Dear Colleagues:

Greetings and best wishes on a Sunday afternoon from Beijing.  Congratulations on all your good work.

I’d like to alert you to a line of enquiry that suggests functional solutions to Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, Desertification, Food Insecurity, Poverty, Disparity, Migration, Conflict, and Population Growth.

Although it is quite complex it can be summed up as “Integrated Poverty Eradication and Large-Scale Ecosystem Rehabilitation”.

This is based on scientific evidence that show the effects that biodiversity, biomass, accumulated organic matter and microclimates below tree canopies or above grass canopies, have on gas exchange, nutrient cycling and infiltration and retention of rainfall.   Simultaneously various econometric evaluations are emerging that provide an overwhelming rationale to invest and restore ecosystem function wherever it has been degraded.   And finally on functional models that show that it is possible to restore ecosystem function if you understand the principles which govern functionality.

This is rather welcome news, however, in order to restore ecosystem function over large areas it is necessary to end the behaviors that degraded the functionality in the first place.  This means that the growing human populations must change their behaviors replacing unsustainable lifestyles and livelihoods with sustainable ones.  This suggests that subsistence agriculture must end abruptly … not slowly over time.  Gradually the picture has become more and more clear and now it is possible to see why and how ending poverty for millions immediately is possible and what the implications of this would be for many of our most serious problems.

I first became interested in this when I began documenting the Loess Plateau in China.

What was most fascinating about the Loess Plateau when I first began to study it in 1995 was that this area was fundamentally ecologically ruined and had been for a very long time.  This effectively meant that the 10’s of millions of people who lived there were desperately poor.  Although the Loess Plateau had been the center of power and affluence for the Qin, Han and Tang Dynasties – some of the most creative in Chinese history - it has been famous for poverty and suffering for over 1000 years, scientifically described as the most eroded place on Earth and euphemistically known as “China’s Sorrow”.  For more than a millennium the region was continuously plagued by Floods, Droughts, Mudslides and dust storms.

Since restoration efforts began almost 15 years ago there has been a dramatic improvement in ecosystem function over broad areas.  Income and productivity increased as well by 10 times.   There is evidence that hydrological function can return when vegetation cover is restored, fertility and productivity can increase with organic matter and soil moisture and that if you differentiate and designate ecological and economic land (and resist the desire to choose all the species) it is possible to ensure that biodiversity will survive into future generations.

You can watch “The Lessons of the Loess Plateau” at <www.earthshope.org>.

You can see my recent presentation at the TALLBERG FORUM at the following URL  (or in the news posting below this text).

http://webbtv.compodium.se/tallberg09/ondemand/034/

You can see and hear Gro Harlem Brundtland, Amory Lovins, and all the other speakers at this years TALLBERG FORUM at the following URL

http://webbtv.compodium.se/tallberg09/

While the work in China is impressive it is not standing alone.

In the United States between 1933 and 1942, 5% of American Males worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  This was in reaction to a financial crisis (The Great Depression –beginning in 1929) and a huge ecological disaster (The Dust Bowl).  The men of the CCC planted between 3 and 5 billion trees and made 700 parks.  This highly successful intervention helped North America to sustain growth and affluence in the second half of the 20th century.

I’ve also been studying this in Africa, South America, South East Asia and Europe – so worldwide.  Scientific analysis of the data leads to the conclusion that soil moisture, fertility, relative humidity, microclimates, are all dynamic.  If we continue with existing trends then we can predict the outcome as long term negative trends accumulate in a vicious cycle.  But if we understand the natural systems functionality and do not disrupt it we can benefit from a virtuous cycle where organic matter, biomass and biodiversity are restored, helping us to achieve massive carbon sequestration gains, increased fertility from nutrient cycling and we can restore infiltration and retention of rainfall naturally, regulating the hydrological cycle and returning soil moisture, relative humidity and microclimates.  Ultimately if taken to scale this can reverse the trends that are leading to desertification, biodiversity loss, extreme weather events and even human induced climate changes.  But we have to realize that the scale is global and these disruptions are not a local problem but one that is a systemic problem on a planetary scale.

Once we get our minds around the size of the task – no less than ending poverty and restoring degraded land everywhere on earth – we can begin to see how this could be done.

A large number of specific actions have been identified.  These seem to work wherever they are tried in China, North America, Africa and Elsewhere.  It is possible to physically change the rainfall dynamic and infiltrate and retain the rain where it comes down.  These are a mixture of physical and biological measures.  World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) and Best Practices in Watershed Management contain most of these.  This helps to restore vegetation cover and biodiversity which then accumulates organic matter.  It is also important to replace the burning of biomass with a renewable energy source and this can be Methane Generation which provides sanitation benefits, energy for development and the fastest method for creating organic compost.  With infiltration and retention of rainfall it is possible to achieve tremendous gains in biomass production, accumulation of optimal levels of organic matter and if we differentiate and designate economic and ecological land, we can ensure that biodiversity will survive into future generations.

The lessons that are emerging to combat human induced climate change are many.  It is now possible to see predictable and catastrophic outcomes if we do not make a major non-marginal correction in human society and economy.   As the world moves toward Copenhagen it is important that solutions compete based on the merit of the ideas and not simply to enrich the wealthy who can manipulate the very large sums of money being discussed.

Revaluing ecosystem functions such as water, soil fertility and biodiversity and recognizing that restoring these functions is the key to reducing human impact on the climate provides the rationale to transfer very large amounts of money to restoration of degraded parts of the Earth.  This will benefit everyone by helping to mitigate against human induced climate change and it will help to redress the disparity that has left 100’s of millions of people desperately poor at the edges of large degraded ecosystems.

There are two main strategies discussed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC) for the Fifteenth Convening of the Parties in Copenhagen in December.  The first can be described as Enhanced Clean Development Mechanism primarily using Carbon Capture and Storage and Energy Efficiency to mechanically reduce human greenhouse gas emissions.  The second is the Reduction of Emissions through the Decrease in Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) or essentially protecting the last remaining forests from being lost.  While it is possible to see merits in both of these efforts it is difficult to see how these can be suggested to be solutions.  With Enhanced CDM it is possible to lower human emissions but impossible for this alone to rebalance the carbon cycle.   It seems to go without saying that we need to protect all the remaining functional ecosystems which REDD is to do.

Objective analysis shows that there is vast carbon sequestration potential as well as many other benefits to restoring large-scale damaged ecosystems that cannot be found in Enhanced CDM or REDD.  Restoration also has the benefit of helping to take the poorest people in the world and make them into the solution while ending their poverty forever.

While this line of inquiry is challenging it may offer the best solution to myriad problems that are in fact inter-related and can only be solved by comprehensive solutions that address them all.

I think we are all challenged to find and analyze solutions in the public dialogue.

If this is interesting to you I’d be happy to write for any of your publications or to provide broadcast programming on the subject for your television stations.  Or, if you would like to follow this line of inquiry yourselves I would be happy to provide you with interviews, databases and contact information that I have gathered.

John D. Liu

Patrick Climate change, Ecosystem Rehabilitation, John D. Liu, Sustainable development

As per John’s request, here is the climate change guide produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association:

A guide is now available to help individuals of all ages understand how climate influences them — and how they influence climate. A product of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, it was compiled by an interagency group led by NOAA.

“The Essential Principles of Climate Science” presents important information for individuals and communities to understand Earth’s climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches for adapting and mitigating change. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion starters or launching points for scientific inquiry. The guide can also serve educators who teach climate science as part of their science curricula.

“As climate policy is being discussed, it is very important for the citizens of our nation to have an appreciation for some of the fundamental aspects of climate and climate change,” said Tom Karl, director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., and lead for NOAA’s climate services. “This guide is a first step for people who want to know more about the essential principles of our climate system, how to better discern scientifically credible information about climate, and how to identify problems related to understanding climate and climate change.”

“There is so much misinformation about climate. We want to provide an easily readable document to help everyone make the most informed decisions,” said Karl. “Having one product endorsed by the nation’s top federal science agencies, as well as leading science centers and associations, makes this document an essential resource.”

The 17-page guide includes information on how people can help reduce climate change and its impacts. It also defines important terms and concepts used when talking about climate and approaches to adaptation and mitigation. For print copies of the guide, e-mail NOAA Outreach outreach@noaa.gov or call 301-713-1208.

NOAA, the National Science Teachers Association, and TERC, an educational non-profit organization, are working with education leaders to revise state standards using this framework. The materials also will provide the basis for educator resources and professional development.

Development of the guide began at a workshop sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Multiple science agencies, non-governmental organizations, and numerous individuals also contributed through extensive review and comment periods. Discussion at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NOAA-sponsored Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Literacy workshop contributed substantially to the refinement of the document.

For further information regarding the Climate Literacy document, please contact Frank Niepold at frank.niepold@noaa.gov . Please include “Climate Literacy info” in the subject line.

Michael Collins Climate change Climate change

Quick bit of information on Copenhagen:

1. The world will meet in Copenhagen in December 2009 for the COP 15 of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The expected outcome is a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol as the world’s response to climate change. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the Copenhagen Conference but it is also wrong for us to put all our hopes into this one meeting. The best case is for the World to use Copenhagen to focus attention everywhere on this issue and to emerge with a workable global strategy. Everyone on Earth has a stake in the outcome of this meeting and we all have both the right and the responsibility to participate.

2. Two strategies will be strongly represented at Copenhagen. One of these can be described as enhanced CDM to continue and expand the support of energy efficient technology, energy from renewable sources, and carbon credits to offset emissions in one place with capital to support reductions elsewhere. The other is under the banner of Reduction of Emissions by the Decrease in Deforestation and Degradation or (REDD). REDD is essentially conserving the last remaining forest ecosystems. These positions have strong lobbies and are expected to be part of any agreement that emerges from Copenhagen.

3. While both enhanced CDM and REDD are needed and important initiatives there is a flaw in the logic of depending on Enhanced CDM and REDD as a global response to Climate Change. When analyzed dispassionately it is fairly clear that the best these strategies can accomplish is to lower human impact on climate (which is an admirable goal), but they cannot rebalance the carbon cycle or address the fundamental issues of human impact on Climate change. This suggests that while necessary these measures are insufficient to be called a solution.

4. The question of what to do about anthropogenic influence on climate change has to a large degree been focused on the notion that human impact on the climate is simply the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions into the Atmosphere. As long as the attention of the world is focused solely on CO2 emissions then CDM and REDD seem logical and adequate. As soon as the question is reframed in a more accurate way then these quite worthy and important efforts must be seen as only part of the eventual solution.

5. When we look at the CO2 emissions we are basically looking at human impact since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It is possible to see ecological trends with a much longer time frame and in much greater complexity. We can look much further back in human history and see that human beings have caused massive impacts to the Earth’s ecosystems over our entire history. Imagining the distant past it seems that the earliest impacts began with the reduction of biodiversity. At some point in the distant past tens of thousands of years ago, human beings as social animals learned to hunt in packs and eventually drove certain species to extinction and altered the food chain. Then approximately 400 to 500 generations ago many human beings began to live by settled agriculture. Cultivation further lowered biodiversity reducing diverse forests and grasslands to a few food crops and domesticated animals. While it is scientifically arguable that reduction of biodiversity does not necessarily lead to reduction in biomass, the fact remains that in many parts of the world it did. Reducing biomass means that photosynthesis is lessened, altering the exchange of gases, reducing carbon uptake, reducing accumulated organic matter, reducing fertility and lowering the infiltration and retention of rainfall. This development trajectory can be shown in many places around the world, the constant across all regions is the lowering of ecosystem function, the alteration of weather patterns and ultimately changes in the climate. This type of development eventually led to several accelerated impacts, including urbanization, the industrial revolution, dependence on fossil fuels and the widespread use of industrial agriculture. This progression describes human impact on the Earth’s ecosystem and climate that is historic as well as contemporary and that is accumulative in that it is a much more accurate picture of human impact on the climate than simply the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

6. When we analyze human impact on Climate in a comprehensive way we see that human beings have actually altered several vital systems including the carbon cycle. The hydrological cycle jumps immediately to mind. In the face of the overwhelming evidence that we are effecting the climate, the real question that we should be asking, is it possible to restore large-scale degraded ecosystems? And the answer to this question seems to be yes.

7. It is possible to increase infiltration and retention of rainfall. If I were forced to choose one thing that I think is the determining factor for sustainability I would have to say “Infiltration and Retention of Rainfall in Situ”. In other words if the rain when it falls infiltrates where it comes down then I think we will survive. If it doesn’t then it looks very bad for human beings and for the planet. If the rainfall infiltrates where it comes down then you know that the vegetation cover, the soil organic matter, and microbial communities are intact. If it doesn’t infiltrate then you can extrapolate that these things have been disrupted.

8. This suggests a global strategy at a species and planetary level to respond to climate change. We can consciously and actively restore all degraded lands wherever they are in on Earth. We are forced to react but can use this as an opportunity to address many of the problems that have long plagued humanity. We can address biodiversity loss, fresh water stress, soil fertility, poverty, disparity, population growth, and conflict simultaneously with human impact on climate change because in actuality, they are all part of one phenomenon.

9. The Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) and the Earth’s Hope Project are working to convey this message through public speaking, broadcast and educational films. We have documented compelling evidence on broadcast video all over the world to help tell this message.

You can help. Contact Johnliu@earthshope.org or Linda Sills at lindasills@earthshope.org

John D. Liu Climate change Climate change

This is one of John’s old posts:

One of the most amazing sights are enormous trees.  Baobab Trees, known as “Mbuyu” in Swahili, these trees are so big that they dwarf everything else.  It takes more than a dozen children to link their arms around such trees.   We have seen them standing alone in the middle of almost denuded savannah and we have seen them in huge groves stretching across the hillsides surrounded by meter high grasses.  There is something very comforting about seeing these trees standing even in areas that seem completely dry because it is the dry season.  These trees must absorb huge amounts of water during the rainy season.

Seeing these trees also makes me wonder what the natural habitat of the “dryland forest” was.  I have seen a few scientific papers that suggest that there is little documentation which could be considered firm evidence.  Early in the 20th century there was already a great deal of concern about land degradation in the central part of tanzania.  And there was a major effort to clear the forest in order to destroy the habitat of the Tsetse fly blamed for transmitting sleeping sickness.  This effort at clearing the forest was done by free labor and prisoners over several decades and certainly has had massive impact on this ecosystem.

Historic impacts aside, ongoing impacts now are from grazing, moving fragile savannah toward cultivation, and from cutting trees for fuel wood and charcoal making.  These are the main occupations of most of the rural people.  Their roots were apparently as semi-nomadic herders but various political factors and population growth have ended this tradition and now they walk with their animals in a radius around their homes moving as far a practical as the animals forage.

If you click on the link and look at the map there you will notice the huge arc in the middle of Tanzania that is lighter and part is beige.  This in the dry season is certainly dry.  The elevation is a bit higher and there is wind sometimes gusting strongly.  And there is sunshine!  It is easy to see some technical solutions to the fuel wood situation.  Solar cookers, photovoltaics and wind energy spring immediately to mind.  But there is also a kind of resignation here.  Poverty has become a way of life and little is expected.

But the faces of the children are bright.  The best practices used since the seventies have repeatedly shown that it is possible to restore the degraded savannah areas with significant return of ecosystem function and especially with increased water table and vegetation cover.  But while these efforts have grown through pilot projects to cover relatively significant areas they have never been mainstream and the majority of the people and the majority of the land does not benefit from them unless an individual farmers seeks to learn about them.

There seems to be a little bit of confusion between the political leaders and the people who are working on these conservation efforts.  Within the scientists and technicians implementing these best practices there is a wealth of knowledge and complete understanding of the scientific concepts in “EARTH’S HOPE”.  They have been experimenting with them for over 30 years.  The Tanzanian scientists’ results are excellent and still the problem persists.  This suggests that it is not a scientific issue.

Two things come to mind that seem to be principles defined in China.  One is that unsustainable agricultural practices must end.  No one has actually said this here because most of the people live by using unsustainable agricultural practices and they have not been able to imagine change at this magnitude.  Poverty is learned and passed from generation to generation along with the degrading ecosystem.  The other principle is the differentiation and designation of ecologic land in the way the Chinese have applied this.  On the one hand Tanzania has 39% of the land in National Parks and Game reserves but the ordinary people have looked at all of the other land as economic.  The idea that in order to have ecosystem function you must have ecologic land, right there together with the economic land very much needs to be discussed and understood.

And then can anyone imagine ending poverty here?  The idea that these people who are now using unsustainable agriculture could be the active agents for rehabilitation while changing their behavior and increasing their income seems very far away from the reality here.  But if these ecosystems continue to degrade we cannot imagine tackling climate change, desertification, loss of biodiversity or the terrible loss of hydrological function that the people of Tanzania are facing today.

It is staggering to imagine that this is a choice.  We have a choice to either fix the situation as we now know can be done or to let this scenario of suffering, poverty and ecological destruction continue.

I wonder what the Ents would tell us.

Happy Chinese National Day to all our friends and family back in China!

Michael Collins Climate change, Ecosystem Rehabilitation Dry season, Tanzania

This just in from John:

John D. Liu – From Shanghai, China - RAIN

Rain, well precipitation actually, to be completely accurate, is one thing that links every place I’ve been recently.  I’ve been traveling a lot.  In January, I was in South America, filming the Guyana Rain Forest courtesy of Canopy Capital.  In February, I was in San Francisco speaking to the Association for the Advancement of International Education (AAIE) Conference.  I am now in Shanghai working on preparing a Video Wall for the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to take on and Environmental Awareness Tour of several Chinese cities.  Between San Francisco and Shanghai I had 2 days at home in Beijing.

In San Francisco last Sunday the rain was constant.  The Bay area needed it too.  A big storm with large winds came in off the Pacific Ocean late Saturday night.  Very large amounts of water fell in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco and also in the regions to the north of the city.  The plants and the soil were absorbing the moisture and you could tell that the Earth was drinking deep.  Here’s a still image from video I took in the Muir Woods.  The beauty there is remarkable.  Even in the rain there were many people from California and from all over the world, hiking through the park, getting wet.  All seemed to have a reverence for what they were seeing.

When I got back to Beijing there was snow.  This is what our house looks like in the snow.

Now here in Shanghai its also raining.   I’m here with the solo Pianist Chen Sa who is playing with the Shanghai Orchestra led by Norwegian guest conductor, Terje Mikkelsen.  They are recording the sound track to “A Green Call”.  This is the brain-child of Jostein Nygard, who has envisioned how the Yellow River Piano Concerto and the Keith Emerson Piano concerto are somehow interrelated and convinced the World Bank, the Norwegian Government and the Chinese Ministry of Environment to stage a multi-city tour to promote environmental awareness and conservation.  The EEMP is producing a video wall of hopefully inspiring images that covers Geologic Time, Evolutionary Time, Human History, Massive Pollution and then a Eureka moment when humanity realizes how important it is to live together with nature and strives to restore ecosystem function and achieve sustainable development.  We did the Green Call in March 2007 in Beijing the first time with the National Symphony.

We’ve received many compliments on the work and CCTV has repeatedly broadcast the concert.  With this new sound track and a re-edit of the pictures the new tour promises to be even more impressive.

Although I’m pretty busy and stimulated by all this activity, the drama of my life is finally unimportant.  The precipitation however while perhaps seeming unremarkable is what is profound.

In each place, the Guyana Rain Forest, San Francisco, Beijing and Shanghai, some people seemed to view the rain as an annoyance.  In Beijing, in the snow, the legions of new cars (and new drivers) were sliding around the icy streets, and it was a bit dangerous.  In Shanghai, it seemed part of the ambiance, the old mixing with the new, like London fog.  The weather report seemed to be given so people would know which shoes to wear or whether to take an umbrella.  But is this all the rain is?  If we stop a moment to consider what is happening from an ecological perspective, we find a world both rich in wonder and greatly at risk because of human ignorance and destructive behavior.

Wherever we are in the world, except in really extreme places, every year we get a certain amount of rainfall.  The range is generally in the 100’s of millimeters.  What happens to this water when it comes down is not something that is predetermined and can’t be changed.  What happens to this water is dynamic and is determined by human understanding and behavior.

A temperate grasslands ecosystem might have 125 mm per year or less and a tropical savannah might have less than 250 mm, but when these systems are maintained intact they are completely viable ecosystem with vast diverse flora and fauna.  To see pristine parts of the Mongolian Steppe or the Masai Mara Savannah is to see systems as rich as forests but with different species and a much lower canopy.

Even deserts, which might only have tiny amounts of rainfall, are not at all dead zones but have very specialized plants and animals that live there.

Forested ecosystems in the tropics often have over 2000 mm of rainfall.  Temperate forests might have 1500.  Boreal forests like the Taiga in Siberia or in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia might have between 400 and 1000 mm’s of precipitation.  Some of the places where I’ve been in Ethiopia even have 3000 millimeters.

Some places have consistent rains that come throughout the year.  But many places have rainfall that comes seasonally, as in the rainy season in Africa or the Monsoons in the Himalayas.  Whatever the amount of rainfall and whether the rain comes consistently or seasonally, there is another major factor that determines the outcome.  This is the state of the soil and its ability to infiltrate and retain water.

How the water is infiltrated depends on several factors, the coverage of the surface vegetation, the depth and health of the plant roots, the status of microbiologic communities, the percentage of stable organic matter in the soil (humus), and the degree to which natural necromass is allowed to naturally decay renewing living soils by balancing the geologic and organic content in the soils.

Compare this video freeze-frame from the Muir Forest with this one from footage of our documentation in Ethiopia and you can clearly see the difference.

Dr. Eckhard Schauz of Germany, has extensively studied the relationship between organic matter and water infiltration and retention.  His research shows that a 1% increase in humus equals 3 mm more infiltration of rainfall equal to 30 cubic meters of water retention per Hectare.  Consider that if the humus content of soils were 6% or 8% what an astounding amount of water this represents.  Soil moisture effects the health and amount of biomass.  The amounts of biomass determine the extent of photosynthesis.  The extent of photosynthesis determines oxygen levels, carbon uptake, and relative humidity.  These factors together ultimately cause weather changes first on a local scale, then regionally and finally globally.  This is in fact, a description of natural carbon cycle and represents human impact that causes climate change.

Below 2% humus content the soil is basically dysfunctional.  This means that the infiltration and retention of water will be disrupted, that nutrient cycling will be low or non-existent depleting fertility, that microbiologic communities will be dormant and the there will be little vegetation cover or biodiversity.

The bad news is that large tracts of land have reached this point.  The good news is that this is dynamic and depending on our collective understanding of the importance of this and our behavior can be changed.  Even the degraded land in Ethiopia can be restored to functionality if we do the right things.

From UNEP

Look at the UNEP rainfall map for Africa and notice the gradation across the Sahel, the region below the Sahara desert.  What if we actively addressed what we know is the physical problem in these areas?  Is it possible to infiltrate and retain rainfall?  Is it possible to increase the humus content in soils?  The scientific answer is absolutely yes.  But we would have to collectively understand, what is the problem and the best ways to deal with it and then invest the time, capital, intelligence and labor to do it.  If we are looking for the best way to address climate change (as well as biodiversity loss, fresh water stress, desertification, poverty, disparity, population growth and conflict) then shouldn’t we be considering restoring ecosystem function?

For Africa to address its problems it must have food security.  It will be impossible to provide that without soil moisture and fertility.  Restoring humus content and vegetation cover using techniques proven in China, the USA and elsewhere around the world can restore soil moisture and fertility.  This also happens to be what is needed to address climate change on a global scale.

“Earth’s Hope” is working to understand exactly what is possible, to communicate this vital message and to design and implement projects that restore can end poverty and restore ecosystem function worldwide.

The “Earth’s Hope” project is providing a vehicle to study and understand the profound but simple truths that are contained in the short essay.  The methodologies pioneered by the Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) over the years are helping us share this message around the world.  Through participation and partnership we are working to design and implement projects to ensure a future without poverty in a world with intact ecosystems.

The “Earth’s Hope” message is of vital importance.  It helps us all to understand what needs to be done and what we can do to achieve a sustainable future for humanity and the Earth.  We need your help to spread this message.  The Environmental Education Media Project (EEMP) is a registered 501 c 3 nonprofit organization.  Your support and participation is welcome and needed.

Michael Collins Climate change, Ecosystem Rehabilitation Rain, Sustainable development

This is one of John’s old posts:

The IPCC has concluded its work, shared the Nobel Prize with Al Gore, and concluded that human activity is in fact altering the climate.  The report also tells us that what we do now will determine what the world will be like in the future.  If you want to read the report yourself it is available online.  There is also a shorter version for policy makers with no time to pour through the full document.  The links below are to the IPCC website where the documents are downloadable.  This effects everyone on Earth.  You are highly encouraged to read and contemplate the meaning of these documents.

All reports can be found here at the IPCC site.

Here we have the short executive summary version of the IPCC Synthesis Report.

Michael Collins Climate change Climate change, Global warming, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC