DEFORESTATION

DEFORESTATION

Of the total carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year, deforestation adds 23-30%.

Everyone knows that trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, convert it into carbon which is stored as oxygen, and then release that oxygen back into the atmosphere. Trees have a big role to play in life on earth and are basically the only reason you’re alive right now.
No exaggeration.

     

Just as important: Forests act as one of those amazing carbon sinks, taking in and storing excess amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests contain about 80% of all organic carbon above ground, and 40% of all organic carbon below ground. That’s a lot of stored carbon. Young trees grow more rapidly and absorb more carbon dioxide than old trees, which, although they absorb less carbon dioxide, have much greater stores of carbon in their biomass.¹

When we cut down forests we essentially destroy their ability to act as a carbon sink. But not only do we suffer a loss of carbon absorption, we also release masses of stored carbon back into the atmosphere: a serious double-whammy. If that weren’t bad enough, clearing and burning rainforests releases great amounts of methane, ozone and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere as well.

80% of old growth forests worldwide are gone, as well as 95% of old growth forests in the United States, cut down and processed for paper, pulp and fuel to satiate our growing demands. 37.5 million acres of rainforests—home to about half the planet’s 5 to 10 million plant and animal species—are lost annually. Until the 1980s, Canadian forests were carbon sinks, absorbing excess carbon dioxide, according to the Canadian Forest Service. But due to increased forest fires, insect infestation and harvesting for pulp and paper products, they now contribute more CO₂ to our atmosphere than they remove.

Canada's Boreal Forest stretches 1.6 billion acres from coast to coast covering 53 percent of Canada.² It plays a vital role in helping regulate the earth's climate because combined with Russia's Boreal Forest, it holds 40% of the world's carbon. The Boreal Forest is home to hundreds of plant and animal species and supports 600 aboriginal groups, who depend upon it for livelihood and spiritual identity. But the Boreal Forest is 94% public land, which makes it extremely vulnerable to development. Multinational pulp and paper companies purchase virgin fibre to produce a variety of consumer products, including lumber, newsprint, mail cataloges and disposable facial tissue and toilet paper. The United States is the destination for approximately 80 percent of Canada's forest products.³ Local logging companies are clear cutting vast tracts of the Boreal Forest to fill a demand that literally gets flushed down the toilet. Kimberley-Clark is one such company proliferating the sale of Boreal toilet paper.

^{1 Source:http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Science/Forests_And_Sinks.asp
2 Source:http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/canada/work/art12507.html
3 Source: http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/fboreal.asp}

FARMING

FARMING

Modern-day agriculture is a huge contributor to our planet's problems. How huge? 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from world agriculture.

Here's why:

About 10,000 years ago, we began to farm. Why keep roaming around hunting food like cavemen when we could grow it like civilized Homo sapiens? We settled in warmer climates where the soil was best. As settlements grew, more land was cleared to make way for farming. Fast forward a few millennia, and many places had no more land to spare. No worries: Colonialism was born. New land, new opportunities. Think about all the regions in the world that have been altered forever for farming: the forests of New Zealand cleared for sheep, North American prairie cultivated for cattle, wheat and corn. Three quarters of China was originally forested; now, only 5% remains covered by trees. In the U.S., all but 6% of old-growth forests have been cleared. Half of the world's tropical forests have been cleared since World War II, mostly for agriculture. There wasn’t much choice. We, as a species, grew. And so did our appetite.

Now nobody is saying agriculture has to go. Obviously. That would be suicide on a number of levels, like most importantly, food and economics. But just consider what it does to the planet:

Today it takes 20 times more energy to produce the same amount of food it took in 1910. That’s because farms are becoming super-farms, running on gas, diesel and ultra-souped-up barn equipment. 38 million kilograms of pesticide are used every year in Canada. Just one of those kilograms of pesticide releases 3.7 kilograms of greenhouse gases.¹ Brutal!

Primary agriculture is responsible for about 12% of Canada's greenhouse gases. Most of that comes from the methane in manure and the nitrous oxide from fertilizers. It doesn’t even include the greenhouse gases emitted from transportation or agri-food processing. Think of all the energy required for milling, refining, refrigerating and packaging.² Eek.

Primary agriculture in Canada accounts for 61% of nitrous oxide emissions and 38% of methane.³  We know how bad methane is. 30% of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions from the agri-food industry comes from Alberta.⁴

And consider this grossness: Canadian livestock produced 164 billion kilograms of manure in 2001. That's enough to fill Toronto's Rogers Centre 103 times per year, or almost twice a week. Livestock manure has 30 times more polluting power than human waste. If it gets into surface water, it can kill fish and cause serious groundwater pollution.⁵

Until modern intensive farming really started to rev up in the mid-20th century, soil was one of the planet’s more hardy carbon sinks, absorbing 75% of the carbon found on land. When land is cultivated it loses 20 to 50% of its organic matter. Cultivation also releases stored carbon into the atmosphere and contributes to erosion and salinization.⁶

You may not be ready to go vegetarian, but you can start thinking about where your food is coming from and the energy consumed to create it. An easy start? Remember the rule of thumb: Buy local, buy seasonal, buy organic.

Want to know more about our (d)evolving food industry? Check out The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

^{1,4 Source: http://www.greenlearning.ca/climate-change/solutions/food/food_selection.php
2,3 Source: http://www.agr.gc.ca/policy/environment/air_03_e.phtml
5 Source: http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/reports/farm.htm
6 Source: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Science/Forests_And_Sinks.asp}

GREENHOUSE GASES

GREENHOUSE GASES

Greenhouse gases trap heat. If too many accumulate in our atmosphere, we're in big trouble.

Total national greenhouse gases emissions in Canada in 2005: 279,842,143 tonnes CO2 equivalent (total all gases).¹

It's important to get the gist of GHGs: some of them are released into the atmosphere through natural processes. For thousands of years they occurred naturally, the cycles were all working fine, and the earth was a lovely, hospitable place. But other greenhouse gases are created and emitted solely through human activities, like industry and transportation. Those are the ones that are causing the problems. Some greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, fall into both categories. The ones that contribute to global warming, the really important ones, are as follows:

• Carbon Dioxide(CO₂): Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal), solid waste, trees and wood products, and also as a result of other chemical/industrial processes (manufacturing cement). Carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere (or “sequestered”) when it is absorbed by plants as part of the biological carbon cycle.

• Methane (CH₄): Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills. Methane is also stored in buried organic deposits. Vast amounts of methane are stored under the permafrost in the northern hemisphere.

• Nitrous Oxide (N₂O): Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste. 

• Fluorinated Gases: Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride are synthetic, powerful greenhouse gases that are emitted from a variety of industrial processes. Fluorinated gases are sometimes used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances (i.e., CFCs, HCFCs, and halons). These gases are typically emitted in smaller quantities, but because they are potent greenhouse gases, they are sometimes referred to as High Global Warming Potential gases (“High GWP gases”). 

^{1 Source: www.PollutionWatch.org}

CARBON DIOXIDE

CARBON DIOXIDE

 

CARBON DIOXIDE | METHANE | NITROUS OXIDE

 

Carbon dioxide is responsible for at least half of human-caused global warming. And it's now accumulating in the atmosphere twice as fast as nature's own abilities can remove it.

Carbon dioxide, or CO₂, is a colourless gas released into our atmosphere when carbon-containing fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal are burned. This can also occur naturally, like when a volcano’s eruption brings up carbon from deep below the earth’s surface, or as simply as limestone rocks eroding over time. Increased carbon dioxide emissions create a condition in the upper atmosphere, causing a trapping of excess heat and leading to increased surface temperatures. 

       ^{Source: J.R. Petit et al, “Vostok Ice Core Date for 420 000 Years”, IGBP PAGES/World Date Centre for
       Paleoclimatology Data Contribution series #21001-076. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, 2001}

POWER PLANTS

Humans are pulling huge amounts of carbon fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) from the ground and burning them, releasing masses of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over a very short period of time.

Power plants are the single largest emitters of carbon dioxide in Canada, which many scientists say is the primary culprit behind global warming. About one third of U.S. carbon emissions come from large point sources such as power plants.

      

Emissions from power plants are not controlled at a federal level. Currently, there are no limits as to how much CO₂ a company can produce.

Factories and cars are also a huge part of the equation. Coal is the most carbon-intensive of the fossil fuels. Burning coal to produce electricity is one of the largest man-made sources of global warming. Half of the electricity in the United States comes from coal. 25% of Ontario’s energy comes from coal.

 

   ^{Source: www.grida.no/climate.vital/32.html}


Right now there are 140 new coal plants being developed in the U.S., and 1,000 coal-fired power projects being planned around the world. If we know burning coal is seriously jeopardizing the health of the planet, why do we continue to push an environmental catastrophe closer to the point of no return?

CARS/TRUCKS/AIRPLANES/TRAFFIC

Next to electricity generation, road vehicles are the largest and fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions, producing 30 percent of emissions worldwide. For Canada, vehicle emissions represented about 34% of greenhouse gases in 2003.¹

Oil consumption produces nearly 42% of the world's fossil-fuel-related emissions of carbon dioxide. The majority of that comes from cars, trucks, and planes.


In Canada, 15% of CO₂ emissions come from light-duty vehicles (this is how SUVs are classified). They burn 45% more fuel than regular cars.


World aviation is on the rise from its current 3.5% CO₂ emissions. Air travel is responsible for about 2% of total global emissions of CO₂, releasing more than 600 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere each year. By 2050, air travel is expected to contribute 10-17% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Because CO₂ is released from planes at a higher altitude, its impact is greater.²

BUILDINGS/HOMES

The average household in Ontario spends about $2,000 per year on energy bills.³ However, much of that energy is wasted on lost heating, inefficient ventilating and air conditioning units, leaking windows, and over-conditioned air. And think about all those appliances—fridges, dishwashers, laundry machines, dryers. If they're not energy-efficient then they're doing tons of damage. You don't really have an old beer fridge in your basement do you? Refrigerators made before 1984 use three times more energy than those made today.⁴

It's not surprising that electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the air than two average cars.⁵ Even building your home does damage. 40% of all CO2 releases come from the construction and operation of buildings.⁶

CARBON CYCLE: A separate issue, sort of.

There’s something called the carbon cycle that’s been at work on Earth for millions of years. Carbon, in its various forms, is constantly circulating between land, water, and the air. It’s a natural thing that used to function quite nicely, as long as the variables didn’t get too out of whack. Our forests and our oceans are known as carbon sinks, taking in excess carbon and keeping it from poisoning our atmosphere. Oceans take in a third of all human-produced carbon. Tropical forests, like the Brazilian rainforest, take in a vast amount of carbon as well. There’s a big BUT coming.  

        

Humans are messing with the carbon cycle like never before. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we’ve been adding incredible amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere while decimating the earth’s forests that work so hard to remove it. Our oceans have taken in more carbon in the last century than they have in hundreds of thousands of years. This is causing ocean acidification, which occurs as carbon dioxide turns into carbonic acid in the water.

Coral reef skeletons are weakening and dying and 60% of the world's coral reefs are expected to disappear in the next few decades. Plankton, the base of the entire food chain in the world's oceans, is unable to proliferate in these conditions. Marine ecosystems all over the world face a very uncertain future if plankton disappears. Our fish stocks, which are already at the edge of collapse due to overfishing, might never recover. Sorry to say it, but our oceans, always thought to be so infinite and powerful, are in an incredibly vulnerable state.

     


Can it get much worse? Um, YES. Weakened carbon sinks can encourage something called "positive feedback," which in fact is a very, very negative thing. Positive feedback is the great unknown of global warming; it's what really troubles the scientists. It occurs when any change to one factor can effectively trigger a ricochet across many more natural processes that we cannot stop, driving greenhouse gases higher than any level human activity could.⁷

---

^{1 Source: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/statistics/see06/energy-use.cfm?attr=0
2 Source: Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, IPCC, 1999
3 Source: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/media/newsreleases/2004/200430_e.htm
4 Source: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/english/tips/hometips_summer.cfm
5 Source: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/info/homes/index.html
6 Source: http://greenbuilding.ca/iisbe/oslo/oslo.htm
7 Source: "The Stern Review", editor Jon Hughes, The Ecologist, Jan. 2007.}

TAR SANDS

TAR SANDS

^{Photo: Washington Post}

Tar sands represent 40% of Canada’s oil production. But the process of extracting and refining the actual oil from the sand requires much more water and energy than mining the old-fashioned way.

TAR-RY GOOEY GROSSNESS

Tar sands (or oil sands) are found right here. You bet. Alberta is Canada’s tar sand central. The spots are in the northeast corner of the province, and amount to an area larger than Florida. All this is causing quite the stir! Fort McMurray is being touted as Canada’s buried treasure, and lore has it that our oil sands could supply the world’s energy needs for the next century.

WHAT'S A TAR SANDS?

Not a dumb question. It’s clay, sand and oil all jumbled up with some bitumen (which is a thick, sticky form of oil). And since it’s oil in there, you can bet your bottom dollar that there are a bunch of people (Petro-Canada, Exxon subsidiaries, Shell…) out there trying to make a buck off it. But they just didn’t think it through. To get tar sand oil to a usable state, the bitumen has to be extracted from all that other gunk and then refined. This is a complex and difficult process.

Most people don’t know that most of the world’s oil exists in the form of oil sand. What’s more is that Canada has the highest concentration of tar sands. Next is Venezuela. But silly Canada! Tar sands represent 40% of Canada’s oil production. Most countries don’t use their oil sands on such a commercial level. Canada’s the only place doing so. All this extra work of extracting and refining is using far more water and energy than regular old oil mining.

In fact, since steam is an integral part of the bitumen extracting process, the oil sand-ers in Fort McMurray are using more than twice the volume of water required to meet the city of Calgary’s domestic water needs! And all that adds up to global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, disturbance of mined land, impacts on wildlife and air and water quality. What a sorry shame. It all floats back to politics and business. Oil sand extraction in Alberta is already providing a steady increase in employment.

And oh, money… oil companies provide some of the highest salaries in North America. On the political front, Alberta beckons as a friendly source of nearby crude oil. A welcome option amid Middle East turbulence.