Climate Change Update: South Africa has undertaken several bold projects to mitigate climate change

South Africa ready to host COP 17 Summit|Southafrica Special|chinadaily.com.cn: "South Africa has undertaken several bold projects to mitigate climate change while providing a platform from which to generate socio-economic benefits.

Durban is piloting a Green Roof Project and extensive community reforestation projects to show how Africa's biodiversity can become a tool, not just for fighting climate change, but in creating economic opportunities.
Johannesburg, meanwhile, is credited with having some of the largest manmade forests on earth, with around 10 million trees in the city.
Elsewhere in the country, around 1.3 million hectares are covered by lush forests used commercially with South Africa's forestry sector which contributes R16 billion annually to the economy.

Within an African context, Durban's municipal leadership is mindful that its renewable energy and climate change mitigation projects are not simply about protecting the natural environment, but about creating jobs and fostering development."

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Climate Change Update: South Africa ready to host COP 17 Summit|Southafrica Special|chinadaily.com.cn

South Africa ready to host COP 17 Summit|Southafrica Special|chinadaily.com.cn: "When the sun rises over Durban's Indian Ocean coastline in November, the world's eyes will be firmly centered on the city as the world gathers for the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 17).

The parties to the convention have met annually from 1995 in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to assess progress in dealing with climate change.

In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was concluded and for the first time established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Whether or not more landmark policies to fight climate change will be agreed in Durban, COP 17 is an opportunity for South Africa to take a leadership position in showcasing its efforts to address this global issue."

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Climate Change Update: Scientists to Begin Testing Artificial Volcano to Curb Climate Change (inspired by Mt. Pinatubo eruption in the PH)

Scientists to Begin Testing Artificial Volcano to Curb Climate Change - Truthdig: "Researchers in the U.K. will begin an experiment next month that, by imitating a volcanic eruption, could eventually lead to a climate-cooling method that would work by putting sun-reflective particles into the stratosphere.

The geoengineering experiment, which during its first phase of testing will shoot water into the air through a kilometer-long hose suspended in the air with a hydrogen balloon, was inspired by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in 1991. That volcano shot 20 million tons of sulfate particles into the atmosphere, ultimately cooling Earth by 0.5 degrees Celsius for 18 months.

But scientists believe it will be decades before they can safely implement such a cooling strategy, and even then, they warned, it should not be used as an excuse to avoid cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, geoengineering should be considered a short-term emergency remedy. —BF"

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Climate Change Update: Gore Launches Online Project about Life on the Frontlines of Climate Change | Frances Beinecke's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC

Gore Launches Online Project about Life on the Frontlines of Climate Change | Frances Beinecke's Blog | Switchboard, from NRDC: " Al Gore’s group the Climate Reality Project: 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide effort to bring the truth about the climate crisis to everyone with access to the Internet.

In a new multimedia presentation narrated by Gore air every hour for 24 hours, people around the globe share their stories of living on the frontlines of climate change. From the Alaskan coastline to the Solomon Islands, from Jakarta’s streets to London’s office towers, residents will connect the dots between the extreme weather events they are battling and the greenhouse gas emissions filling our atmosphere."

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Climate Change Update: Giant Red Crabs Take Over 'Antarctic Abyss,' Climate Change Blamed (VIDEO)

Giant Red Crabs Take Over 'Antarctic Abyss,' Climate Change Blamed (VIDEO): pls click for the video:

"The King Crabs have colonized the "Antarctic abyss" of Palmer Deep, a basin more than 4,300 feet down, off the Antarctic Peninsula, reports the New Scientist.

Led by researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the findings are shown in a video filmed at the bottom of the ocean.

Treehugger notes that the rise in temperature is mainly to blame, given it was previously too cold for the crabs to live. In short, the researchers conclude the King Crab colonization of the Antarctic is linked to climate change.

According to the Independent, scientists say the number of species in areas colonized by the crabs is a quarter of that in areas that have escaped the invasion.

The invasion of the long-legged critters doesn't come as a surprise to scientists, given three years ago they predicted the King Crabs would invade within 100 years."

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Climate Change Update: Al Gore: ‘The message still has to be about the reality we’re facing’ - The Washington Post

Al Gore: ‘The message still has to be about the reality we’re facing’ - The Washington Post: "The years since Al Gore released “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006 have not been kind to climate hawks. Cap-and-trade died in the Senate, skeptics have renewed their attacks on climate science, and the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, Rick Perry, denies that there’s even a problem. So what has the former vice-president decided to do about it? Double down his efforts and unveil yet another high-profile presentation on the threat posed by rising temperatures, in the hopes of converting climate skeptics. This week, Gore’s Climate Reality Project will launch a 24-hour global multimedia broadcast on the link between global warming and severe weather events."

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Wellness Tip 4d Changing Climate: Name Your Emotion & Face them for Emotional Wellness

Emotional Wellness: Riding the waves of adversity - Las Cruces Sun-News: "When we are faced with adversity, the fear of the unknown, of failure and pain, can affect the way we handle the situation. Anger happens when things go wrong as we try to change can block our path to finding solutions to our problems.
Fear and anger are emotions of positive stress; they help us stay alive when there is danger — physical or emotional.
These emotions may not feel comfortable, but they help us confront the situation we perceive as threatening. Once we feel safe, they go away and we can continue with our transformation.
If we avoid dealing with these emotions, they stay in our brain, which continues to send alarm signals to our body, producing negative stress (i.e. mental and physical sickness). The brain believes that we still need to fight or hide to stay alive. And when we are angry or afraid, we do not think, we only react to the situation that we perceive as threatening, and positive change becomes a very difficult task. The angrier and more afraid we get, the more we will resist change, and the more we will lose the opportunity to use our strengths to face adversity."

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