Pandas No More...

I have always been a fan of panda bears and how exotic these species are in the bear family. With their black and white fur, you just can't stop yourself cooing these adorable asian bears.

Sad to say, these animals are facing extinction because of climate change. A recent study done by York University shows that climate change is actively redistributing plant and animal life.

A joint study done by York University and the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, with Sichuan University and the Kunming Institute of Botany in China focused on the effect climate change in bamboos, which is the main source of food of these giant pandas.

Researchers found out that while some species of bamboos decreased in number due to global warming, other types significantly increased. The findings will help safeguard these endangered animals and hopefully determine sustainable action steps to conserve this type of bear specie.

Professor Steve Blackmore, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh said: "Pandas spend 14 hours a day eating, and bamboo forms 99% of their diet, so they are completely reliant on the right bamboo species being present in order to survive".

Pandas No More - click for full report.

Climate Change May Drown Cities

Is this photo familiar? Yes, you got it right! It is a scene from the movie, A Day After Tomorrow - a horrifying version of the world drowning because of sudden climate change.

This movie made me realized how valuable the environment is and how we should focus our attention in downsizing the effect of greenhouse gasses. Erratic thunderstorms and rising of sea levels are some of the signs that there is indeed a shift in our temperature and it's not good. More obviously, it is not good when it comes to cities that are near the ocean or are residing near the sea.

According to a recent study, half of Asia will suffer if a rise in sea level happens. This will force third world countries to evacuate their sea-residing cities and move it somewhere high which in return will cause another problem of overpopulating these areas.

The people of Dhaka, main city of Bangladesh, are now aggressively using CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) in their vehicles in order to battle global warming. This alternative is producing less greenhouse emissions and way more environmentally cleaner than petrol. Dhaka is one of the 3,000 cities identified by UN Habitat's State of the World Cities 2008/2009 as cities that are faced with the possibility of sea-level rise and induced-flooding. A very alarming situation since what the photo above is showing is most probably will happen in the near future if we do not act today.

Now looking at the demographics of these cities, Asia will cater 50% of the cities facing this "possibility" while 27% comprises Latin America and the Caribbean, 15% in Africa, 2/3 in Europe and 1/5 of all cities in North America are in the low elevation coastal zone.

Just think, if ever this world faces the tragedy depicted in "The day after tomorrow" - no policy or legislation will ever save us then... Only Action can spare us from this and only Action can minimize the effect of global warming... So ACT now! Stop Global Warming!

To Slow Global Warming, Install White Roofs

If you ask an architect or a civil engineer regarding cost-efficient roofs, they will normally tell you to paint it white. Obviously for two reasons - white colored roofs will reflect heat, meaning lesser chances of using the air conditioning unit, and it's cheaper to paint it white (since you only need one color unlike other colors, which needs white as a primer or initial color before applying it). But scientist today found one more benefit - slowing global warming.

According to a data released during the Fifth Annual California Climate Change Research Conference, if the 100 biggest cities installed white roofs and change their pavements from asphalt-based materials to reflective materials, the global cooling effect will be massive.

Since 2005, the Golden State has required all flat commercial infrastructures to have white roofs. Next year, new and retrofitted residential and commercial establishments, whether flat or sloped roofs, will have to install heat reflecting materials in compliance of the energy-efficient building code. But still, there are no provisions or legislation pertaining to heat-absorbing asphalt pavements, which is a cheap byproduct of oil refining.

According to Hashem Akbari, a physicist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a 1,000 square-foot roof - the average size of an American home - offset 10 metric tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere of dark-colored shingles or coatings are replaced with white material.

According to recent statistics, Globally - roofs account for 25% of the surface of most cities, and pavements account for 35%. Considering these data, if all major urban cities shifted to these kind of materials, an estimated 44 metric gigatons will offset the production of greenhouse gasses, which have been trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering the climate for a potentially dangerous scale.

That is more than all the countries emit in a year. Installing these heat-reflective materials will induce cooler atmospheres thus offsetting 10 years of emission growth even without slashing industrial pollution.

"I call it a win-win" Akbari said. "First, a cooler environment not only conserves energy but induce comfort. Second, cooling a city by a few degrees dramatically reduces smog. And third, is offsetting global warming."