Just so you know the agenda here. At ChangeBusters™, the first thing we are going to change is your thinking about Climate Change... but not without some light entertainment.
Whatever position you take - for or against - on the fence - bewildered or just plain tired of the same old same old - you might be interested in a wholistic perspective.
By shaving the planet bald in patches, by clearing vast areas of land, we remove the protective leaf canopy layer and expose the soil directly to sun and wind... and the elements can be very harsh.
Every tree is not only a mini eco system... it's a part of a communications network. In the morning, dew collects on the leaves. Without leaves to catch the water, it is lost to evaporation. Instead of cycling back from the leaf to the roots back into the soil, it is lost into the air. The next day there is less water in the soil and so on, until it dries and cracks. A small tree applied early will repair the cycle. Since trees have covered the planet for millenium, they know what they are doing.
HEAT ACCUMULATION Removing shade (a leaf canopy) increases heat, a virtually unmentioned aspect of global warming is summed up by Prof. Ripl, "What is overlooked is the fact that intact vegetation 'actively' helps manage the small water cycle, and keep the earth cool by converting sensible heat to the latent heat of evaporation".
SOIL CARBON The cleared land becomes farmland, but the ongoing practice of using artificial fertilizers removes the importance of the role of soil and diverts attention away from soil neglecting soil eventually causing soil to "give up" its' CO2; affecting the water cycle affecting the carbon cycle: altering the flow rate of soil carbon to atmospheric CO2 and visa versa,
thus altering the relationship between soil and air,
between earth and sky,
between the planet and the atmosphere and consequently, man and the planet.
These are all man-made changes and practices... still ongoing, disconnected.
Roads and cities, criss-cross and divide, disrupting animals from their habitat and mating cycles. Considering animals low populations numbering in the 10,000's to million's compared to the human population explosion expecting to peak at 9 billion by 2050 - we are easily the dominating species taking all the good land - and with us comes demands that exceed energy and food productivity.
The planet has many systems and cycles - water, soil, CO2, air, gravity, wind, sun, ocean and land - and now satellites and wireless netorks - we hold up a glimpse into the interconnected ecological world of systems - which is easiest understood as a whole described as Gaia by James Lovelock.
The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.
James Lovelock : independent scientist, environmentalist, author and researcher, is the author of " The Gaia Theory ", and " The Ages of Gaia ", which consider the planet Earth as a self-regulated living being, as well as his "Homage to GAIA", an autobiography published in september 2000. More recently, professor Lovelock published his new book, " The Revenge of Gaia ".
Lately Lovelock suggested the use of nuclear becasue of it's low CO2 output, as the best solution to combat global warming, but recently in 2012, he now admits to being alarmist - it's just not happening as quick as he thought.
