Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Global Warming and San Francisco
San Francisco purports to be a Green City. The actions of the City and County of San Francisco and Mayor Gavin Newsom speak other wise. Over 400 mature trees were clear cut on Parcel A at Hunters Point Shipyard. Over 300 trees at McClaren Park. 3 brand new Combustion Turbines spewing dangerous particulates are proposed to be built at Pier 80. Our watershed is being polluted by leaking sewer pipes. We continue to build more homes and use less Solar but more fossil fuel. All these reasons and more tell us that San Francisco is NOT a Green City.
San Francisco continues to defy logic by encouraging the Clear Cutting of mature trees in San Francisco - this has happened at Parcel A on Hunters Point Shipyard and McClaren Park. It is happening all over the City. A couple of trees here, there, and everywhere.
Each tree is valued at around $162,000 for the role it plays in producing oxygen, addressing carobon dioxide and garnering nitrogen and helping enrich the soil.
Mayor Gavin Newsom has given his blessing to build 3 Combustion Turbines using fossil fuel which will spew dangerous toxins PM 2.5 into the air and polluted Bayview.
In the last 5 years our air pollution in the City of San Francisco has worsened and Mayor Gavin Newsom continues to brag that we are a Green City. Empirical Data shows our City is worse off under Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The City has NO Forest Management Plan that is working. Most of the trees in the Golden Gate Park at old and new plants should have been planted in an orderly manner years ago. The trees that are there no one cares about. The gardeners have low morale and there is NO accountability.
In the Southeast Sectors we have over 400 toxic hotspots and Mayor Gavin Newsom is not abating these areas.
However, he is permitting San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to take over huge tracts of land over 2,500 acres calling it a Project Area with real possibilities of taking it over using Emminent Domain.
Huge areas that are toxic are being capped and proposed for housing.
Our land, water, and air is more polluted today in San Francisco then it ever was. This land stolen from the Ohlone was pristine but we today do not respect Mother Earth:
http://www.franciscodacosta.com/articles/environ071.html
Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy
Each tree is valued at around $162,000 for the role it plays in producing oxygen, addressing carobon dioxide and garnering nitrogen and helping enrich the soil.
Mayor Gavin Newsom has given his blessing to build 3 Combustion Turbines using fossil fuel which will spew dangerous toxins PM 2.5 into the air and polluted Bayview.
In the last 5 years our air pollution in the City of San Francisco has worsened and Mayor Gavin Newsom continues to brag that we are a Green City. Empirical Data shows our City is worse off under Mayor Gavin Newsom.
The City has NO Forest Management Plan that is working. Most of the trees in the Golden Gate Park at old and new plants should have been planted in an orderly manner years ago. The trees that are there no one cares about. The gardeners have low morale and there is NO accountability.
In the Southeast Sectors we have over 400 toxic hotspots and Mayor Gavin Newsom is not abating these areas.
However, he is permitting San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to take over huge tracts of land over 2,500 acres calling it a Project Area with real possibilities of taking it over using Emminent Domain.
Huge areas that are toxic are being capped and proposed for housing.
Our land, water, and air is more polluted today in San Francisco then it ever was. This land stolen from the Ohlone was pristine but we today do not respect Mother Earth:
http://www.franciscodacosta.com/articles/environ071.html
Francisco Da Costa
Director
Environmental Justice Advocacy
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing the Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to when we will pass the tipping point and be helpless to stop the runaway global warming.
There are enormous quantities of methane trapped in permafrost and under the oceans in ice-like structures called clathrates. The methane in Arctic permafrost clathrates is estimated at 400 billion tons.
Methane is more than 20 times as strong a greenhouse gas as CO2, and the atmosphere currently contains about 3.5 billion tons of the gas.
The highest temperature increase from global warming is occurring in the arctic regions-an area rich in these unstable clathrates. Simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) show that over half the permafrost will thaw by 2050, and as much as 90 percent by 2100
.
Peat deposits may be a comparable methane source to melting permafrost. When peat that has been frozen for thousands of years thaws, it still contains viable populations of bacteria that begin to convert the peat into methane and CO2.
Western Siberia is heating up faster than anywhere else in the world, having experienced a rise of some 3C in the past 40 years. The west Siberian peat bog could hold some 70 billion tonnes of methane. Local atmospheric levels of methane on the Siberian shelf are now 25 times higher than global concentrations.
By the way, warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons have caused microbial activity to increase dramatically in the soil around the world. This, in turn, means that much of the carbon long stored in the soil is now being released into the atmosphere.
Releases of methane from melting oceanic clathrates have caused severe environmental impacts in the past. The methane in oceanic clathrates has been estimated at 10,000 billion tons.
55 million years ago a global warming chain reaction (probably started by volcanic activity) melted oceanic clathrates. It was one of the most rapid and extreme global warming events in geologic history.
Humans appear to be capable of emitting CO2 in quantities comparable to the volcanic activity that started these chain reactions. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, burning fossil fuels releases more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes.
Methane in the atmosphere does not remain long, persisting for about 10 years before being oxidized to CO2 (a greenhouse gas that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years). Chronic methane releases oxidizing into CO2 contribute as much to warming as does the transient methane concentrations.
To summarize, human activity is causing the Earth to warm. Bacteria converts carbon in the soil into greenhouse gasses, and enormous quantities are trapped in unstable clathrates. As the earth continues to warm, permafrost clathrates will thaw; peat and soil microbial activity will dramatically increase; and, finally, vast oceanic clathrates will melt. This global warming chain reaction has happened in the past.
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 rose by a record amount over the past year. It is the third successive year in which they have increased sharply. Scientists are at a loss to explain why the rapid rise has taken place, but fear the trend could be the first sign of runaway global warming.
I suggest the following article for further information: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0222-27.htm
There are enormous quantities of methane trapped in permafrost and under the oceans in ice-like structures called clathrates. The methane in Arctic permafrost clathrates is estimated at 400 billion tons.
Methane is more than 20 times as strong a greenhouse gas as CO2, and the atmosphere currently contains about 3.5 billion tons of the gas.
The highest temperature increase from global warming is occurring in the arctic regions-an area rich in these unstable clathrates. Simulations from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) show that over half the permafrost will thaw by 2050, and as much as 90 percent by 2100
.
Peat deposits may be a comparable methane source to melting permafrost. When peat that has been frozen for thousands of years thaws, it still contains viable populations of bacteria that begin to convert the peat into methane and CO2.
Western Siberia is heating up faster than anywhere else in the world, having experienced a rise of some 3C in the past 40 years. The west Siberian peat bog could hold some 70 billion tonnes of methane. Local atmospheric levels of methane on the Siberian shelf are now 25 times higher than global concentrations.
By the way, warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons have caused microbial activity to increase dramatically in the soil around the world. This, in turn, means that much of the carbon long stored in the soil is now being released into the atmosphere.
Releases of methane from melting oceanic clathrates have caused severe environmental impacts in the past. The methane in oceanic clathrates has been estimated at 10,000 billion tons.
55 million years ago a global warming chain reaction (probably started by volcanic activity) melted oceanic clathrates. It was one of the most rapid and extreme global warming events in geologic history.
Humans appear to be capable of emitting CO2 in quantities comparable to the volcanic activity that started these chain reactions. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, burning fossil fuels releases more than 150 times the amount of CO2 emitted by volcanoes.
Methane in the atmosphere does not remain long, persisting for about 10 years before being oxidized to CO2 (a greenhouse gas that lasts for hundreds of thousands of years). Chronic methane releases oxidizing into CO2 contribute as much to warming as does the transient methane concentrations.
To summarize, human activity is causing the Earth to warm. Bacteria converts carbon in the soil into greenhouse gasses, and enormous quantities are trapped in unstable clathrates. As the earth continues to warm, permafrost clathrates will thaw; peat and soil microbial activity will dramatically increase; and, finally, vast oceanic clathrates will melt. This global warming chain reaction has happened in the past.
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 rose by a record amount over the past year. It is the third successive year in which they have increased sharply. Scientists are at a loss to explain why the rapid rise has taken place, but fear the trend could be the first sign of runaway global warming.
I suggest the following article for further information: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0222-27.htm
For more information:
http://planetsave.com/ps_mambo/index.php?o...
Thank you for the added information and dangerous gases such as methane that can seriously adversely impact millions.
Again we are here on Earth to be care takers not to destroy and pollute.
Francisco Da Costa
Again we are here on Earth to be care takers not to destroy and pollute.
Francisco Da Costa
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$140.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network