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Artigo de Fareed Zakaria na Newsweek


http://www.newsweek.com/id/192479

The Green - Sundance Channel

http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen/#/homePage

Do Liberation (França)

http://www.liberation.fr/economie/0601788-l-electricite-solaire-est-encore-dans-l-enfance

From The Huffington Post

Study: Arctic Sea Ice Melting Faster Than Expected

RANDOLPH E. SCHMID | April 3, 2009 01:03 AM EST |

In this July 11, 2008 photo, a giant glacier is seen making its way to the waters of Croaker Bay on Devon Island. Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years, according to a new report to be released Friday, April 3, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward, File)

WASHINGTON — Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years. A new analysis of changing conditions in the region, using complex computer models of weather and climate, says conditions that had been forecast by the end of the century could occur much sooner.

A change in the amount of ice is important because the white surface reflects sunlight back into space. When ice is replaced by dark ocean water that sunlight can be absorbed, warming the water and increasing the warming of the planet.

The finding adds to concern about climate change caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, a problem that has begun receiving more attention in the Obama administration and is part of the G20 discussions under way in London.

"Due to the recent loss of sea ice, the 2005-2008 autumn central Arctic surface air temperatures were greater than 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above" what would be expected, the new study reports.

That amount of temperature increase had been expected by the year 2070.

The new report by Muyin Wang of the Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean and James E. Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, appears in Friday's edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

They expect the area covered by summer sea ice to decline from about 2.8 million square miles normally to 620,000 square miles within 30 years.

Last year's summer minimum was 1.8 million square miles in September, second lowest only to 2007 which had a minimum of 1.65 million square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The Center said Arctic sea ice reached its winter maximum for this year at 5.8 million square miles on Feb. 28. That was 278,000 square miles below the 1979-2000 average making it the fifth lowest on record. The six lowest maximums since 1979 have all occurred in the last six years.

Overland and Wang combined sea-ice observations with six complex computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to reach their conclusions. Combining several computer models helps avoid uncertainties caused by natural variability.

Much of the remaining ice would be north of Canada and Greenland, with much less between Alaska and Russia in the Pacific Arctic.

"The Arctic is often called the Earth's refrigerator because the sea ice helps cool the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space," Wang said in a statement. "With less ice, the sun's warmth is instead absorbed by the open water, contributing to warmer temperatures in the water and the air."

The study was supported by the NOAA Climate Change Program Office, the Institute for the Study of the Ocean and Atmosphere and the U.S. Department of Energy.

___

On the Net:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean: http://jisao.washington.edu/

National Snow and Ice Data Center: http://nsidc.org/

Geophysical Research Letters: http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/

Um Site Interessante

Vale a pena visitar esse site.

É sobre um projeto conjunto de alunos da University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Comunication e da Facultad de Comunicación da Universidade de Los Andes, de Santiago, Chile.


http://www.southofhere.org/#

O Presidente eleito dos Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, declarou que o país precisa colocar dinheiro em projetos de longo prazo para reconstruir a infraestrutura e escolas e investir em energia verde que irá criar empregos e libertar os Estados Unidos da tirania do petróleo estrangeiro.

O destaque é por minha conta para salientar que tudo indica que a ecologia vai ajudar a trazer a solução econômica para nossa atual crise.

GRAYWATER, uma grande idéia

Por definição, Graywater é qualquer água usada que não foi contaminada com esgoto ou com preparação de alimentos.

O nome significa água cinza, por ser um pouco turva devido a resíduos de sabonetes e sabões para lavar roupa.

Normalmente graywater é a água usada na lavagem de roupas em máquinas ou tanques, nos chuveiros, banheiras e pias de banheiros.

Não é aquela água de tratamento terciário fornecida pela Sabesp em caminhões-pipa.

Nos Estados Unidos nos últimos 30 anos, para um aumento populacional de 52%, houve um aumento de necessidade de água fresca de 300%. A necessidade futura dobrará a cada 20 anos.

A maior parte da irrigação de jardins pode ser feita usando graywater.

Uma família de 4 pessoas gera 3.785 litros de graywater a cada semana. Só lavando roupas, a cada carga de máquina de lavar roupa são gerados 189 litros.

As vantagens da graywater são:

- economia nas contas de água e esgoto.
- enorme diminuição de quantidade de esgoto indo para as estações de tratamento, ao mesmo tempo que reduz o nitrogênio e o fósforo depositado nas fontes de água limpa.
- aumento da vida útil das fossas sépticas.



Bobliografia: McLamb, Curtis - Graywater - the next wave