Development and climate change responsibilities to the green planet...

There has to be a consensus of opinion among the bigger developed and the so-called developing countries like China and India who are responsible for much of the pollution as well. There is a price to pay for development, don't leave it for coming generations.

The larger developing nations want to have their cake and eat it too; they say we want wealth and resources just like the developed countries - but they have to learn to be responsible as well.

We as a planet have the opportunity to discuss climate change again and then come up with a real "plan" at the next international climate change meeting later in the year, I believe. Don't accuse small nations such as New Zealand of producing greenhouse gases through the efffluence of dairy cows. That is an exaggeration.

We have to start at home and become responsible to our own local communities and regions. Water is precious and should not be contaminated and wasted by developing and developed industries and nations. We have to start with our own waterways - streams, rivers and lakes. Something that New Zealand has commenced.

If we talk the talk we must be prepared to walk the walk. The Green Planet is at risk!

The ozone hole could be holding back an Antarctic thaw...

The ozone hole could be holding back an Antarctic thaw, according to British research on the subject.

Ozone depletion is described as two distinct, but seperate observations: A slow steady decline of about 4% per decade in the total volume of ozone in the Earth's stratosphere since the late 1970's, and a much larger seasonal decrease in stratospheric ozone over the Earth's polar regions - the Ozone hole!

The ozone hole has been blamed for decades for causing increased skin cancers in the Southern Pacific areas encompassing Australia and New Zealand.

The ozone hole could actually be saving the Antarctic from thawing - holding back the effects of greenhouse gases in the Antarctic. The hole is reportedly causing more storms and extreme winds around the South Pole and in the process actually cooling down much of the Antarctic area.

This leaves a dilemma for humans - repair the ozone hole, or leave it for nature to do the job over the next fifty years. However scientists claim there could be a loss of up to one third of the sea ice in the Antarctic area.

Reference: John Turner, "Geophysical Research Letters".

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US scientists sign petition rejecting "global warming"...

More than 31,000 scientists across the United States, including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s in fields including atmospheric science, climatology, Earth science, environment and dozens of other specialties, have signed a petition rejecting "global warming," the assumption that the human production of greenhouse gases is damaging Earth's climate.

"There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate," the petition states. "Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

The Petition Project actually was launched nearly 10 years ago, when the first few thousand signatures were assembled. Then between 1999 and 2007, the list of signatures grew gradually without any special effort or campaign.

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