Pollution may hit Himalayan monsoon clouds

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Rashid Faridi

A Kashmiri fisherman rows a boat on the waters of Dale Lake in the Himalayan region of Srinagar October 7, 2008,photo Courtsey Reuters

Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of glaciers, according to a study on Monday.

The report, by scientists in France and Italy, found microscopic particles in the air that can be seeds for water droplets at a Nepalese mountain observatory, the highest in the world at 5,079 meters (16,660 ft) above sea level.

It was the first time scientists had observed such particles forming so high, far above those seen in previous studies from Europe and Japan.
“We think it’s because there’s a lot of pollution in the valleys which rises and meets clean air masses higher up. This creates new particles,” Karine Sellegri at the Universite Blaise Pascal in France, one of the authors, told Reuters.

The study, in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the particles might come from smoke from people burning wood in Himalayan valleys. Or some might have a natural origin, from vegetation.

Still, the scientists pointed to wider risks of the cloud-forming mechanism.

“Rising air pollution levels in South Asia will have worldwide environmental consequences,” they wrote.

“Transport of pollutants from the densely populated regions of India, Pakistan, China and Nepal to the Himalayas may lead to substantial radiative forcing (warming effect) in South Asia.”

In turn, that could affect the formation of monsoons, disrupt the regional climate and have “dramatic impacts on glacier retreat” in the Himalayas, they wrote.

The U.N. Climate Panel said last year that Himalayan glaciers, which feed rivers on which hundreds of millions of people depend, could shrink to 100,000 square kms (38,610 sq miles) by 2030 from 500,000 now because of global warming.

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Energy from the wind is the best for Earth

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Rashid Faridi

According to a Stanford University researcher, Mark Jacobson ‘wind, water and sun beat biofuels, nuclear and coal for clean energy.’ The scientist ‘has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability.’ Wow! The researcher found that some sources of energy were 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options.

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EU leaders agreed on a Ladmark Agreement

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Rashid Faridi

EU leaders agreed to combat climate change by ordering that a fifth of Europe’s energy mix should come from renewable sources within 12 years

The agreement, hailed as a “landmark” deal and a breakthrough by politicians and the green lobby alike, came before a crucial EU summit opening in Poland tomorrow at which 27 prime ministers and presidents are supposed to finalise an ambitious package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020.

The agreement reached yesterday paves the way for a law obliging all EU countries to meet national targets for renewable energy. Two points had threatened to derail the legisl

ation: the insistence that biofuels comprise 10% of transport fuel by 2020, and an attempt by Italy to loosen the law by ordering a review of progress on renewables in 2014. The review date was retained, but the compulsory target and national quotas also survived.

Biofuels have become an incendiary issue over the past year because of soaring food costs and shortages, partly blamed on the diversion of land to grow fuel rather than food. Expert opinion has turned on the value of biofuels in combating climate change. The 10% of transport fuel target was retained, but the equation was changed to include electric cars and trains and the European commission is to report within two years on the impact on land use and sustainability of biofuels.

Experts argue that using crop-based products as a petrol or diesel substitute is misplaced, as greater energy savings can be made by using them for heating.

Greenpeace, usually a fierce critic of the EU climate change policies, described the agreement as a “landmark”.

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Fuel shortage hits Indian forestry

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Rashid Faridi

Villagers unable to get supplies of LPG are ravaging local forests for firewood.

Desperate villagers are felling trees in the woodlands around their homes in northern Himachal Pradesh, an area which has already suffered heavy deforestation.

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