07 February 2008

Global Climate Change: Some Good News for a Change


So much of the news around climate change just seems dire. I know, I see it roll across my Google News Reader every day. And it can get kind of depressing.

But today, two news bits caught my eye because, well, because they were hopeful:

G7 Plans to Consider a Climate Change Fund

and

Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat

As an investor and supporter of alternative energy, I am thrilled by the first bit of news. As a diver and lover of marine environments, I am delighted by the potential of the latter.

First, when the top finance officials from the Group of Seven industrialized nations (G7) meet in Tokyo this Saturday, it appears that Japan, Britain, and the United States will propose a new fund promoting clean technologies to combat climate change.

"The three countries will explain the content of their current discussions on the fund, and we'll see how the rest of the Group of Seven members react to it," a finance ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity.

In addition to climate change, the G7 is expected to discuss the worsening global economic outlook and recent market turmoil, ahem, correction.

Then Science Daily reported that "Natural processes may prevent oceans from warming beyond a certain point, helping protect some coral reefs from the impacts of climate change, new research finds.

"The study, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), finds evidence that an ocean 'thermostat' appears to be helping to regulate sea-surface temperatures in a biologically diverse region of the western Pacific."

"Global warming is damaging many corals, but it appears to be bypassing certain reefs that support some of the greatest diversity of life on the planet," NCAR scientist Joan Kleypas says. "In essence, reefs that are already in hot water may be more protected from warming than reefs that are not. This is some rare hopeful news for these important ecosystems."

Encouraging news in the International Year of the Reef 2008. Let's suit up and get wet until the market improves.

Three years ago today I was diving here: Raja Ampat; some of the most amazing reefs I have ever seen. I'm dying to get back there.

1 comment:

The Green Skeptic said...

Thanks for reading and commenting adrian2514.

Cleantech blog has just done a pretty thorough analysis of the candidates and their position on climate change, cap-and-trade, and market-based solutions: http://www.cleantechblog.com/2008/02/super-tuesday-was-super-for-us-carbon.html