Tag Archives: global warming

Global warming could be melting ancient greenhouse gases under Oregon coast

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Plume2_nolabels-e1418151769899.jpg
This sonar image captured bubbles rising from the seafloor off the Washington coast, where global warming has raised water temperatures and possibly caused gases frozen underwater for millennia to melt. ( Brendan Philip / University of Washington)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2015/10/global_warming_could_be_meltin.html#incart_river

by  Kelly House

Greenhouse gases 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide are bubbling up from beneath the ocean along Oregon and Washington, fueling global warming and contributing to changes in water chemistry that have devastated the northwest shellfish industry.

Scientists with the University of Washington believe abnormally warm water off the Pacific Coast is causing the gaseous plumes by vaporizing methane that had been frozen for thousands of years in deep ocean sediments.

The vapors are dissolving into the water and bubbling up into the atmosphere, potentially causing problems in both.

The scientists published their findings in the American Geophysical Union’s journal, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

“We’re not predicting an apocalypse, but we are saying global warming is coming to the marine waters off Oregon and Washington,” said H. Paul Johnson, the University of Washington oceanography professor who led the study.

PlumesMap.jpgThis map pinpoints 168 methane bubble plumes researchers located off the Oregon and Washington coasts. Courtesy of University of Washington

Johnson worked on the study along with oceanography professor Evan Solomon, doctoral student Marie Salmi and research assistant Una Miller. The study builds upon research a University of Washington and Oregon State University team conducted last year.

In that study, scientists found that water 500 meters below the ocean surface has warmed by three-tenths of a degree Celsius over the past four decades – enough to melt methane frozen in ocean sediment.

Their work joins a growing body of research suggesting climate change might not happen in a slow and steady fashion. Rather, the earth’s warming could allow trapped greenhouse gases to escape, creating a snowball effect in which the earth could warm faster over time.

Other researchers have discovered methane plumes along the Atlantic and Norwegian coasts and in the Arctic tundra.

Under cold, high-pressure conditions, methane interacts with water by crystallizing into an ice-like solid. As temperatures warm, it takes more and more pressure to produce crystals. Under lower-pressure conditions, chemical bonds break and the methane reverts to its gaseous state.

When it shows up in the air, methane prevents solar energy from leaving earth’s atmosphere. Over time, this heats the planet in a process known as the greenhouse effect. Left unchecked, the release of greenhouse gases into Earth’s atmosphere is expected to cause catastrophic changes in the planet’s climate.

Previous models from University of Washington and Oregon State University scientists estimated present ocean warming trends are melting 100,000 metric tons of methane each year off the Washington coastline alone. Johnson said the same warming effect is happening from northern Vancouver Island down to Mendocino, California.

Only some of that gas leaves the sediment to alter ocean and air chemistry.

The research published last week backs up those models. Of 168 methane plumes discovered off the coast within the past decade, a high number originated at 500 meters below the surface. That’s the upper limit of depths at which methane could crystallize under cold, high-pressure conditions. As the ocean warms, methane requires deeper water to crystallize.

Solomon said it’s likely there are more plumes out there, yet to be discovered.

“Every time we go out on an expedition, we discover new seep sites,” he said.

Most of the resulting gas bubbles chemically react with water to create ocean-born carbon dioxide that contributes to the acidic seas that have plagued the Northwest shellfish industry. It’s unclear how significant that contribution might be, Solomon said.

A tiny fraction of the gas bubbles up to the surface, where it contributes to the greenhouse effect.

Although the research suggests seawaters warmed by global climate change are causing the plumes, more work is needed to know with certainty. The researchers’ next step is to analyze the plumes’ chemical makeup to find out.

If their hypothesis checks out, Johnson said, it’s reasonable to expect the methane melt to accelerate in the coming years. Arctic sea water that has warmed by as much as 2 degrees Celsius is heading for Oregon, but will take years to get here.

“That warming is already in the bank,” Johnson said. “We’re just waiting for it to reach us.”

Warm Northeast Pacific Ocean Conditions Continue Into 2015

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Dr. Richard Dewey, Associate Director, Science

Updated: September 1, 2015

Figure 1. Sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly, December 2014 – March 2015.

The surface waters of the Northeast Pacific started warming in 2013 and now, in mid 2015, remain significantly warmer than at any time over the last few decades. By January 2014, the area and intensity of this warm anomaly had reached its maximum. Howard Freeland (Institute of Ocean Sciences) constructed a map of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTa) for January 2014 (using the Reynolds SST data set) showing a region of warm temperature anomalies exceeding 4 standard deviations above the mean. He achieved the same result when using independent Argo float data. The area exceeding 3 standard deviations covered an area of more than 1000 km2. To put this in perspective, such an anomalous event would be expected less than once per millennium (<0.1%)! By the fall of 2014 this warm pool of surface water had shifted eastward from the central Gulf of Alaska, and by late 2014 and into early 2015, was blanketing the entire west coast of North America (Figure 1, shown above). Although the extent and the mechanisms and dynamics responsible are still being assessed, there is a growing consensus as to some of the contributing factors that may have led to the development of these warm Northeast Pacific conditions, and a growing awareness of the significance (see for example Chris Mooney’s piece in the Washington Post).

By the spring of 2015 the NOAA El Nino prediction center announced that we are finally (after nearly a year of speculation) entering into an El Nino cycle. Although El Nino is now considered a rather global phenomina, it has a nucleus and primary signals in the western and central equatorial Pacific. The dynamics of an El Nino are related to a strong coupling between the atmosphere and upper ocean in the western equatorial Pacific. When the easterly trade winds slacken, the elevated warm surface waters in the western equatorial Pacific can surge eastward along the equator

– See more at: http://www.oceannetworks.ca/warm-northeast-pacific-ocean-conditions-continue-2015#sthash.tQq1itd7.dpuf

Mind-blowing” die off of seabirds underway from California to Alaska — Experts: “This is unprecedented…

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http://tribelive.ning.com/forum/mind-blowing-die-off-of-seabirds-underway-from-california-to-alas

by CTN on October 16, 2015

Experts: “This is unprecedented… Worst I’ve ever seen… Why they’re dying, I’m still baffled” — “Every bird we’re seeing is starving to death… Basically withering away” — “Catastrophic molting” due to unknown cause (VIDEO)

San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 15, 2015 (emphasis added): [T]housands of common murres… have been found dead… “all signs point to starvation from a lack of forage fish,” [Marine ecologist Kirsten Lindquist] said, adding that the same problem has been documented along the Oregon, Washington and Alaska coastlines… many endemic marine birds and mammals are suffering.

International Bird Rescue, Sep 22, 2015: An unprecedented number of exhausted, hungry seabirds continue to flood International Bird Rescue’s San Francisco Bay Center… The sight of so many starving seabirds has raised red flags among seabird scientists…

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sep 25, 2015: A troubling number of starved and weak seabirds are washing ashore on beaches from the Monterey Bay to Alaska… “There’s been die-offs in the past, but this is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen,” said Lupin Egan, an animal technician… “it’s been really crazy,” said spokesman Russ Curtis. “They’re really sick — just feather and bone.”… “At Waddell and Greyhound (Rock) beaches, I saw the most murres I’ve ever seen in 10 years,” said Cori Gibble, seabird health coordinator with the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center in Santa Cruz. “You see them on the tide line. They’re kind of strewn all over the beaches… It’s been a really strange year“…

ABC San Francisco, Sep 22, 2015: The number of birds being delivered to the rescue center daily is the number that usually comes over the entirety of a month, center officials said. “The sheer number of birds we’re seeing is pretty mind-blowing“… Curtis said. “This is unprecedented. Sometimes we get spikes and it dissipates. But it has not stopped.”

Sacramento Bee, Sep 24, 2015: Rescue center overwhelmed with starving seabirds… Fairfield rescue center has seen 25 times more common murres than normal… Across Northern California… malnourished seabirds have been appearing in alarming numbers, some shrunken to little more than feather and bone… The murres’ presence is significant to scientists because they’re considered a marker species, whose movements and numbers signal changes in the ocean’s food supply… “Our gut tells us there is something going on in the marine environment.”… Some of the birds that are being brought into the center are showing symptoms of catastrophic molting, where large patches of their bodies are missing feathers, said Kelly Berry, wildlife manager with the center. The cause is unknown…

Santa Cruz Sentinel, Sep 2, 2015: A huge influx of weak, starving seabirds have been overwhelming a Fairfield bird rescue center… “They’re like the canaries in the coal mines,” Curtis said… “the first ones to tell us if… there’s something wrong with our environment.”

KTVU, Sep 25 2015: Up and down the West Coast, thousands of starving sea birds are washing up… [The murres] resemble penguins, but can fly… “They are washing up extremely skinny… They’re starving to death,” lead rehabilitation technician Isabel Luevano told KTVU… “they’re basically withering away“… More heron and egret hatchlings have needed care this summer as well…

Half Moon Bay Review, Sep 30, 2015: [T]he magnitude of and reason for this die-off is perplexing to experts… [Gerry McChesney, of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge said] “we’ve had a strip of cold water near the coast (of Half Moon Bay), concentrating anchovies and mackerel. With what seems to be all this food up against the coast, why these murres are dying, I’m still baffled by.”

Daily Astorian, Aug 25, 2015: “There’s a pretty raging debate among seabird biologists at the moment,” [Julia Parish of the U. of Washington] added…“Every bird we’re seeing is starving to death,” [Josh Saranpaa, of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast] said. “It’s pretty bad.” Many are adults… The high number of starving adults along the North Coast, even experienced scavenger birds, indicates a “serious sign of a stressed ecosystem,” Parish said… “When you see so many starving, something is not quite right out there,” Saranpaa said… It’s also “been a really odd year,” Parish said, with multiple regional scale events…

KMXT (Alaska), Sep 16, 2015: Massive seabird die-off hits Kodiak… [National Wildlife Refuge bird biologist Robin Corcoran] said she doesn’t know what could have caused the deaths.

KMXT, Sep 15, 2015: “It does look like the birds are emaciated, which means they don’t have any fat on their bodies, and they don’t have any food in their digestive systems“… [Corcoran] says it could be connected to the whale die-offs, and they’ll be considering environmental factors… Corcoran says the Refuge’s survey data has also indicated that several other bird species’ numbers have declined…

Petition: 2015 UN Climate Conference must address the impact of animal agriculture on climate change

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2015 UN Climate Conference must address the impact of animal agriculture on climate change

There is irrefutable evidence that animal agriculture is a key cause of climate change. It is a leading cause of greenhouse-gas emissions, water waste, water pollution, ocean dead zones, deforestation, habitat destruction and species extinction that each significantly impacts the climate. Any global policy that claims to address climate change without addressing the catastrophic impact of animal agriculture is neither honest nor effective. While awareness about the fossil fuel industry is gaining momentum, the impact of animal agriculture on the climate has not received the same global attention.
We call on Ban Ki Moon and the leaders of the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference to ensure that the impact of animal agribusiness on our global climate is comprehensively addressed, and that an urgent action policy be created and made effective immediately.

SIGN THIS PETITION: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Ban_Ki_Moon_and_the_Leaders_of_the_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Confere_UN_Climate_Change_Summit_2015_must_address_the_/?fVYyJab&pv=44

Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans

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MINNEAPOLIS (The Borowitz Report) – Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports.

The research, conducted by the University of Minnesota, identifies a virulent strain of humans who are virtually immune to any form of verifiable knowledge, leaving scientists at a loss as to how to combat them.

More worryingly, Logsdon said, “As facts have multiplied, their defenses against those facts have only grown more powerful.”

While scientists have no clear understanding of the mechanisms that prevent the fact-resistant humans from absorbing data, they theorize that the strain may have developed the ability to intercept and discard information en route from the auditory nerve to the brain. “The normal functions of human consciousness have been completely nullified,” Logsdon said.

While reaffirming the gloomy assessments of the study, Logsdon held out hope that the threat of fact-resistant humans could be mitigated in the future. “Our research is very preliminary, but it’s possible that they will become more receptive to facts once they are in an environment without food, water, or oxygen,” he said.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/scientists-earth-endangered-by-new-strain-of-fact-resistant-humans

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Why beef is the new SUV

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The word sickening just dropped out of my mouth, involuntarily…Then I puked!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/29/opinions/sutter-beef-suv-cliamte-two-degrees/index.html

By John D. Sutter, CNN

CNN columnist John D. Sutter is reporting on a tiny number — 2 degrees — that may have a huge effect on the future. He’d like your help. Subscribe to the “2 degrees” newsletter or follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He’s jdsutter on Snapchat.

Lexington, Texas (CNN)This is the story of a giant pile of beef.

Well, 1.27 pounds (0.58 kilos) of brisket, to be exact.

But before I get into the business of explaining where this meat came from, and why eating this stuff has a massive, unexpected effect on climate change, I feel the need to confess something: That huge slab of brisket, which came to me by way of Snow’s BBQ, a delightful shack of a place out here in the heart of Texas beef country, easily was one of the most food-orgasm-y things I’ve tasted.

The phrase “OHMYGOD” dropped out of my mouth, involuntarily.

And I don’t eat much meat.

A colleague of mine had a better line.

“I mean, f— Al Gore, right?”

I write about climate change for a living and appreciate what the former U.S. vice president has done (or has tried to do, in his own wooden way) to raise awareness about what I consider to be one of the most critical issues facing the planet and people. But, in that moment, I had to laugh and agree with my co-worker.

Forget the climate.

This stuff was too good

Daniel Vaughn, BBQ editor at Texas Monthly, and the No.1 carnivore I know — this is a man who has developed white bumps on his tongue, apparently from failing to eat nonmeat food groups — helped me dissect the meal. Note the salt-and-pepper “bark” at the edge of the meat, the red tree rings where the smoke that cooks the beef, slowly, overnight, has left its artistic mark. The cloudlike strips of beef were so tender locals insist you peel them apart with your fingers, not a fork and knife.

Knowing the beef’s backstory only adds to the experience.

The barbecue “pitmaster” at Snow’s is 80-year-old Norma Frances Tomanetz. White hair, red apron. Everyone calls her “Tootsie.” Tootsie’s shift starts at 9 p.m. and ends the next day after about 600 pounds of beef have been served. Her recipe is simple: salt and pepper. And, in addition to working here — again, at age 80 — she also serves as a middle-school custodian, helps manage a cattle ranch and takes care of two sick family members. (They could use your prayers, by the way.)

Texas beef people are lovably tough.

You want to root for them.

But there’s “an inconvenient truth” about beef consumption, too, as I would discover on a trip through the supply chain of that meal: Beef is awful for the climate.

Don’t blame me alone for bearing the bad news. In a Facebook poll, thousands of you overwhelmingly voted for me to report on meat’s contribution to climate change as part of CNN’s Two° series. You commissioned this highly personal topic over more widely feared climate change bad guys such as coal, deforestation and car pollution.

Cattle and climate?

They’re not often used in the same sentence.

But eating beef, as I’ll explain, has come to be seen, rightly, in certain enviro circles, as the new SUV — a hopelessly selfish, American indulgence; a middle finger to the planet. It’s not the main driver of global warming — that’s burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transportation — but it does contribute significantly.

Globally, 14.5% of all greenhouse gas pollution can be attributed to livestock, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the most reputable authority on this topic. And a huge hunk of the livestock industry’s role — 65% — comes from raising beef and dairy cattle.

Take a look at how beef compares with other foods.

The world is faced with the herculean task of trying to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius, measured as an increase of global temperature since the start of the Industrial Revolution, when humans began burning fossil fuels. That’s the point at which climate change is expected to get especially dangerous, leading to megadroughts, mass extinctions and a sea-level rise that could wipe low-lying countries off the map. That one little number — 2 degrees — is the subject of international negotiations in December in Paris, which are critical if we’re to avert catastrophe.

We’ve already warmed the atmosphere 0.8 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution; and the World Bank says we’re locked in to at least 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming based on the pollution we’ve already put into the atmosphere.

It will be hard to meet the 2-degree goal no matter what; it will be impossible if livestock pollution isn’t part of the mix, said Doug Boucher, a PhD ecologist and evolutionary biologist who is director of climate research and analysis at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“We can’t hit that goal without it,” he told me.

In Texas, as in most places, however, no one seems too worried.

“Everybody here in Central Texas goes for beef,” Tomanetz told me. “People are gonna eat what they wanna eat — what their appetites call for.”

Any vegetarians around?

None she’s knows, personally.

“They won’t eat their beef,” she said with a grin, “so somebody else will.”

70-mile meal

It wasn’t long before I wished somebody else had.

The night after I ate at Snow’s, it felt like a grapefruit was trying to climb out of my esophagus. I ate 0.61 pounds of the beef I was served, leaving 0.66 pounds of the stuff on my tray. I gave the leftovers to a guy at the hotel desk because I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore. I felt so crazy-uncomfortable, so full.

The next morning, over a decidedly small, vegetarian breakfast, I calculated the climate change pollution associated with my massive meal. I did so with the help of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and from Anne Mottet, livestock policy officer at the FAO.

Result: Nearly 29 kilograms of CO2-equivalent gases.

O'Brien Meats in Taylor, Texas, supplies high-quality beef to Snow's BBQ.

&amp;amp;lt;img alt=”O&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;Brien Meats in Taylor, Texas, supplies high-quality beef to Snow&amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s BBQ.” class=”media__image” src=”http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150924120934-03-two-degrees-beef-large-169.jpg”&amp;amp;gt;

O’Brien Meats in Taylor, Texas, supplies high-quality beef to Snow’s BBQ.

From the atmosphere’s perspective, that’s about the same as burning enough fuel to drive an average American car 70 miles, or 113 kilometers.

A 70-mile meal.*

That’s San Antonio to Austin, Texas.

Granted, this is a beyond-ridiculously-oversized portion of meat. And, depending on how you calculate beef’s climate footprint (Mottet, from the FAO, provided me with her organization’s estimate for beef cattle raised in feedlots in North America), you could arrive at very different results.

Regardless of the exact mileage, however, this is illustrative of an indisputable fact: Beef contributes to climate change in a substantial and outsize way.

More: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/29/opinions/sutter-beef-suv-cliamte-two-degrees/index.html

 

Shell Won’t Drill in the Arctic After All

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September 28, 2015

Faced with ongoing and rather clever protests, brutal conditions and mounting costs, Shell has announced that it is abandoning its efforts to cause the largest and most unstoppable oil spill in history to drill for fossil fuel in the Arctic Ocean:

Shell will now cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future. This decision reflects both the Burger J well result, the high costs associated with the project, and the challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska.

The company expects to take financial charges as a result of this announcement. The balance sheet carrying value of Shell’s Alaska position is approximately $3.0 billion, with approximately a further $1.1 billion of future contractual commitments. An update will be provided with the third quarter 2015 results.

In other words, Shell blew $4.1 BILLION dollars, and has exactly diddly squat to show for it. Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving company. Even more importantly, this debacle will serve as a warning to other greedy oil companies that perhaps they should steer clear of the Arctic until they know what they hell they’re doing.

More: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/09/28/shell-abandons-plans-to-drill-in-the-arctic/

Marine population halved since 1970 – report

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-34265672?SThisFB

Northern bluefin tuna. File photoImage copyright Science Photo Library
Image caption The report analysed more than 1,200 species of marine creatures in the past 45 years

Populations of marine mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have declined by 49% since 1970, a report says.

The study says some species people rely on for food are faring even worse, noting a 74% drop in the populations of tuna and mackerel.

In addition to human activity such as overfishing, the report also says climate change is having an impact.

The document was prepared by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London.

A sea cucumber feeds on algae. File photoImage copyright PA
Image caption Sea cucumbers – seen as luxury food throughout Asia – have seen a significant fall in numbers

“Human activity has severely damaged the ocean by catching fish faster than they can reproduce while also destroying their nurseries,” said Marco Lambertini, head of WWF International.

The report says that sea cucumbers – seen as a luxury food throughout Asia – have seen a significant fall in numbers, with a 98% in the Galapagos and 94% drop in the Red Sea over the past few years.

The study notes the decline of habitats – such as seagrass areas and mangrove cover – which are important for food and act as a nursery for many species.

Climate change has also played a role in the overall decline of marine populations.

The report says carbon dioxide is being absorbed into the oceans, making them more acidic, damaging a number of species.

The authors analysed more than 1,200 species of marine creatures in the past 45 years.

“I’m Mad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Take This Any More!”

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Many of you may recognize that title as a line from a movie. It was one of the two great movies I’ve seen in the past few days, which seem to go together yet are completely different in style and content.

The first was an excellent documentary, Cowspiracy, which just came out in streaming1442633447556 Netflix form, in addition to DVD as well as a downloadable version on their website. This absolutely-must-see is not just an expose of the kind of cruelty that the human species is capable of and complicit in toward animals on a daily basis (as if that weren’t enough). It mainly focuses on the massive carbon footprint of animal agriculture (51% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions) and the fact that no one—not the powers that be, not the industry chiefs and spokesmen, not the current cattle flesh-food purveyors, not even the heads of major corporate environmental, household-name, supposed green groups, like Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, NRDC or the rainforest action group—is willing to take a stand on or even acknowledge it. They were all too busy laying the blame for climate change on unstoppable oil companies, pinning all their hopes on renewable energies for everyone—all 7.4 billion and counting.

But as one interviewee pointed out, those energy sources won’t see the light of day in a big way for at least 20 years (sorry, we don’t have 20 years, people) and not until after 43 trillion dollars have been invested. Yet all we have to do, as this movie shows us (through the words of ex-rancher Howard Lyman and others) is stop eating animals today. (And stop breeding, I might add.) Problem solved. Then we just have to wait for the feed-back loops to play themselves out and hope that Mother Nature forgives us for our avariciousness in reducing all other animal life to fodder for our one-species-takes-all, suicidal free-for-all.

The issue of hunting was quickly laid to rest with the statement that back when humans may have been “sustainably” killing other species for their sustenance, there were only around 10 million people. Now there’s over 500 million on this continent alone. This is no time for a resurgence in popularity of the mindset that got us into this mess in the first place. We need to move forward, not back.

Meanwhile, a mouthpiece for the fishing industry tries to deny the ongoing collapse of fisheries across the globe by invoking a feeble economic analogy, hoping we’ll believe that every time they kill thousands of fish, they are replaced by even more new fish as if by some miraculous, infinite, deep-sea upwelling—like they’re only taking the interest, not the principal. The fact is, climate change is already warming ocean waters so fast that toxic algae blooms are rapidly replacing the traditional, edible phytoplankton—the basis of the ocean’s food chain. At the same time, run-off from animal agriculture is creating dead zones wherever once-fresh water meets the sea.

The other movie I saw recently (although it came out in 1977), Network, was also inspirational, in its own way. It summed up how I felt after watching Cowspiracy. Worked into the middle of the script were the lines of a newscaster run amok, who was trying to get the brain-washed, brain-dead sleepwalkers riled up by telling it like it is. It was the kind of shaking into reality that people need about what’s really going on nowadays.

Here are is a sequence from the movie wherein Howard Beale, a network anchorman played by Peter Finch (in an Oscar-winning performance), has mysteriously disappeared before he’s scheduled to go on the air with the evening news. He shows up just in time, stepping in from the pouring rain, wearing only his pajamas under a raincoat………………………………..

Still of Peter Finch in Network (1976)Still of Peter Finch in Network (1976)Still of Faye Dunaway in Network (1976)Still of Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch in Network (1976)

“—and, suddenly, the obsessed face of Howard Beale, gaunt, haggard, red-eyed with unworldly fervor, hair streaked and plastered on his brow, manifestly mad, fills the monitor screen.

HOWARD (on monitor):

I don’t have to tell you things are bad…shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter, punks are running wild in the streets, and there’s nobody anywhere that seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breath and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit and watch our tee-vees while some local newscaster tells us today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We all know things are bad. Worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything’s going crazy. So we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we live in gets smaller, and all we ask is, please, at least leave us alone in our own living room. Let me have my toaster and my tee-vee and my hair dryer and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything, just leave us alone. Well, I’m not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman. Because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and inflation and the defense budget and the Russians and crime in the street. All I know is first you got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more. I’m a human being goddamn it. My life has value.’ So I want you to get up now. I want you to get out of your chairs and go to the window. Right now, I want you to go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell. I want you to yell: ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!’

[This is going out live to 67 stations across the country.]

HOWARD: (on monitor)

Get up from your chairs. Go to the window. Open it. Stick your head out and yell and keep yelling—First, you have to get mad.

(They’re yelling in Baton Rouge.)

HOWARD: (on monitor)

Things have got to change. But you can’t change unless you’re mad. You have to get mad. Go to the window, stick your head out and yell. I want you to yell: ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Right now.

(A distant thunderclap crashes somewhere off and lightning shatters the dank darkness. In the sudden hush following the thunder, a thin voice can be heard shouting.)

THIN VOICES: (off screen)

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!

HOWARD: (on TV set)

…Open your window…

(An occasional window opens and from his apartment house, a MAN opens the front door of a brownstone—)

MAN: (shouting)

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!

(OTHER SHOUTS are heard.)

VOICES:

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any more!”

—————————————————————————————————

Now, substitute Howard Beale’s name for mine and exchange whatever he’s mad about for the issue we should all be talking (SHOUTING) about: the selfless message of animal rights and the conspiracy of silence that keeps 70 billion cows and other animals captive, as slaves, constantly bred and butchered as products of an industry that won’t even fess up to their enormous carbon footprint. To paraphrase Howard Lyman, it’s time to change—or else.

But first, you may have to get mad. If you’re not already mad—as hell—watch Cowspiracy.

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How to Save the World? James Cameron says Go Vegan

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http://www.shellethics.com/environment/how-save-world-james-cameron-says-go-vegan/

How-to-Save-the-World-James-Cameron-says-Go-Vegan

Oscar-winning director James Cameron is promoting the best way to fight climate change—eliminating animal meat and dairy from one’s diet.

James Cameron is a famed director, a well-known climate change activist and he has a message for the masses: go vegan to fight climate change. Cameron spoke at the US-China Climate Leaders Summit in Los Angeles on 15th of September. During the summit, leading cities from both countries will share city-level experiences with planning, policies, and use of technologies for sustainable, resilient, low-carbon growth.

Cameron conducted his talk titled “Food for Sustainable Nations”, with Sam Kass, the former White House senior nutrition policy adviser. Cameron, who went completely vegan four years ago along with his family, focused on food systems (consumption and production) and the relationship between food and climate change. He explained how cutting out meat and dairy products can help lower carbon emissions in an interview with Fortune.

The thing that became abundantly clear to us when we met with the experts who are working in nutrition and energy sustainability and climate change is that we can’t actually meet our emission goals if we don’t address animal agriculture, and that’s the thing that’s been left out of the conversation. Everybody’s focusing on the energy sector, which of course is huge, and to a lesser extent the transportation section, but they’re missing the second biggest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This is a thermostat that we can turn down just by our personal choices. We can do it instantly.
— James Cameron

This message is crucial because many people who care about the environment still have no idea that raising animals for food is so incredibly destructive. Animal agriculture is actually responsible for a much higher amount of global greenhouse gas emissions than what is most commonly quoted. At the 2014 UN Climate Summit, startling new estimates by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) put the estimates of agriculture being responsible for 43-57% of global emissions.

It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef. Agriculture operations on land have created more than 500 nitrogen flooded dead zones around the world in our oceans. Farmed animal production accounts for 70% of all agricultural land and 30% of the land surface of the planet. 80% of land deforested in the Amazon is for raising cattle. The rapid deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest is actually causing a drought in many major urban communities in South America.

Droughts-In-Brazil

Our world is in a big feedback loop where climate will effect food security among many things because of drought, desertification, saltification, loss of acreage and deltas, which are some of our most fertile areas because of sea water rise. It’s going to negatively impact our food supply and our food security at exactly the same time that we need to increase our food production by 70%. By 2050 we’re supposed to have 9 billion people on this planet. These two things are moving in the wrong direction and yet the second biggest way we can control climate change is by reducing our reliance on animal meat and dairy.

See More: The Environmental Impact of Animal Agriculture

While the outlook may look grim, James Cameron’s advice echoes that of many people:

The simple resounding message is you can be healthier and your planet can be healthier based on a very simple thing that you can do today. It’s cheaper to produce plants. It’s less carbon footprint, less water footprint, less money footprint and better for you.