and operate a single vehicle. A study in the United States concludes the average American driver devotes 1,600 hours a...

Emissions trading. (trading greenhouse gas emission credits)
September 1, 1998... The Kyoto Protocol gave a boost to an idea favoured by many businesses. Although the details weren't worked out, nations agreed to a system of trading greenhouse gas emissions credits. This is how it's supposed to work. Experts decide on the...

Killer trees. (trees that produce pollutants)
September 1, 1998... Some trees interact with man-made pollutants and cause bigger air-quality problems. Professor Terry Gillespie at the University of Guelph says poplars, trembling aspens, willows, sycamores, and Scotch pines are the worst offenders. They emit...

Efficiency pay-off. (economic benefits of efficient energy)
September 1, 1998... Corporations tend to condemn agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol as job killers and economy busters. Environmental groups, on the other hand, say the search for energy efficiency creates jobs. The Pembina Institute says that for every...

Leadership. (Canadian government leads by example on issues of energy efficiency)(Brief Article)
September 1, 1998... One of the ways the federal government hopes to encourage energy efficiency in Canadians is through leadership. So, Ottawa committed itself to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by "at least 20% from 1990 levels by the...