Impacts

Australian marine scientists have issued a warning on the increasing acidity of the world's oceans and its impact on coral reefs, and through the food web, the productivity and biodiversity of oceans. Scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Townsville claim that coral on Australia's Great Barrier Reef reached a tipping point in 1990 with coral growth having slowed by more than 14 percent since then. The unprecedented decline has been caused by a combination of rising sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification. At the current rate of decline, coral will be unable to grow by 2050.

:

I am angry. Actually, I am incensed, livid, and enraged. On Friday, Congress will hold hearings on the Detroit bailout. I called my Congressman's office (happens to be Barney Frank) to find out what the latest is. Here is the latest (I hope you're sitting down): Congress seems to be coalesing around a proposal to give GM, Chrysler and Ford bridge loans to get them through the New Year with NO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ATTACHED.

BREAKING NEWS

James Hansen, NASA scientist, will be beaming into your living room laptops from the Palace of Westminster, Wednesday, in a climatic debate with the UK Government.

The 45 trillion dollar question : is 80% safe ? Will Carbon cuts in the region of 80% save the world from Climate Change meltdown and fry-up ? (*)

Top NASA scientist James Hansen and researcher Tim Helweg-Larsen of the Public Interest Research Centre go head-to-head with Professor John Beddington and Professor Robert Watson, both Chief Scientific Advisers to the UK Government.

It's going be one humdinger of a debate. Watch it LIVE from the Palace of Westminster ! Kick off is Wednesday 26th November 2008 at 2.30pm :-

START HERE
A day of workshops to help us Act Local and Think Global
Saturday 22nd November 2008

FINAL REMINDER
Book now to avoid disappointment. Send an e-mail to register :-
jonathan [atty] sustainableredhill.org.uk

=========================================================

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Local community activists of all political flavours are preparing for massive social change and working hard to re-build community resilience in the face of Climate Change and economic meltdown.

Movers and shakers operating at the national level, in aid and development organisations, actively caring companies, government or non-government roles, are also experiencing turbulence and uncertainty.

START HERE
Saturday 22nd November 2008
11am to 5pm

A day of workshops to help us Act Local and Think Global.

An open public meeting hosted by OUDES : http://www.oudes.org

Come and meet a wide variety of people working and volunteering for Sustainable and Transition communities, mostly in South East England.

Share your experiences and plans for the future, and take the time to explore the issues Society must inevitably face, to deal with both the risks of Climate Change and the unfolding Energy Crisis.

In small groups, we will look at the chaos erupting in the Environmental, Energy and Economic spheres and try to make sense of their interconnectedness and the disconnects.

Mean Sea Level: A film by Pradip Saha

Around 7500 Kms from the heart of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] in Geneva or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] secretariat in Bonn, Ghoramara and Sagar islands are going through their own testimony of climate change related phenomena.

Crisis Forum
Climate Change and Violence workshop series, 2008 – 2010

Workshop 1: Climate Catastrophe, Where are we heading ?
Friday 14 November 2008, University of Southampton

=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=x=

The forthcoming Crisis Forum workshop series opens on 14 November 2008 at the University of Southampton :  the first of seven, one day workshops to explore and interrogate the connections between accelerating anthropogenic climate change and the potentiality for violence in all its forms.

Anyone who has an interest in this area : academics, practitioners within NGOs and think-tanks, policy makers in government or business, journalists or independent researchers are invited to participate.