Home/Posts Tagged ‘methane’
Posts Tagged ‘methane’
Climate Change, Health, Pollution, Jun 15th, 2011,
The dirty, low-tech burning of fossil fuels, wood and other biomass produces poisonous pollution and “short-lived climate forcers”, mainly black carbon, methane and ground-level ozone. Black carbon (soot) from sources such as crop burning, dirty diesel engines and simple coal or wood burning stoves causes cardio-pulmonary diseases and low birth weight. UN figures put deaths due to indoor smoke from cooking stoves alone at 1.9 million per year – mostly women and children in developing countries. A study from the University of Delaware states that soot from diesel freight ships contributes to 60,000 deaths from lung disease every year. Ground-level…
Tags: biomass, black carbon, coal, diesel, ground-level ozone, Health, methane, soot, stoves
Climate Change, Green living, Mar 2nd, 2011,
Rice farming in its present state is water intensive and greenhouse gas producing – from methane released by bacteria and from fuel burnt during farming and shipping. The production of rice is also often destructive to crucial natural resources like mangrove forests, which function as carbon sinks and natural flood defenses. Since the cultivation of rice contributes to environmental degradation and climate change it is – ironically – a threat to itself. Changing temperatures and more extreme weather threaten the livelihood of farmers, food production and human safety. Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute, or IRRI, in the Philippines…
Tags: Climate change, cultivation, farming, Guyana, methane, Philippines, rice
Climate Change, Pollution, Feb 24th, 2011,
A new UN report concentrates on the warming effects of black carbon (soot) and ground-level ozone like methane. Both are considered “short-lived climate forcers”, which have more immediate effects on temperatures than CO2. Therefore limiting their production would also have a more immediate impact on the climate. In the past this strategy has been largely ignored in favor of plans to limit CO2 emissions, which have so far proved ineffective and lack the immediacy of results that can be so problematic in terms of politics and public opinion. The Guardian reports: Soot is a particular problem because when it falls…
Tags: black carbon, co2, emissions, ground-level ozone, Health, methane, UN, warming
Climate Change, Nature, Science & Technology, Sep 14th, 2010,
Carbon and methane stored in Siberia’s permafrost are being released as Russia’s Arctic experiences warmer temperatures, which cause the permafrost to recede. So far there is insufficient data to gauge just what percentage of methane in the atmosphere is a result of particular natural sources such as swamps and melting permafrost. Manmade sources of methane include power generation, rice farming, livestock agriculture and landfills. From a report by Russia’s BCM News: The fact is that the permafrost covers millions of kilometers of swamps. While melting, swamps send to the atmosphere tons of methane, which, in turn, leads to more significant…
Tags: arctic, carbon, Climate change, French, German, Lidar, melting, methane, Nevada, permafrost, Russia, satellite, Siberia
Green living, Aug 18th, 2010,
A: The environmental impact of meat and dairy products is a complex problem. The livestock industry is damaging our planet in many ways. It is polluting the air – according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, it generates more greenhouse gas emissions, including CO2 (18%) and methane, than the whole world’s transport (13,5 %). It is polluting the water – gigantic containers called “lagoons”, where livestock animals’ manure and urine are stored, may leak or even break under heavy rains and storms. The waste is highly toxic and very often contains lots of antibiotics and dangerous bacteria….
Tags: Air Pollution, biodiversity, co2, dairy, ecosystem collapse, environment, lagoons, livestock, meat, methane, overfishing, TOXIC, water pollution
Green living, Health, Aug 17th, 2010,
We’ve all got to worry about our environment, even refugees. Actually, especially refugees: they often live in squalid conditions with poor sanitation and lack basic resources. Environmental engineers at the University of Weimar in Germany are working on a solution to sewage problems at refugee camps by converting it into something else they need: fuel. No shit? Yes, shit. I’m thinking of using this biogas for cooking purposes. The energy could also be used for other purposes. Lighting is also a huge problem in refugee camps. Providing light at night would improve safety. –Eckhard Kraft, University of Weimar According to…
Tags: biogas, camps, Deutsche Welle, environmental, fuel, methane, refugees, shit
Climate Change, Recycling, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 14th, 2010,
The Payatas garbage dump in Quezon City, Philippines is legendary among dumpsites of the world, for its sheer size and also for the desperate living conditions of the many people who subsist by scavenging there. Payatas made headlines 10 years ago when hundreds of informal settlers perished under a mountain of trash that collapsed during a downpour, burying them alive. Recently, increased attention has been focused on the Payatas dump, the environmental role of its scavengers – or rather, ‘waste recyclers’ – and an innovative project to convert the waste to energy by harvesting methane. The methane project provides an…
Tags: alternative, dump, dumpsite, EcoWaste, energy, families, methane, Payatas, Philippines, power, Quezon, recycler, tragedy, trash
Science & Technology, Weird Stuff, May 23rd, 2010,
Methane lakes, an orangey atmosphere and a ‘creme brulee-like’ surface make Titan – the largest of Saturn’s moons – sound almost inviting. The European probe named Huygens reached Titan aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in January of 2005. It has been sending signals Earthward ever since. What’s so remarkable about Titan is its resemblance to Earth. The main differences are that Titan is much colder and has vast bodies of liquid methane instead of water. The fact is that if Titan were not so cold, it would probably be bursting with life, so plentiful are its supplies of organic raw materials,…
Tags: Cassini, life, methane, moon, ocean, Saturn, Titan
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 11th, 2010,
One third of greenhouse gasses in New Zealand come from livestock, according to the below report from CNN Eco Solutions. Home to just 4 million people, New Zealand has 38 million sheep 9 million cows, which fuel large export industries in dairy, meat and wool. These animals produce vast amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times stronger than CO2. Scientists in New Zealand are attempting to produce a vaccine that inhibits the microscopic methanogens that live inside the stomachs of sheep and cows from producing methane. CNN – Tackling belching cows Vaccinating the world’s cow population is one approach…
Tags: CNN, cows, dairy, emissions, gas, greenhouse, livestock, meat, methane, New Zealand, sheep
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Apr 8th, 2010,
There is finally a glimmer of hope in finding the 4 missing miners. West Virginia Governor, Joe Manchin, announced that rescue crews were finally able to enter the Upper Big Branch mine at 4:55 am this morning. The rescue crew consisted of 4 teams of 8 members each and they made their way into the mine by car, foot, and rail. The search had to be postponed for at least 2 days, so holes could be drilled into the mine to ventilate several poisonous gases, including carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane. The methane is what most blamed for the explosion,…
Tags: 4 missing miners, blast, coal mine, explosion, Massey Energy Co., methane, poisonous gases, rescue, search, Upper Big Branch, West Virginia
Climate Change, Pollution, Apr 7th, 2010,
It has been 2 days since the explosion occurred at the West Virginian coal mine and there is still no sign of the 4 missing miners. Rescue teams are drilling 3 holes into the mine in an attempt to ventilate the poisonous gas from the mine so they can continue the search. After the first hole was finished, rescue workers banged on a drill pipe for nearly 15 minutes, but there was no response. The miners are trained to bang on the drill’s casing in return, as well as on metal bolts connected to the mine roof, as a response….
Tags: 4 missing people, blast, coal mine, drilling, explosion, Massey energy, methane, MSHA, poisonous gas, rescue work, Upper Big Branch, West Virginia
Climate Change, Pollution, Apr 6th, 2010,
Yesterday, an explosion in a West Virginia coal mine killed 6 miners and 21 were still missing. Today, the death toll has risen to 25 and now 4 miners are missing. The underground blast in the Upper Big Branch mine was blamed on methane gas and according to safety officials, this particular mine has a history of violations for not properly ventilating the methane in the first place. Unfortunately for the other 4 miners, their chances of survival are becoming rather bleak at this point. Rescuers have been held back by poisonous gases that have gathered near the site of…
Tags: coal mine explosion, death toll increase, methane, poison gas, update, Upper Big Branch, West Virginia
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Mar 5th, 2010,
For the longest time, CO2 was considered the main culprit in global warming. Many would pin climate change issues on this particular greenhouse gas. However, it seems another such gas intends to make its presence feared all the same: Methane. This greenhouse gas has been sneaking its way into the atmosphere more rapidly than scientists previously thought; especially in areas of the Arctic Ocean where there is unstable permafrost. An international research team conducted a survey of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, between 2003 and 2008. This shelf spans across more than 772,200 square miles (2 million sq km) of…
Tags: Arctic Ocean, Climate change, East Siberian Arctic Shelf, global warming, greenhouse gas, methane, permafrost, study
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Feb 19th, 2010,
A new article in The Ecologist shines a light on methane, the often-ignored greenhouse gas that is produced from both natural and human sources. Methane’s contribution to the greenhouse effect is estimated to be about 18% compared to CO2′s 63%. Yet it is also 20-30 times more potent than CO2 and has only one tenth the atmospheric life span. This means that methane emission reduction could have a significantly more immediate effect on curbing climate change than cutting CO2, which hasn’t happened yet on a global level anyway. Man made methane emissions can be reduced in among the following ways:…
Tags: acid rain, arctic, capture, carbon, Climate change, co2, emissions, gas, global, greenhouse, livestock, methane, permafrost, warming, wetlands
Climate Change, Nov 9th, 2009,
Just when you quote a source about how much livestock farming contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, it gets worse. A lot worse. According to a recent article in the London Times, methane – the second most important greenhouse gas produced by human activity – has an even more powerful effect on climate change than previously believed by scientists. ‘Methane’s impact on global temperatures is about a third higher than generally thought because previous estimates have not accounted for its interaction with airborne particles called aerosols, Nasa scientists found.’ –London Times Faster and more powerful Instead of being 23 times more…
Tags: carbon emissions, climate, co2, farming, greenhouse gas, methane
