Category: collapse capitalism

in The Free, due to climate change stopping trade, resource depletion and transition to anarchy

In Europe, Pollution Is a Masculine

CLIMATE CHANGE

In Europe, Pollution Is a Masculine Noun

By Julio Godoy*

Men’s heavier reliance on cars is reflected in traffic jams like this one near Aachen, Germany. / Credit:Immanuel Giel/Public domain

Men’s heavier reliance on cars is reflected in traffic jams like this one near Aachen, Germany.

Credit:Immanuel Giel/Public domain

PARIS, Feb 17, 2011 (Tierramérica) – Many aspects of gender inequality are well known and well documented. But there seems to be little awareness that male behaviour leads to greater emissions of climate-changing gases.

That is the conclusion of two independent studies by separate teams of European scientists, both based on statistical data on consumption and daily activities of men and women in industrialised countries.

Frédéric Chomé, a French consultant on environmental and sustainable development issues, stated that a typical French woman causes emissions of 32.3 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per day, on average, while a man causes 39.3 kg of CO2 emissions.

via CLIMATE CHANGE: In Europe, Pollution Is a Masculine Noun – IPS ipsnews.net.

Permafrost Melt Soon Irreversible

Permafrost Melt Soon Irreversible Without Major Fossil Fuel Cuts

By Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Feb 17, 2011 (IPS) – Thawing permafrost is threatening to overwhelm attempts to keep the planet from getting too hot for human survival.

Without major reductions in the use of fossil fuels, as much as two-thirds of the world’s gigantic storehouse of frozen carbon could be released, a new study reported. That would push global temperatures several degrees higher, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable.

Once the Arctic gets warm enough, the carbon and methane emissions from thawing permafrost will kick-start a feedback that will amplify the current warming rate, says Kevin Schaefer, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado. That will likely be irreversible.

via Permafrost Melt Soon Irreversible Without Major Fossil Fuel Cuts – IPS ipsnews.net.

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