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FEBRUARY
 2 0 0 9Issue 25
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COULD THE INTERNET BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CLIMATE CRISIS?
George Orwell’s book "1984" coined the phrase "Big Brother is Watching You!" As you are sitting at your computer reading this be assured that I am not watching you but I do know that even just by reading this you are generating CO2 emissions. A recent study released by Harvard University and published in the British newspaper The Sunday Times that focused on the CO2 emissions of view web sites has caused quite a stir. The article uses the example that an average search on Google creates about 7 grams of carbon dioxide or that two Google searches produces the same amount of CO2 as bringing water to boil on your stovetop. The article and study has created quite a stir on the internet, which in itself is ironic. Here we are where you cannot turn around without hearing that we have to become more environmentally friendly, whether from the future president Barack Obama and his economic stimulus bill that focuses on creating green jobs or the Detroit Auto Show, where electric cars and Hybrids are center stage. So since this has created such a stir lets really look at the controversy. First the study was published by The Sunday Times using Google as the example even though the study did not name any specific sites or companies. Secondly, Google responded discrediting the report and now by default there are two opposite opinions of a current hot button topic where the message is being delivered by all forms of media. This has generated hundreds of articles with titles such as "Are We Killing The Planet One Google Search At A Time?" ,"Conspiracy! C arbon is Google’s Cup of Tea?" and the article title to make one giggle, "Al Gore, Google, and CO2: A VERY Inconvenient Truth!" The reality is that Google has one of the best records in its efforts to go green and a quick search with the inclusive search terms "Google goes Green" returned 4,800 hits included articles from such organizations as Forbes, CNET and the GLOBE and Mail. To single out Google in this case is irresponsible. The fact of the matter is that other than playing games online the Internet is definitely an environmentally friendly entity. Looking at a normal situation, say your child needs to do a report for school or you need to figure out how to replace a leaky faucet. You could get in your car and drive to the library or hardware store but that is not environmentally friendly. If you had to travel 3 miles to get to your destination to do your research and had an average car you are looking at 1.2 lbs of carbon dioxide per mile on average. This compared to 7 grams to do an average internet search? So far it is a no brainer. Now that you have made it to your destination and are looking for the book you need, what is the cost in carbon dioxide that it took to create that book? What if the place you were at didn’t have what you needed, and then you are back in your car and still adding to the CO2 emissions. Sorry but give me my Internet any time over these options. What is really ironic is that there are articles out there that are in fits because of the carbon dioxide used to surf the internet but the people complaining online all post their email address so that you can email them your responses. PSSSST - email generates CO2 as well!  Some stars have good intentions - but it is all talk. Leonardo DiCaprio, a mega-star long known as a staunch green movement advocate, has put his good intentions in to action.
 DiCaprio has made a deal with Four Seasons Resorts, and will open an eco friendly hotel in land he owns in the country of Belize in Central America. Ground breaking for the hotel was schedule to begin in very late 2008 or early 2009.His 104 acres are in Blackadore Caye in the Caribbean Sea. Only a 25 minute ride away from the country’s top-class diving site off the Belize Barrier Reef. The resort will feature an airstrip, infrastructure and top quality accommodations. The energy will be renewable and the island will be as self-sustaining as possible. DiCaprio is heavily interested in ecological concerns and has produced an environmental film on the human impact on the environment. |
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 JAMAICA GROUP RECEIVES VIRGIN HOLIDAYS RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AWARD
BEST PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION (SPONSORED BY TOURISM IRELAND) Awarded to Joint winner: Diana McIntyre-Pike - Chair/CEO of Countrystyle Community Tourism Network, Jamaica An innovator and leader for many years in Jamaica, Diana McIntyre-Pike has worked with communities to develop village stays and community experiences, as well as with the larger resorts and operators to market them, developing the Countrystyle Institute for Sustainable Tourism (CIST) to provide training to communities in basic hospitality skills, entrepreneurship and environmental awareness. For more information. CARICOM SECRETARY GENERAL CITES CLIMATE CHANGE AN ATTACK ON SIDS
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington has pointed to the need for enhanced relations between CARICOM and the United Kingdom to confront the challenges posed to the Region’s development by climate change. At the ceremony for the presentation of Credentials by Fraser Wheeler, Plenipotentiary Representative of the UK to CARICOM at the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana, Carrington stated that climate change “was not a future fear, but a current yearly incremental crisis- an attack on our development - one we cannot confront alone.” In highlighting the link between climate change and the economic development of the Region, Carrington cited the decisions of nations like the UK, in regard to the phenomenon, and the Caribbean’s mainstay industry, tourism. Particularly, he stated, the decision made by European countries to impose incremental taxes on airline tickets for long destinations, including the Caribbean, to offset the cost of adapting to climate change caused by carbon emission by those countries, meant that “the Caribbean like Peter is not just paying for Paul but for all.” Such charges, Carrington said, would have implications for the Region’s tourism sector and ultimately its employment and development. He added that climate change adaptation was a ‘well known priority” of the British government and it was willing to work with the Region to “pull together efforts and expertise, and work with and influence others.” “We have been working hard, and will continue to partner with you to tackle the effects of this phenomenon. We need to have a joint voice on this issue globally,” Wheeler stated. He lauded the work of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre for its “excellent efforts” in coordinating strategies to build the Region’s resilience to a changing climate. Wheeler also commended the proposal of Government of Guyana, to preserve the country’s tropical rainforest for carbon credits. He said the British government was working with President Bharat Jagdeo to work out the economic rationale of this proposal. In addition he said that his government had been funding research to find out how countries like Guyana could benefit from forest preservation. ‘WE ARE DROWNING’ – ISLAND STATES PLEAD AT UN TALKS
Dozens of small island nations threatened by climate change have taken their case to the UN, saying rising seas are already lapping at their shores and may eventually wash some of their number off the map. An alliance of 43 tropical island states has set down proposals for capping global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial times. The move is bold and could prove diplomatically troublesome at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) talks, say some observers. As it is, the conference is still a long way from endorsing an even more modest target of two degrees Celsius (3.6 F) championed by the European Union (EU) and most green groups. "Two degrees is simply too high," said Grenada's Leon Charles, chairman of the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS), collectively home to 41 million people. "It is not a sector that needs to be adjusted -- we are talking about the survival of countries," he told AFP in a recent interview.The new president of the Maldives, Mohamed Anni Nasheed, has said his government will begin saving now to buy a new homeland for his people to flee to in the future.  Last year, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that a rise in sea levels of 18 to 59 centimetres (7.2 to 23.2 inches) by 2100 would be enough to make both the Maldives and Tuvalu virtually uninhabitable. Since then, the news has got worse. "There is an informal consensus among climate scientists that sea levels will go up by about a metre (three feet) by century's end," said Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The problem, Charles said, extends well beyond rising water marks. "A 2 C (3.6 F) increase would cause a significant bleaching of coral reefs, which would devastate our food supply and our livelihoods," he said. More intense and frequent hurricanes would ruin low-lying agricultural land. Albert Binger of Antigua and Barbuda, an adviser to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, points out that tourism -- underpinning the region's entire economy -- could be devastated. Other nations, he said, should take note. "We will be the canary in the coal mine. If we go, so will others," Binger said. "It is incumbent on our fellow citizens of the planet to keep the canary from dying." AOSIS hesitated a long time before raising the bar by calling for the 1.5 C (2.4 F) cap. "One of the problems was the lack of scientific work on lower stabilization levels," said Charles, referring to projections of how different concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere might affect temperatures. "AOSIS asked us to provide a briefing ahead of the Poznan meeting," recalled Bill Hare, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, and an IPCC lead author. Hare reviewed the most recent findings and created a new model, which showed oceans rising by up to a metre (3.33 feet) by 2100. "In the longer term -- a couple of centuries -- it is very difficult to limit sea level rise below a couple of metres, even at 1.5 C," he said. The main culprit, say scientists, are continent-sized icesheets covering Greenland and Antarctica that appear to be melting far more quickly than thought only a few years ago. The Greenland ice mass alone would boost ocean levels by seven meters (22.75 feet), although this process would take centuries, even in pessimistic scenarios.
For the island states, Charles insists, 1.5 C (2.4 F) is not a negotiating position. "For some of us it is an issue of survival. When you have to move to another country, how do you place a value on the loss of culture and livelihood?” he said. "The challenge is not discussing relocation; the challenge is to get the Convention to take positions that will prevent us from dying." |
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| Related Articles | ||
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| Sustainable Living December 2008 | ||
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| November 2008 | ||
| Sustainable Living November 2008 | ||
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| September 2008 | ||
| Sustainable Living September 2008 | ||
| There are a lot of trade offs in the areas of sustainability. At Keyhole Bay we looked at what resources were we going to require from the environment and what impact would we have on the environment. We live on a resort island that is known world wide for its diving and the beauty of its beaches and reefs. We wanted to ensure that above all else, we did not damage the island or the reef. ---> Read More | ||
| August 2008 | ||
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